New 'super-Earth' found in space

The new planet is not much bigger than the Earth

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.

They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask Alison Boyle London Science Museum

"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."

Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it."

He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

These missions will put telescopes in space that can discern the tell-tale light "signatures" that might be associated with biological processes.

The observatories would seek to identify trace atmospheric gases such as methane, and even markers for chlorophyll, the pigment in Earth plants that plays a critical role in photosynthesis.

'Indirect' detection

The exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun - is the smallest yet found, and has been given the designation Gliese 581 c.

It completes a full orbit of its parent star in just 13 days.

EXOPLANET GLIESE 581 C Mass: Five times Earth's mass Orbit: 13 days Temperature: 0C - 40C Distance: 20.5 light years Constellation: Libra

Indeed, it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun.

However, given that the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet nevertheless lies in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where water could be liquid.

Gliese 581 c was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert.

To make their discovery, researchers used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.

Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.

The Gliese 581 system has now yielded three planets: the new super-Earth, a 15 Earth-mass planet (Gliese 581 b) orbiting even closer to the parent star, and an eight Earth-mass planet that lies further out (Gliese 581 d).

Gliese 581 is much cooler and dimmer than our own Sun

The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists.

Of the more than 200 exoplanets so far discovered, a great many are Jupiter-like gas giants that experience blazing temperatures because they orbit close in to much hotter stars.

The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists also sometimes call the "Goldilocks Zone", where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.

Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.

"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.

"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."

Professor Glenn White at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is helping to develop the European Space Agency's Darwin mission, which will scan the nearby Universe, looking for signs of life on Earth-like planets. He said: "This is an important step in the search for true Earth-like exoplanets.

"As the methods become more and more refined, astronomers are narrowing in on the ultimate goal - the detection of a true Earth-like planet elsewhere.

"Obviously this newly discovered planet and its companions in the Gliese 581 system will become prominent targets for missions like Esa's Darwin and Nasa's Terrestrial planet Finder when they fly in about a decade."

The discovery is reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm

Life

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take
but
by the moments that take our breath away.......

Attention on intention

What you put your attention on grows stronger in your life.

When you are presented with anything, give attention to the
ideas, the principles and the concepts which resonate with
you and which will serve you in improving your life. Put
them into practice. Learn from your own experience.

When you give attention to the good in your life,
you will create more good.
When you discover the gifts in every
moment, in every situation, in every person you meet,
your life will be filled with gifts.

This includes when you hear people criticizing, berating
or finding fault with something or someone dear to you.
You have a choice. You can focus on how wrong they are.
You can put your attention on the negative things they
are saying. Or you can ask yourself: How can I use this
information to gain greater clarity?

Where is the gift in this?

Venus conjunct

Venus conjunct with the moon
Hmmm, what does that mean?
Well, it means that Venus is above the tiny slither of the moon and when I looked earlier on it wasn't quite conjunct and later both disappeared behind the hills so I didn't see at all, but, even though I didn't see, the energy that has started to move in my life has turned me in to a new direction.
On this day and just before the following happened:
New job, setting me up for beginning my "big" project in Sydney, clearing the air with an old aquaintance, setting myself up for completion of a project that I no longer have ANY interest in, enjoying some time and a chat with a friend, working on an online project and bringing it one step closer to manifesting, having my "farming" needs sorted out so I don't need to do anything more in that area for a while anyway and that which has outgrown it's use floudering energetically.
Wow! pretty spectacular!

Now to the question that I was going to write about originally. Here t'is:

If you could have just one wish and one wish only and you knew without a shadow of a doubt that it would come true, what would you choose???

My answer:

I would say to the Universe that I connect with the alignment and the fulfilment of the highest path that I can take for my soul's greatest and richest blossoming whilst incarnate in this perfected body, while having ALL my physical and emotional needs met continuously while living in a totally and abundantly joyous life.

What would you choose to ask for????
You may leave your request here.....

