7 of the world's most advanced police car

1. Dodge Charger Pursuit – Amerika

2. Carbon Motors – Amerika

3. Brabus Rocket – Jerman

4. Lapd Police Hummer

5. Lamborghini Gallardo EPS – Italia

6. Ferrari 612 Scaglietti – Italia

7. Lotus Exige 2007 – Inggris

Glorious Mysteries for Life, and Outdoor Challenge

Mystical Rose Design has a great meme on their blog: Pro-Life Tuesdays. Last fall I posted some of the pro-life mysteries from Priest's for Life's website, but I never got around to posting the Glorious Mysteries. I thought today would be a good day to post them (even though Tuesday is normally for the Sorrowful Mysteries--but we can pray any set of mystery any day of the week, right?)

THE RESURRECTION

Christ is risen! By his Resurrection, He has destroyed the power of death, and therefore the power of abortion. The outcome of the battle for life has already been decided: Life is victorious! Let us pray that all pro lifers will spread this victory to every segment of our society.

THE ASCENSION

By ascending to His throne, Christ takes our human nature, given to us in the womb, to the heights of Heaven. He shows us that human beings are made to be raised to Heaven, not thrown in the garbage. Let us pray that the world may learn this truth and reject abortion.

invisibility of ornamental fish from japan

TOKYO - Japanese researchers will never run out brilliant ideas.

Having previously transparent frogs breed, now Japanese researchers successfully breed goldfish invisibility. naked eye, the clouds can be seen directly carp heart is ticking along with other organs.
invisibility was developed as an effort to reduce the need for surgery in every biology classes at school. Previously, the practice of animal dissection in biology class is mired in controversy from many quarters in Japan.
research team combined Mie University and Nagoya University produces goldfish called 'ryukin'. This species developed from breeding carp at the time of hatching is not perfect with pale Mas Fish.
can see directly the heart and other organs of the fish, because the scales and skin has no pigment, "said Professor Yutaka Tamarus as quoted by AFP on Wednesday (30/12/2009). translucent it will be live for 20 years, while its length can grow to 25 centimeters and the weight reaches two Kilogram. 2007, a group of researchers announced the successful develop transparent frog.
Masayuki Sumida, a professor of the Institute for Amphibian Biology, Hiroshima University, estimates that this Transparent frogs will be circulated widely in the laboratory as well as schools in Japan next year.
animals Unique animal later berkiras-10 000 yen or approximately Rp 1 million (Rp102, 658 per yen). Quite expensive for an ornamental fish

Palenque (Meksiko)

Palenque ruins are one of the most important Mayan archaeological sites in Mexico and Central America. The town is built on a cliff with beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico, Palenque as if hidden in a tropical forest in the foothills Tumbala, Chiapas, Mexico.
Although the analysis of pottery pieces that have inhabited the area began around 100 BC, but most of the remaining buildings constructed in the 6th to 10th century AD. The greatest ruler in this city is Pacal, who ruled in the year 603 AD, and making various innovative buildings that survive even more than that range innings Pacal 68 years. One of the remarkable buildings is the Palace, both walls and ceiling of the palace is filled with carvings depicting the ceremony and various activities of rulers and the gods, so that we can think how the life-rhythm of the Mayas of the era.
Until now only 34 of 500 possible buildings that successfully liberated from soil deposits, in case you can free up one more follow-up

Babilon (Irak)

These ruins are located about 90 km from the city of Baghdad, the original name of this town is "Bab-ILI" which means "gate of the gods". The city is widely known at the time of the classical era, as a beautiful city with the "Hanging Gardens" which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The city was established as a center of government and culture, and glorious for about 15 centuries, ever since the arrival of the tribe Amor (about 1850 BC) until Alexander the Great, who eventually died there in 322 BC. Hammurabi (1892-1750 BC), one of the greatest rulers in Iraq also make this city as a center of government.

Machu Picchu (Peru)

The most famous ruins of all the Inca ruins. Machu Picchu as if located between two mountain peaks and is often shrouded in fog. These ruins can not be seen from the Urubamba Valley below, this place was built by the Inca nation, without at all using the wheel.
Machu Picchu was built in around the 15th century, but this place was not recorded by the Spanish Conquistador, who turned out to destroy the place in 1530. This place is also the purpose of development is still unknown, despite numerous signs that the place has many centers of worship.
Until now many archaeologists continue to search for evidence of purpose built venue.

