View of partial (Annular) solar eclipse on 26th December in Ranchi city.

Though it was cloudy but I tried my best to take few photographs of solar eclipse. 
An annular solar eclipse  occurred on December 26, 2019. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun , thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun's, blocking most of the Sun's light and causing the Sun to look like an annulus (ring). An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region of the Earth thousands of kilometres wide. 

Concept of environment in ancient Indian Philosophy.

Indian thought perceives that there is life in all kinds of things.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Worldwide awareness of the need for protection of the environment and prevention of ecological disaster has taken root, very slowly, only in the past 50 years or so.

Although human beings are considered the most intelligent life form on earth, they are responsible for most of the damage done to planet earth.

In India and elsewhere, as awareness of clean water needs, pollution of air, water and soil, global warming, species extinction, etc creates urgency for action, religious thinkers and activists have begun to reflect on how the values of Indian tradition might contribute to fostering greater care for earth’s ecology.
Environmental in Indian thought is not conceived as a physical, lifeless entity- it is very living mechanism where humans are one of the many living creatures. There is also a great emphasis on adaptation as one of the guiding principles for an interaction between human and non- human world.

It has been argued by ancient Indian philosophers that man being an intelligent creature should have the protection of environment as one of the fundamental duties. The fragility of the environment has also been carefully stressed in such discourses.

The principal cosmic-vision is fully integrated in two different but related traditions- the oral and textual. While the reflections of the oral tradition are more focused on practice, the textual tradition offers a complete and systemic analysis of the universe.

The Indian textual tradition assumes that, like the rest of the material world, man is made of elements which at death disintegrate and dissolve into nature. At the most general levels there are nine tatvas or elements; Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Sky, Time, directions, Mind and Soil. Indian mythology explains that elements originate in phases. Water, Earth and sky come first; aquatic animals and birds second; land third; air or wind fourth and finally fire.

Indian thought explains Environment as a given entity which is transcendental in nature. It perceives that there is life in all kinds of things, it might be biotic or non-biotic material. There is greater emphasis on mutual dependence where living in isolation was not possible. Environment has been perceived as a friendly abode.

It was considered very good to live in forest where one can experience environment in its purest form. Living in urban centers, which is natural- man made living, was given secondary position. It was perceived that nature can satisfy everybody’s need if one maintains harmony with the given environment.

Even in different stages of human life in Hindu philosophy, shifting to forest in older age was given importance which is commonly known as “Vanaprastha”. A Vanaprastha (Sanskrit ) is a person who is living in the forest as a hermit after partially giving up material desires.

This word is generally used to denote a particular phase of life in the Vedic ashram system when a person is between the ages of 50 and 74. In this phase of life, the person is in a retreat from worldly life. He lives away from the city, in a jungle as a hermit, with as little material possessions as possible. This stage denotes a transition phase from material to spiritual life.
When a householder is considered to be older or advanced in years, perceiving his skin become wrinkled, his hair turns gray, and has grandchildren, the time is said to have come for him to enter the third stage of life, or vanaprastha. It is said that he should now disengage himself from all family ties, except that his wife may accompany him, if she chooses.

Ancient Indian felt Brahman (not caste) presence in everything around them. Since these divine forces sustained all living creatures and organic things on this earth, to please God, they felt they must live in harmony with His creation including earth, rivers, forests, sun, air, and mountains. This belief spawned many rituals that are still followed by traditional Indians. For example, before the foundation of a building is dug, a priest is invited to perform the Bhoomi Pooja in order to worship and appease mother earth and seek forgiveness for violating her. Certain plants, tries and rivers were considered sacred, and worshipped in festivals.

What oral tradition says?
Oral traditions form the basic method by which we come to know about the knowledge which has not been codified. They also help us to understand those societies, for which we have very limited textual information. Day-to-day human conversation carries the glimpses of ancient past.
In oral tradition in India, environment has been perceived as a living being which breathes, feels, protects etc. Environment is a friendly entity.

The animals and forms are one of the basic components of tales and oral tradition in India had created. Various attributes of animals were identified and were used as if they are natural characteristics. Plant life provided the base of different stories. It was always kept in mind that human survival was possible only with the conservation of entire flora and fauna. It is also reflected in the religious practices as different animals and plants were worshipped at different times so as to ensure their survival.
Environment in Philosophical treatises-
The Indian textual tradition conceives environment as a system with life which has synchronized the complex inter-relationship of numerous living and non-living entities. Even the abiotic world has been perceived as a living creature with a soul. It is a very significant concept as it placed man as equal to every other element of our environment. The Indian thought greatly emphasizes upon a very cordial relationship among all the elements of our world. To highlight the importance of various components of our environment, various rituals have been institutionalized. These rituals ensured that we treated even the non-living world with great care and maintain a harmony.

For example fire is conceived as messenger of God. Earth has been considered as mother goddess. Sky is worshipped as father. Earth worship manifested itself even in stone worship.
The tales of Panchtantra also highlight the special position which is given to living world. Animals are given human characteristic of not only language but also faculty of feelings and rationality. It tries to give lessons to mankind by highlighting the problems through animal world’s characteristics. Different attributes of animals have been identified and are very beautifully utilized in these tales. Cow is worshipped. Trees are worshiped. Various animals are allotted to different Gods and Goddesses as their mode of transportation to highlight their utility and to enhance their position.

Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and other scriptures give a detailed description of trees, plants and wildlife along with their importance to the community. Trees have considered as an essential part of dwelling in Indian homes. Significance of plants and trees to human life is further exemplified in Varah Puran which advocates regular plantation as a means to achieve heaven. In Matsyapurana and Padmapurana also there is description of great plantation ceremony- Vriksha Mahotsava (Tree Festival). In Matsyapurana plantation of a tree has been equated with progeny of ten sons.

Indians believed that humans, gods and nature were integral parts of one organic whole. Ancient Indian writers, later on, personified each of the divine force as a Devata or deity worthy of reverence and worship. Even Charvaka, the atheist philosopher of ancient India, who totally rejected Vedas, the Hindu scriptures, considered the principles of Vayu (air) Bhumi (earth), Jala (water), Agni (fire) as important factors in regulating the lives of humans, animals and plants.

