Asteroid claims to have destroyed dinosaurs in African seas

An asteroid from space slammed into the Earth's surface 66 million years ago, leaving a massive crater underneath the sea and wreaking havoc with the planet.No, it's not that asteroid, the one that doomed the dinosaurs to extinction, but a previously unknown crater 248 miles off the coast of West Africa that was created right around the same time. Further study of the Nadir crater, as it's called, could shake up what we know about that cataclysmic moment in natural history. Uisdean Nicholson, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, happened on the crater by accident -- he was reviewing seismic survey data for another project on the tectonic split between South America and Africa and found evidence of the crater beneath 400 meters of seabed sediment. "While interpreting the data, I (came) across this very unusual crater-like feature, unlike anything I had ever seen before," he said. It had all the characteristics of an impact crater. To be absolutely certain the crater was caused by an asteroid strike, he said that it would be necessary to drill into the the crater and test minerals from the crater floor. But it has all the hallmarks scientists would expect: the right ratio of crater width to depth, the height of the rims, and the height of the central uplift -- a mound in the center created by rock and sediment...

Read More........→August 30, 2022

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies at 90

American astronaut Michael Collins, who flew the Apollo 11 command module while his crewmates became the first people to land on the Moon in 1969, died on Wednesday after battling cancer, his family said.“Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way,” Collins’ family tweeted on his official Twitter account.Often described as the "forgotten" third astronaut on the historic mission, Collins remained alone for more than 21 hours until his two colleagues returned in the lunar module. He lost contact with mission control in Houston each time the spacecraft circled the dark side of the moon."Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins," the mission log said, referring to the biblical figure.Collins wrote an account of his experiences in his 1974 autobiography, "Carrying the Fire," but largely shunned publicity."I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have," Collins said in comments released by NASA in 2009. Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.c...

Read More........→May 08, 2021