The Leonid Meteor Shower will be at its peak Thursday, November 18. Springfield Maine will be the best viewing point for the meteor shower as the Earth passes through the Leonid Meteor Stream, but until the moon sets the visibility will be subdued by the light of the moon. Once the moon has set you should be able to see the meteors in a spectacular show of slow moving to fast moving with bright streaks across the northeastern sky.

Astrologers predicts that this year’s Leonid meteor shower will not be as spectacular as it has been previous years due to the interference of the light of the moon causing the meteor stream to be a more subdued show.

In years past there have been astounding shows including the massive display in 1833 lasting over 9 hours and showing off 240,009 meteors streaking across the sky accompanied with a spectacular light display.

Benoit B Mandelbrot passed away on Thursday in Cambridge Massachusetts.

He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer. Dr. Mandelbrot was 85 when he died. He is probably best know as the father of fractal geometry. In addition he was also know for his math findings that were named the Mandelbrot set. He was a world famous mathematician and his work made it possible to measure items that were thought impossible to measure at one time. Things with irregular outlines, such as clouds and the coastline. Dr Mendelbrot was born in Warsaw Poland and moved to France when he was still a child. In 1955 he married Aliette Kagan. Dr Mandelbrot had been a professor Emeritus at Yale university.

France’s President paid tribute to Dr Mandelbrot and stated that he was proud to have had Benoit Mendelbrot live in France. The President also mentioned that Dr. Mandelbrot had been critical of the banking industry and the way they were doing things, but that his warnings were ignored.

Benoit Mandelbrot was Knighted by the French in 2006, he has earned the Lewis Richardson prize, the Japan prize, and the Wolf prize. He was also honored by having an asteroid named after him, 27500 Mandelbrot. His great mind will be remembered and missed.

Whatever alien life may be out there, it sure seems to have a fascination with the Chinese culture. Several times this year, UFOs have been reported as hovering near airports. The first occurrence took place back in June, causing that airport to shut down for over an hour as the bright object in the sky hovered about two miles away from the airport. There were many air traffic delays, but the craft seemed to simply vanish into thin air.

Earlier this month, another UFO over an airport sighting took place in Inner Mongolia. The object was described as having lights forming a diamond pattern and hovering near the airport. The object hovered for a bit before it too vanished as if it were never there. Flight delays were only minor. Some have said it was a UFO while local authorities claim that the object was a military test craft.

What reaction do you think that the military was hoping to get out of making the Chinese people think that alien life forms have taken an interest in their airports?

Perhaps they were just scavenging for parts?

Whatever the objects may be or were, they still remain unidentified to the people who witnessed the events.

New Planet Found 20 Light Years Away

Earlier this week, Astronomers discovered a new planet, Gilese 581G. According to astronomers, this new planet could actual have inhabitants, as it is close to earth in its attributes, however it’s daytime on the planet all throughout the year, the sun shines continuously 24 hours a day.

Even though evidence show that the planet can sustain extraterrestrial life, astronomers still do not know if the planet has any form of intelligent life. Edward Seidel from The National Science Foundation stated, “If we do discover life outside our planet, it would perhaps be the most significant discovery of all time.

Gliese 581g is 20 light years away from the Earth, so it may be years before any more information is known about the planer or if the is other life forms out there.

Gliese 581g, New Planet Discovered 2010, New Earth?

A planet 20 light years away from Earth will be able to be habitable.

Gliese 581g belongs to the system of six planets that revolve around the star Gliese 581 (which is located in the constellation Libra).

The researchers believe it could hold its own atmosphere, oceans and rivers may be rocky, thus enhancing the possibility of being able to support life.

The discovery was made by U.S. researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution in Washington, and was published in the Astrophysical Journal.

“The fact we have discovered so quickly and that this planet is so close, tells us that other planets may be common as this. The number of solar systems with potentially habitable planets will be in the order of 10 or 20%,” noted astronomer Steven Vogt, who participated in research that is being made 11 years ago.
Gliese 581g has a mass three times that of Earth and the diameter is 1.2 to 1.4 times greater.

The big difference is that a year on this planet lasts 37 days, ie the time taken to get around the star. This planet is not rotating, ie, one side always faces the star, which makes it ever day, while on another night is permanent.

On the “daytime” temperatures are quite high, hot, according to scientists, the “night” are around -31 and -12 degrees. For researchers, the best place on earth is the “border” between the two zones.

“The life forms that could arise on the planet would have a great variety of climates to develop stable, depending on the longitude where they met,” he said.

Goldilocks Planet Just Right for Life?

For the first time ever, astronomers have discovered a planet in the Goldilocks zone that may be perfect for life.

With perfect temperatures that aren’t too cold or hot, this amazing new planet named Gliese 581, is comparable to Earth.

In fact, astronomers state that Gliese 58 may be perfect to support life forms of all types.

Furthermore, with this amazing discovery, astronomers note that the gravity and atmosphere are perfect on this Goldilocks planet as well.

R. Paul Butler who is from the Carnegie Institution of Washington is the co-discoverer of this new planet. He claims that, “This really is the first Goldilocks planet.” It is stated that over 500 other planets have been discoverd in the years, but this particular planet unlike the others is the first to be found located right in the middle of what scientists call the habitable zone.

This planet may indeed support life. Scientists now are looking further into the possibility that we may not be alone; other life forms could actually exist.

Jim Kasting of Penn State University states that “This is the first one I’m truly excited about,” also claiming that this new discovery is “pretty prime candidate” for the possibility of harboring life.

While the details concerning this planet are not certain at this point, scientists believe that this new planet does contain liquid water. With that being said, it is almost 100 percent certain that life forms of some sort are on this new planet.

New Planet Discovered 2010