10 Beautiful Types of Rainbows

When it comes to rainbows, most people think they’ve seen all there is to see. Certainly, we’ve all seen the simple rainbow – and even the most ordinary can be a stunning sight. But rainbows come in more than just one color: there are plenty of less common types of rainbows which can be even more beautiful than the usual kind. Check them out:

10 Primary Rainbows


This is the rainbow we are all most familiar with. The primary rainbow is the single multi-colored arc that usually appears after a rainstorm. Primary rainbows are formed when refracted light is reflected through a water droplet. The intensity of the rainbow’s colors depends on how large the water droplets are. 



9

Secondary Rainbows


If you have seen a primary rainbow, then chances are you have also seen a secondary rainbow. They are also known as double rainbows. A secondary rainbow forms behind the primary rainbow when the light in the water droplet is reflected twice instead of once. The secondary is about twice as wide as the primary rainbow, but is only one-tenth as intense. Its colors are also reversed.



8

Alexander’s Dark Band


Alexander’s Band is technically not a rainbow, but it is associated with the primary and secondary rainbows. An Alexander’s band is the area of sky between the primary and secondary rainbow and it is noticeably darker than the rest of the sky. The single reflected light of the primary brightens the sky inside and the double reflected light of the secondary brightens the sky outside of it. To our eyes, it appears that the sky is darker between the primary and secondary rainbows. 



7

Supernumerary Rainbows


Supernumerary rainbows are also known as stacker rainbows, and occur rather infrequently. They consist of several faint rainbows on the inner side of the primary – and more rarely, they appear outside of the secondary. They are formed by small but similarly sized raindrops, and by the interference of light which reflects once, but travels along a different path inside the raindrop. 



 

6

Red Rainbows


Red rainbows – also called monochrome rainbows – are formed after rainfall during sunrise or sunset. The shorter wavelengths of the spectrum, such as blue and green, are scattered by dust and air molecules. This leaves the remaining light to display the colors with the longest wavelengths, red and yellow, to finally form the red rainbow.

5

Cloud Rainbows


Cloud rainbows form from small water droplets in clouds and damp air, rather than from raindrops. They appear white because the water drops are very small in size (bigger water drops are more able to reflect the spectrum colours). Cloud rainbows are much broader than normal rainbows, and are most likely to form over water. They can also form over land, so long as the fog is thin enough for the sun’s rays to shrine through.



 

4

Twinned Rainbows


Twinned rainbows are not the same as the double rainbow – they’re actually very rare. They’re made up of two rainbow arcs that stem from a single base point, and they’re caused when a combination of small and large water droplets fall from the sky. The large drops are forced to flatten by air resistance, while the smaller drops are kept in shape by its surface tension. The water droplets then form their own rainbow, which may come together to form twinned rainbows.



 

3

Reflected and Reflection Rainbows


Reflected and reflection rainbows – which are not the same thing, despite their similar names – only form over water. A reflected rainbow is the most commonly seen: it appears when light is deflected off the water droplets and then reflected off the water before we have time to process the light with our eyes.
A reflection rainbow is what appears when light reflects off the water before it is deflected off the water droplets. Reflection rainbows are not nearly as visible as a reflected rainbow, because of the specific conditions they require.



 

2

Rainbow Wheels



Rainbow wheels are formed when dark clouds or dense rain showers prevent the light from reaching your eye. The shadowed raindrops do not allow you to see the colours of the rainbow. The result is a rainbow that can resemble a wagon wheel, with large spokes centered towards a specific point. If the clouds are moving quickly across the sky, then the rainbow wheel can appear to rotate.



 

1

Lunar Rainbows


Lunar rainbows are rainbows that are formed at night by moonlight. However, moonlight is very weak and lunar rainbows are very rarely seen. The best time to see them, logically, is on the night of a full moon while it’s raining. The sky must also be very dark, which means that lunar rainbows appear very dull or white because the colour of the night is not bright enough to activate the cone cells (colour receptors) in our eyes.

Top 10 Amazing Earth Facts

As well known and well traveled as our planet is, there are still new things being discovered every day. In fact, most of our oceans haven’t even been explored yet which is why when new depths are located; they often come with hundreds of new species. Rain forests offer up new animals and plants as often as we can explore them. The Earth is constantly changing, shifting, and exposing new secrets for humans to marvel at. It took many years and many great minds to solve the problem of getting through Earth’s atmosphere into the wide expanse of space beyond. Here are ten amazing facts about our home that you may not be aware of.

