Extrasolar Planets Exist, photographed for the 1st time

A little more of the universe has been pried out of the shadows. Two groups of astronomers have taken the first pictures of what they say — and other astronomers agree — are most likely planets going around other stars. The achievement, the result of years of effort on improved observational techniques and better data analysis, presages more such discoveries, the experts said, and will open the door to new investigations and discoveries of what planets are and how they came to be formed. “It’s the tip of the iceberg,” said Christian Marois of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, British Columbia. “Now that we know they are there, there is going to be an explosion.” Dr. Marois is the leader of a team that recorded three planets circling a star known as HR 8799 that is 130 light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. The other team, led by Paul Kalas of the University of California, Berkeley, found a planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut, only 25 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. In an interview by e-mail, Dr. Kalas said that when he finally confirmed his discovery last May, “I nearly had a heart attack.” In scratchy telescope pictures released Thursday in Science Express, the online version of the journal Science, the planets appear as fuzzy dots that move slightly around their star from exposure to exposure. Astronomers who have seen the new images agreed that these looked like the real thing. “I think Kepler himself would recognize these as planets orbiting a star following his laws of orbital motion,” Mark S. Marley of the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

, wrote in an e-mail message elaborating on HR 8799. More than 300 so-called extrasolar planets have been found circling distant stars, making their discovery the hottest and fastest-growing field in astronomy. But the observations have been made mostly indirectly, by dips in starlight as planets cross in front of their home star or by wobbles they induce going by it.

New Pyramid Discovered In Egypt

A new pyramid has been discovered deep beneath Egyptian sands, archaeologists announced. The 4,300-year-old monument is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of Pharaoh Teti, the founder ancient Egypt's 6th dynasty. Once nearly five stories tall, the pyramid—or at least what remains of it—lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand as well as a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods. The discovery is the third known "subsidiary" pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It's also the second pyramid discovered this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo. "I always say you never know what the sands of Egypt might hide," said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). "This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara," added Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence. Surprise in the Sand Archaeologists found remnants of a white limestone casing for the surviving, 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid base. The angle of the base helped them determine that the pyramid's walls stood at a 51-degree angle. Based on that angle, the team determined that the pyramid was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and about 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base. The researchers were somewhat surprised to find a pyramid here, since they thought the area had been exhausted.

Archaeologists had already found subsidiary pyramids for Teti's two principal wives Iput I and Khuit, a hundred years ago and in 1994, respectively. Teams have been digging in the area for more than 20 years. "One hundred years ago they used to take sand and put it in unexcavated areas," Hawass said. "The archaeologists in the past used this area as a location for the sand.

Phantom Black Cat Of Washington - Paranormal, Ghosts and Hauntings

This week seemed an apt time to ponder our nation's political ghosts. We all know Abraham Lincoln haunts the White House along with Andrew Jackson and a host of first ladies, Woodrow Wilson is seen in a rocking chair at Blair House, and a great many ghosts are associated with the other federal government buildings in Washington. But one ghost is known to be seen in at least two places always heralding disaster for the nation. It is the Phantom black cat. Seen in the basements of the White House, the mall and the Capitol, DC as it is called (short for Demon Cat) is reported to appear just before national disasters. When seen, it is sometimes reported to appear as a kitten, but as you get closer it grows into a menacing and angry tiger-like animal with red glowing eyes. It is only seen at night, and normally only by people that are alone. It made an appearance before the stock market crash of 1929, and again before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. At the White House, it is usually seen during times - such as now - when the presidency is moving to a new person. The origin of the story may lie with the fact that the capitol was once infested with rats.

The problem became so severe, that caretakers released a large number of cats in the building to control the rat population. Ever since, the black cat has made his appearance. Guards fear even talking about seeing the animal, mainly as it might cause them to lose their security clearance, but stories abound from retired federal employees.

EVP, What Is EVP, EVP Definition, Electronic voice phenomena, Paranormal, Ghosts, Spirits

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sections of static noise on the radio or electronic recording that some listeners believe sound like voices speaking words; paranormal investigators sometimes interpret these noises as the voices of ghosts or spirits. Recording EVP has become a technique of those who attempt to contact the souls of dead loved ones or during ghost hunting activities. According to parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, who popularized the idea, EVP are typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase.

References to EVP have appeared in the reality television shows Paranormal State, Most Haunted, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and Ghost Hunters, the fictional television series Supernatural, Medium, Maury (TV series) and Ghost Whisperer and Hollywood films such as White Noise and The Sixth Sense.