Traditional star lore of Africa
The sky and the stars
http://www.psychohistorian.org/display_article.php?id=200901111733_african_star_lore.content#20110205083546440
compiled and written by Auke Slotegraaf
A wide-spread African concept is that the sky is a solid dome, perhaps made of blue rock, resting on the Earth, upon which the Sun moves. The traditional Tswana idea is that stars are holes in the rocky vault that is the sky.
The Nyae Nyae !Kung Bushmen saw the sky as the dwelling place of all the divine beings and spirits of the dead. The “things of the sky” generally do not influence or reflect the affairs of man, the !Kung taught, nor do they affect the weather, the growth of vegetation, or other conditions of the earth; they are in a realm of their own.
In Xhosa, a star is inkwenkwezi, inkanyezi in Zulu, nyenyedzi in Shona, dinaledi in Sotho, tinyeleti in Tsonga, maledzi in Venda, linaleri in Setswana, and nyota in Swahili.
While the /Xam Bushmen believed the stars were formerly people, some !Kung Bushmen taught that stars are, in fact, small creatures, and look like tiny porcupines - they have little legs, ears, teeth and are covered with tiny spines. Another !Kung account says that stars are actually ant lions, watching from overhead with their bright eyes. When they are hungry and see an ant, they quickly fall to the ground to catch it. Some say that all the stars fall to the ground each morning, and we see them on earth as insects. The Ibibio of Nigeria spoke picturesquely of the stars as “Sand of the Moon”.
The Moon
The Moon – iNyanga to the Xhosa and Zulu, Nwedzi to the Shona and Venda, and Ngwedi to the Sotho and Tswana – is probably the most obvious feature in the night sky, because of its size, brightness, and changing appearance (phases). As the Moon orbits the Earth it goes through a sequence of phases, from New Moon (invisible) to crescent, half-moon, Full Moon, half-moon, and back to New Moon.
To the Kora KhoiKhoi, the Moon was kham, “the Returner”; the Nama KhoiKhoi spoke of khab. The KhoiKhoi also considered the Moon as “the Lord of Light and Life”, and would sing and dance at times of New and Full Moon.
The Nyae Nyae !Kung Bushmen said that the crescent phases with sharp points was male, while the Full round Moon was female.
The Xhosa considered the time of New Moon as a period of inaction. When it reappeared as a crescent in the evening sky, it was cause for celebration. Important events were scheduled to take place around the time of Full Moon. Also at Full Moon the mothers would de-worm their children, believing that at this time the worms collected in one place and could be effectively treated.
The Naro Bushmen taught that when the crescent Moon slopes downward, it is said to be looking into a grave and this is a sign that many people will die in that season. A crescent pointing upward was a favourable sign. The round Full Moon is a sign of satisfaction and that people will find plenty of food.
In /Xam Bushmen mythology, the Moon is a man who has made the Sun angry. The Sun’s sharp light cuts off pieces of the Moon until almost the whole of the Moon is gone, leaving only one small piece. The Moon then pleads for mercy and the Sun lets him go. From this small piece, the Moon gradually grows again until it becomes a Full Moon. The /Xam also have another account of how the Moon came to be. In the old times, it was said, the Moon was one of the leather sandals of the Mantis-god /kaggen. The sandal was placed in water to soften it somewhat, but this angered the water spirit who then froze the water, locking the sandal in ice. When /kaggen saw the frozen sandal he discarded it, throwing it up into the sky, where it became the Moon. Whatever its origin, the /Xam considered the New Moon as being able to influence hunting and the gathering of ants’ eggs, and when the crescent was sighted, they would ask for its assistance.
The surface of the Moon has dark and bright markings; flat lava plains and rocky highlands, respectively. In many African traditions these markings are said to resemble the figure of a man or woman carrying a bundle of sticks.
When the Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon, a lunar eclipse occurs. The Nyae Nyae !Kung Bushmen said that this was caused by the lion, putting his paw over the Moon to darken the night so he could have better hunting
Under certain atmospheric conditions, a “moon bow” can form, appearing as a large ring around the Moon. To the /Gwi Bushman, such a ring was a sign that food will be plentiful.
Bright southern stars
The Southern Cross (Crux) and the two bright Pointers (alpha and beta Centuari) are probably the most recognizable of the southern stars, and they feature prominently in African star lore.