10. The Atmosphere

Many layers of atmosphere coat our planet including the mesosphere, ionosphere, exosphere, and the thermosphere, but it’s the troposphere, closest to the planet itself, that supports our lives and is, in fact, the thinnest at only about 10 miles high.

9. Deserts

Believe it or not, most of the Earth’s deserts are not composed entirely of sand. Much, about 85% of them, are rocks and gravel. The largest, the Sahara, fills about 1/3 of Africa (and it is growing constantly) which would nearly fill the continental United States.

8. The Big Blue Marble

The Earth is, in fact, not really round. It is called an oblate spheroid meaning it’s slightly flattened on the top and bottom poles.

7. Salty Oceans

If you could evaporate all the water out of all the oceans and spread the resulting salt over all the land on Earth, you would have a five hundred-foot layer coating everything.

6. Lakes and Seas

The largest inland sea (or, sometimes called a lake) is the Caspian Sea which is on the border of Iran and Russia.

5. Mountains

The Andes Mountain range in South America is 4,525 miles long and ranks, as the world’s longest. Second Longest: The Rockies; Third: Himalayas; Fourth: The Great Dividing Range in Australia; Fifth: Trans-Antarctic Mountains. For every 980 feet you climb up a mountain, the temperature drops 3-1/2 degrees.

4. Deep Water

The deepest lake in the world is in the former USSR and it is Lake Baikal. It has a length of 400 miles, a width of roughly 30, but its depth is just over a mile: 5,371 feet down. It is deep enough, so is speculated, that all five of the next largest lakes: The Great Lakes could be emptied into it.

3. Shaky Ground

Earthquakes can be catastrophically destructive and many a year are deadly. However, the Earth releases about 1 million a year, almost all are never even registered.

2. Hot, Hot, Hot

Most people believe that Death Valley, California, U.S.A. is the hottest place on Earth. Well, occasionally it is, but the hottest recorded temperature was from Azizia in Libya recording a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius) on Sept. 13, 1922. In Death Valley, it got up to 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

1. Dust in the Wind

Experts from the USGS claim that roughly 1,000 tons of space debris rains down on Earth every year.

Audi

The fast-growing German brand will start off the year by adding automatic versions of the TT 1.8 TFSI and 2.0 TDI from about March.

The second quarter will see just five examples of the R8 GT Spyder available for wealthy customers wanting to feel the wind through their hair at high speed.

The third quarter will herald the arrival of three sporty new models; the S6 sedan, S7 Sportback and S8. All three cars are powered by the same all-new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 but in two different states of tune.

The S6 and S7 use a 309kW/550Nm version coupled to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The bigger S8 gets a more powerful 383kw/650Nm output and an eight-speed automatic transmission.

All three cars sportier design touches including a lower ride height, new bumpers and grilles and 19-inch alloy wheels.

Bentley

The Continental GTC Convertible will arrive in March, just in time to escape the heat of summer. The open-air cruiser packs a 6.0-litre W12 that pumps out 423kW and 700Nm mated to a six-speed automatic gearbox.

July will see the introduction of the much-anticipated Continental GT V8. Designed to cut the company’s CO2 emissions and fuel consumption figure, the new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is shared with the Audi S6, S7 Sportback and S8.The new engine is good for 373kW and 660Nm, so while it may cut fuel use it shouldn’t be slow.

BMW

Arriving February is the manic new M5 sedan. The high-performance saloon packs a new 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 producing 412kW/680Nm and is available only with a seven-speed dual-clutch auto.

The big sedan covers the 0-100km/h sprint in just 4.4 seconds, and is expected to be priced at about $240,000.

BMW will join the four-door “coupe” segment in mid-year 2012 with the new 6-Series Gran Coupe. It will compete against the likes of similarly swoopy German rivals such as Mercedes-Benz’s CLS and Audi’s A7, when it arrives in the third quarter of 2012, sitting alongside BMW’s two-door 6-Series coupe and convertible models with an expected starting price of at least $175,000.

The 6-Series Gran Coupe will be available in three trim levels: the 640i, which is powered by a six-cylinder turbo engine producing 235kW/450Nm; the 650i, with a 330kW/650Nm twin-turbo V8; and the 640d, which gets a six-cylinder twin-turbo diesel producing 230kW/630Nm, however it is not yet confirmed for Australia.

The 6-Series two-door coupe and convertible will receive a halo “M” model, the M6, late in 2012. It’s expected to be powered by a 4.4-litre twin turbocharged V8 pumping out 412kW/680Nm.

