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Ancient Eclipse Found in "The Odyssey," Scientists SayRichard A. Lovett for National Geographic NewsJune 23, 2008 "The sun has perished out of heaven, and an evil mist has overspread the world." With those words in The Odyssey, Homer laid down not a prophecy of doom but a description of a real-world total solar eclipse, scientific sleuths announced today. It has been known for decades that there was only one such eclipse during the time period Homer wrote about in the ancient Greek poem—on April 16, 1178 B.C. The blackout even occurred at noon, as described in the epic poem. But...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An orbiting spacecraft has found evidence of what look like seven caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano, the space agency NASA said on Friday. The Mars Odyssey spacecraft has sent back images of very dark, nearly circular features that appear to be openings to underground spaces. "They are cooler than the surrounding surface in the day and warmer at night," said Glen Cushing of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Team and Northern Arizona University. "Their thermal behavior is not as steady as large caves on Earth that often maintain a fairly constant temperature, but it...

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has discovered entrances to seven possible caves on the slopes of a Martian volcano. The find is fueling interest in potential underground habitats and sparking searches for caverns elsewhere on the Red Planet. Very dark, nearly circular features ranging in diameter from about 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet) puzzled researchers who found them in images taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor orbiters. Using Mars Odyssey's infrared camera to check the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the circles, scientists concluded that they could be windows into underground spaces....

Investors are dancing in the Streets in Tampa, Florida, and it is not even the Gasparilla Festival yet. Treasure salvers occupy a beloved place in Florida lore, and the work of high tech salver Gregg Stem has hit stratospheric heights with today's announcement. In what is believed to be the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a shipwreck, Odyssey Marine Exploration (Amex symbol OMR) has recovered over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, ......

Nasa release on the topography of the south polar region of Mars Scientists studying pictures from Nasa's Odyssey spacecraft have spotted what they think may be seven caves on the surface of Mars.The candidate caves are on the flanks of the Arsia Mons volcano and are of sufficient depth their floors mostly cannot be seen through the opening. Details were presented here at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas. Temperature data from Mars Odyssey's Themis instrument support the idea. The authors say that the possible discovery of caves on the Red Planet is significant. The caves...

LOS ANGELES - Mars' southern polar ice cap is believed to erupt in a violent fit of heated gas every spring in a process that helps explain why the Red Planet has dark spots in that region, scientists said Wednesday. Jets of carbon dioxide gas burst from the ice cap as it warms every spring, carrying dark sand and dust that fall back to the surface as dark splotches, concluded Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, who analyzed images from NASA's Odyssey orbiter. "If you were there, you'd be standing on a slab of carbon dioxide ice," he said in...

Historian and linguist Andrew Dalby is challenging the accepted gender of one of the most influential writers of all time -- the poet who created the Greek epics The Iliad and The Odyssey in the seventh century BC. Dr Dalby said: "There is no direct evidence of the poet's identity and therefore no justification for the customary assumption that the two epics were composed by a man." Women have a long tradition worldwide as makers of oral literature, he said, citing Sappho, the best-known female poet of ancient Greece, and Enheduanna, the woman mentioned on a Sumerian tablet who thus...

Figured out how to put Hres files into Celestia. Takes a minute to load with DSL 2001 Space Odyssey ...sort of.... http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=2001ss_0002

Playing Windows Movie Maker and my toy, Celestia. 9.5 mb Putfile CELESTIA 2001 Space Odyssey.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA has extended the mission of the Mars Odyssey orbiter which has been studying and mapping the Red Planet since early 2002 as well as serving as a relay for data from the surface rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Odyssey's primary mission, which cost $297 million, ended Tuesday. The $35 million extension will fund operations through September 2006, and NASA noted that the spacecraft has enough fuel left to operate through the rest of the decade and the following decade at the current rate of consumption. "Odyssey has accomplished all of its mission-success criteria," said Philip Varghese,...

