Largest Ever Image of Milky Way Unveiled at Adler Planetarium

It is hard for most people to comprehend the immense scale of the Milky Way galaxythat is home to our Solar System. Our Sun is only one of the estimated 100 to 400 billion stars in this galaxy and this may give some indication of its size. However the truly gigantic proportions of the Milky Way were revealed in early December 2009 when the Adler Planetariumunveiled the largest ever image of the galaxy. The image was captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope which is controlled by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The event at the Adler Planetarium revealed that the final image created is one of the most spectacular views of outer space that has ever been seen.

The Spitzer Telescope was the final mission of NASA’s Great Observatories Project which launched a family of four observatories into space. The most famous and well known of these is probably the Hubble Telescope and the program also included the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

The Spitzer Telescope was launched into space in August 2003. It was originally named the Space Infrared Telescope Facility and, in accordance with NASA tradition, was renamed the Spitzer Telescope following the successful demonstration of its operational capabilities. The telescope is 0.85m in size and three science instruments were also included as part of the mission. These included an Infrared Array Camera, an Infrared Spectrograph and a Multiband Imaging Photometer.

The telescope obtains images by detecting the infrared energy which is radiated by objects in space and this required that it be cooled to near absolute zero using liquid helium. With this requirement it was expected that the functional life of the telescope would be around 5 years. After this length of time it was expected that the liquid helium would become exhausted and the science instruments would be of no further use although the telescope itself would still be operational.

The event at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago demonstrated that the mission has been a great success. The image of the Milky Way the telescope has produced is one of the most stunning views of the galaxy that has ever been seen. To produce the final image data from two of the three onboard instruments was collected and processed by teams involved in the mission. These were the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) team which used data from the Infrared Array Camera and the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic Plane Survey Legacy (MIPSGAL) team which used data from the Multiband Imaging Photometer.

The image these teams created covers a huge area and was made by stitching together an incredible 800,000 individual pictures. The resulting masterpiece is 120 feet long by 3 feet wide at the sides and the width increases to 6 feet in the centre. It is the highest-resolution and largest image of the Milky Way ever created and shows the galaxy in stunning detail. The new image is detailed enough to show clusters of stars where previous pictures had shown only a single source of light. The leaders of the two teams involved in the work attended the event to unveil the image and they also gave short presentations about the work involved in creating it.

It is considered that the image is probably the best view we will have of the Milky Way for the foreseeable future. It will assist scientists studying the galaxy and should help them in better understanding some of the processes involved in its formation. The picture is to remain as a permanent exhibit at the Adler Planetarium and a trip to see it is definitely worth doing if you visit Chicago.

Study of the Sun to Take a Leap Forward in 2010

The study of the Sun has long been an important part ofastronomy and the recent successful launch of theSunrise Telescope helped to move this forward by producing stunning images of the Sun’s surface. The Sunrise Telescope is launched into the stratosphere carried by a giant helium balloon and will only spend a limited time observing the Sun. However NASA is also planning a more permanent observatory which will be launched into orbit around Earth. This new mission is known as the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the design and build phase of the instrument is nearing completion. With a launch date for the mission currently planned for early 2010, our knowledge of the Sun is about to take a giant leap forward.

The SDO mission is the first in NASA’s scientific program called Living With a Star(LWS). This program is being put in place to further our knowledge of solar variability and the impacts that this has on our planet. The SDO mission itself was designed with the aim of studying the solar atmosphere in an attempt to understand its influence on Earth and near-Earth space.

The planning and development of the project is being undertaken by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre and they will also be responsible for managing the operational phase of the mission once its gets underway. Important milestones in recent months have included moving the instrument to Kennedy Space Centre where it is undergoing final testing to ensure it can withstand the rigors of being launched into space and also the conditions it will face during its life orbiting the Earth. A launch date is expected in early 2010 with the mission planned to run for an initial 5 year period.

The aim of the SDO mission is to study how the magnetic field of the Sun is generated and converted into solar activity which comprises solar flares, solar wind and coronal mass ejections. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections can discharge millions of tons of charged particles and solar material into interplanetary space at millions of miles per hour and this can stream towards Earth on the solar wind. This is generally known as space weather and can be potentially dangerous to astronauts in outer space as well as posing problems for technology on and around Earth including satellite communications, electricity supply and navigation systems.

