This image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter centers on the South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest impact basin on the moon, and one of the largest impact basins in the solar system. CREDIT: NASA/Goddard

The moon, which has been pummeled by a barrage of asteroids and debris throughout its lifetime, experienced a strong uptick in the energy and speed of incoming rocks around 4 billion years ago, new research suggests.
A team of researchers from the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) at the Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., tracked the history of crater formation on the moon using digital maps, and found evidence of a dramatic shift in the velocity and energy of the asteroid bombardment during a period called the "lunar cataclysm" that occurred 4 billion years ago.
The timing of this shift could coincide with disturbances in the solar system's main asteroid belt caused by changes in the movement of the outer planets, the researchers said.

Detailed maps of the lunar surface from the United States Geological Survey previously identified ancient regions on the moon to look for clues about the bombardment. The new study combined these observations with new data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to study the impact craters found on these ancient surfaces.
The scientists found a subtle shift in the size of the younger craters that points to an increase in the velocities of the asteroids that created them, compared with the most ancient basins on the moon.

Post-lunar cataclysm diagram of our solar system.
CREDIT: LPI/Marchi/Bottke/Kring/Morbidelli

This change seems to have taken place after the moon's largest impact crater, the 1,550-mile-wide (2,500 kilometers) South Pole-Aitken Basin, was produced, but before the 534-mile-wide (860 km)  Nectaris basin was formed, the researchers said. [Latest Photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]
In fact, craters near the Nectaris basin were formed by collisions that struck twice as fast as those found on more ancient lunar terrains, the researchers said.
Within that window of time, the velocities of the incoming asteroids during the lunar cataclysm were likely ramped up by the movement of Jupiter and the other outer solar system planets, they explained.
"It is fascinating that the surface of our own moon records evidence of orbital changes in Jupiter and Saturn that took place so long ago," Yvonne Pendleton, director of NLSI, said in a statement.
In the early days of the solar system, inner planets, including the Earth and the moon, were repeatedly whacked by debris that formed the building blocks of the planets. As this material was eventually incorporated into the inner planets, the rate of these violent collisions decreased.
But, around 4 billion years ago, a second wave of impacts reportedly took place, which forms the basis of the lunar cataclysm hypothesis. These collisions, which struck at much higher velocities, could have been caused by objects in the main asteroid belt that were dislodged and thrown into the inner solar system from the reorganization of the outer planets.
"This is an exciting time for lunar research with LRO and other spacecraft providing so much new data," study lead author Simone Marchi said in a statement. "Collaborating with scientists of different disciplines allowed us to link these observational data to dynamical models to put new constraints on solar system history."
The findings of the study were published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Nomad Alien Planets May Fill Our Milky Way Galaxy

An artistic rendition of a nomad object wandering through the interstellar medium. The object is intentionally blurry to represent uncertainty about whether it has an atmosphere. CREDIT: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory View full size image

Our Milky Way galaxy may be teeming with rogue planets that ramble through space instead of being locked in orbit around a star, a new study suggests.
These "nomad planets" could be surprisingly common in our bustling galaxy, according to researchers at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), a joint institute of Stanford University and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The study predicts that there may be 100,000 times more of these wandering, homeless planets than stars in the Milky Way.
If this is the case, these intriguing cosmic bodies would belong to a whole new class of alien worlds, shaking up existing theories of planet formation. These free-flying planets may also raise new and tantalizing questions in the search for life beyond Earth.
"If any of these nomad planets are big enough to have a thick atmosphere, they could have trapped enough heat for bacterial life to exist," study leader Louis Strigari said in a statement.

