Monthly Archives: April 2012

Mexico’s Popocatepeti Volcano Rumbling

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Alert Status Raised at Mexico’s Popocatépetl

 

Three webcam views of Popocatépetl as seen on April 16, 2012. Images courtesy of Eruptions reader Kirby.

 

I mentioned yesterday that Mexico’s famous Popocatépetl experienced one of its largest explosions in years, covering some 30 communities with ash up to 7 cm thick (but highly dependent on wind direction, so that value has a wide range from dusting to the maximum 7 cm). Combine that with continued elevated seismicity and a healthy steam-and-ash plume from the volcano (see above), and CENAPRED has raised the alert status at Popo to Yellow Phase 3, the third highest threat level (of 7). Overnight on April 16th, the volcano was throwing incandescent material over 300 meter above the crater and it has produced at least 14 small steam-and-ash plumes over the last day or so, some reaching as high as ~1 km / ~3,200 feet. The raised alert level means that local authorities are preparing for potential evacuations if the volcano has a major eruption – the last time major evacuations were needed, in 2000, over 50,000 people had to leave their homes. An eruption will also likely cause significant air traffic issues in/around Mexico City, so authorities need to be prepared for this as well.

The major hazards from Popo are going to be ash fall on the area around the volcano, lahars generated by mixing water and volcanic debris (Popo does have several summit glaciers) and even the potential for pyroclastic flows, although they have been relatively rare in the recent (last few hundred years) at Popocatepetl. You can get a sense of the area that could be effected by a new eruption of Popo fromthis map prepared by volcanologists at University of Buffalo.

When conditions are good, you can get a view of Popocatépetl from webcams near the volcano, so keep your eyes open for continued activity.

from:    http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/category/eruptions/

On Volcanoes in Iceland

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Peddling Fear of an Icelandic Volcanic Eruption

 

The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull seen on May 8 of that year. Since then, the news media wants us to live in fear of the next Iceland eruption. Image: NASA.

 

As we approach the second anniversary of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption that created air travel havoc across Europe, I suppose it comes as no surprise that the news media has decided to mark the anniversary with fear. I’ve seen a flurry of articles come out over the past few days all pushing the idea that a new eruption in Iceland, bigger and badder that Eyjafjallajökull, is around the corner, waiting to mug you and steal your wallet.

 

Let’s take a quick tour of some of the headlines, shall we?

Really pitching the soft sell, aren’t they? And guess what? Almost every one of these articles focuses on the Big Bad Wolf of Iceland, Katla. Sure, other volcanoes also show signs of activity (see Askja or even2011 eruption of Grimsvötn), but Katla is the media darling. Katla has definitely had large eruptions in the past, but it isn’t even the standard for large eruptions in Iceland (I think the Laki eruption might have something to say about that). However, Katla is (a) near Eyjafjallajökull; (b) hasn’t erupted in a long time; and (c) easier to pronounce.

Now listen, Iceland is a very geologically active place. It sits on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, were new oceanic crust is born, pushing North America and Europe further apart. It also sits on top of a mantle plume, where hot, buoyant mantle material rises and melts as a decompresses. Both of these factors mean that Iceland has a lot of volcanic activity. It also means many of the volcanoes will appear “restless” as magma moves in conduits under the volcano, sometimes at depths of 30 or more kilometers below the surface – and although magma is moving, it doesn’t mean an eruption is going to happen next week. Volcanoes are dynamic features that are always responding to new intrusions of magma, but remember this key fact: volcanoes spend much more time not erupting than erupting.

This key idea is what makes volcano monitoring such a challenge – we can see the signs of activity, like earthquakes, degassing, warming of the Earth’s surface, steam explosions, deformation, but deciding that volcano X will erupt on a specific date far in the future is just not possible. Sure, we can say the probability is higher that a volcano will erupt if it shows some of these signs, but really, for any active volcano, for each day that passes, we are closer to its next eruption (whenever that might be). Katla will erupt again, but do we need to rehash the fear of total Airtravelopocalypse each time it hiccups? I sure hope not.

The two things we really don’t know about the next eruption of Katla: (1) when it is going to happen and (2) how big will it be. Without this knowledge, all this wailing and gnashing of teeth is for one reason only – to get people to read your article. There is no scientific basis for you to be any more afraid of Katla now than at any time – and even if the signs of activity increase, the fear shouldn’t come with it. As an example, the 2011 eruption of Grimsvötn was, in many times, larger than the Eyjafjallajökull eruption – taller plume, higher rate of eruption (initially) – but it did not cause anywhere close to the chaos that Eyjafjallajökull caused in European/North American air traffic.