The observatory will be put into an orbit where it can monitor the Sun continuously during its 5 year mission and the three scientific instruments on board will be capable of taking a range of measurements. These instruments will work simultaneously and they include the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) which will measure the Sun’s ultraviolet brightness as often as every ten seconds to record changes in this. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) will measure sound waves bouncing around the interior of the Sun and also the strength and direction of magnetic fields on its surface which should allow a picture of the Sun’s interior to be built up. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) will take pictures of the various layers in the Sun’s atmosphere in an effort to understand how changing magnetic fields release the energy which leads to solar flares and coronal mass ejections.

Together the suite of instruments on SDO will result in observations that should help scientists gain a much fuller understanding of the complex solar dynamics which impact on Earth and the near-Earth environment. Ultimately this should lead to the development of a capability for assessing and predicting solar variations and this should help to provide an early warning to any potential problems heading our way as a result of solar activity. 2010 should be an exciting year in the continued study of the Sun and with the recent success of the Sunrise Telescope and the operational capabilities of the Solar Dynamics Observatory our knowledge of the Sun could take a giant leap forward in the near future.

Mayan Prophecy 2012: Entering Our Galactic Day

Many of us are aware of the Mayan calendar but not many people truly understand what it means and how it works. Yes the calendar does end on December 21, 2012, but what does that mean? How does it come to that? What is their calendar based off of?

The Mayans had a very precise understanding of our solar system's cycles and believed that these cycles coincided with our spiritual and collective consciousness. The most significant of which has much to do with the 2012 prophecies. In the following writing, we will walk through the main details of their prophecies surrounding the 2012 transition. How the transition takes place (from an astronomical perspective), what it means for us, and when the cycles take place. We'll start with the basic prophecies and later move deeper into the explanation of the cycles.

The Mayans prophesied that from 1999 we have 13 years to realize the changes in our conscious attitude to stray from the path of self-destruction and instead move onto a path that opens our consciousness to integrate us with all that exists.

The Mayans knew that our Sun, or Kinich-Ahau, every so often synchronized with the enormous central galaxy. And from this central galaxy received a 'spark' of light which causes the Sun to shine more intensely producing what our scientists call 'solar flares' as well as changes in the Sun's magnetic field. The Mayans say that this happens every 5,125 years. But also that this causes a displacement in the earths rotation, and because of this movement great catastrophes would be produced.

The Mayans believed the universal processes, like the 'breathing' of the galaxy, are cycles that never change. What changes is the consciousness of man that passes through it. Always in a process toward more perfection. Based on their observations, the Mayans predicted that from the initial date of the start of their civilization, 4 Ahau, 8 Cumku which is 3113 B.C., after one cycle being completed 5,125 years in their future, December 21st, 2012. The Sun, having received a powerful ray of synchronizing light from the center of the galaxy, would change its polarity which would produce a great cosmic event that would propel human kind to be ready to cross into a new era, The Golden Age. It is after this, that the Mayans say we will be ready to go through the door that was left by them, transforming our civilization based on fear to a vibration much higher in harmony.

Only from our individual efforts could we avoid the path to great cataclysm that our planet will suffer to start a new era, the sixth cycle of the Sun. The Mayan civilization was in the fifth cycle of the Sun, and there were four other great civilizations before them that were destroyed by great natural disasters. They believed that each cycle was just one stage in the collective consciousness of humanity.

In the last cataclysm of the Mayans, the civilization was destroyed by a great flood that left little survivors of which were their descendants. They believed that having known the end of their cycle, mankind would prepare for what is to come in the future and it is because of this that they would have preserved the dominant species; the human race. They say that coming changes will permit us to make a quantum leap forward in the evolution of our consciousness to create a new civilization that would manifest great harmony and compassion to all humankind.

Their first prophecy talks about 'The Time of No-Time'. A period of 20 years, which they call a Katún. The last 20 years of the Sun's cycle of 5,125 years. This cycle is from 1992 - 2012. I'll explain this in greater detail later. They predicted that during these times, solar winds would become more intense and could be seen on the Sun. This would be a time of great realization and great change for mankind. And it would be our own lack of preservation and contamination of the planet that would contribute to these changes. According to the Mayans, these changes would happen so that mankind comprehends how the universe works so we could advance to superior levels, leaving behind superficial materialism and liberating ourselves from suffering.