Soul Expression

"You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly." ~Rumi

We are each here to awaken a hidden part of ourselves. A part which cannot be lost, changed or destroyed. This divine part within ourselves naturally wants to explore, experience and paint its masterpiece in this awesome Universe. This unique expression of ourselves is how we know how truly precious we are and how awesome life is. So at birth, we were given this natural power of manifesting. It is a sacred tool for us to tap into our infinite Source, and discover our spiritual journey through an out-flowing of creative energy. We get to learn how to express this Divine Love, that is our soul, in the world by physically designing, attracting and playing with it! Manifesting is the most natural creative expression of the Divinity inside each individual.

...Off Sydney's coast

Sea monster gives Sydney goosebumps

Staff reporter
March 14, 2007 - 12:04PM

A image compiled from satellite data showing where the sea level has fallen as the eddies swirl off NSW.
Photo: CSIRO

A massive whirlpool has developed off the coast of NSW, dragging down the sea surface by almost a metre, diverting a mighty ocean current and chilling Sydney beachgoers.

The mysterious whirlpool is 200 kilometres across and 1000 metres deep, reaching the ocean floor, CSIRO oceanographers say. The centre is 100 kilometres from the coast and could stay there for several months.

And another eddy of similar proportions is sitting further off the coast.

CSIRO satellite oceanographer Dr David Griffin said that, while cold-water eddies regularly appeared off Sydney, scientists knew very little about what causes them or the influence they have in the Tasman Sea ecosystem.

"What we do know is that this is a very powerful natural feature which tends to push everything else aside - even the mighty East Australian Current," said Dr Griffin.

The sea level has dropped 70 centimetres at its centre while the water 400 metres below the surface is 6 degrees centigrade colder than normal.

The colder water has helped bring down the average water temperature at Sydney beaches by several degrees.

At the eddy's centre, cold water from 400m is raised about 200m. The sea surface, conversely, is lowered by 70cm. This dip in the surface of the ocean is invisible to the eye, but it can be accurately measured by satellites and a robotic Argo float deployed by the CSIRO.

The eddies are invisible to the human eye but would contribute to cooler beach swimming conditions, said Dr Griffin.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/14/1173722523336.html

The Power of Intention

Making Your Intention Your Reality
by Wayne Dyer

Following are ten ways to practice nurturing your intention to respect
yourself at all times:

Step 1: Look into a mirror, make eye connection with yourself, and say
"I love me" as many times as possible during your day. I love me:
These three magic words help you maintain your self-respect. Now, be
aware that saying these words maybe difficult at first because of the
conditions you've been exposed to over a lifetime and because the
words may bring to the surface remnants of disrespect that your ego
wants you to hold on to.

Your immediate impulse might be to see this as an expression of your
ego's desire to be superior to everyone else. But this is not an ego
statement at all - it's an affirmation of self-respect. Transcend that
ego mind and affirm your love for yourself and your connection to the
spirit of God. This doesn't make you superior to anyone; it makes you
equal to all and celebrates that you're in a piece of God. Affirm it
for your own self-respect. Affirm it in order to be respectful of that
which intended you here. Affirm it because it's the way you'll stay
connected to your Source and regain the power of intention. I love me.
Say it without embarrassment. Say it proudly and be that image of love
and self-respect.

Step 2: Write the following affirmation and repeat it over and over
again to yourself: I am whole and perfect as I was created! Carry this
thought with you wherever you go. Have it laminated and place it in
your pocket, on your dashboard, on your refrigerator or next to your
bed - allow the words to become a source of high energy and
self-respect. By simply carrying these words with you and being in the
same space with them, their energy will flow directly to you.

Self-respect emerges from the fact that you respect the Source from
which you came and you've made a decision to reconnect to that Source,
regardless of what anyone else might think. It's very important to
keep reminding yourself at the beginning that you're worthy of
infinite respect from the one Source you can always count on, the
piece of God energy that defines you. This reminder will do wonders
for your self-respect, and consequently your ability to use the power
of intention in your life. Over and over, remind yourself: I'm not my
body. I'm not my accumulations. I'm not my achievements. I'm not my
reputation. I am whole and perfect as I was created!

