Scientists have found the soil in Mars to be similar to our own planet's. Examining it more closely, scientists discovered that it's rich in the compound perchlorate which could inhibit life. Some scientists now doubt if life could exist in the red planet, but NASA remains optimistic despite the odds. More in the full article.

To prove that the land of the rising sun has the technology to reach for the moon, Japan recently launched the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the biggest lunar mission since the Apollo landings. An orbiter named after the moon princess in a fairy tale, Kaguya, which weighs three metric tons was sent from Tanegashima island to explore uncharted polar areas of the moon.

The princess stripped 45 minutes into the flight, separating from its rocket near Chile's airspace. Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) planned for two successful orbits around the Earth before Kaguya reaches the moon to release two satellites equipped with high-definition cameras.

It took quite an effort before SELENE successfully took off, after previous failed attempts of rocket H-2 and H-2A which lost its path in 2003. Around US$ 479 million went to making the mission possible, but the Japanese scientists are quite proud with what they achieved.

Other countries are expected to follow suit in what seems to be a space race. China will launch its own craft later this year to do their own exploration, while India plans to join the scene by launching another rocket into space. The US has ideas for its own ventures, with a launch expected to kick off in 2008.

Our civilization has always attributed abnormal developments here on Earth to the moon including visual physiological effects, atmospheric smearing of light like a prism, and turbulence in the atmosphere.

The more interesting among these are psychological effects like hysteria or planted suggestion. Scientifically speaking, what happens really is that some parts of the moon surface change in brightness and color otherwise known as Transient Lunar Phenomena.

To add to the above mentioned changes, scientist now claim that there's a strong correlation between TLP sightings and regions where lunar orbiting spacecraft have detected gas leaking out from beneath the lunar surface.

Scientists added that the said gas could mix with other gases of a more volcanic nature producing monoxide, carbon dioxide, and even water in the process. Columbia University researcher Arlin Crotts mentioned that if this turns out to be true, then it increases the possibility of us having lunar colonies.

Scientist are currently observing TLP sightings using a robotic camera located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in northern Chile. "The camera will be more sensitive than the human eye/telescope combination, and more objective and persistent. Hopefully it will give a better map of the TLP geographical distribution, as well as their timing and internal structure," Crotts added.

At the Carnegie Institution of Washington, several teams of astronomers competed in the hunt for the most Earth-like planet in the universe. Guess what? University of Geneva astronomers has already found one.

The planet was found just outside the solar system by the 11 European scientists with the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile. The planet is circling the red dwarf star Gliese 581 which is around 120 trillion miles away.

That's quite far but when you're talking about things on this level, that's practically considered a neighbor. Anyway, the new planet is around five times heavier than Earth and its gravity is 1.6 times stronger.

"Liquid water is critical to life as we know it. Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life. On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," commented Xavier Delfosse of Grenoble University in France, also part of the magic 11.

It is still uncertain whether the planet rotates or not, so it is possible that one side of it is in day light perpetually while the other is covered in darkness. Speaking of which, if one is to live in that planet, the star Gliese 581 would hang from the sky looking five times larger than our moon.

Recently, more than a thousand aficionados and experts gathered in Viña del Mar for the Tenth International Ufology Conference, organized by Chile's Ufology Investigation Group. The highlight of the meeting was the display of photos and videos allegedly taken by the members of Chile's Armed forces.

The military video and photos included a photo of a spherical metallic object captured flying over Antarctica and a video of Navy ships being pursued by a luminous object. Aside from that, Rodrigo Bravo, Captain of the army's Fifth Division also talked about his thesis entitled "Observations of unidentified aerial phenomena identified by the Civil Air Force."

Although the captain's words do not represent the Chilean Armed Force's position on UFOs, he had been given the authorization by his superiors to participate in the conference.

Also present in the conference is retired official Armando Valdés who is involved in one of Chile's first documented UFO abductions, known as the Valdés case. This happened on April 1977 when Armando and five members of an army patrol, saw two bright objects descending from the sky.

He checked it out by himself and according to his colleagues, he just vanished. 15 minutes later, he re-appeared and passed out. It was reported that the date on his watch had been advanced by five days and he had about a week's growth of beard. His colleagues also mentioned that when Valdés regained consciousness, he uttered these words: "You do not know who we are, nor where we come from. But I tell you that we will soon return."

Fact or pure fiction? Your guesses are as good as ours.

The internet giant, Google, has set its visions beyond the matrix and wants to head out to space. They made a new partnership with a group of scientists to create a huge sky-scanning telescope, it is Google's quest to be able to provide the public with access to digital footage of the skies beyond.

From asteroids to supernovas to distant galaxies, the telescope under construction is geared to put these celestial bodies in view all the way from a mountaintop in Chile. With the latest technology, the telescope should be able to take a series of 15-second exposures that will allow it to cover the sky every three nights.