What I’m trying to get across is this: Every eruption in Iceland is not doom. Every rumble of a volcano is not a sign of a “huge new eruption”. We live on a geologically active planet and significant geologic events are going to happen (just look at the earthquakes in Indonesia and Mexico yesterday). However, living in fear of that big eruption or that big earthquake isn’t going to help us be prepared for the next one.

Image: Aqua image of Eyjafjallajokull erupting on May 8, 2010. Image by NASA/GSFC/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team   

from:   http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/peddling-fear-of-an-icelandic-volcanic-eruption/#more-105989

Sunspot AR 1460

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GROWING SUNSPOT: What a difference a day makes. On April 16th, sunspot AR1460 did not exist. Twenty-four hours later it was twice as big as the planet Earth. This April 17th movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows sunspot genesis in action:

The sunspot’s magnetic field is still too simple for strong flares, but if the expansion continues apace, instabilities could develop that lead to explosions. Readers with solar telescopes should keep an eye on AR1460.

from:    spaceweather.com

Hathors through Tom Kenyon on Light, Solar Activity, etc.

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Entering the Solar Storms

Note: This message deals with the KA body (a term from ancient Egyptian Alchemy), and discusses how you can utilize this unique energy-body to draw to yourself ascension-energies from increased solar activity. For those unfamiliar with the KA—your KA body is an “invisible” second body that is the same shape and size as your physical body. This energy body both envelops the physical body and interpenetrates it. This body is sometimes referred to as the etheric double or spiritual twin. The KA shares similarities with what is called the Chi body in some traditions (Taoism) and with the pranic body or etheric body in certain yogic traditions. By its nature, the KA can draw to itself and then into the physical body, highly benevolent energies that accelerate one’s spiritual evolution.

As we indicated in an earlier message on January 3, 2011, you have been entering a period of increased solar activity for some time. We strongly urge that you read that message, Partaking From the Solar Winds, in order to understand the deeper levels of what we will be discussing.

You are now entering a more heightened period of solar and galactic activity in which the magnetosphere of your Earth is being struck by erratic and increasingly strong streams of solar energy.

You will be seeing an ever-increasing number of solar flares and fluctuations that are highly unusual. These fluctuations in the sun are being driven by internal forces, as well as by streams of energy from the central sun of your galaxy. Adding to this complexity of interactions are high intensity streams of energy from deep space. The magnetic field of your sun is being affected, and in point of fact, it is being twisted, contorted, and all of this is having an effect upon the magnetic field of your Earth and the magnetic fields of your bodies. With increased solar activity of this type, you will see an ever-increasing intensity of weather anomalies, as well as increased earthquake and volcanic activity.

The focus of our message here is not on the physical aspects but the emotional and spiritual aspects of this solar activity. As we said in our message, Partaking From the Solar Winds, these types of solar fluctuations increase emotional volatility and irrational behavior. Many of you are, no doubt, finding yourselves irritable for no particular reason. Sleep disturbances are also a common aspect of this change in solar activity.

As you enter this heightened solar storm phase we have two suggestions that will allow you to navigate through these increased levels of energy. The first is the simplest and is thoroughly discussed in our message, Partaking From the Solar Winds, so we will not discuss it here. A second method allows you to soothe your physical body through the water element. We are referring here to another previous message, called Medicines of Light. In this method you charge water with intentionality from your BA or Celestial Soul. The original message dealt with protecting yourself from viruses, bacteria, and radioactivity. We would refer you to that message so you understand the method clearly.

In this use of the Medicine of Light, you will charge the water with the intention of soothing your physical body, so that it is able to adjust to the erratic nature of the solar energies more efficiently and with greater grace. An ideal time to create this type of Medicine of Light is just before going to sleep. Then the Medicine of Light, through the water element, will communicate with the intracellular and intercellular fluids of your body, which will impart a calming and balancing effect.

Introducing this Medicine of Light before your rest cycle will have a very beneficial affect upon you while resting and during the next cycle of activity. We are saying “rest cycle” rather than sleep because for many of you, sleep is a highly questionable activity, as it is increasingly disturbed or disrupted. We suggest during these resting cycles you let go of your attachment to sleep as you have known it. As you become more at peace with the situation, you will find that you can regenerate yourself in shorter periods of deep relaxation.