Step 3: Extend more respect to others and to all of life. Perhaps the
greatest secret of self-esteem is to appreciate other people more. The
easiest way to do this is to see the unfolding of God in them. Look
past the judgments of others' appearance, failures and successes,
their status in society, their wealth or lack of it - and extend
appreciation and love to the Source from which they came. Everyone is
a child of God - everyone! Try to see this even in those who behave in
what appears to be a godless fashion. Know that by extending love and
respect, you can turn that energy around so that it's heading back to
its Source rather than away from it. In short, send out respect
because that is what you have to give away. Send out judgment and low
energy and that is what you'll attract back. Remember, when you judge
another, you do not define them, you define yourself as someone who
needs to judge. The same applies to judgments directed at you.

Step 4: Affirm to yourself and all others that you meet, I belong! A
sense of belonging is one of the highest attributes on Abraham
Maslow's pyramid of self-actualization (see February 2007 issue of
phenomeNEWS). Feeling that you don't belong or you're in the wrong
place can be due to a lack of self-respect. Respect yourself and your
divinity by knowing that everyone belongs. This should never come into
question. Your presence here in the universe is proof alone that you
belong here. No person decides if you belong here. No government
determines if some belong and some don't. This is an intelligent
system that you're a part of. The wisdom of Creation intended you to
be here, in this place, in this family with these siblings and
parents, occupying this precious space. Say it to yourself and affirm
it whenever necessary: I belong! And so does everyone else. No one is
here by accident!

Step 5: Remind yourself that you're never alone. My self-respect stays
intact as long as I know that it's impossible for me to be alone. I
have a "senior partner" who's never abandoned me and who's stuck with
me even in moments when I had seemingly deserted my Source. I feel
that if the universal mind has enough respect to allow me to come here
and to work through me - and to protect me in times when I strayed
onto dangerous nonspiritual turf - then this partnership deserves my
reciprocal respect. I recall my friend Pat McMahon, a talk-show host
on KTAR radio in Phoenix, Arizona, telling me about his encounter with
Mother Teresa in his studio before interviewing her for his program.
He pleaded with her to allow him to do something for her. "Anything at
all," he begged. "I'd just like to help you in some way." She looked
at him and said, "Tomorrow morning get up at 4:00 A.M. and go out onto
the streets of Phoenix. Find someone who lives there and believes that
he's alone and convince him that he's not." Great advice, because
everyone who wallows in self-doubt or appears to be lost has lost
their self-respect because they've forgotten that they're not alone.

Step 6: Respect your body! You've been provided with a perfect body to
house your inner invisible being for a few brief moments in eternity.
Regardless of its size, shape, color or any imagined infirmities, it's
a perfect creation for the purpose that you were intended here for.
You don't need to work at getting healthy; health is something you
already have if you don't disturb it. You may have disturbed your
healthy body by overfeeding it, under exercising it and over
stimulating it with toxins or drugs that make it sick, fatigued,
jumpy, anxious, depressed, bloated, ornery or an endless list of
maladies. You can begin the fulfillment of this intention to live a
life of self-respect by honoring the temple that houses you. You know
what to do. You don't need another diet, workout manual or personal
trainer. Go within, listen to your body and treat it with all of the
dignity and love that your self-respect demands.

Step 7: Meditate to stay in conscious contact with your Source, which
always respects you. I can't say this enough: meditation is a way to
experience what the five senses can't detect. When you're connected to
the field of intention, you're connected to the wisdom that's within
you. That divine wisdom has great respect for you and it cherishes you
while you're here. Meditation is a way to ensure that you stay in a
state of self-respect. Regardless of all that goes on around you, when
you enter into that sacred space of meditation, all doubts about your
value as an esteemed creation dissolve. You'll emerge from the
solemnity of meditation feeling connected to your Source and enjoying
respect for all beings, particularly yourself.