In Sotho, Tswana and Venda traditions, these stars are Dithutlwa, “The Giraffes”. The bright stars of Crux are male giraffes, and the two Pointers are female. The Venda called the fainter stars of the Southern Cross Thudana, “The Little Giraffe”. They also say that the month Khubvhumedzi begins when the crescent Moon can be seen for the first time and, at the same time, the lower two giraffe stars are just below the horizon and the upper two are just visible. Sotho lore tells that when the giraffe stars are seen close to the south-western horizon just after sunset, they indicate the beginning of cultivating season.
The /Xam Bushmen saw the two Pointers as male lions; they were once men, but a magical girl turned them into stars. The three brightest stars of the Southern Cross they saw to be female lions. To the Khoikhoi, the Pointers were known as Mura, “The Eyes”, of some great celestial beast.
The Coal Sack, a large dark nebula near the Southern Cross, is known as the “Old Bag of the Night” to the Nyae Nyae !Kung Bushmen.
The long axis of the Southern Cross points towards a bright star called Achernar. This star is called Senakane (Sotho, Tswana) and Tshinanga (Venda), meaning “The Little Horn”.
Brighter still than Achernar is Canopus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is widely known in southern Africa as Naka, “The Horn Star”. In Sotho tradition, a careful watch was kept for Naka about the end of May. Sotho chiefs awarded a cow for Naka’s earliest sighting. The day of the sighting the chief would call his medicine-men together. Throwing their bone dice, the doctors would judge whether the new season would be good or bad. The appearance of Naka also heralds coming of winter and browning of the veld. When Naka appeared before sunrise, the Tswana knew it was time to start breeding their sheep. In Venda tradition, the first person to see Nanga in the morning sky (in May, heralding winter) would climb a hill and blow the phalaphala (black sable antelope horn) and he would receive a cow as a prize. The Zulu knew Canopus as isAndulela, a messenger appearing at the end of Autumn, the harvest time, and also as inKhwenkwezi, “The Brilliant Star”. The /Xam Bushmen believed that Canopus could influence the availability of ants’ eggs, a rich source of nourishment, and they called it “The Ant Egg Star”.
The beautiful constellation Scorpius with its slender curved row of stars is famous for the bright reddish star Antares. This star was called by the !Xu Bushmen “The Fire-Finishing Star” – not only does it have a reddish colour, but (at certain times of the year) it sets very late at night, when the camp fires have died down. (See also Arcturus and Regulus below.)
Along the curved body of the scorpion, just before the tail section, lies a close pair of stars (mu-1 and mu-2 Scorpii), which the Khoikhoi called xami di mura, “The Eyes of the Lion”.
Near Scorpius is a conspicuous circlet of stars known as Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. The /Xam Bushmen had a tale about a group of men who sat eating together when a bewitched girl look upon them, turning them into these stars.
The bright star Fomalhaut lies in a rather star-poor region and is prominent in the summer sky. It is called Ndemara, “The Sweetheart Star”, by the Shona, and Ntshuna, “The Kiss Me Star”, by the Tswana. The visibility of this star was supposed to indicate the time for lovers to part before their parents discovered them. (Compare this with the tale about Venus the Evening Star, below).
Another prominent southern star is Peacock (alpha Pavonis); the /Gwi Bushmen call it “The Female Steenbok”.
The Magellanic Clouds
On a moonless night under a dark sky, two interesting “clouds” can be seen to the south, one cloud much larger and brighter than the other. These are the Magellanic Clouds, or the “Cape Clouds”, and are actually entire galaxies, thousands of light years away.
The Ju/Wasi and !Kung Bushmen said that the larger cloud was a part of the sky where soft thornless grass grows, like the kind they used for bedding. One day, they say, God climbed onto the large cloud and went hunting. Several other Bushman groups saw the two clouds as male and female steenbok.
The Sotho saw the clouds as the spoor of two celestial animals. The large cloud was Setlhako sa Naka, “The Spoor of the Horn Star” (Naka, Canopus) and the smaller cloud was Setlhako sa Senakane, “The Spoor of the Little Horn Star” (Senakane, Achernar).
Tswana folklore tells that when the small cloud appeared more clearly than the large cloud, a drought would follow.
Visit PsychoHistorian.org for more lore on the Sun, The Milky Way, The stars around Orion, Venus, comets and meteors.
http://www.psychohistorian.org/display_article.php?id=200901111733_african_star_lore.content#20110205083546440
Original Source: http://www.psychohistorian.org/
Posted from: http://www.marklives.com/wordpress/?p=347
Thank you to Paolo Gallo, M.V., Venezuela for the forwarded post.