And while nomad planets cannot benefit from the heat given off from their parent stars, these worlds could generate heat from tectonic activity or internal radioactive decay, the researchers said.
For now, characteristics of these foreign objects are still unknown; they could be icy bodies, similar to other objects found in the outer solar system, rocky like asteroids, or gas giants similar to the most massive planets in our solar system. [Gallery: First Earth-Size Alien Planets Found]
Over the past several decades, astronomers have keenly hunted for planets outside our solar system. So far, the search has turned up more than 700 of these exoplanets. Almost all of these newfound worlds orbit stars, but last year, scientists found about a dozen planets with no discernible host star.
The researchers used a technique called gravitational microlensing to detect these homeless planets. This method examines the effects of a massive object passing in front of a star.
From Earth, the nearby object bends and magnifies the light from the distant star like a lens, making the faraway star's light appear to brighten and fade over time. The resulting "light curve" helps astronomers distinguish characteristics of the foreground object.
Based on initial estimates, approximately two free-flying planets exist for every "normal" star in our galaxy, but the results of the new study produced even more staggering findings: nomad planets may be up to 50,000 times more common than that.
"To paraphrase Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz,' if correct, this extrapolation implies that we are not in Kansas anymore, and in fact we never were in Kansas," Alan Boss, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "The universe is riddled with unseen planetary-mass objects that we are just now able to detect."
The KIPAC researchers made their prediction by calculating the known gravitational pull of the Milky Way, the amount of matter available in the galaxy to make such celestial objects, and how that matter might be distributed to make up objects that range from as small as Pluto to as large as Jupiter.
These measurements were challenging since astronomers are unsure where these wandering planets came from, the researchers said. Some of these rogue worlds were likely ejected from other star systems, but there is evidence that not all of them could have been formed this way, Strigari said.
The researchers are hopeful that follow-up observations using next generation telescopes, particularly of the smaller objects, will yield more detailed results. The planned space-based Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope on the ground, are both set to begin operations in the early 2020s.
If the estimated number of these nomad planets is correct, the results could lead to exciting prospects about the origin and abundance of life in our Milky Way galaxy. For instance, as these homeless planets mosey through space, collisions could break apart pieces of these rogue worlds and fling bacterial life onto other celestial bodies, the researchers said.
"Few areas of science have excited as much popular and professional interest in recent times as the prevalence of life in the universe," study co-author Roger Blandford, director of KIPAC, said in a statement. "What is wonderful is that we can now start to address this question quantitatively by seeking more of these erstwhile planets and asteroids wandering through interstellar space, and then speculate about hitchhiking bugs."

Dead Spacecraft on Mars Spotted in New Photos

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004. The lander is still bright, but with a reddish color, probably due to accumulation of Martian dust. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded this view on Jan. 29, 2012, providing the first image from orbit to show Spirit's lander platform in color.

A NASA probe orbiting Mars has captured new photos of two dead spacecraft frozen in place at their Red Planet graves.
The photos were taken by NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been circling the planet since 2006.
The spacecraft first spied NASA's dead Phoenix Mars Lander in the Martian arctic on Jan. 26 in a color photo that reveals the lander and its frigid surroundings as they appeared following Phoenix's second winter on the planet. The Phoenix spacecraft landed successfully on Mars in 2008.
In a separate photo, MRO also spotted the three-petal landing platform that delivered NASA's Mars rover Spirit to the surface of the Red Planet in January 2004. The platform used parachutes and airbags to bounce to a stop on Gusev crater so the Spirit rover could begin its mission.

Spirit drove off the lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills roughly two miles (3.2 kilometers) to the east, NASA officials said in a statement. The rover went silent in 2010 and NASA officially declared it dead last year. [See the new photos of dead Mars probes]
In the MRO image, which was taken on Jan. 29, Spirit's lander platform appears as a bright feature at the bottom left, southwest of Bonneville Crater.
MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has recorded color images of the Spirit rover itself before, but all previous photos of the lander platform were in black and white, according to NASA officials.

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform (circled) that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004.

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004. The lander is still bright, but with a reddish color, probably due to accumulation of Martian dust. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded this view on Jan. 29, 2012, providing the first image from orbit to show Spirit's lander platform in color. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona View full size image

A NASA probe orbiting Mars has captured new photos of two dead spacecraft frozen in place at their Red Planet graves.
The photos were taken by NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which has been circling the planet since 2006.
The spacecraft first spied NASA's dead Phoenix Mars Lander in the Martian arctic on Jan. 26 in a color photo that reveals the lander and its frigid surroundings as they appeared following Phoenix's second winter on the planet. The Phoenix spacecraft landed successfully on Mars in 2008.
In a separate photo, MRO also spotted the three-petal landing platform that delivered NASA's Mars rover Spirit to the surface of the Red Planet in January 2004. The platform used parachutes and airbags to bounce to a stop on Gusev crater so the Spirit rover could begin its mission.

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Spirit drove off the lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills roughly two miles (3.2 kilometers) to the east, NASA officials said in a statement. The rover went silent in 2010 and NASA officially declared it dead last year. [See the new photos of dead Mars probes]
In the MRO image, which was taken on Jan. 29, Spirit's lander platform appears as a bright feature at the bottom left, southwest of Bonneville Crater.
MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has recorded color images of the Spirit rover itself before, but all previous photos of the lander platform were in black and white, according to NASA officials.

Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform (circled) that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

View full size image

Dead rover on Mars

Spirit and its twin rover Opportunity were originally designed for three-month missions to look for signs of past water activity on Mars. Both rovers far outlived their warranty, however, and the missions delivered evidence that the Red Planet was once a much wetter, warmer place.
Spirit stopped driving when it became mired in sand in May 2009. Mission scientists then converted the rover into a stationary observatory, and Spirit continued to send back data from its trapped location. But, 10 months later, the rover fell silent after being unable to capture enough sunlight on its solar panels over the course of the Martian winter.
Still, Opportunity remains alive and well on Mars, and last month celebrated a remarkable eight years on the surface of the Red Planet. After a three-year trek, the intrepid rover arrived at the 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer) Endeavour Crater in August 2011. The rover recently uncovered what researchers say is the best evidence yet for liquid water on ancient Mars.

This image, taken Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA's no-longer-active Phoenix Mars Lander spacecraft after its second Martian arctic winter. The lander has the same appearance as it did after its first winter, as seen in an image from May 2010. This view is from monitoring frost patterns at the Phoenix landing site in far-northern Mars, using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Phoenix rises no more

The Phoenix Mars Lander landed in May 2008 on a mission to search and dig for evidence of water in the Vastitas Borealis plains in the Martian arctic. During its nearly six-month mission, the $475 million lander confirmed the presence of subsurface water ice and made valuable characterizations of Martian dirt.
The Phoenix mission ended in November 2008 when the spacecraft could no longer receive adequate power due to a combination of dwindling sunlight, light-obscuring dust and harsh winter temperatures.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter itself continues to have a prolific career in orbit around the Red Planet. The powerful probe began circling Mars on March 10, 2006 and is currently in an extended phase of its mission.
The orbiter continues to provide valuable insights into the planet's ancient environment and how processes such as wind, meteorite impacts and seasonal frosts are continuing to affect the surface of Mars today, NASA officials said. MRO has transmitted more data to Earth than all other interplanetary missions combined.

Article: Signs of Ancient Ocean on Mars Spotted by European Spacecraft

The Mars Express spacecraft's MARSIS collects data on the subsurface of Mars. CREDIT: ESA, C. Carreau View full size image

A European spacecraft orbiting Mars has found more revealing evidence that an ocean may have covered parts of the Red Planet billions of years ago.
The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft detected sediments on Mars' northern plains that are reminiscent of an ocean floor, in a region that has also previously been identified as the site of ancient Martian shorelines, the researchers said.
"We interpret these as sedimentary deposits, maybe ice-rich," study leader Jérémie Mouginot, of the Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) in France and the University of California, Irvine, said in a statement. "It is a strong new indication that there was once an ocean here."
As part of its mission, Mars Express uses a radar instrument, called MARSIS, to probe beneath the Martian surface and search for liquid and solid water in the upper portions of the planet's crust.

The researchers analyzed more than two years of MARSIS data and found that the northern plains of Mars are covered in low-density material that suggests the region may have been an ancient Martian ocean. [Photos: Red Planet Views from Europe's Mars Express]
"MARSIS penetrates deep into the ground, revealing the first 60–80 meters of the planet's subsurface," said Wlodek Kofman, leader of the radar team at IPAG. "Throughout all of this depth, we see the evidence for sedimentary material and ice."
The idea of oceans on ancient Mars is hardly new, and features reminiscent of shorelines have been tentatively identified in images from various spacecraft and missions. Still, the concept remains controversial.
In fact, this new investigation comes on the heels of a separate study that found that Mars may have experienced a "super-drought," making it parched for too long for life to exist on the surface of the planet today.