The Mayans say, that seven years after the start of Katún, which is to say 1999, we would enter a time of darkness which would force us to confront our own conduct. The say that this is the time when mankind will enter 'The Sacred Hall of Mirrors'. Where we will look at ourselves and analyze our behaviors with ourselves, with others, with nature and with the planet in which we live. A time in which all of humanity, by individual conscious decisions, decides to change and eliminate fear and lack of respect from all of our relationships. The Mayans prophesied that the start of this period would be marked by a solar eclipse on August 11, 1999, known to them as 13 Ahau, 8 Cauac. And would coincide with an unprecedented planetary alignment, the 'Grand Cross' alignment. This would be the last 13 years of the Katón period. The last opportunity for our civilization to realize the changes that are coming at the moment of our spiritual regeneration.

For the Mayans, everything is numbers and the time of the 13 sacred numbers started in August 1999. They predicted that along with the eclipse, the forces of nature would act like a catalyst of changes so accelerated and with such magnitude that mankind would be powerless against them. Also, that our technologies in which we rely on so much would begin to fail us. We would no longer be able to learn from our civilization in the way that we are organized as a society. They said that our internal, spiritual development would require a better place along with a better way to interact with more respect and compassion.

The first prophecies were attained by their study of our Sun. The Mayans discovered that the entire solar system moved. That even our universe has its own cycles. Repetitive periods which begin and end like our day and night. These discoveries lead to the understanding that our solar system rotates on an ellipse that brings our solar system closer and further from the center of the galaxy. In other words, according to the Mayans, our Sun and all of its planets rotate in cycles in relation to the center of the galaxy or Hunab-Kú, the central light of the galaxy. It takes 25,625 years for our solar system to make one cycle on this ellipse. One complete cycle is called a galactic day. The cycle is divided into two halves similar to our day and night. The half closest to the central light, is our solar system's 'day' and the half furthest away is its 'night'. Each day and each night lasts 12,800 years. Which is to say, the central galaxy is the Sun for our entire solar system.

The Mayans discovered that every grand cycle has its minor cycles, that carry the same characteristics. One galactic day of 25,625 years is divided into five cycles of 5,125 years. The first cycle is the galactic morning. When our solar system is just coming out of the darkness to enter the light. The second cycle is the mid-day. When our solar system is closest to the central light. The third cycle is the afternoon. When our solar system begins to come out of the light. The fourth cycle is the late-night. When our solar system has entered its furthest cycle from the central light. And the fifth and last cycle is night before dawn. When are solar system is in its last cycle of darkness before starting again. This is the cycle we are currently coming out of.

The Mayan prophecy tells us that in 1999, our solar system began to leave the end of the fifth cycle which started in 3113 B.C. and that we find ourselves in the morning of our galactic day, exiting darkness and on the verge of being in plain day of our central galaxy in 2012. They say that at the beginning and end of these cycles, which is to say, every 5,125 years, the central sun or light of the galaxy emits a ray of light so intense and so brilliant that it illuminates the entire universe. It is from this burst of light that all of the Suns and planets sync. The Mayans compare this burst to the pulse of the universe, beating once every 5,125 years. It is these pulses that mark the end of one cycle and the beginning of the next. Each pulse lasting 20 years, a Katún.

So we come back to what they call 'The Time of No Time'. It is an evolutionary period, short but intense, inside the grand cycles where great changes take place to thrust us into a new age of evolution as individuals and as mankind.

As individuals we will have to make decisions that will affect us all. If we continue on this negative path of hate, an eye for an eye, destruction of nature, of fear and egoism, we will enter straight into the time of destruction and chaos, and we will disappear as the dominant race of this planet. If we become conscious and realize that we all form part of a great organism, and that we should respect one another and be grateful to our planet, then we will move directly into positive growth, our Golden Age. Our planet, the Sun and the Galaxy are awaiting our decision. It is up to us what will happen in this time of change. Whether we go through a time of suffering and destruction or we find ourselves united in one positive consciousness moving closer to our next stage.

Please notice the events of our planet as evidence that the Mayan prophecies are worth listening to and learning from. Share this information and help us all move toward a better future, where we can thrive in a new era of positivity. It has never been so important.