Chrysler

The new version of the gansta-style 300C sedan will be headlined by the new SRT8. Powered by a 6.4-litre Hemi V8 the range-topping 300C will have its sights set on snatching sales from HSV and FPV.

Ferrari

The radical four-seat, four-wheel-drive FF arrives in January, priced from a cool $625,000 plus on-road costs. Powered by a 6.3-litre, 486kW V12, the FF is designed to offer fans of the Prancing Horse a more practical alternative to the brand’s hard-edged sports cars.

Ferrari describes it as “a decisive break with the past”, and says the combination of more space, added practicality and four-wheel-drive traction will appeal to buyers who want to use their Ferrari every day.

The FF will be followed in June by the Spider version of the stunning 458 Italia. The Spider is more performance-focused than the grand tourer California, and will come with a price tag of about $600,000.

At about the same time the California is expected to get an engine and transmission upgrade that will bring it in line with the 458. The California currently has a 4.3-litre V8 putting out 338kW, while the 458 has a 4.5-litre V8 putting out 425kW.

Production of the 599 finished a couple of months ago so there could be a new model unveiled at the Geneva motor show early next year. It would be unlikely to reach our shores before the end of next year, though.

FPV

A fresh-faced FPV range makes its debut alongside the restyled Falcon FG Mark II early next year, but otherwise Ford's go-fast division is keeping its plans well and truly under wraps.

The update introduces styling tweaks to bring the brand more in line with the Mondeo-esque "kinetic" signature that's creeping across the entire Ford brand. Apart from the cosmetic changes on the outside, expect a touch-screen control panel, and on upmarket models, a "green route" calculator for the satellite navigation system.

Turning back the clock may give a few small clues as to what to expect on the limited-edition front this year - 2012 marks the 45th anniversary of the XR Falcon GT, so an anniversary showpiece could be in the works.

HSV

The performance arm of Holden typically plays its cards extremely close to its chest, so no admissions from the maker of a range of Commodore-based V8s on what may – or may not – be arriving.

But with the brand gearing up to celebrate its 25th anniversary there’s little doubt there will be some popping of champagne corks that will involve a range of limited edition models.

No word on whether a new engine will arrive with the special editions, though, although our spies tell us it’s unlikely. While the power of the HSV V8 engines hasn’t changed much in recent years, those of its main rival, FPV, have with the addition of a supercharged V8.

HSV is also working on a supercharged engine, although best guesses have it arriving in 2013. Still, HSV has been a global leader with the introduction of new technologies (consumer-friendly data logging being the most obvious) so it would be fair to assume there could be something in the wings when it comes to the wow factor.

Hyundai

February marks the start of an important year for the Korean car maker with the arrival of the funky Veloster three-door coupe in February.

It's a bit like the Mini Clubman, in that it has a rear-opening suicide door on the driver's side to give access to the rear seats. It won't have the fireball under the bonnet to match the looks, as it's likely to use the already familiar 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to either a six-speed auto or manual gearbox.

It's not confirmed yet, but 2012 could just herald the introduction of the Veloster wearing a turbocharged 1.6-litre engine. It could add the sparkle under the bonnet to back up the svelte lines of the compact coupe.

Jaguar

March will see the launch of Jaguar's XKR-S Convertible.

Powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine producing 405kW of power and 680Nm of torque, the drop-top version of the XKR-S matches the manic performance of coupe version with a 0-100km/h time of just 4.4 seconds.

Jaguar presumably opted for a soft top rather than a folding metal roof to save weight. The roof opens and closes in 18 seconds, and the overall impact on the car's kerb weight is just 42 kilograms. Jaguar claims that despite losing its roof, the XKR-S is "the stiffest car in its class" thanks to its lightweight aluminium architecture.

Along with chopping off the roof, Jaguar has made a number of adjustments to the underpinnings. The drop-top XKR-S gets revised front and rear suspension that Jaguar claims "means increased agility, precision and control without sacrificing comfort".

It also receives a revised stability control system that "allows the enthusiastic driver to safely exploit the exhilarating handling".

Jeep

It’ll only sell in small numbers but the Grand Cherokee SRT8 will give the Jeep brand a new hero model when it arrives in March.

It will use the same 347kW/630Nm 6.4-litre Hemi V8 found in the Chrysler 300C SRT8, making it a bahnstormer, at least in a straight line.

Lamborghini

With its $754,000 Aventador flagship supercar in full swing, the House of the Raging Bull will continue to set fans’ tongues wagging with two more editions of its Gallardo ‘entry level’ supercar.