New results from the MARSIS radar on Mars Express give strong evidence for a former ocean of Mars. The radar detected sediments reminiscent of an ocean floor inside previously identified, ancient shorelines on the red planet. The ocean would have covered the northern plains billions of years ago.
CREDIT: ESA, C. Carreau

View full size image

But, scientists working to document Mars' history have proposed two oceans: one 4 billion years ago when the planet experienced a warmer and wetter period, and one 3 billion years ago when subsurface ice melted after a large impact that created various channels that drained water into areas of lower elevation, the researchers said.
Still, the more recent ocean would have only been a temporary feature on the Martian surface, the researchers said. The water would likely have been frozen or preserved underground again, or turned into vapor and lifted gradually into the atmosphere within a million years or less, Mouginot explained.
"I don't think it could have stayed as an ocean long enough for life to form," Mouginot said in a statement.
The sediments seen by Mars Express are typically low-density grains of material that have been eroded away by water and carried off to their current location. According to the researchers, the MARSIS instrument reveals the sediments to be areas of low radar reflectivity.
In the ongoing search for life on Mars, astrobiologists will likely have to delve deeper into the Martian past, when liquid water may have existed for longer periods on the surface, the scientists said.
Still, these results are some of the best evidence yet that there were once large bodies of liquid water on the surface of Mars, the researchers said. The findings are also further proof that liquid water likely played an important role in the geological history of Mars, and the planet's own evolution.
"Previous Mars Express results about water on Mars came from the study of images and mineralogical data, as well as atmospheric measurements," Olivier Witasse, a Mars Express project scientist at the European Space Agency, said in a statement. "Now we have the view from the subsurface radar. This adds new pieces of information to the puzzle but the question remains: where did all the water go?"
Mars Express was launched in June 2003 and entered orbit around the Red Planet in December 2003. The spacecraft is scheduled to operate until at least the end of 2012.

Mystery of Britain's Largest Meteorite Solved

Likely the largest meteorite found in Britain, this one spans about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) across and has been on Earth some 30,000 years. CREDIT: (c) The Open University View full size image

With a weight that rivals a baby elephant, a meteorite that fell from space some 30,000 years ago is likely Britain's largest space rock. And after much sleuthing, researchers think they know where it came from and how it survived so long without weathering away.
The giant rock, spanning about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) across and weighing 205 pounds (93 kilograms), was likely discovered by an archaeologist about 200 years ago at a burial site created by the Druids (an ancient Celtic priesthood) near Stonehenge, according to said Colin Pillinger, a professor of planetary sciences at the Open University.
Pillinger curated the exhibition "Objects in Space," which opens today (Feb. 9) and is the first time the public will get a chance to see the meteorite. The exhibition will explore not only the mystery that surrounds the origins of the giant meteorite, but also the history and our fascination with space rocks.
As for how the meteorite survived its long stint on Earth, researchers point to the ice age.
"The only meteorites that we know about that have survived these long ages are the ones that were collected in Antarctica," said Pillinger, adding that more recently, some ancient meteorites have been collected in the Sahara Desert. This rock came from neither the Sahara Desert nor Antarctica, but rather the Lake House in Wiltshire.
"Britain was under an ice age for 20,000 years," Pillinger told LiveScience, explaining the climate would have protected the rock from weathering.
At some point, the Druids likely picked up the meteorite when scouting for rocks to build burial chambers. "They were keen on building burial sites for [the dead] in much the same way the Egyptians built the pyramids," Pillinger said.
Then, years later, an archaeologist with ties to other, famous archaeologists, likely found the rock while excavating the Druids' burial sites, he said. The archaeologist then brought the rock back to his house in Wiltshire, where its more recent residents took notice and alerted researchers.
"The men whose house this was found at spent a lot of time opening these burial sites 200 years ago for purposes of excavating them," Pillinger said. "Our hypothesis is that the stone probably came out of one of those burial chambers."
The meteorite is called a chondrite, a group that includes primitive meteorites that scientists think were remnants shed from the original building blocks of planets. Most meteorites found on Earth fit into this group.

The much smaller meteorite on display at the Royal Society's exhibit was excavated from a grain pit where ancient peoples of the Iron Age stored their crops.
CREDIT: (c) The Open University

View full size image

Other objects on display include a much smaller meteorite, weighing about an ounce (32 grams), and excavated from a grain pit where ancient peoples of the Iron Age stored their crops. It was discovered in the 1970s at Danebury Hill Fort in Hampshire, though it wasn't until the 1980s when scientists analyzed metal in the walnut-size object did they realize its extraterrestrial origin.
The exhibition will also include a Damien Hirst "spot painting," which features the famous Beagle 2 spacecraft as its center spot. In addition, part of Newton's apple tree will be on display.
The story of how researchers are uncovering the origins of these impressive specimens will astonish and delight visitors to this remarkable exhibition, which also contains letters and books charting the history of scientific interest in meteorites.
The Royal Society's London headquarters will house the exhibit through March 30.