Comets Are Revealing Their Secrets: Revelations From the Stardust Probe

Over the last few years, there have been huge strides in our understanding of comets. Comets are no longer just strange lights that streak across our sky. Now we are learning something about them, and the new information that has been gained is forcing some radical changes in our understanding of the early history of the solar system. Much of this is due to one highly successful NASA mission: the Stardust probe, which encountered the comet Wild 2 in 2004 and actually returned a sample of comet dust to Earth.

Whereas asteroids are protoplanets that were prevented by gravitational disturbance from reaching their maturity, comets come from an even earlier stage. They are actually frozen droplets of ice and dust from the original cloud that surrounded the early sun, from which the planets and all the other bodies in the solar system would later form. Comets are the solar system’s baby pictures, offering a view of the primordial material which grew into all that we see today. And unlike the material on larger bodies, the stuff of comets has not been changed by geological forces. It hasn’t been melted and reformed, as the matter on the planets has. By looking at it, we can get the earliest possible view of where everything else in the solar system came from.

Nasa’s Stardust, launched in February 1999, has been a huge success and a technological tour-de-force. It has already yielded revolutionary data on how and where comets form, and its mission has now been extended into a project called StardustNExT. The probe’s original mission was to capture dust from the comet Wild 2. To do this, it used a groundbreaking piece of technology that will certainly be used again on future missions: aerogel.

Aerogel is a substance that almost isn’t there at all; it is more than 99 per cent empty space. It looks like a faint fog, like your breath on a cold morning, but motionless. When particles of fast-moving dust hit a thick layer of aerogel, they penetrate the surface and get embedded inside, but they are not broken or deformed by the impact. The aerogel becomes a convenient storage medium, holding the dust particle until it is retrieved by scientists.

For the Stardust mission, the collection device was a metal framework resembling an oversized tennis racket, with blocks of aerogel in the squares of the grid. The probe passed through the comet’s coma with this framework extended, allowing bits of comet dust to strike the aerogel and get embedded. The samples obtained this way were sealed in a capsule and returned to Earth, but Stardust stayed in space and continued along its orbit.

This operation was tricky, and it was uncertain whether the samples could be returned to Earth undamaged. Because of aerogel’s fragility, there was a possibility that the substance would simply shatter from the stress of the landing. Tension was high when the capsule came down in the Utah desert, but when it was retrieved, scientists were relieved to find that their precious samples were undamaged.

Before these samples were obtained, scientists thought they knew what comets were made of. The conventional wisdom held that these bodies had formed on the distant edge of the solar system and had remained there ever since, frozen in cosmic cold storage. It was assumed that because of their extreme distance from the sun, comets had never received much heat or light.

But when some of the dust was retrieved from the aerogel and examined, scientists were amazed to find rounded particles called chondrules. These are already well known, as they are a common component of certain meteorites. They are bits of rock that melted, formed round bubbles and then solidified again.

Obviously these dust particles had not spent their entire existence beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Also found in the comet dust were Calcium Aluminum Inclusions (CAIs). These are thought to be the oldest solar system materials, and are composed of exotic substances that can only form under extreme heat.

The region of space where comets exist has always been extremely cold. It is absolutely impossible for chondrules and CAIs to form there. The NASA scientists were forced to admit something that sounded impossible: these particles were formed very close to the sun, under heat that could melt rocks. However, a large part of a comet’s mass is water ice, which obviously would not form in such heat. The inescapable conclusion was that the constituents of a comet did not form all at once, in the same place. Rather, the dust particles formed very near the sun, and then somehow migrated out to the edge of the solar system, where they became encased in ice.

While this result was not expected, even before this there were several theories which suggested that large-scale mixing may have occurred in the early solar system, with rocky particles forming very close to the sun and then migrating out to more distant regions. These results clearly confirm this, and indicate that the constituents of comets were formed in different places, and possibly over a very long period of time.

More recently, Stardust has given us another revelation. In their continuing examination of the collection device and the samples it contains, scientists have now found the amino acid glycine adhering to the aluminum grid that holds the aerogel blocks. Further analysis confirmed that this substance, which is one of the basic consitutents of life, has a different isotopic ratio from glycine that originates on Earth, and so must be of extraterrestrial origin. This lends support to the theory that life on Earth may have been seeded by amino acids from comets.