Priced from $451,800 (plus on-road and dealer costs), the rear-wheel-drive Gallardo LP550-2 Spyder – Italian speak for convertible – arrives in March some $63,000 less than its all-paw sibling, the LP560-4.

Arriving around the same time will be “the most extreme Gallardo ever” – the track-focused LP570-4 Super Trofeo Stradale.

Priced between $580,000 and $590,000 (before on-road costs), the final Gallardo derivative will also be the ageing model’s most expensive and exclusive, with only 150 examples built.

The 1340kg Super Trofeo features a race-style aerodynamics package including a huge adjustable carbon-fibre rear spoiler and quick-release removable engine cover and is powered by an unchanged 419kW/540Nm 5.2-litre V10.

Lotus

Lotus’s supercharged Evora S will get a new Serial Precision Shift (SPS) automatic transmission with paddle shifters in the first quarter of the year.

A self-shifting version of the Elise will also arrive next year, while in the third quarter the Exige V6 lands Down Under with a supercharged V6 putting out 257kW and capable of launching the car from 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds.

Australia has also put up its hand for the 327kW Evora GTE, and that could conceivably make it here before the end of the year.

Maserati

The GranCabrio Sport arrives this month. It uses a more powerful and more fuel efficient version of the 4.7-litre V8 in the standard car, with power rising to 331kW and torque to 510Nm.

The car’s transmission and suspension have also been fettled to improve performance, while exterior styling cues give it a more aggressive appearance. 

A new version of the Quattroporte sedan should arrive in Europe towards the end of the year, but won’t make it here until 2013.

Mercedes-Benz

Benz’s first model out of the gate is the drop-top version of the SLS AMG flagship this month.

The SLS AMG Roadster eschews the Gullwing’s unique top-hinged doors for conventional items and a canvas roof and is powered by the same 420kW/650Nm 6.2-litre V8. Despite carrying a 40kg weight penalty, the Roadster matches the Gullwing’s 0-100 km/h time of 3.8 seconds.

Priced from $487,500 (plus on-road and dealer costs), the SLS Roadster is $18,680 more expensive than the Gullwing.

More AMG models will follow with the SLK55 AMG Roadster (March) and the exclusive C63 AMG Black Series Coupe (from $245,000), which has already sold out before it arrives in April.

Mercedes-Benz’s “fastest-ever C-Class” dashes from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds (0.3 seconds faster than the ‘standard’ C63 Coupe) courtesy of a 380kW/620Nm 6.2-litre V8 – up by 44kW and 20Nm.

The new M-Class SUV’s top-end ML63 AMG performance variant will arrive featuring the performance arm’s latest 386kW/700Nm 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8, which is claimed to be almost 30 per cent more efficient than the current model’s naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8.

Mini

Mini will introduce a pair of new models in February. The Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster – not to be confused with the Mini Cooper and Mini Cabriolet – boast slightly more slippery styling and are aimed more at the performance-focused end of the market.

The “helmet-head” coupe will be priced at $42,990 in Cooper S guise, powered by a 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder producing 135kW and 260Nm. A John Cooper Works version is also due to debut, expected to be priced about $50,000.

The Roadster version is due on sale at the same time and while pricing isn’t yet confirmed, you should expect it to cost at least $2000 more than the Coupe in both Cooper S and JCW guises.

Nissan

The brand’s performance car hero, the GT-R, will receive another yearly update around March. This time around, the GT-R will gain more power (again!), with the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 now good for 405kW and 632Nm of torque (up from 390kW/612Nm).

A few interior updates will also appear, including an upgraded stereo and revised instrument cluster.

Opel

The newly-formed local arm of General Motors German brand is also keen to secure the Astra GTC – a turbocharged three-door performance model - as a “hero” car for its launch around August, but is yet to lock it in.

Porsche

It’s a big year for Porsche, with the arrival in March of the new generation 911, codenamed 991.

The all-new 911 – it’s the biggest ever change to the iconic model – will initially be offered as the Carrera and Carrera S coupes.

Price rises in the order of 3 to 4 per cent over the soon-to-be-superseded 997 models will be offset by the addition of a fuel-saving stop-start system and other fuel management technology, plus the company's first seven-speed manual gearbox and increased use of lightweight aluminium panels.

The drop-top version of the 991 911 arrives one month later, in April, but the halo 911 Turbo model won't arrive for at least another year.

An all-new Boxster convertible will break cover internationally in January and is expected here in the second half of the year. Expect a similarly dramatic change to what occurred with the new 911, although the styling will continue in the same vein. 

However, the Cayman - a coupe version of the Boxster – is unlikely to be refreshed until 2013 at the earliest.