Must-See Close Encounters of the Planet Kind Occur This Week

On Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, Saturn, Spica, and the moon meet in the morning sky. CREDIT: Starry Night Software View full size image

There are two interesting meet-ups in space for skywatchers this week: close encounters between the moon, several planets and stars.
The movements of the sun, moon and planets are all confined to a narrow band of sky known as to astronomers as the ecliptic and to astrologers as the zodiac. Almost all of the activities of the major solar system bodies play out among the 13 constellations that mark this band.
You may have thought there are 12 zodiac constellations, but astronomers have long known that a 13th constellation, Ophiuchus, is part of this group. There was a great fuss about a year ago when the astrologers finally caught up and began including Ophiuchans in their fanciful predictions.
Because all this solar system activity is concentrated in a narrow band, there are many close approaches between solar system objects, known to astronomers as conjunctions or appulses
Two such conjunctions will occur this week, making for some attractive skywatching opportunities. The sky map available with this story shows how the planets will appear together during the cosmic meet-ups.
On Thursday evening (Feb. 9) just after sunset, look for the brilliance of the planet Venus in the southwestern sky. If you have binoculars or a small telescope, take a closer look.
Just to Venus' left there will be a tiny blue-green speck, a very unusual color for a star. That’s because this is not a star, but the distant planet Uranus, nearly twenty times farther away from the Earth than Venus.
The two planets will appear extremely close to each other, about two-thirds of the diameter of the moon. They will easily fit together in the eyepiece of a telescope, and will present an amazing contrast in brightness, size, and color.
Two nights later, just after midnight on Sunday morning (Feb. 12), Saturn and the waning gibbous moon will rise in the southeastern sky, with the first magnitude star Spica framed between them.
As the morning progresses, the moon will slip underneath Spica. Its proximity to this bright star makes its rapid eastward movement very obvious.
While watching these three objects cross the sky, you won't be able to miss bright Mars leading the "parade" one ecliptic constellation ahead in Leo. Once Sirius — the brightest star in the sky — sets around 2:30 a.m. local time, Mars will be the brightest object other than the moon in the sky.

Daniel Radcliffe: 'my drinking was so bad I blacked out'

Daniel Radcliffe, the actor, has admitted that his excessive drinking was “unhealthy” and was “damaging” to his health.

Daniel Radcliffe, pictured drinking a coke in New York, has now gone teetotal after he admitted his alcohol drinking become a problem.

The Harry Potter star, who became teetotal in 2010, admitted that he “blacked” out nearly every time he drank alcohol.

In a magazine interview, the 22 year-old conceded that he was heading down a path of self destruction unless he curbed his drinking habits.

He was so concerned about his behaviour in public when he got drunk that he became “a recluse at 20”, leading to him drinking at home by himself.

His frank comments come a year after he disclosed how the pressures of fame made him so dependent on alcohol that he is now teetotal.

Radcliffe said at the time his life went off the rails for a period when he turned 18 and was filming Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

Radcliffe developed a penchant for whisky and partying, and said he was fortunate that the paparazzi failed to capture his drink-fuelled excess.
Realising he had to change his ways, Radcliffe quit drinking and has not touched a drop of alcohol since August 2010.
Radcliffe was 11 when he was cast as Harry. In recent years he has sought to carve out a post-Potter career, winning plaudits for his stage performance in Equus.
His first post-Potter film, which opens this week, is the neo-Gothic horror movie "The Woman in Black."
In an interview with the free Shortlist magazine, to promote his new film, Radcliffe admitted his drinking was causing him damage.
“The drinking was unhealthy and damaging to my body and my social life. That’s beyond question,” he said.
“I was living in constant fear of who I’d meet, what I might have said to them, what I might have done with them, so I’d stay in my apartment for days and drink alone.
“I was a recluse at 20. It was pathetic — it wasn’t me. I’m a fun, polite person and it turned me into a rude bore.”
He added: “For a long time people were saying to me ‘we think you have a problem’ but in the end I had to come to the realisation myself.”
Asked if he had a “couple of fun drunken nights out”, he replied: “Yeah, but I can’t remember them [laughs]. Seriously, in the last three years of drinking I blacked out nearly every time. Blacking out was my thing.”
He said he spoke to Gary Oldman, a Potter co-star who himself battled alcoholism himself in the 1990s, as his problem worsened.
“I did talk to him about it once. I didn’t say I had a problem — because I didn’t think I did at that point — but I told him I shared that mentality he had for actively seeking out chaos,” he said.
“He just said ‘You can’t keep doing this. You’ve got too much to lose’.
“And that really went in. But not even he could have stopped me alone — I had to stop myself. And stopping has shown me a world of happiness that I didn’t think was possible.”
Radcliffe admitted he now enjoyed being sober and being “smug” when others were hung-over.
He added: “I quite enjoy it until everyone starts slurring, and you’re like, ‘you’ve told me this f------ story three times already.
“Actually, after our Christmas party on Broadway, I had fun going into the rooms of people I knew had got really f----- up the night before, and shouting at them [laughs]. Just to be an a-------. If you’re going to be sober, you might as well be smug about it.”