When you awaken at night, or whenever you are resting, we suggest you use the method we suggested inPartaking from the Solar Winds to charge your KA body. Since you are awake you might as well take this opportunity to charge your KA.

As you work with this you will find that you can regenerate and re-energize yourself in shorter periods of time than you have been able to in the past.

There is a third method we would like to offer those of you who have an advanced understanding of your KA.

Micro-Wormholes

Your KA body interpenetrates your physical body and is the same shape and size as your physical form. There is no part of your physical body that is outside of your KA, and by its very nature when you charge your KA body with energy, the overflow of excess energy goes into the organs of your physical body, which increases your health and vitality.

Your KA body is composed of innumerable particles of etheric light, and within this body of light there are nexus points. These nexus points within your KA link to the mitochondria of your cells. Mitochondria are the energy producers, the power plants of your cells. There are varying numbers of mitochondria depending on the type of cell, and these organelles appear in the cytoplasm outside the cell nucleus. The only cells that do not have a nucleus are your red blood cells.

It is possible to bring your awareness into this level of your body so that you are aware of your mitochondria and can sense the wormholes into your KA. These wormholes are intracellular portals into the higher vibratory nature and reality of your KA. By opening these portals through intention you can greatly affect the flow of excess energy from your KA into your physical body.

This allows your physical body to more easily attune itself to the more rapid vibratory reality of your KA. It is through your KA that you ascend into higher vibratory realities. Through the portals of your mitochondria you can assist your physical body to adapt more easily to this rapid acceleration.

We now wish to turn our attention to the emotional quandary of your situation. By its very nature, both the acceleration of time and the increase of vibratory realities purge your unconscious mind.

As we said previously, you will note a general increase in emotional volatility and impulsive irrational behavior. If you are not experiencing these effects yourself, you have, no doubt, noted this occurring among your fellow humans.

You are living in a paradoxical duality. As the old energetic realities fall apart, new energetic realities are being birthed. But it is human nature for people to be attached to the way things used to be, to the ways they expect. Yet much of the way things have been is coming to an end. The world as you have known it, is ending. And a new world is being birthed.

The Quandary of the Human Heart

One of the greatest casualties in this process is the human heart. We recognize and sense a deep sadness and despair in the collective human heart. Part of this is due to the disintegration of realities and your attachments to them. After all, what do you build your dreams on when the foundations of your world are crumbling?

Another aspect of this difficulty in the heart has to do with the toxic nature of your planet’s emotional atmosphere. As the solar energies increase, the tensions between polarities become ever more apparent. The polarization of human consciousness between those who would imprison and those who would free the human spirit are becoming clearer and clearer.

We would offer two suggestions as a means to deal with these challenges to your heart.

It is through your heart that new realities are birthed—by this, we mean realities worth living. Our first suggestion may seem overly simplistic, and yet as is often the case, the simplest things are frequently the most powerful. However you do this is not important. What is important is that you create an emotional antidote in yourself to the toxic poisoning of your planet’s emotional atmosphere.

As hatred and intolerance increase, you must find a passage through this darkness. The simplest and most efficient way we know is for you to find the smallest things in your life that you appreciate, and to take a few moments to dwell on these feelings of appreciation throughout your day. It does not matter how small these feelings of appreciation may be. From the tiniest seeds of appreciation great things can arise. The vibratory state of appreciation, or gratitude, is an extraordinary antidote to emotional poisoning. We strongly suggest you cultivate this ally as you move through this next cycle of solar storms.

Finally, we are offering a sound meditation based on the heart chakra. This is from a previous Hathor Intensive. The first phase of this sound meditation rotates and activates energies within the heart chakra for the purpose of clearing. The second phase of the meditation is calming and nurturing. We believe you will find this sound meditation to be another helpful ally.

As you enter this new phase of solar storms understand that they are extraordinary opportunities for evolutionary advancement. They are also, paradoxically, fraught with dangers for devolution due to their intense nature. If you resist the energies of acceleration, you will experience great difficulties in this passage. If you embrace these energies and master them—finding a way to navigate through them with appreciation and a good dose of humor—you will find greater freedom. This freedom of which we speak is a freedom of the human spirit, mind and heart. It resides in a level of consciousness untouched by the dualities of your earthly existence.