Porsche also expects to roll out the range-topping GTS version of its four-door sedan, the Panamera, in April.

Skoda

The Czech brand’s new hot hatch will launch in the second quarter.

The Fabia vRS is powered by the same 1.4-litre supercharged and turbocharged engine that powers the Polo GTI.

The 132kW engine will be matched to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. Skoda says it will sprint from 0-100km/h in a lively 7.3 seconds.

Subaru

The biggest news in 2012 for Subaru is the arrival of the BRZ, the brand’s first ground-up sports car (as opposed to regular car made to go fast) in more than a decade.

Jointly developed with Toyota (it will be selling the almost identical 86 coupe) Subaru will initially have the challenging task of explaining that the four-wheel-drive systems it’s largely developed its brand on need not apply in this case.

Once over that, though, there’s a great value little sports car to be had – and all for less than $40,000. The 147kW 2.0-litre engine may look modest on paper but makes for perky performance once mated to the lightweight two-door body.

Although the brand’s new Impreza hatch and sedan arrive in 2012, the WRX and STI versions of that car – if they remain based on it – aren’t expected until 2013.

Suzuki

Suzuki will launch the Swift Sport early this year - a higher-powered hero version of its small city car.

When it arrives in March it will get rid of the low-out 1.4-cylinder engine seen in more civilised Swifts, replacing it with a 100kW 1.6-litre powerplant. A six-speed manual is already confirmed, but Suzuki has already hinted at a self-shifting version, too.

Toyota

The hotly-awaited 86 coupe goes on sale in around June with an expected sub-$35,000 starting price.

The 86 marks the return of ‘badge engineering’ where car makers amortise development costs by jointly building one car that basically wear different badges. The sleek coupe is powered by a Subaru-sourced 147kW/205Nm 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder “boxer” engine.

Its name harks back to the rear-wheel-drive AE86 Corolla of the mid-1980s, which remains popular among ‘drift’ enthusiasts today.

Volkswagen

The German brand’s new model activity kicks off in January with dealerships receiving stock of the sporty Scirocco R two-door. Some cars arrived late last year, but this month will be the first full month on sale for the turbocharged sports coupe.

The car, which is powered by the same 188kW engine as the Golf R, was launched overseas in 2008 but local management originally baulked at importing it for fear of cannibalising sales of the Golf R three-door. With the three-door Golf now gone, the Scirocco has been deemed suitable for local consumption.

Prices start at $47,490 for the six-speed manual and $49,990 for the six-speed dual-clutch auto.

The End of the World in 2012? An Astronomer’s Evidence

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell FRS, centre in the photograph, spoke on the above topic at our London Centre on 15 February.

Imagine ten months from now, it is the morning of the 21st December the last Friday before Christmas, schools are breaking up and people are frantically doing their last minute shopping. 

The clock turns to 11:11 it does not turn to 11:12 because the World has been destroyed and we are all dead! Many people believe this will actually happen, in fact an industry has sprung up publishing books and releasing a blockbuster film to cash in on this ‘prophesy’. 

If there is the remotest chance that such a catastrophe could occur then why are crisis meetings not being held at the UN? Why are underground shelters not being excavated under mountain ranges? 

Why are food, fuel and medicines not being stockpiled? Why are survival colonies not being constructed in orbit or on the Moon? The answer is simple: It is all complete nonsense!

On 15 February the branch was fortunate enough to have Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell speak to a packed Rutherford lecture theatre about this so-called prophesy of doom. 

Her lecture came about because while lecturing in the United States somebody would always ask her ‘Is the World going to end in 2012?’ Being a responsible scientist she decided to research the subject.

It all has to do with an ancient civilisation called the Maya that flourished in what is now Mexico in the two millennia before Christ. They were accomplished mathematicians and astronomers. They produced calendars that spanned long periods of time. 

Their last calendar which started on 11 August 3114 BC will end on 21 December 2012 AD. Some people have speculated that the Maya did not extend their calendar beyond this date because they somehow ‘knew’ the World would end on that day - that’s it!

Dame Jocelyn made it very clear that there is no historical or archaeological evidence that the Maya intended the end of their calendar to mark the end of the world. 

She believes the Maya would have treated it in the same way we celebrated Millennium Night - with a party and a day off! She believes 11:11 AM 21st December 2012 was chosen because it is the northern hemisphere winter solstice when the Earth is at full tilt and the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky. 

This makes sense, a precise astronomical event that you can use to start the next calendar. The Mayan calendars were also inscribed in stone, they may simply have not had a rock big enough to go further into the future!