Showing posts with label myth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label myth. Show all posts
04 February 2009
05 February 1998
1998 Meteorite News AP-newswire
Asians look to sky for spectacular meteor storm
Author: DANIEL L. SMITH Associated Press Writer Date: November 18, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Stargazers across Asia huddled in the pre-dawn chill today, admiring the flares of red and white that streaked through the night sky during the greatest meteor shower in decades.
NASA sent up research planes from this U.S. Air Force base in southern Japan in an attempt to glean hints into the origins of life on Earth and the planet's relationship to the cosmos. From Thailand's highest peak to the neon-drenched streets of Tokyo, people in Asia -- where meteors...
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Scientists and stargazers watch spectacular meteor storm
Author: DANIEL L. SMITH Associated Press Writer Date: November 18, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Meteors streaked through the skies over Asia in blazes of red and white as the biggest meteor storm in decades reached its climax just before dawn Wednesday.
While stargazers gathered across the globe, NASA scientists boarded planes to get above the clouds over Japan to study the spectacle, which began Monday. From the top of the highest mountain in Thailand, to the neon-drenched streets of Tokyo, to the deserts and plains of the United States, people turned their eyes to the skies for...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
APN SUNDAY ILLUSTRATIONS: Subscribers get 1 photo, NY367 of Nov. 17.
Date: November 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
At age 95, chemist dazzled by uses of his decades-old discovery
By BEN DOBBIN Associated Press Writer
CORNING, N.Y. (AP) -- When he figured out a way to make exceptionally pure glass, chemist Frank Hyde knew his discovery would have myriad applications.
But who, back in 1934, could have foreseen spaceship windows, precision lenses to build ever-so-tiny computer chips, or the gossamer strands of optical fiber?
"I'm surprised at some of the...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Scientists launch airborne mission to study Leonid meteor shower
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: November 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
From ancient Chinese emperors to crooner Perry Como, stargazers have dreamed of the day they could catch a "falling star."
Physicist Steve Butow isn't just dreaming. He is dispatching a pair of aircraft filled with scientific instruments to examine the Leonid meteor storm as it pelts Earth's atmosphere with fiery debris. The celestial fireworks are expected to peak Tuesday and Wednesday, as Earth passes through the long tail of Comet...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts deploy 'meteorite trap' during spacewalk
Author: VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer
Date: November 11, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station deployed a device for studying small meteorite particles and handled more than a dozen other tasks during a six-hour spacewalk that ended early today.
Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev installed the French-made "meteorite trap," which should collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for mission control. The device will stay...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts take spacewalk to install meteor device
Date: November 11, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station deployed a device for catching small meteorite particles, during a six-hour spacewalk that ended early Wednesday.
The French-made "meteorite trap" will collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for mission control. The device will stay attached to the Mir until 1999, when it will be taken for analysis back to earth early next year.
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts prepare for spacewalk to install meteor device
Date: November 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station are heading out into space to mount a French-made device for catching and studying small meteorite particles, a news report said today.
Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev were to venture into open space late tonight to install the "meteorite trap," which should collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. The device will stay...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Scientists launch airborne mission to study Leonid meteor shower
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: November 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
From ancient Chinese emperors to crooner Perry Como, stargazers have dreamed of the day they could catch a "falling star."
Physicist Steve Butow isn't just dreaming. He is dispatching a pair of aircraft filled with scientific instruments to examine the Leonid meteor storm as it pelts Earth's atmosphere with fiery debris. This close encounter is the chance of his lifetime. The celestial fireworks are expected to peak Tuesday and Wednesday,...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir's crew prepares for micro-meteorite 'rain'
Date: November 3, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The crew of the Mir space station will not face any serious danger when their space outpost enters a cloud of micro-meteorites later this month, space officials said Tuesday.
Just to be safe, however, cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev will board a Soyuz escape capsule permanently attached to the six-module station when the barrage of meteorites peaks in mid-November, said deputy Mission Control chief Viktor Blagov. The "meteorite rain"... Click here for complete article ($1.50)
More evidence found that end of dinosaurs came from the sky
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: October 29, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists have uncovered more evidence that death from the sky ended the reign of the dinosaurs on earth.