The Hathors
April 1, 2012

from:  http://tomkenyon.com/entering-the-solar-storms

Physicists Questioning Time as the Fourth Dimension

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Physicists continue work to abolish time as fourth dimension of space

Apr 14, Physics/General Physics

 
Light clocks A and B moving horizontally through space. According to length contraction, clock A should tick faster than clock B. In a new study, scientists argue that there is no length contraction, and both clocks should tick at the same rate in accordance with special relativity. Image credit: Sorli and Fiscaletti.

(Phys.org) — Philosophers have debated the nature of time long before Einstein and modern physics. But in the 106 years since Einstein, the prevailing view in physics has been that time serves as the fourth dimension of space, an arena represented mathematically as 4D Minkowski spacetime. However, some scientists, including Amrit Sorli and Davide Fiscaletti, founders of the Space Life Institute in Slovenia, argue that time exists completely independent from space. In a new study, Sorli and Fiscaletti have shown that two phenomena of special relativity – time dilation and length contraction – can be better described within the framework of a 3D space with time as the quantity used to measure change (i.e., photon motion) in this space.

 

The scientists have published their article in a recent issue of Physics Essays. The work builds on their previous articles, in which they have investigated the definition of time as a “numerical order of material change.”

The main concepts of  – that the speed of light is the same in all inertial reference frames, and that there is no absolute reference frame – are traditionally formulated within the framework of Minkowski spacetime. In this framework, the three spatial dimensions are intuitively visualized, while the time dimension is mathematically represented by an imaginary coordinate, and cannot be visualized in a concrete way.

In their paper, Sorli and Fiscaletti argue that, while the concepts of special relativity are sound, the introduction of 4D Minkowski spacetime has created a century-long misunderstanding of time as the  of space that lacks any experimental support. They argue that well-known  experiments, such as those demonstrating that clocks do in fact run slower in high-speed airplanes than at rest, support special relativity and time dilation but not necessarily Minkowski spacetime or length contraction. According to the conventional view, clocks run slower at high speeds due to the nature of Minkowski spacetime itself as a result of both time dilation and length contraction. But Sorli and Fiscaletti argue that the slow clocks can better be described by the relative velocity between the two reference frames, which the clocks measure, not which the clocks are a part of. In this view, space and time are two separate entities.

“With clocks we measure the numerical order of motion in ,” Sorli told Phys.org. “Time is ‘separated’ from space in a sense that time is not a fourth dimension of space. Instead, time as a numerical order of change exists in a 3D space. Our model on space and time is founded on measurement and corresponds better to physical reality.”

To illustrate the difference between the two views of time, Sorli and Fiscaletti consider an experiment involving two light clocks. Each clock’s ticking mechanism consists of a photon being reflected back and forth between two mirrors, so that a photon’s path from one mirror to the other represents one tick of the clock. The clocks are arranged perpendicular to each other on a platform, with clock A oriented horizontally and clock B vertically. When the platform is moved horizontally at a high speed, then according to the length contraction phenomenon in 4D spacetime, clock A should shrink so that its photon has a shorter path to travel, causing it to tick faster than clock B.

But Sorli and Fiscaletti argue that the length contraction of clock A and subsequent difference in the ticking rates of clocks A and B do not agree with special relativity, which postulates that the speed of light is constant in all inertial reference frames. They say that, keeping the photon speed the same for both clocks, both clocks should tick at the same rate with no length contraction for clock A. They mathematically demonstrate how to resolve the problem in this way by replacing Minkowski 4D spacetime with a 3D space involving Galilean transformations for three spatial coordinates X, Y, and Z, and a mathematical equation (Selleri’s formalism) for the transformation of the velocity of material change, which is completely independent of the spatial coordinates.

Sorli explained that this idea that both photon clocks tick at the same rate is not at odds with the experiments with flying clocks and other tests that have measured time dilation. This difference, he says, is due to a difference between photon clocks and atom-based clocks.

“The rate of photon clocks in faster inertial systems will not slow down with regard to the photon clocks in a rest inertial system because the speed of light is constant in all inertial systems,” he said. “The rate of atom clocks will slow down because the ‘relativity’ of physical  starts at the scale of pi mesons.”

He also explained that, without length contraction,  exists but in a different way than usually thought.

“Time dilatation exists not in the sense that time as a fourth dimension of space dilates and as a result the clock rate is slower,” he explained. “Time dilatation simply means that, in a faster inertial system, the velocity of change slows down and this is valid for all observers. GPS confirms that clocks in orbit stations have different rates from the clocks on the surface of the planet, and this difference is valid for observers that are on the orbit station and on the surface of the planet. So interpreted, ‘time dilatation’ does not require ‘length contraction,’ which as we show in our paper leads to a contradiction by the light clocks differently positioned in a moving inertial system.”