We Shrinking Planet

Our planet is shrinking, said the Russian geologist. Since it was first built 585 kilometers of the earth has been reduced.

Vyacheslav Orlenok, professor of geology at the Kant Russian State University, Kaliningrad, comparing the ancient with the relief structure that existed at the moment.

He said 4.5 billion years ago, when the earth's surface just beginning to solidify a larger size. Estimated radius of about 6956 km and is currently 585 km has decreased.

For thousands of years the surface decreased by about 128 million square kilometers. Count is obtained by comparing the total area of all continents now reached 149 million square kilometers. "Depreciation is a major factor in processes such as tectonic movements in the continental platform," said Orlenok.

The reduced size caused by gravity and the mass loss caused by solar radiation, blowing away the hydrogen atoms of the earth's atmosphere, scientists explained. He has studied the formation of oceanic crust of the earth and for more than 30 years

Buckyball Birthday 25th

Buckyball ... Initially I thought that my connection is rather slow, because the second O in Google does not appear, but after a while it appeared the letter O in place a small ball spinning in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube-shaped spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs , and cylinders called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes.

Fullerene similar in the structure of graphite, which consists of stacked graphene sheets linked hexagonal rings, but can also contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings.

Before 1985, scientists knew only two forms of pure carbon structure of diamond and graphite. Both are wholly material composed of only carbon atoms. Each carbon atom in the diamond material, tied with four other carbon atoms form a tetrahedron pattern. This structure causes the diamond is very hard.

While in graphite, carbon atoms form a hexagonal layer of carbon-bound. Each layer hexagonal weakly bound with other hexagonal layer. This structure causes such as graphite is soft and oily. Structures like this also explains why graphite can be left in pencil on paper so that it can be used to write.

This day 25 years ago, exactly 4 September 1985 found a new structure of pure carbon in nature. This invention is answering questions in the beginning of the paragraph. New molecular structures called buckyball has a soccer ball-like pattern that consists of 20 hexagon (hexagonal) and 12 pentagon (segilima). The molecular structure is brought Smalley, Kroto, and Curl to the podium Prize in 1996.

This molecule consists of 60 carbon atoms with the chemical symbol C60. Meanwhile, a buckyball is taken from the name of an architect, R. Buckminster Fuller, who designed the dome of the new molecules with similar structures such as exhibition held in Montreal in 1967. Carbon molecules with structures similar to a soccer ball is also called by the name buckminsterfullerene or fullerenes.

The new molecule also has an effect like a ball, it can bounce and spin. Buckyball can rotate 100 million times per second. This molecule can be bounced if diempas to a hard surface such as steel. Then when squeezed or pressed, the molecule will return as the original form, like a rubber ball. And if compressed up to 70 percent of its original size, buckyball becomes harder than diamond doubled.

Curl, Kroto, and Smalley get these molecules at high temperature conditions and in a helium atmosphere. However, they only get a few products buckyball. In fact, it needs huge amounts to studying the nature and potential of these molecules in the future. Until the year 1990 discovered buckyball synthesis method produces a considerable amount of plasma method. This method was discovered by scientists from Germany and America.

When Smalley and his colleagues synthesize the buckyball or fullerenes, are not only found in C60 compounds. C60 is found in large quantities in bulk. Other structures found in the composition is less C70, C540, and other fullerenes containing hundreds of carbon atoms. In the synthesis method buckyball by American and German scientists, produced 75 percent C60, 23 percent of C70 'and the rest is a bigger carbon molecules. Since then, scientists have generally studied buckyball buckyball C60 compared with other more carbon atoms.

After the buckyball can be produced with large enough quantities, both Smalley and other scientists began to engineer, researching, and studying the properties of this unique molecule. One of the uniqueness is the empty space within the structure of the buckyball sphere. The researchers tried to fill it up with other atoms or ions to change the nature or the study bonding that occurs within the ball.