According to a report in Friday's edition of the journal Science, a meteorite or comet produced an element, chromium, found in the layer of the Earth's crust that dates to the dinosaurs' end. An impact by an object six to 12 miles in diameter in what is now the Gulf of Mexico has been the leading candidate among theories explaining why the great...
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Oldest extraterrestrial debris offers clues to early conditions on Earth
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: September 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
It's old dirt, but it's old dirt that scientists can't get enough of.
Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering a glimpse of conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life's formation. The micrometeorites are by far the oldest extraterrestrial debris found on this planet, according to the German and Finnish field team, which published its...
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Oldest extraterrestrial debris offers clues to early conditions on Earth
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: September 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering scientists a glimpse at conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life's formation.
The micrometeorites are by far the oldest extraterrestrial debris found on this planet, according to the German and Finnish field team, which published its discovery in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The particles are known as...
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Meteorite doesn't contain signs of life, researchers say
Author: KELLY P. KISSEL Associated Press Writer Date: August 14, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were mistaken when they thought a potato-sized rock found in Antarctica held evidence suggesting life on Mars, according to three papers in a journal about meteors.
"Orson Welles made us want to believe it," said Derek Sears, editor of Meteoritics and Planetary Science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. But it's unlikely Martians will ever be involved in anything like Welles' "War of the...
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Mars Meteorite doesn't contain signs of life, researchers say
Author: KELLY P. KISSEL Associated Press Writer Date: August 14, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were mistaken when they thought a rock in Antarctica contained evidence suggesting life on Mars, according to three papers in a journal about meteors.
One article to be published today in Meteoritics and Planetary Science at the University of Arkansas says non-Martian rocks showed the same "evidence" of life. The other articles say temperatures were too high for tiny bacteria to form and leave organic evidence in the nooks and crannies of the 4.5...
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British scientists identify 13th meteorite from Mars
Date: August 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert was positively identified Monday as originating from Mars, British scientists said.
Out of 20,000 found worldwide, the 4.8-pound rock is only the 13th meteorite proven to be from the red planet. Meteorite experts hope this latest discovery, called Lucky 13, will tell scientists more about environmental conditions on Mars and aid in the search for evidence of life on the planet.
"This is another piece in the jigsaw...
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NASA sticks to theory as doubts increase
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: August 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The announcement stunned the world: Scientists had found evidence of life on Mars.
Inside a meteorite from Mars, NASA researchers said, they had discovered the fossilized remains of tiny, bacteria-like animals that may have once thrived on the Red Planet. The idea seized global attention and gave sudden popular legitimacy to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. President Clinton called for a space summit. Famed scientist Carl Sagan called it "a possible turning point in...
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New images show Jupiter moon with crater chain, hints of past ocean
Author: JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer
Date: July 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The latest photos released Wednesday of Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, suggest an early ocean beneath its surface from which water was shot through volcanoes.
The photos also show a crater chain created when the Jupiter moon was smacked by 13 comet fragments, which may have helped supply the essential ingredients for life. "We don't know and that's why we're out there looking," said James Head, a Brown...
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Jupiter's moon Ganymede has crater chain, hints of past ocean
Author: JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer
Date: July 15, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
New images show Jupiter's giant moon Ganymede has geologic hints of an early subsurface ocean and a chain of 13 craters that could have come from a broken-up comet.
But scientists still can't say whether life ever existed there. "We don't know and that's why we're out there looking," said James Head, a Brown University planetary scientist. "You have heat, liquid water, organic material coming...
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'Armageddon' has nothing on Manson's extraterrestrial claim to fame
Author: GREG SMITH Associated Press Writer
Date: July 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
As "Armageddon" hits the big screen, it isn't going to make a deep impact among folks here.
After all, they already have their own extraterrestrial claim to fame: a 24-mile wide crater formed some 74 million years ago when a huge meteorite slammed into north-central Iowa and turned the region into a giant killing field. Geologists say it's the second-largest crater in the continental United States and 15th-largest in the world....
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City council sides with boys in meteorite fight
Author: CHRIS NEWTON Associated Press Writer
Date: June 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The city council agrees: It's finders, keepers.
Seven boys who laid claim to a meteorite that crashed near where they played basketball won their fight Tuesday, when the Monahans City Council voted unanimously to let them keep the space rock. The mayor and city manager of this West Texas city had said the rock landed on city property on March 22 and thus belonged to them.
