Source: SPACE.com

The total solar eclipse Sunday may only be visible to a lucky cadre of die-hard skywatchers spread across the southern Pacific Ocean, but that hasn’t dampened spirits at remote spots like Easter Island – where tourists and scientists have flocked to catch the celestial show.

The best seats on Earth for the total solar eclipse are on Easter Island and other islands and atolls along a southern Pacific Ocean path that stretches from a spot just north of New Zealand to the tip of South America. Thousands of tourists are expected at Easter Island alone, drawn by both the looming cosmic show and the island’s mysterious history.

Source: New Scientist

The first sign that the prediction was wrong came when 2008 turned out to be even calmer than expected. That year, the sun was spot-free 73 per cent of the time, an extreme dip even for a solar minimum. Only the minimum of 1913 was more pronounced, with 85 per cent of that year clear.

As 2009 arrived, solar physicists looked for some action. They didn’t get it. The sun continued to languish until mid-December, when the largest group of sunspots to emerge for several years appeared. Finally, a return to normal? Not really.

Even with the solar cycle finally under way again, the number of sunspots has so far been well below expectations. Something appears to have changed inside the sun, something the models did not predict. But what?

The flood of observations from space and ground-based telescopes suggests that the answer lies in the behaviour of two vast conveyor belts of gas that endlessly cycle material and magnetism through the sun’s interior and out across the surface. On average it takes 40 years for the conveyor belts to complete a circuit (see diagram).

When Hathaway’s team looked over the observations to find out where their models had gone wrong, they noticed that the conveyor-belt flows of gas across the sun’s surface have been speeding up since 2004.

Source:   Telegraph

An artist’s impression of Japan’s space probe Hayabusa and an asteroid, called Itokawa Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Scientists are anxiously awaiting the return of Hayabusa – Japanese for "Falcon" – in the hope that the probe has successfully gathered tiny fragments of space rock, which could provide more clues about the origin of the solar system.

Hayabusa, which weighs about half a ton and is similar in size to a family car, was launched in May 2003 with the objective of intercepting an asteroid named Itokawa, gathering a sample from the surface and then returning to Earth. It has covered 1.2bn miles on its journey and is due to land in the Australian outback on Sunday night.

Source: BBC News

A man charged with the murders of three Bradford women has referred to himself as the "crossbow cannibal" in court.

Stephen Griffiths, 40, is accused of murdering prostitutes Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage, and Susan Rushworth.

Mature student Mr Griffiths, of Thornton Road, Bradford, was remanded in custody by magistrates and later by a judge at the city’s crown court.

Recent events have been described in some of the tabloid press as the "crossbow cannibal killings".

When asked to confirm his name by magistrates, Mr Griffiths told the court he was "the crossbow cannibal".

Source: American Chronicle

According to accounts released Saturday, April 24, 2010, by the coordinator of an e-mail news and information service, officials of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and other U.S. government agencies have been involved in security activities involving human-appearing extraterrestrial beings in the U.S.

Victor Martinez, the e-mail information coordinator, is a former federal employee with an interest in space, defense and current affairs. Recipients of his e-mail news items include a wide variety of people interested in emerging and leading-edge scientific and other developments.

In his April 24 information release, Martinez quoted one of his alleged established contacts, one of a handful of current or former officials of the DIA, regarding any new or updated information on extraterrestrial encounters that would be of interest to the public.