As the calendar ends with an astronomical event Dame Jocelyn decided to survey geophysical and astronomical threats that could befall the Earth. These include:

• Geomagnetic Field Reversals
• Solar Storms
• Asteroid Impact
• The planet Nibiru
• Planetary alignments perturbing the Earth’s orbit

There is evidence that in the past the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field has changed direction - flipped. Towing a magnetometer across the Atlantic sea floor has revealed mirror images of alternating directions of magnetisation either side of the mid-Atlantic ridge. A crustal construction zone, magma swells up and spreads creating new sea floor. As the magma cools and solidifies it is magnetised by the geomagnetic field leaving a record in the rock of the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field. 

From this we see that the geomagnetic field reverses on average every 300,000 years (the last was 750,000 years ago so we are well overdue). Many living things, including birds, can sense the geomagnetic field and use it for navigation. 

They would obviously be affected by a reversal but a flip does not occur overnight, it takes about 5,000 years to complete, giving animals time to adapt. As Dame Jocelyn points out, there have been eleven reversals since our tool making ancestors H.habilis evolved two and a half million years ago - and we are still here!

Our Sun also has a magnetic field which periodically reverses but despite being a much more massive body a solar field reversal occurs in much less time. 

The interval between maxima (when the Sun’s magnetic field is at full strength) is approximately eleven years. Maxima are also when sunspots and solar storms are most numerous. A solar storm is a jet of protons and electrons emitted from the Sun. 

When these particles strike the upper atmosphere they give rise to beautiful auroras. The last maxima was in the year 2000 the next will be in 2013 (not 2012). Dame Jocelyn reminded us that a solar storm has never killed anybody or caused a building to collapse although they can disable satellites and we are now more dependant on satellite services such as GPS. She produced a chart of number of sunspots against date. 

The peaks corresponding to maxima were very clear but also noticeable was that the peaks were in groups of lower and higher amplitude. It is predicted the 2013 maxima will be the lowest in a hundred years.

A threat we are very familiar with is asteroid impact. A massive impact 65 million years ago is believed to have caused an extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. Dame Jocelyn produced an image of Barringer crater in Arizona. 

This mile wide crater is believed to have been made by an object 50 metres in diameter. The object that exterminated the dinosaurs is believed to have been a kilometre across. The Earth is struck by an asteroid this size every 50 to 100 million years so again we are due for another impact.

Last October a small asteroid passed between the Earth and the Moon. Around the globe several telescopes are dedicated to Near Earth Object Monitoring. 

The speaker showed a photograph of the Pan Starrs telescopes under construction in Hawaii which will scan the night sky for objects under 200m in diameter that come close to the Earth. 

Interestingly Dame Jocelyn stated that the technology to deflect an asteroid is already available. She said the worst thing we could do is to try and blow it up using a nuclear weapon - a la Bruce Willis - this would create millions of objects to track. 

A better way is to coat the object with a white deposit or erect a solar sail on it and use the radiation pressure of sunlight to push it out of harm’s way. The only NEO astronomers are concerned about is an asteroid called 1950DA which will come uncomfortably close to the Earth in 2880. Nibiru is a planet that was supposed to have been discovered by the ancient Sumerians about 2500 BC. The pseudo-science community have suggested this planet will collide with the Earth in December. There are many problems with Nibiru: Why did not other stargazing civilisations such as the Mesopotamians, Babylonians and the Chinese also discover it? Nibiru is said to have an orbital period of 3600 years (Pluto 248 years) this means it has a very large orbit but to collide with the Earth its perihelion point must lie inside the Earth’s orbit. This can only come about if Nibiru’s orbit is unbelievably eccentric. At the time of ‘discovery’ Nibiru would have been ten times the distance to Pluto against a very crowded starfield background. 

Assuming the Sumerians had not discovered the telescope then to be a naked eye object at that distance Nibiru would have to be 150 times the size of the Sun and have a mass of 3.3 million Solar masses - we are not taking about a planet! Dame Jocelyn did mention the possibility that Nibiru could be a brown dwarf - a star that did not quite make it. 

The Sun is unusual in that it is solitary, most stars are in multiple star-systems. Our nearest stellar neighbour, proxima centauri, is part of a trinary star system. However a brown dwarf would be a daylight object even at four astronomical units.

Occasionally the planets line up in what is called a conjunction where they can all be seen in a small area of sky. Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction on the 13th of March. 