Hymn IX of Book 10 of Rig Veda is dedicated to Water. The hymn recognizes the life giving ability of water, not only physically but also spiritually. The prayer concludes that plentiful supply of pure water be always available.
Here is a hymn from Isha Upanishad:
"Everything in the universe belongs to the Supreme God. Therefore take only what you need, that is set aside for you. Do not take anything else, for you know to whom it belongs".
Isha Upanishad also says: “Resources are given to mankind for their living. Knowledge of using the resources is absolutely necessary.”
The holy scripture Bhagavatam (Volume 2, Chapter 1, Verses 32-33) says:
"The air is His breath, the trees are the hairs of His body, The oceans His waist, the hills and mountains are His bones, The rivers are the veins of the Cosmic Being (Brahman), His movements are the passing of ages".

Indian philosophical thought also highlights the numerous species of flora and fauna and their special position vis-à-vis environment and Master living creature. This totalistic view is a great achievement of the Indian philosophy.

Earth like planets in our universe?

Spotting true Earth-sized planets is challenging with current technology.
by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Twinkle, twinkle little star, goes the nursery rhyme, but what scientists are really wanting to find is planet’s similar to our earth.

When scientists confirmed in October that they had detected the first rocky planet outside our solar system, it advanced the longtime quest to find an Earth-like planet hospitable to life.

Rocky planets -- Earth, Mercury, Venus and Mars -- make up half the planets in our solar system. Rocky planets are considered better environments to support life than planets that are mainly gaseous, like the other half of the planets in our system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

We know that earth is a pretty rare planet in our universe. Only a relative handful of planets are rocky and even fewer are in the habitable zones of their stars. At the same time, there is still a lot that we don't know about our universe outside the solar system.
The challenge in finding earth-like planets is the sheer distances involved. It involves light years even between our sun and the nearest star. We can currently observe stars and other galaxies, but it is even more difficult to find a planet. The first challenge is that planets are often much smaller than the stars they orbit. The earth is one millionth the size of the sun. The second challenge is that planets don't emit or reflect much light. With these two conditions using ordinary astronomy tools to find planets is impossible

Many scientists speculate that our galaxy could be full of places like Pandora from the movie "Avatar" -- Earth-like worlds in solar systems besides our own.

That doesn't mean such worlds have been easy to find, however. Of the 400-plus planets so far discovered, none could support life as we know it on Earth.
"The problem with finding Earth-like planets," "is that their host stars can emit 10 million times more infrared light than the planet itself. And because planets like ours are small and orbit very close to their respective stars, it makes Earths almost impossible to see."

The rocky planet CoRoT-7 b was discovered circling a star some 480 light years from Earth. It is, however, a forbidding place and unlikely to harbor life. That's because it is so close to its star that temperatures might be above 4,000 degrees F (2,200 C) on the surface lit by its star and as low as minus 350 F (minus 210 C) on its dark side.

GJ 1214 b is an extrasolar super-Earth discovered in December 2009 orbiting the star GJ 1214, at a distance of 13 parsecs or approximately 40 light-years from earth, in the constellation Ophiuchus. It is the second exoplanet (after COROT-7b) discovered to have an established mass and radius less than those of the gas giants in the Solar System, and is the first of a new class of planets with small size and relatively low density. It is also the first super-Earth around which an atmosphere has been found. The planet is believed to be too hot to sustain Earth-type life, but could consist of 75 per cent water.

The planet is also significant because of its proximity to Earth, and because it transits a small parent star, which should allow its atmosphere to be studied using current technologies.

Fig. GJ 1214 b

Recently I was going through an article published in Scientific American (August issue) written by Dimitar D. Sasselov and Diana Valencia. Article is about the planets which could be similar to our earth. From last several years we are searching such planets in outer space which can support life. But we are still groping in darkness. Many claims have been made earlier but science needs evidence to accept such claims.

One such claim was in the year 2007, when some Swiss astronomers were studying a star close to the brightest star in the constellation of Libra, a red dwarf called Gliese 581, when they noticed that it was wobbling. They were intrigued by this as they understood that there must be something massive though invisible fairly near it exerting a gravitational pull on it. The result of this was the discovery of a large planet, which they called Gliese 581-B. It was obviously too close to its star, subject to too much radiation and just far too hot for it to support any form of life. Then in 2007 the same team of astronomers noticed a second wobble in the star’s movement, which implied the existence of a smaller planet further out. This was the cause of great excitement: the first earth-like planet outside the solar system had been discovered. It is twenty light-years away from the earth.

Imagine yourself grazing at the sky on a summer night. You look in the direction of a particular star that, you have heard, has a special planet orbiting around it. Although you cannot actually see the planet- you can barely see the star itself- you know it is several times larger than earth and, like earth, is made mostly of rock, quakes sometimes shake its surface, much of which is covered by oceans. Its atmosphere is not too different from the one we breathe, and its sky is swept by frequent storms and often darkened by the ash of volacanoes. But most of all, you know that scientists think it could harbor life – and that they plan to seek evidence for it.

This scenario could become reality within the next decades. Although most of the 450- odd extrasolar planets found so far are giants more similar to Jupiter, astronomers are beginning to discover some that may not be two different from earth. And NASA’s Kepler probe, a planet hunter sent aloft last year, will discover many more.

Of course, these worlds are light-years away, so even our most advanced instruments cannot actually see the details of their surfaces- the mountains, the clouds, the volcanoes- and perhaps never will. Usually all our telescopes can do is detect indirect signs of a planet’s presence and help us estimate its mass and how wide its orbit is. In some cases, they can also give information about a planet’s diameter and perhaps a few other details. In the case of the giant exoplanets, these details may include estimates about the atmosphere composition and wind dynamics.

That is a far cry from being able to measure anything specific about geology, chemistry or other features. Yet from those few numbers, researches can deduce surprisingly complex portraits of the far-off planets, using theoretical modeling, computer simulations and even laboratory experiments, combined with established knowledge of earth and other planets of the solar system.