But council members said before their 4-0 vote that it would be heartless not to recognize the...
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Boy finds meteorite, but city officials say 'finders keepers' doesn't apply
Author: CHRIS NEWTON Associated Press Writer
Date: June 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Eleven-year-old Alvaro Lyles says a meteorite that landed in his front yard belongs to him and his family under one of the oldest rules in the book: "finders, keepers."
But city officials are holding on to the soccer ball-sized rock, saying it actually landed on government property. The city council is scheduled to take up the ownership issue at a meeting tonight. Alvaro's father has threatened to sue the city if the meteorite isn't...
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Scientists raise new questions about life in Mars rock
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: June 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A chemical study casts fresh doubt on claims by NASA scientists that a rock from Mars contains evidence of life.
A California research team says a mineral structure inside the meteorite were made by nonbiologic processes, and not by ancient bacteria as proposed by some researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A space agency scientist says the research is flawed and does not prove that microbes never lived inside the rock known as Allen Hills 84001.
The...
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Odds and Ends
Author: The Associated Press Date: May 28, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
"Armageddon" came and went in less than five days. The banner, that is.
Traffic became nightmarish after a 10-story banner for the upcoming film was unveiled in sight of one of the busiest highway interchanges in California. The eye-catching ad, posted on a 15-story building, shows a flaming meteorite flying through the side of a glass office building.
The sign came down Wednesday because no one bothered to get a permit to put it up.
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More fireballs seen in the West; scientists differ on meaning
Author: MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Writer
Date: February 12, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The phone lines to Denver's Museum of Natural History have been buzzing since a fireball streaked across the Colorado sky last month.
That flash of light, caught on a homeowner's security camera, was not an isolated incident; it was followed by at least four more fireball sightings, said Jack Murphy of the museum's geology department. He hopes to find pieces of the celestial objects for the museum's collection. As new reports of sightings...
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Cosmonauts pitch Space Pens, Russian spacesuits in American TV debut
Author: CHRIS OLERT Associated Press Writer
Date: February 7, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The pen was mightier than the word when late-night television crossed the final shopping frontier early Saturday.
Two Russian cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station, appearing live on the QVC shopping channel, set out to hawk the American-made $32.75 Fisher Space Pen, used on NASA space flights since 1967 because it can write in the absence of gravity. As they orbited 200 miles above the Earth, a technical problem kept Commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov...
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Shopping heaven -- cosmonauts to hawk Mars rocks, spacesuits on QVC
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
Date: February 6, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Just when you thought late-night television couldn't get any weirder, Russian cosmonauts are taking over QVC.
Two cosmonauts will appear on the cable shopping channel live via satellite from the orbiting Mir station Saturday as ex-flight engineer Alexander Lazutkin offers comments from the stage of a New York comedy club. No joke -- the Russians are hawking spacesuits, meteorites and Mars rocks.
Just what they get out of the deal isn't clear. But QVC says...
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In TV shopping orbit: Russian space suits and Mars rocks
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer Date: February 5, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The glitzy universe of late-night, cable-TV shopping is expanding to include outer space, joining forces with Russia's beleaguered space program to hawk Mars rocks, meteorites and genuine cosmonaut space suits.
QVC, the channel that sold Muhammad Ali's Michigan farm and nearly clinched a deal for the Brooklyn Bridge, has enlisted the help of real cosmonauts from the Mir space station on a program early Saturday. Two cosmonauts will appear live by satellite from...
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Studies say life traces in Mars rock probably came from Earth; NASA scientists disagree
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: January 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA scientists who say they found evidence of Martian microbes in a rock that came from Mars are not impressed with two studies that say the rock actually contains organic contaminants from Earth.
In reports published today in the journal Science, researchers at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography conclude that amino acids and carbon found in the Mars rock got there after it landed on Earth and lay on Antarctic ice for thousands of years. The...
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Studies: Life traces in Mars rock probably came from Earth
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: January 15, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Organic chemicals found in a Martian rock may be contamination from Earth and not evidence of life on the Red Planet, new studies suggest. But NASA scientists say the reports "don't shake our belief one bit."
Laboratory studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography conclude that amino acids and carbon found in a rock from Mars probably got there after the rock landed on Earth and lay on Antarctic ice for...
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Author: DANIEL L. SMITH Associated Press Writer Date: November 18, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Stargazers across Asia huddled in the pre-dawn chill today, admiring the flares of red and white that streaked through the night sky during the greatest meteor shower in decades.