Various possibilities such as making plastics from the buckyball, carbon buckyball change into diamond at room temperature, as well as learn buckytube fiber or fiber-called nano-carbon (carbon nanotubes) have been carried out by researchers.

Like football players who will play ball in the field, researchers and scientists a variety of fields also play a soccer ball-structured molecules with different ways and rules in the laboratory on the pretext of science and learn the greatness of the Creator.

The Tunguska Event-Greatest explosion in Siberia

Another hypothesis which assumed that the objects of the cosmos that have difficulty in steering system so that almost hit the Earth's surface. Thus at the last moment he was forced to make a correction toward a nuclear rocket motor lit, so he managed to leave the earth to continue its journey towards the planet Venus.

Whatever the reason, we should feel grateful that the terrifying explosions did not occur on one metropolitan city, but in sparsely populated areas. However, according to Ian Ridpath (Messages from the Stars, Fontana / Collins, Glasgow 1978), in the 1977 scientists announced the discovery of the Soviet Union chonditer carbonaceous materials commonly found in the comet's head.
Does this puzzling Tunguska been answered for the umpteenth time efflux

PAMUKKALE - TURKEY

Pamukkale is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the pools have been closed to the tourists that once bathed in their waters to save them from further damage.

The strange and weirdly beautiful terraced pools of Pamukkale have been appreciated for over two millennia and yet still remain a little known wonder of the world. Thousands of years ago earthquakes, which are common in Turkey, created fractures that allowed powerful hot springs to bring water rich in calcium carbonate to the surface. As the water evaporated the chalky material condensed and formed layer-upon-layer of Travertine and thus slowly built up the walls over time in the same way that a stalactite forms in a cave. Apparently Pammakale means Castle of Cotton but the Greco-Romans built a town above it called Heirapolis – meaning “Holy City” or “Sacred City”. They too recognised it as a rare and important place attributing healing powers to the milky-white waters.

Found, Big Star 20 times from the Sun

United States Space Agency (NASA) and a group of scientists have succeeded in photographing a group of stars, one of whom is believed to be a young star size 20 times larger than the Sun.

NASA researchers, Stefan Kraus and astronomers from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, revealed that NASA's Space Telescope, Spitzer, managed to record images of a star called IRAS 13481-6124.

Images from the Spitzer telescope was also supported by observations from the station telescope in Chile. Star is located in the constellation Centaurus, which is 10,000 light-years. IRAS mass 20 times larger than the sun. "This is the first time such a thing could be monitored," said Kraus.

According to him, images from the Spitzer time resulted in a clearer image than has ever shown so help scientists better understand the birth of stars in the universe to another.

Through Spitzer imaging, the researchers also saw that the star is surrounded by a collection of gas and dust that resemble disks. This phenomenon also occurs in other stars.

"Futsal is very similar to what we had seen in young stars, which form smaller, but still large," said Kraus. (Vvn / Jos)

Giant Volcano Under the Sea North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Expedition along the Indonesia-United States in ocean waters in Sangihe, North Sulawesi, managed to map an underwater mountain. Research with multicahaya sonar research vessel owned by NOAA's Okeanos was discovered this mountain has a height of up to 10 thousand feet or more than 3000 meters.

The camera is controlled remotely by the vessel is taking a picture with high definition (high definition) in the region of West Kawio referring to the western waters Kawio Islands, Sangihe District.

The scientists chose West Kawio as the first target for this expedition based on the information and satellite data collected by a joint Indonesian-Australian team in 2004.

The elements of abundant submarine became the ideal initial target to customize devices and technology within the vessels used in this inaugural voyage. The scientists hope the map of this expedition and the resulting video will pave the way for other researchers to follow up preliminary findings that they have acquired.

"This is a huge volcano and higher than all the mountains in Indonesia, except three or four others, and rose more than ten thousand feet from the seabed in waters and is located at a depth of more than 18 thousand feet," says Jim Holden, U.S. Chief Scientist for the mission earlier this joint expedition, and an expert in microbiology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who participated in the expedition of Exploration Command Center in Jakarta, Indonesia.