Finding a planet that harbors life may have to wait until astronomers are better able to detect rocky planets that are farther from their stars. Spotting true Earth-sized planets is challenging with current technology, but the presence of super-Earths suggests finding a world like ours is just a matter of time, researchers say.

Is 2012 the end of the world?

Are we heading towards Lemuria or Mu type disaster?

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Picture credit: http://www.officialcountdown2012.com

A lot of people are listening and worrying about the world coming to an end in 2012. Hollywood is unleashing a raft of movies about humanity tottering on the edge of extinction.

Is 2012 the end of the world? Humans are particularly good at spreading the bad news the reason why it spreads like wildfire. With regard to the predictions of 2012, we’re into the dessert part. No one has anything to present and we’re still swallowing the end of life like it’s on sale at Wal-Mart.
Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have claimed that our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.

The other interesting theory is that scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

Is our earth is really going to end in 2012? Lots of queries and questions are coming regarding what will happen in 2012. Will we survive? Or it is just a hoax. To me in nature there is no such off and on switching of disaster. All the past scientific and geological researches show the end of the earth cannot happen in few minutes or days. Even today if any asteroids or meteorites struck the earth, complete extinction may take the time of 100 to 1000 years.

Earth cannot be destroyed completely at one time. It may pass through different changes. Either in the form of climate changes, extinction of some old species or submergence of land in the sea due to sea level rise.

Earlier reports say that some old cities or civilizations submerged beneath the sea like Dwarka in India or the Atlantis civilization.

Dwarka is an important city for Hindu Pilgrimage. It was the fabled capital city of Lord Krishna. This "under sea city of Dwarka" lies in close proximity to near the present Dwarka temple in Saurashtra in India. According to archeologists this under-sea city was the real Dwarka where Lord Krishna lived.
According to ancient concept Dwarka submerged into the sea after Sri Krishna left for the heavenly abode. The search for the lost city of Dwarka began as early as in 1930's. Marine Archaeology Unit (MAU) of the National Institute of Oceanography took part in this search in 1983. The search was carried out in the coastal waters of Dwarka in Gujarat. The well-fortified township of Dwarka that extended more than half a mile from the shore was discovered from 1983 to 1990.

What will happen in 2012 no body knows. It’s only a speculations or imaginations based on some mythological concept and not scientific. Every religion talks about some disaster in the ancient past either in the form of floods or in the form of fire from the sky. But scientifically it is not proved.

What will happen if the earthquake of 8 magnitude or more on Richter scale takes place on the earth? It may bring destruction to the specific area. If it takes place beneath the ocean it may bring destruction to bigger area in the form of tsunami but not the complete earth.

Even if great volcanoes erupts it may have the effect on hundreds kilometer. Earth can only be destroyed completely when all events like major earthquakes, volcanoes, shifting of magnetic poles, impact of asteroids or meteorites takes place at the same time in different parts of the earth. Which I am sure is not going to happen.

OK if we are bound to imagine that in year 2012 something is going to happen then what will be the outcome? We can say that the lands may be submerged in the sea either due to Tsunamis or due to the impact of some big object from the outer space. If we believe on the earlier researches there were two imaginary continents which are now under the sea waves. Researchers claim that they vanished due to some natural disasters.

We have all heard about the imaginary islands of Lemuria and Mu which according to different researchers and thinkers are now under the sea.

Researchers say that these islands were submerged in the ocean due to sudden disaster. If something is really going to happen in 2012 are we heading towards the future similar to that of Lemuria or Mu.

Atlantis is by no means the only submerged continent to attract the attention of archaeologists, scientists and historians. Of the remainder the two most important arte Mu (on the bed of the Pacific ocean) and Lemuria, beneath the Indian Ocean. There is also the lost land of Pan below the north Pacific, which antedated Mu over 20,000 years, while Mu itself existed 50,000 years ago. The origins of Lemuria apparently go back 100,000 years or more. All ( as in the case of Atlantis) are claimed to be the original birth place of man, though this clearly cannot be so.

Atlantis has been described as the greatest of all historical mysteries. Plato, writing about 350 BC, was the first to speak of the great island in the Atlantic ocean which had vanished “in a day and a night”, and been submerged beneath the wave of the Atlantic.

The exact location of Lemuria varies with different researchers and authors. Wherever you believe the location of Lemuria to be, it is linked with the Ring of Fire. Researchers claim that this area has become active with Tsunami in December 26, 2004, powerful earthquakes and volacanoes that continue, after being dormant for many years. It would seem that the legends of ancient Lemuria speak to us once again with warning signs- as they supposedly did to the Lemurians- before the continent-or group of islands-fell into the sea.

Mu is supposedly a continent that sink in the Pacific Ocean, rather than the Atlantic. The British archaeologist James Churchward made this claim in 1926. In his report he described a country with a far superior culture that had disappeared together with its continent in the aftermath of volcanic eruption.

Even if something related to the concept of 2012 is going to happen we are sure that it is going to affect only small part of the earth and not the whole planet.

It is also true that nothing natural will destroy the earth. It is we human who will be responsible for the destruction of our mother planet, either in the form of nuclear explosion, carbon dioxide emission or other green house gases emission.

Tattooed Mars.

This high-resolution picture from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows twisting dark trails criss-crossing light-colored terrain on the Martian surface. Newly formed trails like these had presented researchers with a tantalizing mystery but are now known to be the work of miniature wind vortices known to occur on the red planet, in other words Martian dust devils. Such spinning columns of rising air heated by the warm surface are also common in dry and desert areas on planet Earth. Typically lasting only a few minutes, dust devils become visible as they pick up loose red-colored dust leaving the darker and heavier sand beneath intact. Ironically, dust devils have been credited with unexpectedly cleaning the solar panels of the Mars rovers.

Image Credit: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona)

Does water really exists on the Moon surface?

It is very early to predict about water on the moon.
by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Fig.1. Image Credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS

Answer may be No! The tests on moon rock that has reached earth, either from meteorites or from rock brought back by astronauts, have brought a new meaning to the word dry!

NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper, an instrument on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 mission, took this image of Earth's moon. It is a three-color composite of reflected near-infrared radiation from the sun, and illustrates the extent to which different materials are mapped across the side of the moon that faces Earth.Small amounts of water were detected on the surface of the moon at various locations. This image illustrates their distribution at high latitudes toward the poles.Blue shows the signature of water, green shows the brightness of the surface as measured by reflected infrared radiation from the sun and red shows an iron-bearing mineral called pyroxene.
It is giant leap for India’s space programme and the biggest scientific discovery of the 21st century. India’s maiden moon mission, Chandryaan-1 has found water, a discovery that scientists say will up-end thinking about space and boost research.
The first object in the night sky most of us ever saw, the Moon remains a mystery. Haunted by poets, looked upon by youngsters in love, studied intensely by astronomers for four centuries, examined by geologists for the last 50 years, walked upon by twelve humans, this is Earth's satellite.
And as we look towards the Moon with thoughts of setting up a permanent home there, one new question is paramount: does the Moon have water? Although none has been definitely detected, recent evidence suggests that it's there.
Is it true? Seeing the early analytical report of the moon rock samples, it is very early to predict about water on the moon.
The Apollo missions (1969-1972) place a number of instruments on the Moon and brought back 382 kg of lunar rocks. The Russian Luna programme also returned samples.
According to the analysis reports on the samples, moon bear many similarities to rocks on earth, they differ on one basic point –they contain no water, no hydrated minerals, and no minerals with OH groups in their crystal structures. In contrast, minerals that are hydrated or contain the OH group are plentiful on earth.

Fig.2 A close-up view of Apollo 15 lunar sample no. 15415 in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL).

Fig.3. Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke collects rock samples near Plumb crater on the Moon.

"Compared with terrestrial samples, all lunar rocks are oddballs because they are so dry," said Ryder a researcher. "They contain no molecules of water, they're not oxidized and they contain no ferric iron. They're easy to distinguish from rocks on Earth."
All rocks collected are igneous - formed by cooling lava. The mission failed to find any sedimentary rocks - those deposited by water - on the moon. The moon rocks were found to contain no water and were formed in an environment lacking free oxygen. Iron then occurs as crystals of metallic iron. Exposure to Earth's atmosphere would result in the rocks rusting. A new mineral, Armalcolite, was found by the Apollo 11 astronauts. It was later discovered on Earth.
The other report also supports saying that the lunar surface being free of water (as liquid) there are no water transported sediments on it.
The moon is a small planet that cooled quickly and has been geologically quiet for billions of years. There are no volcanoes and no earthquakes; there is also no atmosphere to cause weathering and erosion. The Moon is at the same mean distance from the Sun as Earth. But because it does not have the thermal protection of an atmosphere its surface temperature ranges from a searing 125 degree C at the lunar noon to a chilling -160 degree C during the lunar night. Having such a variation in temperatures it is very hard to believe the presence of water in any form on the surface of the Moon. On the earth ponds and lakes generally gets dry when temperature rises up to 40 degree C and remains for few days. How can we imagine that in such a high temperature water molecules can be found even in form of soil moisture on the surface of the Moon. Lacking an atmosphere, the Moon lost almost all of this water when the molten rock spewed onto the surface and cooled.
Other theory says that since it has only a tiny fraction of Earth's gravity, most of the Moon's water supply should have evaporated and drifted off into space long ago.

If the water is really present on the moon surface the process by which the water exists means that it likely also exists on other similarly dry bodies like Mercury and the countless asteroids in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter and also it could only be found deep inside the moon.

According to a news published by Press Trust of India (PTI), dated Jun 15, 2009, ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair said that no trace of water was found on the Moon's surface. "But, we have found traces of magnesium and calcium." How the statement has now changed?

Reference:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/14apr_Moonwater.htm
http://www.impactlab.com/2008/07/11/is-there-water-on-the-moon/
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Next_ISRO_Launch_In_July_August_999.html
https://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/moon_rock_analysis_000522_MB_.html http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/science_surfing/116801

From where did the water came on Earth?

Origin of Water on Earth

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

All life on Earth depends on water. Humans use water for many purposes like drinking, irrigation, fisheries, industrial processes, transportation, and waste disposal. Water is also an essential part of the geological cycle. Rain water converts the granitic rocks of the continents to clay, sand and solutes, and transports them to the ocean where they become the raw material of future continents. Approximately 80 percent of the water on the Earth is in the oceans, 19 percent is in the pores of rocks beneath the Earth’s surface, 1 percent in the form of ice, 0.002 percent is in the streams and lakes, and only about 0.0008 percent in the atmosphere.
Considering the central role of water in human affairs, it is remarkable how little we know about it.

The question of the origin of water on Earth, or more accurately put, the question of why there is clearly more water on the Earth than on the other planets of the Solar System, has not been clarified. There are various popular theories as to how the world's oceans were formed over the past 4.6 billion years. Some of the most likely contributing factors to the origin of the Earth’s oceans are as follows:

1. The cooling of the primoridal Earth to the point where the outgassed volatile components were held in an atmosphere of sufficient pressure for the stabilization and retention of liquid water.
Today, the air we breathe is stable mixture of 79 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen, about 1 percent argon (or inert gas), and trace gases like carbon dioxide and water vapour. But our planet’s original atmosphere, several billion year ago, was far different. Earth’s very earliest atmosphere probably was swept into space by the solar wind, a vast stream of particles emitted by the Sun. as Earth slowly cooled, a more enduring atmosphere formed. The molten surface solidified into a crust, and gases that had been dissolved in the molten rock were gradually released, a process called outgassing. Outgassing continues today from hundreds of active volcanoes worldwide, thus, geologists hypothesize the Earth’s original atmosphere was made up of gases similar to those released in volcanic emissions today: water vapor, carbondioxide, nitrogen, and several trace gases.
As the planet continued to cool, the water vapor condensed to form clouds, and great rain commenced. At first, the water evaporated in the hot air before reaching the ground, or quickly boiled away upon contacting the surface, just like water sprayed on a hot grill. This accelerated the cooling of Earth’s crust. When the surface had cooled below water’s boiling point (100 degree c or 212 degree F), torrential rains slowly filled the low areas, forming the oceans.