NASA sent up research planes from this U.S. Air Force base in southern Japan in an attempt to glean hints into the origins of life on Earth and the planet's relationship to the cosmos. From Thailand's highest peak to the neon-drenched streets of Tokyo, people in Asia -- where meteors...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Scientists and stargazers watch spectacular meteor storm
Author: DANIEL L. SMITH Associated Press Writer Date: November 18, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Meteors streaked through the skies over Asia in blazes of red and white as the biggest meteor storm in decades reached its climax just before dawn Wednesday.
While stargazers gathered across the globe, NASA scientists boarded planes to get above the clouds over Japan to study the spectacle, which began Monday. From the top of the highest mountain in Thailand, to the neon-drenched streets of Tokyo, to the deserts and plains of the United States, people turned their eyes to the skies for...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
APN SUNDAY ILLUSTRATIONS: Subscribers get 1 photo, NY367 of Nov. 17.
Date: November 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
At age 95, chemist dazzled by uses of his decades-old discovery
By BEN DOBBIN Associated Press Writer
CORNING, N.Y. (AP) -- When he figured out a way to make exceptionally pure glass, chemist Frank Hyde knew his discovery would have myriad applications.
But who, back in 1934, could have foreseen spaceship windows, precision lenses to build ever-so-tiny computer chips, or the gossamer strands of optical fiber?
"I'm surprised at some of the...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Scientists launch airborne mission to study Leonid meteor shower
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: November 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
From ancient Chinese emperors to crooner Perry Como, stargazers have dreamed of the day they could catch a "falling star."
Physicist Steve Butow isn't just dreaming. He is dispatching a pair of aircraft filled with scientific instruments to examine the Leonid meteor storm as it pelts Earth's atmosphere with fiery debris. The celestial fireworks are expected to peak Tuesday and Wednesday, as Earth passes through the long tail of Comet...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts deploy 'meteorite trap' during spacewalk
Author: VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer
Date: November 11, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station deployed a device for studying small meteorite particles and handled more than a dozen other tasks during a six-hour spacewalk that ended early today.
Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev installed the French-made "meteorite trap," which should collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for mission control. The device will stay...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts take spacewalk to install meteor device
Date: November 11, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station deployed a device for catching small meteorite particles, during a six-hour spacewalk that ended early Wednesday.
The French-made "meteorite trap" will collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for mission control. The device will stay attached to the Mir until 1999, when it will be taken for analysis back to earth early next year.
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Mir cosmonauts prepare for spacewalk to install meteor device
Date: November 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station are heading out into space to mount a French-made device for catching and studying small meteorite particles, a news report said today.
Cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev were to venture into open space late tonight to install the "meteorite trap," which should collect data on a barrage of particles expected to peak around the Mir in mid-November, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. The device will stay...
Click here for complete article ($1.50)
Scientists launch airborne mission to study Leonid meteor shower
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: November 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
From ancient Chinese emperors to crooner Perry Como, stargazers have dreamed of the day they could catch a "falling star."
Physicist Steve Butow isn't just dreaming. He is dispatching a pair of aircraft filled with scientific instruments to examine the Leonid meteor storm as it pelts Earth's atmosphere with fiery debris. This close encounter is the chance of his lifetime. The celestial fireworks are expected to peak Tuesday and Wednesday,...
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Mir's crew prepares for micro-meteorite 'rain'
Date: November 3, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The crew of the Mir space station will not face any serious danger when their space outpost enters a cloud of micro-meteorites later this month, space officials said Tuesday.
Just to be safe, however, cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Avdeyev will board a Soyuz escape capsule permanently attached to the six-module station when the barrage of meteorites peaks in mid-November, said deputy Mission Control chief Viktor Blagov. The "meteorite rain"... Click here for complete article ($1.50)
More evidence found that end of dinosaurs came from the sky
Author: RANDOLPH E. SCHMID Associated Press Writer
Date: October 29, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists have uncovered more evidence that death from the sky ended the reign of the dinosaurs on earth.
According to a report in Friday's edition of the journal Science, a meteorite or comet produced an element, chromium, found in the layer of the Earth's crust that dates to the dinosaurs' end. An impact by an object six to 12 miles in diameter in what is now the Gulf of Mexico has been the leading candidate among theories explaining why the great...