Step 8: Make amends with adversaries. The act of making amends sends
out a signal of respect for your adversaries. By radiating this
forgiving energy outward, you'll find this same kind of respectful
positive energy flowing back toward you. By being big enough to make
amends and replace the energy of anger, bitterness and tension with
kindness - even if you still insist that you're right - you'll respect
yourself much more than prior to your act of forgiveness. If you're
filled with rage toward anyone, there's a huge part of you that
resents the presence of this debilitating energy. Take a moment right
here and now to simply face that person who stands out in your mind as
someone you hurt, or directed hurt to you, and tell him or her that
you'd like to make amends. You'll notice how much better you feel.
That good feeling of having cleared the air is self-respect. It takes
much more courage, strength of character and inner conviction to make
amends than it does to hang on to the low-energy feelings.

Step 9: Always remember the self in self-respect. In order to do this,
you must recognize that the opinions of others toward you aren't
facts, they're opinions. When I speak to an audience of 500 people,
there are 500 opinions of me in the room at the end of the evening.
I'm none of those opinions. I can't be responsible for how they view
me. The only thing I can be responsible for is my own character, and
this is true for every one of us. If I respect myself, then I'm
relying on the self in self-respect. If I doubt myself, or punish
myself, I've not only lost my self-respect, I'll continue to attract
more and more doubt and lower-energy opinions with which to further
punish myself. You can't stay linked to the universal mind, which
intends all of us here, if you fail to rely on your self for your
self-respect.

Step 10: Be in a state of gratitude. You'll discover that gratitude is
the final step in each succeeding chapter. Be an appreciator rather
than a depreciator of everything that shows up in your life. When
you're saying, Thank you, God, for everything, and when you're
expressing gratitude for your life and all that you see and
experience, you're respecting Creation. This respect is within you,
and you can only give away what you have inside. Being in a state of
gratitude is the exact same thing as being in a state of respect -
respect for yourself, which you give away freely and which will return
to you tenfold.

I close with the words of Jesus of Nazareth, speaking through his
apostle Saint Matthew (Matthew 5:48): "Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect." Reconnect to the perfection from which
you originated.

You can't have any more self-respect than that!

Excerpted from The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your
World Your Way

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer is the renowned bestselling author of 15 books of
nonfiction and three textbooks and has a doctorate in counseling
psychology. He lectures across the country and appears regularly on
radio and television.

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/

Life without ego

'Since everything is but an apparition
Perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
One may well burst out in laughter.'*

These words were written by a
fourteenth century a Tibetan Buddhist named Longchenpa

Everything just IS.

Humans put an emotional judgement on actions and thoughts.

Green Nuclear Power

Scientists get hot rocks off over green nuclear power

John Garnaut
April 12, 2007

PEOPLE could be using "green nuclear" energy in their homes within three years as entrepreneurs rush to produce zero-emissions electricity.

Geodynamics Ltd told the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday it had sped up plans to harness the heat generated by natural nuclear activity deep beneath the central Australian desert.

The company plans to pipe high-pressure hot water from the granite bedrock four kilometres beneath the Queensland-South Australia border, where the slow decay of potassium, thorium and uranium generates temperatures as high as 300 degrees.

"The granite is hot because of the natural nuclear activity in there - it's green nuclear," said the company's chief executive, Adrian Williams.

Dr Williams expects the company to send electricity to the national power grid by 2010 and later directly to western Sydney. By 2015, it could produce as much electricity as the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme.

Some scientists say hot-rocks technology could soon deliver huge volumes of economically viable power, thanks to the continent having the hottest and most geologically favourable granite deposits on earth.

"There's enough energy to run the country for thousands of years," said Prame Chopra, a scientist who sits on the Geodynamics board.

According to a conservative estimate by the Centre for International Economics, Australia has enough geothermal energy to meet electricity consumption for 450 years.

The industry has strong backing in Canberra. "I've been a fan for a long time," the Minister for Industry, Ian Macfarlane, told the Herald. "The theory is very sound. What they've got to do now is prove that it works."

The granite in South Australia's Cooper basin contains "fractures" that hold super-hot, high-pressure water. It could power a steam turbine then recyle water back into the bedrock for reheating.