This is not the last we will hear from Stardust. The mission has now been extended into Stardust NExT, a mission in which the probe will perform a flyby of the comet Tempel 1, taking pictures and gathering other data. This is the comet that was deliberately struck by the Deep Impactor probe in January 2005. By the time Stardust arrives there in 2011, six years will have passed since that encounter, and scientists will be able to see if any surface changes have occurred in that time. They will probably also be able to see the impact crater caused by Deep Impact; this crater was obscured by dust at the time, and was never actually seen. When Stardust encounters Tempel 1, it will be the first time a comet has been visited twice by spacecraft.

Stardust will be telling us things for years to come. The dust samples will continue to be examined and analyzed, and the probe has new places to go. Watch this site for future updates.

Immanuel Velikovsky(1895-1979)

Velikovsky was born in Vitebsk, Russia. As a child he learned several languages, and excelled in mathematics. In 1913 he travelled to Europe, visiting Palestine, briefly studying medicine at Montpelier, France, and taking premedical courses at the University of Edinburgh.

Just before the outbreak of World War I, Velikovsky returned to his homeland and enrolled in the University of Moscow, where he received a medical degree in 1921. From there he went to Berlin, where he married a young violinist and became the general editor of the journal, Scripta Universitatis. During this time he became acquainted with Albert Einstein, who edited the journal's mathematical-physical section. Velikovsky shifted to Palestine in 1924 and practiced psychoanalysis for the next 15 years. Some of his writings appeared in Freud's Imago.

In 1940, Velikovsky studied a number of natural disasters that occur in the Bible, such as the parting of the Red Sea and the eruption of Mt. Sinai. When he compared these biblical passages to similar entries in some obscure Egyptian texts, he became convinced they were describing the same catastrophes, and went about reconstructing ancient Middle Eastern time-lines to make both sides fit.

After studying other historical records, he became convinced that many catastrophes were linked to a single global cataclysm, and that Venus was involved. In 1939 he shifted to the United States and for the next ten years he researched these topics, the result being two separate books: Ages in Chaos - a historical reconstruction covering the years 1450 BC to 840 B.C, and Worlds in Collision.

In 1950 Macmillan published Worlds in Collision. It described how 3,500 years ago Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet - then started a wayward path through the solar system. Its gravitational field moved other planets out of their orbits or affected their rotation - including Earth's. Macmillan, who publish many textbooks, came under fire from scientists and academics who considered Velikovsky's ideas to be unacceptable - ideas at odds with uniformitarianism. The book was consequently banned from many academic institutions. Although it was at the top of the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list, Macmillan gave in and transferred the book to Doubleday. In 1952 Doubleday pub1ished Velikovsky's Ages in Chaos.

As an answer to his critics, Velikovsky's third book, Earth in Upheaval (1955), presented raw data that would validate any global cataclysm theory:

"I have excluded from [these pages] all references to ancient literature, traditions, and folklore; and this I have done with intent, so that careless critics cannot decry the entire work as "tales and legends". Stones and bones are the only witness."[4]

It was fully referenced and designed to gain the support of orthodox science - however academia had already determined that anything he ever wrote would automatically be unacceptable.

Meanwhile Velikovsky had been maintaining contact with Einstein - he would send him letters and manuscripts and Einstein would return them, usually with comments written in the margins. With regards to Earth in Upheaval, Einstein accepted all the evidence of sudden violence upon the Earth, but he rejected Venus as being the cause. Nine days after their final meeting Einstein died, and a copy of Worlds in Collision was found open on his desk. He was rereading it because latest discoveries concerning Jupiter had confirmed one of Velikovsky's predictions.

It is currently accepted that a comet wiped out the dinosaurs, yet in the 1950s, when Velikovsky suggested similar ideas, he was rejected. In fact many of his radical ideas that orthodox science originally laughed at, due to their lack of scientific foundation, have become proven facts:

· Jupiter periodically becomes unstable and ejects excess mass.

· Jupiter emits non-thermal radio noise.

· Comets can be rich in hydrocarbons, with highly energetic electrical tails.

· The Moon has had recent surface melting, seismic and volcanic activity, none of which should be true for a body that had supposedly been dead for 4.5 billion years.