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Oldest extraterrestrial debris offers clues to early conditions on Earth
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: September 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
It's old dirt, but it's old dirt that scientists can't get enough of.
Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering a glimpse of conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life's formation. The micrometeorites are by far the oldest extraterrestrial debris found on this planet, according to the German and Finnish field team, which published its...
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Oldest extraterrestrial debris offers clues to early conditions on Earth
Author: JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA AP Science Writer
Date: September 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Cosmic grit that survived a fiery ride from space 1.4 billion years ago has been discovered in a layer of sandstone in Finland, offering scientists a glimpse at conditions on Earth during the earliest stages of life's formation.
The micrometeorites are by far the oldest extraterrestrial debris found on this planet, according to the German and Finnish field team, which published its discovery in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. The particles are known as...
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Meteorite doesn't contain signs of life, researchers say
Author: KELLY P. KISSEL Associated Press Writer Date: August 14, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were mistaken when they thought a potato-sized rock found in Antarctica held evidence suggesting life on Mars, according to three papers in a journal about meteors.
"Orson Welles made us want to believe it," said Derek Sears, editor of Meteoritics and Planetary Science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. But it's unlikely Martians will ever be involved in anything like Welles' "War of the...
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Mars Meteorite doesn't contain signs of life, researchers say
Author: KELLY P. KISSEL Associated Press Writer Date: August 14, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Scientists were mistaken when they thought a rock in Antarctica contained evidence suggesting life on Mars, according to three papers in a journal about meteors.
One article to be published today in Meteoritics and Planetary Science at the University of Arkansas says non-Martian rocks showed the same "evidence" of life. The other articles say temperatures were too high for tiny bacteria to form and leave organic evidence in the nooks and crannies of the 4.5...
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British scientists identify 13th meteorite from Mars
Date: August 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert was positively identified Monday as originating from Mars, British scientists said.
Out of 20,000 found worldwide, the 4.8-pound rock is only the 13th meteorite proven to be from the red planet. Meteorite experts hope this latest discovery, called Lucky 13, will tell scientists more about environmental conditions on Mars and aid in the search for evidence of life on the planet.
"This is another piece in the jigsaw...
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NASA sticks to theory as doubts increase
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: August 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The announcement stunned the world: Scientists had found evidence of life on Mars.
Inside a meteorite from Mars, NASA researchers said, they had discovered the fossilized remains of tiny, bacteria-like animals that may have once thrived on the Red Planet. The idea seized global attention and gave sudden popular legitimacy to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. President Clinton called for a space summit. Famed scientist Carl Sagan called it "a possible turning point in...
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New images show Jupiter moon with crater chain, hints of past ocean
Author: JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer
Date: July 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The latest photos released Wednesday of Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, suggest an early ocean beneath its surface from which water was shot through volcanoes.
The photos also show a crater chain created when the Jupiter moon was smacked by 13 comet fragments, which may have helped supply the essential ingredients for life. "We don't know and that's why we're out there looking," said James Head, a Brown...
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Jupiter's moon Ganymede has crater chain, hints of past ocean
Author: JANE E. ALLEN AP Science Writer
Date: July 15, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
New images show Jupiter's giant moon Ganymede has geologic hints of an early subsurface ocean and a chain of 13 craters that could have come from a broken-up comet.
But scientists still can't say whether life ever existed there. "We don't know and that's why we're out there looking," said James Head, a Brown University planetary scientist. "You have heat, liquid water, organic material coming...
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'Armageddon' has nothing on Manson's extraterrestrial claim to fame
Author: GREG SMITH Associated Press Writer
Date: July 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
As "Armageddon" hits the big screen, it isn't going to make a deep impact among folks here.
After all, they already have their own extraterrestrial claim to fame: a 24-mile wide crater formed some 74 million years ago when a huge meteorite slammed into north-central Iowa and turned the region into a giant killing field. Geologists say it's the second-largest crater in the continental United States and 15th-largest in the world....
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City council sides with boys in meteorite fight
Author: CHRIS NEWTON Associated Press Writer
Date: June 10, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The city council agrees: It's finders, keepers.
Seven boys who laid claim to a meteorite that crashed near where they played basketball won their fight Tuesday, when the Monahans City Council voted unanimously to let them keep the space rock. The mayor and city manager of this West Texas city had said the rock landed on city property on March 22 and thus belonged to them.
But council members said before their 4-0 vote that it would be heartless not to recognize the...