The tusk, several teeth, and some bones of a Deinotherium giganteum, which, loosely translated means really huge terrible beast, have been found on the Greek island Crete. A distant relative to today's elephants, the giant mammal stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall at the shoulder, and had tusks that were 4.5 feet (1.3 meters) long. It was one of the largest mammals ever to walk the face of the Earth... To paleontologists today, the large hole in the center of the skull suggests a pronounced trunk. To the ancient Greeks, Deinotherium skulls could well be the foundation for their...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 February 21 Melting Snow and the Gullies of Mars Credit: P. Christensen (ASU), THEMIS, Mars Odyssey, NASA Explanation: Tantalizing images of gullies on Mars have offered striking evidence for recent flows of liquid water. But Mars is too cold and its atmosphere too thin for liquid water to exist on the surface. Still a new and compelling explanation for gullies carved by liquid water was inspired by...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 16 Night and Day in Melas Chasma on Mars Credit: Arizona State U., JPL, NASA Explanation: What types of terrain are found on Mars? Part of the answer comes from thermal imaging by the robot spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey currently orbiting Mars. The above picture is a superposition of two infrared images, a black and white image taken during Martian daylight and a false-color image taken...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 1 Rectangular Ridges on Mars Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MGS, JPL, NASA Explanation: What could cause rectangular ridges on Mars? As data flows in from the two spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, surface structures are seen that are not immediately understood. These structures pose puzzles that planetary geologists are eager to solve, as they might provide clues to past processes that have shaped Mars over billions...

Clarke Laments Space Progress Tue Sep 24, 6:18 AM ET By The Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) - "We're lucky to get to Mars in 2020," said renowned science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, lamenting the progress the world has made in space exploration. Clarke, who spoke by telephone from his home in Sri Lanka, was among the participants in an event Monday commemorating the 40th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech at Rice University, where he set forth his goal of landing on the moon. A panel discussion was held at Rice Stadium, site of Kennedy's speech on...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 May 31 In Chandor Chasma on Mars Credit: THEMIS, Mars Odyssey Team, JPL, NASA Explanation: Scroll right and dive into a spectacular canyon on Mars. This daytime infrared view, recently recorded by the THEMIS camera on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft, covers a 30 by 175 kilometer swath running along the canyon floor. The north (left) end of the scene is poised at the edge of...

Underground Ice Reportedly Detected on MarsSun May 26, 9:50 PM ETWASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites)'s Mars Odyssey spacecraft has reportedly detected water ice under the surface of the red planet, according to scientific papers to be published this week, a finding that could be a giant step in exploration of Mars. Many astronomers believe Mars used to have quantities of liquid water on its surface, but they have never agreed on where the water went. Research to be published in this week's edition of the journal Science may help answer that question. Liquid water is seen as...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 May 13 White Rock Fingers on Mars Credit: THEMIS, Mars Odyssey Team, ASU, JPL, NASA Explanation: What caused this unusual white rock formation on Mars? Intrigued by the possibility that they could be salt deposits left over as an ancient lakebed dried-up, detailed studies of these fingers now indicate a more mundane origin: volcanic ash. Studying the exact color of the formation indicated the volcanic origin. The...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 March 22 Odyssey Over Mars Credit: THEMIS, Mars Odyssey Team, JPL, NASA Explanation: Scroll right and journey for 300 kilometers over Terra Sirenum in the cratered highlands of southern Mars. The infrared view, 32 kilometers wide, was recently recorded by the THEMIS camera on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Beginning at the north (left) edge, the scene sweeps across the floor and over the rim of...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 March 15 Neutron Mars Credit: Mars Odyssey, GRS Team, ASU/LPL, NASA Explanation: Looking for water on Mars, researchers using detectors on board the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft have created this false-color global map of energetic neutrons from the otherwise Red Planet. What do neutrons have to do with water? As cosmic rays from interplanetary space penetrate the thin martian atmosphere and reach the surface they interact with...