According to the manager of the yet-unnamed telescope company, he could already envision the day when Google would be "our sort of window to the general public." Not that they aren't already. Let's just say, that window only gets bigger.

The term "eco-tourism", much like the "organic" label which has been used as a marketing tool to capitalize on the growing demand for organic food, has spurned a lot of fake green destinations. Dishonest tourism operators, now known as "greenwashers" have resorted to using eco-tourism solely for money-making.

There is no universal definition for it but the International Eco-tourism Society says eco-tourism is "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people".

To help sort  the true-blue green destinations from the greenwash, Lonely Planet, the world's leading publisher of guidebooks, has published Code Green (US$19.99). Code Green is a collection of green ideas defined by three principles:

• Tread lightly on the environment
• Immerse yourself in the culture
• Have a positive economic benefit for the local community

The book is filled with ideas for travelling across the planet. These include walking the Larapinta Trail in Central Australia, whitewater rafting in Chile, whale watching in New Zealand, hiking in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and learning bush survival skills in the Kalahari Desert. Each featured destination comes with a narrative that captures the essence of the place as well as a list of responsible travel credentials.

When a telescope needs an upgrade, it seems you don't need to have big words to call it.

European scientists, in an effort to find out more about the universe and the origins of life, have proposed a significant upgrade from current telescopes in use. The European Southern Observatory (ESO), based at the Cerro Paranal observatory in Chile, has a group of specialists to help create a design for the future of telescopic research, dubbed the Extremely Large Telescope or ELT. This telescope, once the design is finalized, is expected to cost 1,000,000,000 Euro (approximately $1.3B) and do things unheard of with current technology.

The ESO also manages the current titleholder for powerful telescopes. The Very Large Telescope, or VLT, is an array of four 8-meter diameter telescopes placed on the peak of the Cerro Paranal. These scopes have seen planets beyond our solar system and observed black holes, but have reached their limits, allowing only the smallest glimpse of the edge of the universe. The ELT, it is hoped, will be able to overcome these limitations with a 42-meter diameter lens, allowing it to produce information on objects the VLT was unable to cover, such as small planets, stars in distant galaxies, and other galaxies in their infancy.

With a lot of backing, scientists expect to get this extremely powerful telescope up and running for the world's benefit in 2016. Let's just hope we don't see a giant eye floating in space when we reach the edge of infinity.

  

What happens when a galaxy crash into a neighboring intergalactic gas at 372 miles/sec (600km/sec)? Two things: new stars are born and the galaxy itself is ripped apart. This was revealed by images from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) array in Chile.

NGC 1427A (left) a small galaxy with an unusual arrowhead shape lies 60 million light years from Earth in a group of galaxies known as called the Fornax (the Furnace) cluster. As it crashes through intergalactic gas at high speed new new stars are spawned. But in the end the gravitational force of the other galaxies in Fornax cluster is expected to rip NGC 1427A apart.

Meanwhile, galaxy NGC 908 (right) sports a bent left spiral arm that is curved upwards. Also called as a starburst galaxy for its prolific ability to produce new stars, NGC 908's left arm is thought to have been caused by a near collision course with another galaxy a long time ago. This same collision is believed to have given NGC 908 its intense star-forming phase. NGC 908 is 65 million light years from Earth and is 75,000 light years across.

For asthmatics, dust is THE enemy. But for scientists, it's an ally. That is if we're talking about  intergalactic dust. Dust found around the remains of dead stars turn out to be the "prime ingredient" of all living things.

Let us rewind 160,00 years ago.  A humongous star, about 20 times larger than the sun, exploded. In 1987, the first light from the said explosion (known as a supernova) reached our planet for several months, and was called the SN 1987A. Stardust from the SN1987A were seen through an infrared telescope at the Gemini South Observatory in Chile.

The supernova dust were fused with superheated, X-ray emitting gas found within an equatorial ring around SN 1987A, created by stellar winds 600,000 years before the supernova. This ring of gas was invisible for nearly twenty years, until shockwaves from the supernova blast caught up with it. The expansion of the shockwaves heating of the gas and normally cool dust until they glowed in the infrared.

According to Patrice Bouchet of the Observatoire de Paris, "The collision between the ejecta of supernova 1987A and the equatorial ring was predicted to occur sometime in the interval of 1995 to 2007, and it is now underway." Studies reveal that the composition of the stardust is pure silicate, and less dust than expected were seen (a star as enormous as the SN1987 star is expected to produce more dust). It's possible that shockwaves from the supernova blast sent more stellar dust to oblivion than expected. Researchers claim that this discovery may have "broad implications for determining dust origins throughout the universe".

So does the saying, from dust you come and from dust you shall return ring true? Let us await for further words from scientists to find out.