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Boy finds meteorite, but city officials say 'finders keepers' doesn't apply
Author: CHRIS NEWTON Associated Press Writer
Date: June 9, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Eleven-year-old Alvaro Lyles says a meteorite that landed in his front yard belongs to him and his family under one of the oldest rules in the book: "finders, keepers."
But city officials are holding on to the soccer ball-sized rock, saying it actually landed on government property. The city council is scheduled to take up the ownership issue at a meeting tonight. Alvaro's father has threatened to sue the city if the meteorite isn't...
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Scientists raise new questions about life in Mars rock
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: June 4, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
A chemical study casts fresh doubt on claims by NASA scientists that a rock from Mars contains evidence of life.
A California research team says a mineral structure inside the meteorite were made by nonbiologic processes, and not by ancient bacteria as proposed by some researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A space agency scientist says the research is flawed and does not prove that microbes never lived inside the rock known as Allen Hills 84001.
The...
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Odds and Ends
Author: The Associated Press Date: May 28, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
"Armageddon" came and went in less than five days. The banner, that is.
Traffic became nightmarish after a 10-story banner for the upcoming film was unveiled in sight of one of the busiest highway interchanges in California. The eye-catching ad, posted on a 15-story building, shows a flaming meteorite flying through the side of a glass office building.
The sign came down Wednesday because no one bothered to get a permit to put it up.
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More fireballs seen in the West; scientists differ on meaning
Author: MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Writer
Date: February 12, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The phone lines to Denver's Museum of Natural History have been buzzing since a fireball streaked across the Colorado sky last month.
That flash of light, caught on a homeowner's security camera, was not an isolated incident; it was followed by at least four more fireball sightings, said Jack Murphy of the museum's geology department. He hopes to find pieces of the celestial objects for the museum's collection. As new reports of sightings...
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Cosmonauts pitch Space Pens, Russian spacesuits in American TV debut
Author: CHRIS OLERT Associated Press Writer
Date: February 7, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The pen was mightier than the word when late-night television crossed the final shopping frontier early Saturday.
Two Russian cosmonauts aboard the Mir space station, appearing live on the QVC shopping channel, set out to hawk the American-made $32.75 Fisher Space Pen, used on NASA space flights since 1967 because it can write in the absence of gravity. As they orbited 200 miles above the Earth, a technical problem kept Commander Anatoly Solovyov and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov...
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Shopping heaven -- cosmonauts to hawk Mars rocks, spacesuits on QVC
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer
Date: February 6, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Just when you thought late-night television couldn't get any weirder, Russian cosmonauts are taking over QVC.
Two cosmonauts will appear on the cable shopping channel live via satellite from the orbiting Mir station Saturday as ex-flight engineer Alexander Lazutkin offers comments from the stage of a New York comedy club. No joke -- the Russians are hawking spacesuits, meteorites and Mars rocks.
Just what they get out of the deal isn't clear. But QVC says...
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In TV shopping orbit: Russian space suits and Mars rocks
Author: RICHARD PYLE Associated Press Writer Date: February 5, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
The glitzy universe of late-night, cable-TV shopping is expanding to include outer space, joining forces with Russia's beleaguered space program to hawk Mars rocks, meteorites and genuine cosmonaut space suits.
QVC, the channel that sold Muhammad Ali's Michigan farm and nearly clinched a deal for the Brooklyn Bridge, has enlisted the help of real cosmonauts from the Mir space station on a program early Saturday. Two cosmonauts will appear live by satellite from...
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Studies say life traces in Mars rock probably came from Earth; NASA scientists disagree
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: January 16, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
NASA scientists who say they found evidence of Martian microbes in a rock that came from Mars are not impressed with two studies that say the rock actually contains organic contaminants from Earth.
In reports published today in the journal Science, researchers at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography conclude that amino acids and carbon found in the Mars rock got there after it landed on Earth and lay on Antarctic ice for thousands of years. The...
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Studies: Life traces in Mars rock probably came from Earth
Author: PAUL RECER AP Science Writer
Date: January 15, 1998 Publication: Associated Press Archive
Organic chemicals found in a Martian rock may be contamination from Earth and not evidence of life on the Red Planet, new studies suggest. But NASA scientists say the reports "don't shake our belief one bit."
Laboratory studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography conclude that amino acids and carbon found in a rock from Mars probably got there after the rock landed on Earth and lay on Antarctic ice for...
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