Page 3 - 201004 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - April 2010

April 2010_june_july_2009.qxd 22/04/2010 11:26 PM Page 3 From The ’X’ Zone Newsroom 3 Mayor can't take joke abc2news.com A town mayor in Jordan is considering suing a local newspaper over an April Fools' Day report saying aliens had landed. The paper ran a front page story about a UFO landing in the town of Jafr and creating havoc by interrupting communications and sending scared residents into the streets. Jafr's mayor took the report literally, and he says he was close to enacting an emergency plan because, "People were scared that aliens would attack them." The managing editor of the newspaper says the story was blown out of proportion. Amateur Astronomer Catches Comet Breakup Discovery News Image: Comet C2007 C3 breaking up (top; credit: Nick Howes/Faulkes Telescope North). Analysis by Ray Villard century." Therefore, comet West was largely Was it a UFO? If you've ever attended a star party ignored by news media. where amateur astronomers set up telescopes to The most infamous comet "daughter" The-Press-News.com peruse stars and nebulae, you'll come away with particle was a piece seen following comet Hale- a notion that the heavens look pretty sedate. Bopp in 1997. It gained a following on the Was it a UFO? Was it a government But an amateur astronomer wound up Internet as a suspected UFO "hiding" (not very secret? Was it a joke? looking at the right place at the right time to well) in the tail of the bright sunward-bound What ever it was a local farmer was able capture the breakup of a comet. The comet. to get video, and we have it on our Web site. International Astronomical Union have even "Illogical" as Mr. Spock would say. On Saturday night, at about 11:45, a called the observation a "major astronomical Why would stealthy aliens fly alongside the one farmer in the area (who would like to stay discovery." celestial object that many professional and anonymous) heard strange sounds and saw British amateur Nick Howes took amateur telescopes were looking at? This UFO lights in the sky. His dogs began barking and he pictures on March 18th and 19th showing the fairy tale regrettably inspired the Heavens Gate said he even felt a slight shaking of his house. icy nucleus of comet C2007 C3 splitting on its cult to commit mass suicide in the anticipation The farmers' son grabbed their video outward leg form the sun. the UFO was going to pick them up. camera and went out to see what all the ruckus Working from his desktop computer in This latest observation is encouraging was, and to his shock, he saw two disc like Great Britain, Nick dialed up the comet's for amateurs to use remote and powerful objects flying low in the sky. They seemed to be coordinates, set exposure, and captured a set of telescopes for more than sky watching. They traveling at an amazing speed and were able to six pictures that showed an object moving away can make new scientific discoveries that are rapidly change direction. At the bottom of the from the main nucleus. He used a remote- appreciated and useful to professional aircrafts, various colored lights were blinking. controlled 2-meter telescope located half a astronomers to do follow-up research. The solar Suddenly, the two aircrafts seem to glow world away in Hawaii and operated by the system is a dynamic and busy place full of even brighter before shooting up into the sky Faulkes Telescope Project. transient phenomena such as comets and and disappearing. Apparently a mountain-sized chunk of changes in the atmospheres of the giant planets. The local resident and his family said ice broke away from the central nucleus and Professional telescopes can’t cover it all (at they have never witnessed anything like this and became a flying iceberg. Follow-up images least not just yet). But amateur astronomers are they are wondering if anyone else saw anything taken a day later showed the new fragment a standing army of sky hunters that repeatedly in the sky over the weekend. trailing ever farther from the comet core. come up with the most amazing discoveries. If you would like to view the video or Comet fragmentation is an ongoing leave a comment about any sightings, visit our fireworks show in the solar system. It tells us Web site and click on videos and then go to comets are a very loose agglomeration of April Fools! smaller pieces. Sorry, readers, but it is April 1! You can The results support the popular theory visit our Web site, though.[] that comet nuclei are really made up of a cluster of smaller icy bodies called "cometessimals." Since the 1950s, comet nuclei have been commonly assumed to be loose mixture of ice and dust -- "dirty snowballs" weakly held together by gravity. Solar heat causes the ices to sublimate and violently release gas as explosions and garden-hose style jets, and the pressure of the solar radiation pressure blows away particles like debris caught in a gale A little know visitor, Comet West, broke apart into four nuclei in August 1975 as it ON SALE SOON AT passed within 18 million miles of the sun. The www.pArAgATOrS.Org problem was that the infamous comet Kohoutek made a lackluster appearance a couple year before. Some astronomers and news media had hyped it as possibly becoming the "comet of the