The hotter the water, the more efficiently it can be converted into electricity.

Australia is home to all of the world's six listed hot fractured rock geothermal energy companies. One, Petratherm, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to supply geothermal electricity to South Australia's Beverley uranium mine by late 2009.

Torrens Energy, which listed on the stock exchange three weeks ago, is exploring hot sites near Adelaide.

The greatest impediment to the renewable energy industry is that the nation's electricity is among the cheapest in the world, thanks to huge deposits of high-grade coal.

But geothermal energy is expected to be economically viable after a moderate cost is imposed on greenhouse gas emissions.

Geodynamic, assisted by $11.8 million in federal grants, said it would produce one megawatt of electricity for about $45 an hour - compared with coal power of about $35.

The Prime Minister's taskforce on nuclear energy estimated the cost of nuclear energy at $40-$65, "clean coal" at $50-$100 and photovoltaic solar energy as high as $120.

Well this sounds reasonable to me but I still feel this needs consideration as to whether there are any long term ramifications on the planet

an Easter thought

So, what does the observer have to say?
Plenty
The observer sees...
a draining away of all the old
the beliefs, ideas
nothing matters any more
it's just a load of poppy cock
religion, God, following rules,
having a conscience, morality,
social responsibility.
So
live without disturbing others
walking softly upon the Earth
and hope there will be
someone else
who resonates with this

TSUNAMI

Disaster warning beamed out in minutes

IT WAS 6.47 yesterday morning when David Jepsen, a seismologist at Geoscience Australia, was woken by his mobile phone.

A computer at his Canberra office was phoning to report that automated seismographs had recorded an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale, seven minutes earlier under the sea floor 40 kilometres south-east of Gizo, in the Solomon Islands.

Dr Jepsen immediately called the Bureau of Meteorology, which runs Australia's tsunami warning system, before putting in a second call to the national disaster authority, Emergency Management Australia.

Minutes later the warning system, established last year in the wake of Sumatra's Boxing Day 2004 disaster, was beaming out its first alert to Australians.

For eons the tectonic plate on which the Australian continent rides has been pushing north-east. Below the sea, off the Solomon Islands, it is being forced down and under the Pacific plate. As the Australian plate dives into the earth, it drags down the edge of the Pacific plate.

"So much pressure builds up," said Dr Jepsen, "it can't stand the stress any more."

At 6.40am Sydney time, 10 kilometres below the surface of the planet, up to 150 kilometres of the Pacific plate rebounded. As it forced its way up, the sea above lifted too, sending a wave towards Australia.

Gary Gibson, senior seismologist at the private Melbourne company Environmental Systems and Services, estimated more than 10,000 square kilometres of sea floor might have been lifted in the rupture.

Tony Leggett, of the Bureau of Meteorology's National Meteorology and Oceanographic Centre in Melbourne, said an 8.1 quake could trigger "an ocean-wide destructive tsunami".

But computer modelling suggested such a wave would brake as it rolled around reefs and islands dotting the Pacific. Wave heights along the Queensland coast would be no more than 20 to 25 centimetres, and probably much less by the time they reached Sydney.

However, detailed modelling has been completed only for a tsunami travelling over deep water. Work to determine exactly how it would behave in coastal waters has not been completed, so, deciding it would be better to be cautious than sorry, the bureau issued a tsunami alert for Queensland and NSW.

A wave-monitoring station at Yorkeys Knob, near Cairns, recorded the sea surging 35 centimetres. While a buoy off Sydney failed to spot any tsunami, a 10-centimetre wave was observed off Port Kembla at 12.40pm. It had travelled some 2800 kilometres in six hours.

Yesterday's quake, at 8.1 on the Richter scale, was about 40 times weaker than the one that triggered the Boxing Day 2004 disaster.

The quake rupture, 10 kilometres down, may have been 150 kilometres long, lifting 10,000 square kilometres of sea floor two to three metres.

A 22-centimetre wave was recorded at Cape Ferguson, near Townsville.