Could the combined gravitational pull of the other planets pull the Earth into a different orbit? The speaker produced a pie chart showing the relative gravitational influence of the other bodies on the Earth. Nearly all the chart was due to the Sun with a thin sector representing the Moon. 

The combined contribution of the other planets is one two hundredths of the Moon and could not be seen on this scale. In 2000 five planets and the Sun where in conjunction with the Earth. In 1962 five planets, the Sun and the Moon were in conjunction. There are no major conjunctions in 2012. At the centre of all galaxies lies a monster - a supermassive black hole. The speaker showed a clip of stars orbiting an invisible object at the centre of our galaxy. It can be viewed below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7vcSKbXnLJA

One star can be seen to describe a complete orbit. Another star, designated SO-45, moves in a straight line. When asked about this Dame Jocelyn suggested its orbital plane is edge-on to our line of sight.  Could an alignment of the Sun and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way throw the Earth out of the Solar System? Coincidentally the Sun and Black Hole are in conjunction on the 21st December. As supermassive black holes go the one at the centre of our galaxy is a tiddler, weighing in at a mere four million solar masses. 

The galactic centre is also 26000 light years away. In short the gravitational pull of the Sun on the Earth is one hundred billion times stronger than the black hole.

Surprisingly the one threat the discoverer of pulsars did not discuss was supernovae. The red supergiant Betelgeuse is regarded as a potential supernova and astronomers have recently noticed an unusual variation in its light curve indicating it is becoming unstable. Fortunately it is 640 light years away so when it does go off we will get an impressive light show but no damage.

Dame Jocelyn concluded her lecture by asking what was going on? Why do so many people choose to believe in the most fantastic, unsubstantiated theories? As she says we are not rational beings. 

She showed us one of her favourite websites www.manyendings.com. This site lists doom prophecies that were going around in various years and there are a surprising number of them. In 1954 a cult predicted the end of the World. 

The American psychologist Leon Festinger used his graduate students to infiltrate the cult in order to study them. They patiently waited for the appointed hour and waited and waited and waited until at two in the morning the cult leader announced he had received a revelation that God was so happy with the devotion of the group he had decided to postpone the apocalypse! To the psychologists surprise this did not undermine the faith of the cultists, the opposite happened, it reinforced it! 

This was a laughable example of cults others have been very tragic. In 1997 comet Hale-Bopp was visible from Earth, a UFO cult in California believed a spacecraft was in the tail that would take them to a new planet but they would first have to surrender all their worldly possessions including their bodies. Police later found the remains of 39 cult members. Dame Jocelyn reminded us the Internet can be used to disseminate misinformation. One site, belonging to the ‘Institute of Human Continuity’ makes several references to the Columbia Pictures film ‘2012’ and is believed to be a subtle form of advertising for the film. 

The speaker said one way you could recognise it was not an academic site is that it is too professional! 

She recommended people should receive their information from real academic sites such as iop.org and look for sites ending in .ac.uk and .edu. Finally Dame Jocelyn said that to stop people believing in doom prophesies we must improve our teaching and communication of science. So don’t use the Maya as an excuse for not doing Christmas this year, get the turkey on order!

“War on Iran Will Trigger World War III”

“Our defensive power has been created on the basis of our defensive strategy and the  presumption ruling our defensive strategy is that we will enter an massive battle with a US-led coalition.”  Brigadier General Hossein Salami, IRGC Deputy Commander, September  2012)

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Both the US and Israel have threatened to implement a preemptive first strike attack against Iran, the consequences of which would be devastating.

Responding to these ongoing threats, Iran’s Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) General Amir Ali Hajizadeh has warned that a US-Israeli military attack against Iran could lead to the outbreak of a Third World War. He also intimated that Israel cannot launch a war without the green-light from the US.

If such a war were to be launched, according to General Hajizadeh, a scenario of uncontrolled military escalation  is likely to occur.   If attacked, Iran would retaliate against both Israeli and US targets including US military facilities in neighboring countries (ie. Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Gulf States):

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force General Amir Ali Hajizadeh warned the US and the Zionist regime [Israel] that an attack on Iran will likely trigger World War III.

Speaking to the Arabic news network, Al-Alam on Sunday, General Hajizadeh said the US and the Israeli regime may not enter war with Iran “independent from each other, meaning that either one of these two starts the war, it will be joined by the other one”.

“We see the US and the Zionist regime standing fully on the side of each other and we cannot imagine the Zionist regime initiating a war without the US backup. Due to the same reason, if a war breaks out, we will definitely wage battle on both sides and will definitely be engaged with the US bases,” he said.

