Venus
to come in front of Sun after 122 years (Go
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Islamabad:
Scientists the world over have suggested and advised
that Pakistan will be the best place to be in to observe
the passage of the planet Venus in front of the Sun on June
8, 2004 after 122 years. Karachi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad
and Rawalpindi are listed among the cities of the world
from where the rare astronomical event can be watched, reports
The News. The last time this rare celestial event took place
was in 1882 and it has historical significance. Earlier
transits of Venus were used to measure the distance between
it and the Earth, between the Earth and the Sun and between
different planets in the solar system. These observations
also produced information about the Venus size and its orbit,
besides the first evidence of the presence of atmosphere
on the planet. The transit will last for over six hours.
Apart from Pakistan, the other countries that will provide
the best viewing are Iran, Afghanistan and India.
Furious
wife drives off with hubby on bonnet (Go
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London:
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. In a bizarre
incident, a wife was banned from driving for five years
after she rashly drove over a mile with her husband spreadeagled
on the bonnet. According to the Sun, the cops were stunned
to see a Mazda sports car hurtle by with Clarence Doige
clinging to the windscreen wipers. He had tried to stop
his wife Rachael, when she left the home after a row. "He
would not get off the car, so I drove off," Rachel told
Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London. A beautician by profession,
Rachel has been convicted of dangerous driving and refusing
a breath test. She was fined 250 pounds and asked to do
60 hours community service.
London's
Bobbies using chocolates to combat crimes (Go
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London:
Now chocolates will help police to combat violent crime.
According to the Sun, London cops believe that Kit Kat Kubes
will soothe revelers and distract drunks from causing punch-ups
and brawls at the closing time. Chocolate contains endorphin,
which acts like natural opiates to relax the brain. Also,
since the Kubes are in bags drinkers will need both hands
to open them - preventing them using their fists on each
other. This weekend officers will distribute 12,000 bags
of Kubes to drinkers leaving five bars in Bournemouth, Dorset
- the resort known as Britain's Faliraki. The move comes
after the Government announced a summer blitz on binge drinking.
"People get frustrated and then aggressive waiting for either
food or a taxi home. The chocolate will fulfil one of their
main needs - food - and give them something to do with their
hands, police constable Ian Curtis was quoted as saying.
Chocolate makers Nestli have donated the giveaway Kubes
for the pilot scheme.
Cassini-Huygens
sends latest Saturn pics (Go
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London:
The Cassini-Huygens mission continues to return tremendous
images of Saturn. The double spacecraft is now just two
months away from arriving at the ringed planet to begin
a four-year expedition of the gas giant and its many moons
report BBC. The latest image, taken from 48 million km away,
fills the entire field of view of Cassini's narrow angle
camera. Cassini is the mission's primary probe and the piggybacked
Huygens is a lander, which will attempt to land on the oily
seas of Saturn's major moon, Titan. The latest picture,
acquired on 27 March, is actually a composite of three exposures,
in red, green and blue with each pixel representing 286km
(178 miles). It is the last image in which the narrow angle
camera will be able to see the whole of Saturn. It shows
distinct colour variations between bands in Saturn's atmosphere
and the individual rings have also been captured clearly.
Two faint dark spots visible in the Southern Hemisphere
are close to the latitude where Cassini saw two storms merging
in mid- March. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint project
between the US and European space agencies (Nasa and Esa)
and the Italian Space Agency.