For comparison, Mount Semeru is the highest on the island of Java has a height of 3676 meters above sea level. However, this height is measured based on the level of the sea surface, not from the bottom of the valley from the mountains. While the seamount height found in the Sangihe is measured from the valley.

Jakarta-Seattle Connection

Many scientists who work from coastal areas by using the model of ocean exploration with a live video broadcast remote (telepresence). Holden and other scientists in Exploration Command Centers in Jakarta and Seattle with the Okeanos Explorer to connect directly via satellite and high-speed Internet lines, and can connect with the crew to guide the course of the expedition.

Indonesian and U.S. scientists believe that by investigating the ocean that had never previously unexplored so many new phenomena that will be obtained and the information obtained to increase our understanding of marine ecosystems and acidification and climate change impacts.

"Concerns relating to the ocean, including food safety and protection of marine ecosystems that support fisheries, impacts on many countries including Indonesia - a country that consists of 17 000 islands," said Sugiarta Wirasantosa, principal scientist for the expedition together with Indonesia and Indonesian researchers on the team leader Marine and Fisheries Research Agency. "To understand and manage things like that, we had to do exploration. That is the reason why the expedition was so important, "he said in a release received VIVAnews, July 12, 2010.

Basic Map the Sea Indonesia

So far, the Okeanos Explorer has mapped 2400 square miles of seabed in Indonesia, a vast territory with an area equivalent to Delaware. In mid-July, and fisheries research vessel owned by Indonesia Baruna Jaya IV will map the sea floor more and put the equipment on the islands Kawio before the two ships met in the port of Bitung. They will be deployed again on July 21 to continue to explore more of unspoiled ocean near the islands of Sangihe and Talaud clusters. The expedition will be completed on August 14.

"It's very much like solving a puzzle," said Holden. "First we map the seabed, and if we see something interesting, the scientists who are on the ground and staff who were on board the ship to stop putting more sensors and systems in the water," he said.

This includes placement of a preliminary investigation of underwater robot, called ROV, or remotely-operated vehicle, in which a pilot who were on the ship to control the ROV from deep beneath the sea. ROV is a two-body system that can dive down to depths of 13,000 feet, and when the lights and high-definition video cameras on both the instrument is turned on, will be seen directly by the scientists on the ground.

NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the environment on earth, ranging from the seabed to the surface of the sun, and protect and manage coastal and marine resources.

Underwater Volcano in the Celebes Sea. Expedition with Indonesian and U.S. scientists in North Sulawesi find surprising results in the first week. The scientists discovered a giant underwater volcanoes surrounding waters of North Sulawesi. This mountain is an important finding for understanding the wealth of the seas of Indonesia. Previously also been found in Mexican and River Underwater Volcano news about Iceland.

Underwater Volcano in the Celebes SeaHigh mountains on the ocean floor that reaches 10,000 feet or approximately 3000 meters. Position is located at 18 000 feet deep in the waters Kawio Islands, North Sulawesi. The discovery of this mountain is part of the expedition of the ship Okeanos's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This expedition has mapped 2400 square miles of seabed in Indonesia or the area of Delaware. This expedition will be completed on 24 August. Volcanoes in the sea was detected in the expedition with scientists of Indonesia and United States scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the auspices of U.S. Department of Commerce.

NOAA Ship Okeanos of time exploring the ocean in the area of West Kawio, Kawio Islands, North Sulawesi, get a mapping of the volcano images. West Kawio chosen as the area because of the elements of an expedition under the sea in abundance. Via satellite, scientists at Okeanos may be associated with exploration offices in Jakarta and Seattle, USA. Indonesian and U.S. scientists believe they will find many new phenomena to understand marine ecosystems and climate change impacts. Sugiarta Wirasantosa of Marine and Fisheries Research Agency, said Indonesia, which has 17 000 more islands, need more exploration.

So far, the Okeanos Explorer has mapped 2400 square miles of seabed in Indonesia. In mid-July, and fisheries research vessel owned by Indonesia, Baruna Jaya IV will map the sea floor more and put the equipment on the islands Kawio before the two ships met in the port of Bitung. They will be deployed again on July 21 to continue to explore the islands of Sangihe and Talaud. The expedition will be completed on August 14.