2. Comets, trans-Neptunian objects or water-rich asteroids (protoplanets) from the outer reaches of the asteroid belt colliding with a pre-historic Earth may have brought water to the world's oceans. That the Earth's water originated purely from comets is implausible, as a result of measurements of the isotope ratios of hydrogen in the three comets Halley, Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp by researchers. According to this research the ratio of deuterium to protium (D/H ratio) of the comets is approximately double that of oceanic water.The Earth is believed to have formed hot and dry, meaning that its current water content must have been delivered after the planet cooled. Possible candidates for supplying this water are colliding comets and asteroids. Because of their large ice comet water has shown that comet water is significantly different from typical ocean water on Earth.
Asteroidal ice may give a better match to Earth's water, but until now, any ice that the asteroids may have once contained was thought to either be long gone or so deeply buried inside large asteroids as to be inaccessible for further analysis.

3. Gradual leakage of water stored in hydrous minerals (actinolite, borax, epsomite, serpentine, tremolite, gypsum etc.) of the Earth’s crust. The heating or metamorphism of minerals containing water results in the extraction of water. These are the water that have been trapped inside rocks for millions or billions of years. Loss of volatile constituents, H2O, CO2, and the like, are the dominant processes which occur when rocks change their pressure-temperature environment and undergo prograde metamorphism through tectonic processes.

4. Magma represents a fiery-liquid silicate melt, containing various elements, oxides and volatile components (fluorine, chlorine, water, carbon dioxide, etc.). Magma can be solidified in the depth of the Earth’s crust under the cover of the overlying rocks and at the surface or near the surface of the Earth. In the former case the process of solidification of magma is slow; it takes the whole of magma enough time to be crystallized. When there is a rapid uplift of the magma on to Earth’s surface its temperature becomes lower, the pressure drops down to normal, and volatile components are separated including water. Release of water to the atmosphere from the cooling of the magma is happening from millions of years.

Reference:

Drever, J.I. 1982. The Geochemistry of Natural Waters. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Fyfe, W.S., Price, N.J., and Thompson, A.B., 1978. Fluids in the Earth’s crust. Elsevier Scientific Publishing company, New york.

Milovsky, A.V. and Kononov, O.V. 1985. Mineralogy. Mir Publishers, Moscow.

Tarbuck, E.J. and Lutgens, F.K. Earth Science. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_world
http://www.ozh2o.com/h2solar.html
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1905.html
http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/Images/Asteroid-impact-on-Earth.jpg

Smoke of medicinal plants can kill harmful bacteria.

Smoke of medicinal plants can kill harmful bacteria.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Today the air we breathe in is loaded with harmful gases like NO2, CO, SPM and RSPM, which are all above the standards prescribed by the Government and are extremely harmful for human health. There are also new species of bacteria and virus coming up which cause new diseases and are resistant to old drugs. The wastes from the industries as well as the city is being dumped into the rivers, thereby causing severe water pollution. The indiscriminate use of pesticides and synthetic chemical fertilizers has resulted in poisoning of underground water reserves and also resulted into loss of soil fertility. And to top it all the lack of empathy of the people to these problems has made it worse.

All the new scientific methods or chemicals being used today to kill bacteria have the side effects on environment and human health. Best example is the use of DDT, one of the best known synthetic pesticides. DDT has now been declared toxic for humans and environment. Even chlorination of water has the side effects if used regularly and in large amounts. Liquids used in mosquito repellent are also harmful to human health to some extent.

With the development of the modern science we are getting more dependent on synthetic chemicals to kill bacteria or remove pollution other than the use of natural sources like medicinal plants or energy like Sun. In our ancient days people used the natural sources to fight the bacteria and pollution.


From time immemorial, human beings have used smoke of medicinal plants for curing disorders. Smoke produced from natural substances has been used extensively in many cultures and famous ancient physicians have described and recommended such use. According to old concept in Hinduism the basis of life has been said to be food. The basis of food is earth. The basis of earth is water and the basis of water is air. If air will be pure, all elements of the chain will become pure, thus purifying and cleansing life itself. For the environmental problem, the Hidus in the earlier days used the vedic science of ‘Yagya’ or ‘Havan’.
Havan is the term for a sacred purifying ritual (yajna) in Hinduism that involves a fire ceremony. It is a ritual of sacrifice made to the fire god Agni. After lighting a Havan Kund (sacrificial fire), objects such as fruits, honey, or wooden goods are put into the sacred fire. The main purpose of a Havan is for the purification of our surroundings. It is a person’s duty to thank Nature for balancing our surroundings and making them fit for human existence.
According to a report published in a web site, a scientist named Trelle of France did experiments on Havan. He found that Havan is mainly performed by using mango tree. When the wood is burnt then a gas, "formic aldehyde" comes out which destroys the harmful bacteria and makes the atmosphere purified. Then only, the scientists made "formalin" from "formic aldehyde" gas. He also did experiment on jaggery Gur (in Hindi raw sugar) and found that on burning the jaggery, jaggery also generates "formic aldehyde" gas. A scientist named Tautilk came to know that if we stay in a Havan and its smoke for half an hour then the germs of typhoid are destroyed and all these matters are used in Yajyen. Yajurveda says that four types of things mainly used to prepare offerings for a Havan- 1. Sweet Like honey, jaggery, raw sugar etc., 2. Antibiotic herbs like gyol, etc., 3. Nutrition like pure ghee, dry fruits etc., 4. Fragrant materials like elaichi (cardamom) dried petals flowers etc.

Seeing the importance of Havan scientists of the National Botanical Research Institute in Lucknow, India decided to test whether havan smoke affected indoor air quality. They burned havan samagri —the mixture of aromatic medicinal herbs typically prescribed for Hindu rituals in a closed room. They found smoke from the material did kill germs. And it was not just any kind of smoke; they compared the effects of smoke from mango wood with those of havan material.Research claims that there was no reduction in the number of airborne bacteria when one kg of mango wood was burnt. But when half a kg of havan samagri was added to it, the bacterial count reduced by 94 per cent within one hour.