Velikovsky deduced each of these facts many years before mainstream science found ways to prove them. He also stated that after its close encounters with Earth, Mars and the Sun, Venus would have a much higher than expected temperature, would be enveloped in hydrocarbon clouds (remnants of its comet's tail), and would have an anomalous rotation. The scientists' predictions - a similar temperature to Earth, an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or water and standard rotation - have all since been shown to be wrong. Venus has a surface temperature of 750 degrees Kelvin - hot enough to melt lead. Its atmosphere is full of hydrocarbons and its rotation is in an opposite direction to all the other planets.

With hindsight, academia should be re-examining his work, for more of his startling ideas could also be correct. Here is Velikovsky's hypothesis on what may have previously happened to our planet:

".that under the impact of a force or the influence of an agent - and the earth does not travel in an empty universe - the axis of the earth shifted or tilted. At that moment an earthquake would make the globe shudder. Air and water would continue to move through inertia; hurricanes would sweep the earth and the seas would rush over continents, carrying gravel and sand and marine animals, and casting them on the land. Heat would be developed, rocks would melt, volcanoes would erupt, and lava would flow from fissures in the ruptured ground and cover vast areas. Mountains would spring up from the plains and would travel and climb on the shoulders of other mountains, causing faults and rifts. Lakes would be tilted and emptied, rivers would change their beds; large land areas with all their inhabitants would slip under the sea. Forests would burn, and the hurricanes and wild seas would wrest them from the ground on which they grew and pile them, branch and root, in huge heaps."

"Water evaporated from the oceans would rise in clouds and fall again in torrential rains and snowfalls. Clouds of dust, ejected by numerous volcanoes and swept by hurricanes from the ground.all this dust would keep the rays of the sun from penetrating to the earth."[5]

Perhaps the extra-terrestrial agent was a force such as an electromagnetic field? The Earth is a giant magnet, and the fields would act upon each other. Duration would not be a factor - if the strength of this field were strong enough to tip the earth over, it would happen instantly, triggering the effects Velikovsky listed above.

Other geoglyphs ?

South America

The lines at Nazca aren't the only landscape figures this region boasts. 850 miles south of Nazca is perhaps the world's largest human figure, etched into the side of Solitary Mountain. The Giant of Atacama at Cerro Unitas is an incredible 393 feet high and is surrounded by lines similar to those at Nazca. In fact there is a copy of this image at Nazca, although the only place I have seen it mentioned is in Erich von Daniken's "Arrival of the Gods".

Below are drawings of llamas, with large images of birds, lizards, fish, crosses, humans and patterns also appearing in the Atacama desert of northern Chile.

Just 130 miles from Nazca, dug into a sloping hill at Pisco Bay on the Peruvian coast, this drawing looks very much like a candlestick - which gives it the name of "The Candelabra of the Andes". There has been much speculation about the purpose of the 595 foot high candelabra, but no definitive answer. It is constructed in a different manner to the Nazca lines, using trenches up to one metre in depth, and is best viewed from out at sea - it can be seen from as far away as 12 miles. Pottery found near the figure has been carbon dated to 200 BC.

Other, less mysterious lines and figures have been found within Peru - between the Fortaleza, Pativilca and Rimac valleys, in the Viru Valley (on the north coast), the Sierra Pintada (the painted mountains) and in the Zana Valley, over 1,000 km to the north of Nazca.*

And these at Santa Valley:

Detail of Santa Valley, Peru. The scale represents 10 meters. Ignore the vertical double line - it is not a geoglyph but rather the azimuth heading of 280-degrees.

USA

Along the Colorado river between southern Nevada and the Gulf of California are more than 200 huge figures. The first to be discovered was the giant near Blythe, California by a pilot in 1923.

Found just north of Quartzite, Arizona, is the Bouse Fisherman:

You might also want to check out a star burst at China Lake, California, and the giant of Paradise Valley in Southwestern Montana that is around 1,287 ft. long with an arm span of about 330 ft!

England

The English geoglyphs are mostly chalk figures, which require constant maintenance to stop them disappearing back beneath grass and soil. This lack of durability means that many others are bound to have disappeared centuries ago.

The Uffington White Horse and the Long man of Wilmington, are famous. Visit the Hillfigure Homepage for 41 other British figures.