MOERAKI - NEW ZEALAND

These large, spherical, alien and strangely beautiful boulders are mainly located on Koekohe Beach, part of the Otago coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Known as “Moeraki Boulders” they were originally formed on the sea floor from sedimentary deposits that accreted around a core in the same way that a pearl will form around a particle of sand. The erosion of the cliffs often reveals these boulders from the surrounding mudstone allowing them to join those already on the beach. Some of the larger boulders weigh several tonnes and can be up to three metres wide.

Maori legend attributes their origin to the arrival of the first ancestors / giants who came in the great Araiteuru canoe which was sunk by three great waves at nearby Matakaea.

It is said by the Maoris that some of the surviving crew of the Araiteuru canoe were turned into stone and became mountains. The Moeraki boulders are said to be the pots and chattels from the canoe.

NINE HELLS OF BEPPU

NINE HELLS OF BEPPU - JAPAN Beppu, located on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, is the second largest producer of geothermal water in the world. Located in the same area are the “Nine Hells” or ponds that each has its own remarkable character and colour thanks to the variety of minerals in the outflows. These “Hells” are a popular tourist attraction in Japan but are little known outside of the country. Seven of the strange geothermal springs are located in the Kannawa area and are known as: Sea or Ocean Hell (Umi Jigoku), Shaven Head Hell (Oniishibozu Jigoku), Cooking Pot Hell (Kamado Jigoku), Mountain Hell (Yama Jigoku), Devil or Monster Mountain Hell (Oniyama Jigoku,) Golden Dragon Hell (Kinryu Jigoku) and White Pond Hell (Shiraike Jigoku). Sadly, as with many incredible natural wonders, the area surrounding it has become over commercialised and “tacky”.



Further away in the Shibaseki District are Blood - Pond Hell (Chinoike Jigoku) - shown above - and Waterspout Hell (Tatsumaki Jigoku).

LAS CAÑADAS - TENERIFE

Las Cañadas caldera, Mount Teide – Not dead just sleeping! The UN Committee for Disaster Mitigation has listed Teide for close observation due to its history of powerful eruptions and its location near several large towns.

At the summit of Mount Teide, one of the largest Island volcanoes in the World is the Las Cañadas caldera. The crater, which is an enourmous sixteen kilometres across, is a picture of what Hell might look like if it cooled a little. Shear walls that formed when the caldera first collapsed encircle this dry and alien place. And, with an arrogance than can only be accepted as typical, humanity has built roads and observatories across this no mans land that is little more than a plug over a sleeping yet still active and very large volcano. When we visited it some years ago we were standing in the viewing gallery when the ground beneath our feet trembled and several windows suddenly cracked. The sleeping giant was grumbling in its sleep. The land mass created by the volcano is Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

GREAT BLUE HOLE OF BELIZE

The Great Blue Hole is located in the Light House Reef aproximately halfway between Long Caye and Sandbore Caye. It is about 60 miles east from the mainland of Belize (city). In 1997 it was designated as a World Heritage site.

Found on both land and in the ocean throughout the Bahamas and the national waters of Belize are deep circular cavities known as Blue Holes which are often the entrances to cave networks, some of them up to 14 kilometres in length. Divers have reported a vast number of aquatic creatures some of which are still new to science. In addition, they’ve recorded chambers filled with stalactites and stalagmites which only form in dry caves. For the explorers this was proof that at one time, nearly 65,000 years ago, when the world was in the grip of the last major ice age, the sea level of the Bahamas was up to 150 metres lower than it is today. Over time the limestone of the islands was eroded by water and vast cave networks created. When sea levels rose again about 10,000 years ago some of these collapsed inwards and the Blue Holes were formed

SANQINGSHAN - CHINA

SANQINGSHAN - CHINA Sanqingshan is a relatively small National Park near the city of Shangrao in the Jiangxi province of China. What it lacks in size it makes up for in shear natural beauty. It is officially the 7th World Heritage Site designated in China and has been noted for its exceptional scenic attraction. The key mystique of this remarkable place is the combination of extraordinary granite geology in the form of weird outcrops and pillars combined with seasonal climate variations than often cause mists, fogs and striking sunsets. Those that have visited this place describe a feeling of overwhelming peace and tranquility. This effect is enhanced by the profusion of natural waterfalls, pools and springs. If you allow yourself, it is truly possible to see Earth, Water, Wind and Fire joined in time.