Report also claims that the bactericidal effect did not diminish as soon as the source of smoke was removed. The researchers sampled air quality over 24 hours, after which the room was opened. Even at the end of the duration, the bacteria count was 96 per cent lower. Repeated sampling showed the effect lingered for a month. The study was published in Journal of Ethnopharmacology (December 3, 2007).

Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium
flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment. It was demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air within confined space, says the report.

Scientists warns that if the fumes of the Havan can kill bacteria it can also affect the human health. So detail chemical analysis of gradients used in the Havan should be done.

Reference:

http://siddhashram.blogspot.com/2008/02/doing-havan-at-home.html
http://www.agri-history.org/pdf/Medicinal%20smoke.pdf
http://www.theplanetom.com/article-yajna.htm
http://scientificspirituality.awgp.org/?Research/ImpactofYagyaonPollution/

Is Earth part of our solar system ?

Is Earth part of our solar system ?

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

From early age my mind always boggled at the mysteries of our solar system and the Sun. How they originated, how they are formed and how do they look . All these questions always puzzled me. Ideas about the formation of the Earth and our place in the universe often begin with star gazing. We ask more, and we learn more.
When I started studying geology I came to know that our mother earth is member of the solar system. All the principal theories which have been advanced to explain the origin of the earth, have in common the idea that the planets evolved from the sun. Regarding the origin of earth a number of theories have been put forward but none of them can be said to be perfectly correct.

The planets in our solar system comprises two sets. The inner terrestrial or rocky planets include, from sun out, moonlike Mercury, torrid Venus with its carbon dioxide green house and sulphuric acid clouds, Earth with cool blue seas and multicolored lands, ice capped Mars with long dry rivers and giant extinct volcanoes, and the frigid and commonly carbonaceous asteroids. The outer Jovian or ice-gassy planets are hydrogen-rich Jupiter with sulfurous plus a dozen icy satellites, gassy Saturn with its equally icy satellites and prominent rings, and the three less well known outermost planets.
How then, and when, did so diverse a collection of planets come to be as they are? Over the centuries that humankind has pondered such questions, different hypotheses have been advanced or modified.
It is commonly believed that the earth evolved with other members of the solar system . It means that earth and the other planets revolving round the Sun should have similarities in physical and chemical properties.
But to my great surprise the fact is opposite. When I went through the information about the other planets, I found out that there is a great difference between the earth and the other planets and Sun. There are some similarities between the other planets e.g. Saturn and Jupiter but our earth is totally different either in geology and geochemistry or in composition of gases from other planets.
Recently Pluto has been voted off the island. The distant, ice-covered world is no longer a true planet. According to the new definition, a full-fledged planet is an object that orbits the sun and is large enough to have become round due to the force of its own gravity. In addition, a planet has to dominate the neighborhood around its orbit.
Pluto has been demoted because it does not dominate its neighborhood. Charon, its large "moon," is only about half the size of Pluto, while all the true planets are far larger than their moons.

If you closely view our solar system you will find that our earth looks totally different from other planets. As if it is a foreign member intruded in solar system or been trapped in between the solar system. Our Earth is full of life and water. Prominent gases are Nitrogen and oxygen. It is active planet. If you put these definitions on other planets the answer is totally opposite. If we consider about the new definition of the planet, other than it orbits the sun and is large enough to have become round due the force of its own gravity and dominate its neighborhood, earth has no other similarity with other planets.

Earth’s ocean and atmosphere have evolved throughout the history of the planet, and continue to change today. Their original source and composition are not yet clearly identified. Compositional characteristics, such as less than solar proportions of the inert gases neon, krypton, and xenon, indicate that our atmosphere did not develop directly from nebular gas.

• Major gases on the Sun, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus are hydrogen and helium, Mercury has helium and carbon dioxide, Mars atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide. Whereas Earth has 77% nitrogen and 21% oxygen with traces of carbon dioxide. If earth has been borne from the same source and at same time there must be similarities in composition of the gases, which is not here.
  


• Early speculation proposed that the Moon broke off from the Earth's crust because of centrifugal forces, leaving a basin – presumed to be the Pacific Ocean – behind as a scar. The prevailing hypothesis today is that the Earth–Moon system formed as a result of a giant impact. A Mars-sized body (labelled "Theia") is believed to have hit the proto-Earth, blasting sufficient material into orbit around the proto-Earth to form the Moon through accretion. But Moon is very much different as it has no atmosphere and no magnetic field as compared to earth. Also the density of the Moon is much less than that of the Earth indicating that the Moon has comparatively less Iron and Nickel than the Earth. Although the lunar rocks bear many similarities to rocks common on Earth, they differ on one basic point – they contain no water, no hydrated minerals, and no minerals with the OH group in their crystal structure . In contrast, minerals that are hydrated or contain the OH group are plentiful on Earth. So where did the Moon come from? There is no clear answer to this question, in spite of all explorations and analyses.
  


• There is no geological movements on the other planets as compared to earth were geological movements in the form of plate tectonics is prominent.
  


• Heavy noble gases (xenon, neon, Krypton) are rare on earth as compared to space and the sun.
  


• Even the intensity of the magnetic field from planet to planet varies dramatically. Again I will say if the all the planets have the same origin there must have some similarities in the strength of the magnetic field which is not here.
  


• It is commonly said that Venus is very similar to earth. But it is composed mostly of carbon dioxide compared to Earth which is mostly composed of nitrogen and oxygen with trace of carbon dioxide. Scientists say that there was probably a very much larger amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere when the earth was first formed, but it has since been almost all incorporated into carbonate rocks. Why this phenomenon happened only on Earth and not on Venus. Also Venus has no magnetic field. Venus’ sky is red because carbon dioxide scatters red light. The sun appears bluish because of loss of the red component. There is no liquid water on Venus and therefore no life. The rotation of Venus is slower than its revolution making the rotation of Venus retrograde. As a result, the atmospheric circulation is totally different from that on Earth.
  