“In case such conditions arise, a series of incidents will take place which will not be controllable and manageable and such a war might turn into a third world war. That means, certain countries may enter the war for or against Iran,” added the general.

The IRGC commander warned that in case such war is waged on Iran, the US bases in “those countries around us and inside the neighboring countries will be targeted and they will even be threatened by the nations of these very states”. (Fars News Agency, September 23, 2012, emphasis added)

The World is at a dangerous crossroads. The statement of General Hajizadeh must be taken seriously.

Active war preparations against Iran have been ongoing for the last eight years. Since 2005, the US and its allies, including America’s NATO partners and Israel, have been involved in the extensive deployment and stockpiling of advanced weapons systems. The air defense systems of the US, NATO member countries and Israel are fully integrated. Israel cannot act without the support of its allies.

This is a coordinated endeavor of the Pentagon, NATO and Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) directed against Iran. Several non-NATO partner countries including the frontline Arab states (members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative)  are also involved.

Media Disinformation

Public opinion, swayed by media hype is tacitly supportive, indifferent or ignorant as to the likely impacts of what is upheld as an ad hoc “punitive” operation directed against Iran’s nuclear facilities rather than an all out war.

The war on Iran is presented to public opinion as an issue among others. It is not viewed as a threat to humanity. Quite the opposite: it is viewed as a humanitarian endeavor.

Retaliation

The Western media is beating the drums of war. The purpose is to tacitly instil, through repeated media reports, ad nauseam, within people’s inner consciousness, the notion that the Iranian threat is real and that the Islamic Republic should be “taken out”.

Iran has significant military capabilities. The fact that an attack on Iran could lead to retaliation and escalation which could potentially unleash a “global war” is not a matter of concern.

While the Islamic Republic does not constitute a threat to the security of Israel,  Iran’s military brass has emphasized that in the case of an attack on Iran, retaliation against Israel is contemplated, with potentially devastating consequences:

On Saturday, IRGC’s top Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said an enemy invasion of Iran is possible, but such a war would put an end to the life of the Zionist regime of Israel.

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“War may break out, but if Zionists [Israeli government] start something, that will be the point of their annihilation and the endpoint of their story,” he added.

Jafari, meantime, underlined that “no one dares to wage an extensive ground assault on Iran”.

The General said if the enemy were wise, there wouldn’t be any problem, “but the problem is that there is no guarantee for this rationality and we should be prepared too.

Later yesterday, his deputy, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, cautioned that any possible attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime would provide an opportunity for Tehran to wipe the regime off the earth.

“If the Zionists embark on attacking Iran, it will provide a historical opportunity for the Islamic Revolution to wipe them off the world’s geographical history,” Salami said on Saturday night on the state-run TV.

“We are now through with concerns about the Zionist regime’s threats,” he said, adding that Israel has bitter memories of its last-decade wars with the regional allies of the Islamic Republic, including Hezbollah and Hamas Movement.

“(Given the above-mentioned failures) how does it (the Zionist regime) want to be a threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran?” Salami asked.

He, meantime, underlined Iran’s preparedness to confront any aggression against the country, and said, “Our defensive power has been created on the basis of our defensive strategy and the presumption ruling our defensive strategy is that we will enter an massive battle with a US-led coalition.”

On Friday, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi also warned that Tehran would reciprocate any aggression against the country with an “immediate” and “non-stop” response, stressed.

“We do not feel threatened by the boastful remarks of Zionist leaders, because they are creatures with deep fright who continue crying out since they know that Iran’s response to threats will be readymade, immediate and non-stop,” Major General Firouzabadi told reporters on the sidelines of September 21 military parades marking the anniversary of the Week of Sacred Defense here in Tehran on Friday morning.

“The Zionist regime officials have declared in their (military) estimates that military operations against Iran neither can be done by Israel nor is useful for them,” he added.

He also stated that Iran’s armed forces today are unpredictable and their strategy and actions cannot be foreseen by the enemies.

The Sacred Defense Week, commemorating Iranians’ sacrifices during the 8 years of Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980s, started on Friday with nationwide parades by various units of the Islamic Republic Army, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basij (volunteer) forces in Southern Tehran. (Fars News Agency, September 23, 2012, emphasis added)

Reverse the Tide of War

We call upon our readers to spread the message far and wide.

We call upon people across the land, in America,  Western Europe, Israel, Turkey and around the world to rise up against this military project, against their governments which are supportive of military action against Iran, against the media which serves to camouflage the devastating implications of a war against Iran.The people of Israel are largely united against Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resolve to attack Iran.

A protocol of non-aggression should be reached between Israel and Iran.