A story that is told is that Mu-Go the “Lord of the East” wished to create a garden for the amusement of his consort “Yin” and persuaded the four elements to fuse together and create Sanqingshan as a private garden for her amusement.

EYE OF AFRICA - MAURITANIA

Currently scientists believe that they know what caused this formation. Hey! It's a Ri chat structure ... whatever that really means. A more Bizarre theory is that it is the impact site of an ancient but very powerful bomb.

From space this mysterious depression in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania really does look like a human eye. The image to the left is the "pupil" but a visit to Google Earth zoomed out a little will reveal the cliffs that make up the rest of the eye. This natural phenomenon is actually a richat structure caused by the dome shaped symmetrical uplifting of underlying geology now made visible by millennia of erosion. Please note that this explanation is not wholly accepted by the scientific community. There still remain academics that believe it is the sight of a meteor impact and yet others still that believe it resembles the formations caused by underground nuclear blasts. By the way, we estimate that the detonation would have had to be in the gigaton range. Currently no country in the world has a weapon even close to this destructive yield.

Hell's Door in Turkmenistan

In the midst Karakoum (Turkmenistan) desert, close to
disappearing village called Darvaza, there are approximately one crater
hundred meters in diameter and more than twenty meters from the depths,
called "door of hell." Inside this well, the fire had burned for
tens of years, the fire that seemed endless. The Darvaza better not
a work of nature, but the result of poor Soviet mining
prospecting began in the 50's. In 1971, drilling which provoke
collapse of an underground cavity, so revealing gaping holes
leakage of gas in large quantities. The geologists decided to torch
wells to remove toxic gas like that, it's too underrated soviet
cavity dimensions: gas should burn
in a few weeks has really kept burning without interruption since
1971! It is unknown how long "» gates of Hell «will continue
burning. Although Darvaza wells located in an area difficult
access, many people gathered there to watch this exciting
phenomenon. The intense heat coming from the crater allowed to approach
place only for a few minutes as the temperature is unbearable.
At night, this event Dantean: fire burning in all the splendor that, providing
wells display a burning volcano.

Titan: Nasa scientists discover evidence 'that alien life exists on Saturn's moon'

Researchers at the space agency believe they have discovered vital clues that appeared to indicate that primitive aliens could be living on the planet. Data from Nasa's Cassini probe has analysed the complex chemistry on the surface of Titan, which experts say is the only moon around the planet to have a dense atmosphere.

They have discovered that life forms have been breathing in the planet’s atmosphere and also feeding on its surface’s fuel. Astronomers claim the moon is generally too cold to support even liquid water on its surface. The research has been detailed in two separate studies. The first paper, in the journal Icarus, shows that hydrogen gas flowing throughout the planet’s atmosphere disappeared at the surface. This suggested that alien forms could in fact breathe. The second paper, in the Journal of Geophysical Research, concluded that there was lack of the chemical on the surface. Scientists were then led to believe it had been possibly consumed by life. Researchers had expected sunlight interacting with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce acetylene gas. But the Cassini probe did not detect any such gas. Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at Nasa Ames Research Centre, at Moffett Field, California who led the research, said: “We suggested hydrogen consumption because it's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth. "If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth.” Professor John Zarnecki, of the Open University, added: “We believe the chemistry is there for life to form. It just needs heat and warmth to kick-start the process. “In four billion years’ time, when the Sun swells into a red giant, it could be paradise on Titan.” They warned, however, that there could be other explanations for the findings. But taken together, they two indicate two important conditions necessary for methane-based life to exist.

source

The Richat Structure

The Richat Structure is one of those geological features that are more clearly observed from space than from down on the ground. It was first observed from space by Gemini 4 astronauts McDivitt and White in June 1965.
Located in the center of Mauritania, the western end of the Sahara desert this prominent circular feature has attracted attention since the earliest space missions because it forms a conspicuous bull's-eye in the otherwise rather featureless expanse of the desert. Described by some as looking like an outsized ammonite in the desert, this 'eye of Africa' , which has a diameter of almost 50 kilometers (30 miles) has become a landmark astronauts since the earliest manned missions.