Do U know The Belt of Orion?

The lines appear random unless they are viewed from a great height. Only then does it become obvious that many of the lines originate from common points. In fact, there is only one line that doesn't. The others radiate out from common points, as if stars were being drawn.

Is it possible that the "radiating centres" are a map of the stars? When Aveni's plan of the ray centres is held next to a sky chart, the similarity is uncanny. The connection is made stronger if we let the Nazca River Valley represent the Milky Way, just as the ancient Egyptians did with the Nile.

Alongside the Nile, the Giza pyramids have been shown to have the same pattern as the Belt of Orion. Three of the Nazcan "stars" are more prominent than the others, and they almost form a straight line of their own, although the third is slightly astray. Their relationship appears to be the same as the Giza pyramids, imitating the belt of Orion. Could this be true? If it were, then perhaps they are part of a global pattern of coded messages, warning us of another flood will come sometime in the future.

Images sourced from: The Orion Mystery Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings The World Atlas of Mysteries

Or then again, perhaps the Nazca Lines are a terrestrial map. The image on the left shows the portolan design lines extracted from the Piri Reis map. Does it make sense, that if the Piri Reis map is the most accurateancient map found to date, that another ancient map (which happens to be huge and drawn on the ground) would have similar lines upon it? Hopefully somebody will have the time and patience to compare the Nazca map with every location on Earth and perhaps find that it fits somewhere... **The Piri Reis map also features some strange animals! Other instances of this pattern could have come from a common ancient knowledge, like: Pyramids of Teotihuacan

Furthering the link with Giza is the city of Cahuachi, just south of the lines. Today it is almost indistinguishable from the desert surrounding it, yet it covers 370 acres and contains plazas, terraces and some 40 structures. There are six pyramids - the largest of which is 30 metres high.[16] [17] [18]

It appears that Cahuachi was a ceremonial centre, with few people actually living there. Puzzling mortuary practices occurred at Cahuachi. Ninety percent of the skulls found have the distinctive cabeza larga (long head) type of deformation.[19]

This was achieved by wrapping the heads of newborn babies with leather or wood, causing their skulls to grow into extraordinary shapes. Many of the dismembered skulls have also had round holes cut into their foreheads, a practice known as trepanning.[20]

Further clues of an advanced society can be found nearby. The Nazca Indians may have been living in a barren area, but they managed to cope quite well. They created a system of underground channels to bring them water from kilometres away, and some of their hydraulic schemes are still in working order.

As time passes by, more and more Nazcan mysteries are being brought to light, with few (if any) being solved.

Catastrophic Links

As noted above, the Nazca site has many connections to a cyclical global catastrophe.

• The site is designed to last a long time
• The site is coded with symbols
• Gigantic dimensions have been used
• The reoccurrence of serpents and pyramids
• A "star map" depicting the Belt of Orion, and the Milky Way

Even the name Nazca is a possible clue. The town has had this title since the Spanish Conquest, and presumably from when the lines and figures were created. It is quite likely that this name was sourced from the Quechuan word nanay, which means "pain".[21] If the drawings upon the desert were intended to tell of a great tragedy, then the name for this place is wholly appropriate. The images are rather simplistic, and showing agony or fear on their faces would have required an extra dimension of skill. A quick and easy way of bypassing this problem was to name the lines "pain", and let us make the connection for ourselves.

The site is an appropriate one for describing a cataclysm, more so than just the irony of the area's dryness. In 1983 the El Nino phenomenon caused a lot of rain to fall in Peru. Some towns experienced rain every day for several months, whereas normally they would only receive a tenth of an inch annually. Landslides wrecked homes and took out sections of the Pan American highway. Bridges were washed out and crops ruined. In 1925 the floods reached depths of ten feet. Careful examination of Peruvian river valleys has determined that a flood in 1100 AD was at least 50 feet deep![22] In an area which usually gets less than half an inch of rain in a year!

Peru is also a land of severe earthquakes. In 1970, one such quake took the lives of 70,000 Peruvians, including an entire town that disappeared under a mudslide. These are the types of disaster that occurred 10,000 years ago, floods and earthquakes, which makes Peru a perfect location for memorials and reminders of what happened. This is why the geoglyphs of the Nazca Plain exist - they are telling a story.