• Earth is the only planet which has developed complicated life structure. If Earth is part of the same source from which other planets have originated there should have been life on other planets too which unfortunately is not there. Why is it so? Why only earth was selected for the complicated evolution of life?
  Some of my friends suggested me that Earth's uniqueness and especially its complex life and atmosphere comes from its location in the solar system which is neither too hot (as in Venus) or too cold (as in Mars and beyond). Again I will say if life would have been there on Mars or Venus they would have adapted accordingly to the earlier atmosphere on these planets as it adapted earlier on the Earth. In our Earth too there are extremes of climates from too hot to cold and the life is surviving here.
  


• The earth and other planets and sun each have a somewhat different density suggesting different time and/or temperatures of origin.
  


• Research comparing silicon samples from Earth, meteorites and planetary materials, published in Nature (28th June 2007), provides new evidence that the Earth`s core formed under very different conditions from those that existed on Mars.
• The giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, essentially of solar composition, are the gasiest. Their satellites and the comets are the iciest.
• How it happens that some planets and satellites have retrograde rotations ( rotate clockwise instead of counterclockwise like the others).
  
  It seems that either Earth originated elsewhere and later became the part of the Solar System. If it has been originated from the same source it must be either younger or older to the other planets. If it is younger then we will have to believe the mythical or religious concept on the origin of the earth. The first recorded biblically estimate of the age of the earth (and universe) was made by Saint Augustine in the fourth century A.D. He counted about 6,000 years from biblical genealogies. Johannes Kepler, then professor of mathematics at Graz, calculated the date of creation to have been 3877 B.C., Sunday, 27 April, at 11 A.M. local time.
  
  All the other planets are devoid of any types of life. Can it be possible that earlier life was there in some of these planets like Mars or Venus and due to effect of climate changes or some other factors life ended on these planets and our planet which I assume is younger to them may face the same fate in coming future. If we assume that Earth is older to the other planets then these planets may in future become like earth.
  
  All ideas concerning the origin of the Earth and the solar system have their problems, and new discoveries often add to the demerits to the theories. All the theories regarding origin of Earth and Solar System are belief systems. Neither one can be proven because no one was there to witness the event, and it can not be repeated. Thus, the origin of the solar system continues to be a problem and even the most modern theories contain many points that need verification.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

IS INCREASING CARBON DIOXIDE COOLING OUR EARTH?

IS INCREASING CARBON DIOXIDE COOLING OUR EARTH?
By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Carbon Dioxide:

Carbon dioxide is probably the most important of the greenhouse gases as it accounts for the largest proportion of the 'trace gases' and is currently responsible for 60% of the 'enhanced greenhouse effect'. It is thought that it's been in the atmosphere for over 4 billion of the Earth's 4.6 billion year geological history and in much larger proportions (up to 80%) than today.
Most of the carbon dioxide was removed from the atmosphere as early organisms evolved photosynthesis. This locked away carbon dioxide as carbonate minerals, oil shale and coal, and petroleum in the Earth's crust when the organisms died. This left 0.03% in the atmosphere today.

The natural carbon dioxide cycle:

Atmospheric carbon dioxide comes from a number of natural sources, mainly the decay of plants, volcanic eruptions and as a waste product of animal respiration.
It is removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants and by dissolving in water, especially on the surface of oceans.
Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for approximately 100 years.
The amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere by plants is almost perfectly balanced with the amount put back into the atmosphere by respiration and decay. Small changes as a result of human activities can have a large impact on this delicate balance.

The impact of human activities:

Over the past three centuries, concentration of carbon dioxide is reported to be increasing in the Earth’s atmosphere, due to human activities like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation that cause the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Burning fossil fuels releases the carbon dioxide stored millions of years ago. We use fossil fuels to run vehicles (petrol, diesel and kerosene), heat homes, businesses and power factories. Deforestation releases the carbon stored in trees and also results in less carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere.
From the early 1700s, carbon dioxide has increased from 280 ppm to 360 ppm in 1990. many studies suggest that higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will enhance the green house effect making the earth warmer. It is likely that the thinning of ice masses, and retreat of glaciers of Himalaya and trans-Himalayan region during the last 150 years or so is an affect of such warming.
Most computer models suggest that the globe will warm up 1.5 degree centigrade to 4.5 degree centigrade if carbon dioxide reaches the predicted level of 600 ppm by the 2050. although this may be largely true, there are other possible mechanisms that could act in the opposite direction. For instance the sulphate aerosols-the tiny bit of dust that are also added to the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned by human activity, may cool the climate. The aerosols reflect away the sun’s radiation. Thus, they partially counter the warming that may be caused by the greenhouse gases. However, the degree to which these emissions might reduce the impact of greenhouse gases is not yet fully understood.
Studies suggest that an increase in ocean temperatures associated with global warming could lead to increase in emission of dimethyl sulfide by photosynthesis. This would in turn increase the concentration of sulphate aerosols in the marine boundary layer causing an increase in the number of cloud drops. The net result of the cloud will be to cool the Earth to offset the warming by the greenhouse effect.
Sulphate aerosol is a type of solid compound commonly found in the atmosphere. Sulphate particles play an important role in reflecting, absorbing, and scattering incoming solar energy. The source of these compounds is both natural and man-made. Most of the man-made particles come from combustion of fossil fuels.
It is therefore possible that increased levels of trace gases in the atmosphere would lead to cooling of the Earth rather than to a net heating.

Reference:
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/climate/evidence/carbon_dioxide.shtml
• Mathur, U.B. 2005. Quaternary Geology Indian Perspective. Geological Society of India, Bangalore.

Did God created the rocks of our Earth in less than 3 minutes?