He added that the alternative definition of time also agrees with the notion of time held by the mathematician and philosopher Kurt Gödel.

“The definition of time as a numerical order of change in space is replacing the 106-year-old concept of time as a physical dimension in which change runs,” Sorli said. “We consider time being only a mathematical quantity of change that we measure with clocks. This is in accord with a Gödel view of time. By 1949, Gödel had produced a remarkable proof: ‘In any universe described by the theory of relativity, time cannot exist.’ Our research confirms Gödel’s vision: time is not a physical dimension of space through which one could travel into the past or future.”

In the future, Sorli and Fiscaletti plan to investigate how this view of time fits with the broader surroundings. They note that other researchers have investigated abolishing the idea of spacetime in favor of separate space and entities, but often suggest that this perspective is best formulated within the framework of an ether, a physical medium permeating all of space. In contrast, Sorli and Fiscaletti think that the idea can be better modeled within the framework of a 3D quantum vacuum. Rather than viewing  as a medium that carries light, light’s propagation is governed by the electromagnetic properties (the permeability and permittivity) of the quantum vacuum.

“We are developing a mathematical model where gravity is a result of the diminished energy density of a 3D quantum vacuum caused by the presence of a given stellar object or material body,” Sorli said. “Inertial mass and gravitational mass have the same origin: diminished energy density of a quantum vacuum. This model gives exact calculations for the Mercury perihelion precession as calculations of the general theory of relativity.”

More information: Amrit Sorli and Davide Fiscaletti. “Special theory of relativity in a three-dimensional Euclidean space.” Physics Essays: March 2012, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 141-143. DOI: 10.4006/0836-1398-25.1.141

© 2012 Phys.Org

from:    http://m.phys.org/news/2012-04-physicists-abolish-fourth-dimension-space.html

Papua New Guinea Earthquake

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 Very strong to massive (deep) earthquake in Papua New Guinea

Last update: April 17, 2012 at 9:38 am by By 

Very strong to massive (deep) earthquake in Papua New Guinea
The earthquake struck at a depth of 202 km is therefore probably harmless.
130 km (81 miles) N (10°) from Lae, New Guinea, PNG
156 km (97 miles) ESE (104°) from Madang, New Guinea, PNG
This earthquake will be felt by millions of people in a very wide area because of the depth of the hypocenter
Update 07:33 UTC : Geofon reports a Magnitude of 6.6 at a depth of 199 km. EMSC a Magnitude of 7.1 at a depth of 190 km.
All data captured so far are confirming the probably harmless character of this earthquake
Update 07:38 UTC : The epicenter of this earthquake is on the coast of  Long Island, an island to the north of Eastern PNG. The epicenter is however of less importance in deep earthquakes as the seismic waves are radiating to the surface from deep within the hot solid earth.
Update 07:41 UTC : There absolutely NO risk for a tsunami for the same reason as described above.
Update 07:42 UTC : Due the energy in this quake USGS expects that 108,000 people will have experienced a moderate MMI V shaking, 2.6 million people a light shaking.

from:   http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/16/major-earthquakes-list-april-17-2012/

Kenya, Nairobi Earthquake

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Moderate earthquake close to Nairobi, Kenya

Last update: April 17, 2012 at 8:55 am by By 

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude :
UTC Time : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 02:01:27 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 05:01:27 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km
Geo-location(s) :
33 km (20 miles) NNW of NAIROBI, Kenya
81 km (50 miles) NW of Machakos, Kenya
109 km (67 miles) SE of Nakuru, Kenya


Seismic hazard map for the greater area of this earthquake – The darker the color, the more chance that an earthquake would strike

– The East African Rift is an active continental rift zone in eastern Africa that appears to be a developing divergent tectonic plate boundary (spreading plates) . In the past it was considered to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Turkey. The rift is a narrow zone in which the African Plate is in the process of splitting into two new tectonic plates called the Somali Plate and the Nubian Plate, which are subplates or protoplates. See picture of the plates at the bottom of this article.

– The epicenter is located below Ngenya and close to the  Thika Dam.  The Thika dam is approx. 15 km from the shallow epicenter, but it should be no problem at all to withstand a moderate quake like the one from today.

– The intensity of the shaking is not strong enough to inflict serious damage or injuries, but can cause some cracks in walls as the houses in Kenya are mostly made of brick or adobe and are this very vulnerable for damage when serious shaking is taking place.