Most of the image looks yellowish, indicating sand desert. The dark brown part is bare sedimentary rocks, and within that you can see the Richat Structure, a gigantic ring structure of some 40 km in diameter.

The onion-like formation is formed by concentric bands of resistant paleozoic quartzite rocks form ridges, and between with valleys of less-resistant rock between them.

The part of the sedimentary rock corresponding to the white of the eye is a plateau standing some 200 m above the sand desert. The Richat Structure corresponding to the iris of the eye lies in a depression, and the peak of the outer rim is 485 m above sea level. The Richat Structure consists of Early Paleozoic rocks, some 600 million years old. Around the center, rocks resistant to weathering and erosion (purple and blue-green part) make 100 m high ridges, and nonresistant rocks (yellow and brown part) form valleys. These features alternate and are concentric.

The Richat Structure was previously thought to have been formed by metorite impact or volcanic activity, but field surveys have demonstrated that neither are correct. The current thinking is that these features were formed by an uplift and subsequent erosion from wind and water.
However, why the structure is circular remains a mystery.

Solving the Mystery of the Nasca Lines

Ever since the first commercial trans-Andean aviators spotted them in the 1930s, the giant ground drawings that cover 400 square miles of southern Peru's desert coast have remained an enigma. Acre-sized tracings of hummingbirds, foxes, and condors; a 100-foot-tall man with owllike eyes, his raised arms beckoning to us from a hillside; dozens of spirals, zigzags, triangles, and trapezoids; and 1,000 miles of long, straight lines crisscross a dry wasteland that bears an uncanny resemblance to the surface of Mars. Could these geoglyphs be effigies of ancient animal gods or patterns of constellations? Are they roads, star pointers, maybe even a gigantic map? If the people who lived here 2,000 years ago had only a simple technology, how did they manage to construct such precise figures? Did they have a plan? If so, who ordained it? It all seems so otherworldly. To comprehend the Nasca lines, created by the removal of desert rock to reveal the pale pink sand beneath, visitors have proposed every imaginable explanation--from runways for spaceships to tracks for Olympic athletes, from op art to pop art, to astronomical observatories. As much as the lines awe me, I marvel equally at the imagination of the people who have sought explanations for them.

Water, walking, astronomy, kinship, division of labor and ceremonial responsibility, cleansing and sweeping, radiality: there is a place for all of these human actions and concepts in a complex, but nonetheless believable story of the Nasca lines. Above all, I think the lines were made to walk upon; they were pathways. I have no doubt that some sort of ritual on the ray centers and trapezoids, wherein people assembled for reasons connected to the ritual acquisition of water, was involved. The patterns of lines also speak of relations among people who maintained them, and possibly of astronomy via the connection between sunrise/sunset positions and the date of arrival of water in the valleys adjacent to the pampa. Whatever the mosaic of explanations, our cardinal rule has been that everything must make sense in the context of what we know about Andean culture in general and about Nasca culture in particular. We can no longer view the Nasca lines as the product of a massive superhuman work effort undertaken as a single-minded grand project. The people of ancient Nasca had no need of our cultural trappings. They used little advanced technology in their weaving, pottery making, and metallurgy, no sophisticated knowledge of mathematics and geometry in the Western sense, and no maps or blueprints in order to create what we see.

If my three decades of pilgrimage to the pampa have taught me anything, it is that to understand the Nasca lines we need to escape from the straitjacket of our own universe of discourse. The maze of lines and figures etched across the desert floor in a seemingly confusing manner is neither whimsical nor chaotic. The pampa isn't just a conglomeration of dysfunctional doodles on a gigantic scratchpad. There is order--a pattern and a system behind the geoglyphs--and it tells us about the people who lived there.

Anthony F. Aveni is the Russell B. Colgate professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University. The article was adapted from his forthcoming book, Between the Lines: The Mystery of the Giant Ground Drawings of Ancient Nasca, Peru (Austin; University of Texas Press).