Did God created the rocks of our Earth in less than 3 minutes?
By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

The Old Testament relates that the earth was made in seven days. Most geologists believe that even God couldn't accomplish the task quite that fast.
It has been mentioned that the earth is billion of years old. This is the modern view; the ideas of James Ussher, the theologian who calculated in year 1650 from the biblical record that the earth was created on the morning of 28th October in the year 4004 B.C. held sway well into the nineteenth century. According to Stephen Hawking, the noted British cosmologists the Universe or earth came into existence between Time 0 and the following trillionth of a second about fifteen billion years ago. Indeed there are those who even today ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary and claim that the biblical legends tell the true story of the earth's creation and history. Up until the 17 and 18 hundreds most everybody believed that the earth was young. A mere 6 thousand years or so.
No where in the Bible or any other religion does God tell us the exact year of creation. But by simply studying the scriptures we can certainly get an idea of when and how this took place.
Scientists with the help of radioactive dating method tell us that the earth is billions of years old, was formed in a molten state; and that it took millions of years for the earth to cool to its solid state that we know today. But still today many young earth creationists believe that the earth was created instantaneously about 6 thousand years ago.
Both of these are belief systems. Neither one can be proven because no one was there to witness the event, and it can not be repeated. But we can examine the evidence and decide which one is more plausible.
Over the last 10 to 20 years, evidence has been gathered which seems to indicate that the earth was created in an instant as mentioned in different religions. The evidence comes from the study of a feature of many igneous rocks ( rocks made by lava).
Most geologists have long accepted a “magmatic” origin for large granite plutons, “batholiths” in which crystallization is imagined to have attenuated over million of years, their magmatic view was technically challenged by Robert Gentry, a physicist with a yen to confirm the biblical tale of genesis. He suggested that the polonium halos, which are found in the minerals biotite and fluorite in granites and associated pegmatites, prove that the host rocks were created, not from magma, but almost instantaneously during the Day-1 of the Genesis Week.
When God created the earth, He left His signature in the earth's foundation granite (type of rock) in the form of microscopic spheres created by pinpoints of the element Polonium 218. Polonium-218 is radioactive and has a half-life of about 3 minutes (in other words, they emit radiation for only a few minutes). In its decay process, this element emits alpha particles. These subatomic particles mark the surrounding rock, producing spheres around the initial pinpoint of the element. If a rock is cut and examined under a microscope, these spheres appear as halos around the initial tiny deposit of the element. Halos produced by other radioactive elements differ from the halos produced by Polonium 218.
The rocks of the earth had to have been created and solidified within about 3 minutes for this element to have left its halos. If the earth had been in a molten state any longer than this, all the isolated points of Polonium 218 would have disappeared, leaving none to cause halos when the rock solidified. However, all evolutionary theories say that the earth was molten for million years.
Since Polonium 218 halos are found by the trillions throughout all the granites of the world, all of that granite had to originally become solid in for less than three minutes, when it was first created, in order for the Polonium 218 has to form properly.
There are many Polonium 218, 214, and 210 halos in granite; in fact, careful specimen counts and extrapolations based on them reveal that there are trillions upon trillions of them in granites all over the world. The situation gets more interesting with Polonium-214 halos. The half life of Polonium-214 is .000164 second. This means that the rock would have to cool in less than 1/1000th of a second after the polonium-214 was created. No known processes of nature can cool and solidify a rock that rapidly.
When a small speck of inclusion of a radioactive substance, such as Uranium-238, is trapped in the rock, the uranium emits alpha particles which destroy the crystal structure of the mineral. Since the alpha particles are emitted from the uranium with a particular speed, the alpha particles can travel only a certain distance through the rock before they stop. When the alpha particles stop, they discolor the rock. Since the alpha particles are emitted in all directions, a spherical shell of discoloration is produced.
While uranium is decaying to lead, it passes through fifteen steps. When an atom of uranium emits an alpha particle, the atom no longer is uranium but becomes thorium which in turn gives off a particle and turns into another element.
The size of each halo is determined by the speed of the alpha particle, for each element in the decay chain has emitted particles with a specified velocity. Thus if one finds a halo of a certain radius, he often can determine what element formed the halo from the radius alone.
Polonium-218, polonium-214 and polonium-210 are the radioactive substance which are responsible for three halos in the characteristic five-ringed uranium halo. These three isotopes of polonium are found today only mixed up in Uranium-238. This is because polonium decays so rapidly that it cannot be stored for more than a few minutes. The only reason it even exists is that it is constantly being formed by the decay of uranium.
Two factors are required before a halo can form.
· A small speck of a radioactive substance must be included in the molten rock before it cools.
· The rock must solidify and form a crystal before all of the radioactivity is ended.
Many theories have been put forward against the Gentry’s hypothesis. According to different geologists Gentry is physicist, not a geologist. He doesn’t follow accepted geologic reporting practice and consistently fails to provide the information that a third party would need to collect comparable samples for testing. Gentry utilized microscope thin sections of rocks from samples sent to him by others from various places around the world.
Gentry also provides no explanation for how polonium alone finds its way into biotite and fluorite, or why radiation damage haloes in these minerals are common in areas of known uranium enrichment, but rare where uranium abundance is low.

Since this granite is the basement rock, forming a thick layer, with the continents of the world above it and the basalt and magma below it, all this continental foundation had to be formed solid in less than three minutes time. With the fact in mind, there is little reason to expect the magma below and the continents above to have been formed in million years, if the granite between them was formed in less than three minutes.
Is it possible that this proves God created the earth in an instant?
There are still lots of questions to be answered?
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Ranchi, India.
Nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com

References:
Chaudhuri, N.K. and Iyer, R.H. 1980. Origins of unusual radioactive haloes, Radiation Effects, v.53,p.1-6.
Feather, N. 1978, the unsolved problem of Po halos in Precambrian biotite and other old minerals. Communication to Royal Society of Edinburgh, v.11, p. 147-148.
Gentry, R.V. 1970. Giant Radioactive Halos: Indicators of Unknown Radioactivity”. Science, V. 169,pp. 670-673.
Gentry, R.V. 1974. Radio halos in a radiochronological and cosmological perspective. Science, v. 184, p.62-66.
Gentry, R.V. 1992. Creation’s Tiny Mystery. Earth Science Associates, Knowville, TN, 3rd Edition.
Gentry, R. V. A. Rev. Nucl. sci. 23, 347 (1973); Nature 244, 282 (1973); 252, 564 (1974).
Snelling, A. A., 2000. Polonium radiohaloes: Still "a very tiny mystery". Impact 326 (Aug.), i-iv.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/po-halos/gentry.html
http://wiki.cotch.net/index.php/Polonium_haloes_indicate_a_young_earth
http://www.grisda.org/origins/15032.htm
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v278/n5702/abs/278333a0.html
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/5041/