– The intensity reported from Nairobi is III MMI = a weak shaking

– The earthquake can be called unusual so close to for Nairobi, but not unusual for Kenya as Kenya is part of the tectonics very active rift valley with spreading plates. These spreading plates are “hanging” on regular intervals and are even the reason for the many volcanoes the country has within its borders.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/17/moderate-earthquake-close-to-nairobi-kenya/

Valparaiso, Chile Area Earthquake

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Very strong earthquake near Valparaiso, Chile – Very interesting shaking video

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 6.5
UTC Time : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 03:50:14 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Monday, April 16, 2012 at 11:50:14 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 25.9 km
Geo-location(s) :
42 km (26 miles) NNE of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile
81 km (50 miles) W of Los Andes, Valparaiso, Chile

Intensity map courtesy USGS

– Historically, there have been at least 50 damaging earthquakes within a 100km radius of the epicenter

– Strongest intensities have been experienced in Titil and Rancagua following ONEMI Chile (MMI VII = very strong shaking)

– ONEMI Chile is calling the earthquake one of Mayor Intensidad (great intensity).

– 532,000 people will have experienced a strong shaking and nearly a million people a moderate shaking. 8 million people a light shaking

– The epicenter may be positioned in the sea or just below land

– The earthquake struck on the coastal strip 42 km to the north of Valparaiso and 112 km from the Capital Santiago

– The Video below is a very important video which shows the studio of CNN Chile with a footer already in the screen of the earthquake as well as the text that SHOA (agency for tsunami prediction) reports that NO tsunami conditions are present. The text messages must have appeared after the automatic systems from the Chile authorities have received the P-Wave signal at instruments close to the epicenter. Santiago de Chile was only 112 km from the epicenter and while the journalist is commenting the just occurred quake, the studio is starting to shake.  Following ONEMI Chile, the shaking we are seeing on this video is labeled approx. MMI VI (strong shaking). 
Once more CHILE proves that they are standing at the top of earthquake preparedness. If reports are distributed this fast to the media, all evacuation and preparedness measures like tsunami evacuation is very efficient too. Japan has a similar system. Earthquake-Report.com congratulates the Chile authorities with the way they have learned from the February 27, 2010 earthquake and historic earthquakes.

– Earthquake-Report.com reader message from Valparaiso : No previous sound, It started reaaally strong, right from the beginning, some things fell, the sad thing is telephones lines went down… again.

– Update 08:44 UTC : Preventive evacuation has been lifted 3 hours 48 minutes after the mainshock!

– In the video below captured in the CNN studios from Santiago de Chile, we have timed that the strongest shaking went on for about 8 seconds and that the shaking ended after approx. 35 seconds.

– Power is now been restored to 99% of the grid and only the town of Maitencillo in the Vth district has still some areas without power

– Update 07:57 UTC : 8 aftershocks since the mainshock

– A seismologist from the Universidad de Chile Santiago has declared that today’s earthquake is NOT related with the February 27, 2010 mega-quake.

for more information, and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/17/very-strong-earthquake-near-valparaiso-chile/

Lyrid Meteor Showers

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fr/spaceweather.com

LYRID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is approaching the debris field of ancient Comet Thatcher, source of the annual Lyrid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on April 21-22; a nearly-new moon on those dates will provide perfect dark-sky conditions for meteor watching. Usually the shower is mild (10-20 meteors per hour) but unmapped filaments of dust in the comet’s tail sometimes trigger outbursts 10 times stronger. [video] [Lyrid chat]

Awe-Inspiring Eruption on the Sun

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SPECTACULAR EXPLOSION (UPDATED): Magnetic fields on the sun’s northeastern limb erupted around 17:45 UT on April 16th, producing one of the most visually-spectacular explosions in years. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths:

The explosion, which registered M1.7 on the Richter Scale of solar flares, was not Earth-directed, but it did hurl a CME into space. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather have analyzed the trajectory of the cloud and found that it will hit NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft, the Spitzer space telescope, and the rover Curiosity en route to Mars. Planets Venus and Mars could also receive a glancing blow.

This event confirms suspicions that an active region of significance is rotating onto the Earth-facing side of the sun.

UPDATE: Using data from SDO, Steele Hill of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has assembled a must-see movie of the event. The movie shows the explosion unfolding at 304 Angstroms, a wavelength which traces plasma with a temperature around 80,000 K.

from:    spaceweather.com