The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World

The Great Pyramid at Giza, EgyptCredit: Photo Credit: DreamstimeThe Great Pyramid at Giza is both the oldest ancient wonder and the only one still standing today. It was built as a mausoleum for the pharaoh Khufu around 2650 BC and for over 4,000 years remained the world's tallest structure. 

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, IraqCredit: Photo Credit: A 16th century depiction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (by Martin Heemskerck)According to legend, 6th-century Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had a colossal maze of waterfalls and dense vegetation planted across his palace for a wife, who missed her lush homeland. Archaeologists still debate the garden's existence. 

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, GreeceCredit: Photo Credit: Ancient artwork depicting the Statue of Zeus in Olympia (by Martin Heemskerck)Built around 450 BC and 40 feet tall, the seated figure of Greece's Olympic deity was the country's most revered piece of art. Zeus was so impressive that games' visitors routinely wept at its sight and the Roman emperor Caligula tried to steal it. 

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, TurkeyCredit: Photo Credit: Fantastic reconstruction of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, depicted here in a hand-colored engraving (by Martin Heemskerck)Even the ancient historians who saw and compiled the list of wonders couldn't believe the immense beauty of the marble Temple of Artemis, built in 550 BC by a local king. It was set ablaze a few centuries later by a man seeking fame 

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, TurkeyCredit: Photo Credit: A fanciful interpretation of the Mausoleum of Maussollos, from a 1572 engraving by Martin Heemskerck Built for a king of little note, this glorified headstone made the list for its incredible marble and gold details, reportedly awe-inspiring to any who saw it. The 4th-century BC monument was eventually dismantled and its stones used in other local building. 

The Colossus of Rhodes, GreeceCredit: Photo Credit: The Colossus of Rhodes, depicted in this hand-colored engraving by Martin Heemskerck, was built about 280 B.C.This statue of the God Helios presided for just 60 years over the harbor entrance on Rhodes, but that was long enough to create a legend. People came to see its 100 feet of ruins for years after it was felled by an earthquake in 226 BC. 

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, GreeceCredit: Photo Credit: The Pharos of Alexandria, an ancient lighthouse, is depicted in this hand-colored engraving by Martin Heemskerck.Both practical and beautiful, the 400-foot lighthouse at the mouth of Alexandria harbor started guiding sailors home around 250 BC. A fire made the lighthouse glow at night and a mirror reflected sun rays during the day, some say up to 35 miles away.

 

A Gallery of Stunning Lakes

In Living Color: Multihued Lakes Credit: leonid_tit | shutterstockBlue is so yesterday … that is, for lakes. Good thing our planet is filled with a rainbow of ponds. From deep-black to scarlet and even purple-tinted, these stunning images of serene, picturesque lakes come in all the colors of the rainbow. 

Perito Moreno Glacier Credit: Nivers | DreamstimeThis breathtaking photo shows a view of the Perito Moreno Glacier as it looms above the surface of Lake Argentino, or "Lago Argentino," in the Patagonia region of Argentina. The glacier is part of the Los Glaciares National Park, located in the south west of Santa Cruz province. 

Emerald LakeCredit: raluca teodorescu | shutterstockThis green-colored lake is located deep in the lush forests of Austria. 

Peyto LakeCredit: DreamstimePeyto Lake, located in the Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, is famous for its turquoise waters. Many factors can influence a lake's color, including type and amount of algae growth, water temperature and mineral runoff from surrounding mountains. For example, in glacial regions such as the Canadian Rockies, finely ground rock particles can turn some lakes an unusually beautiful azure color, according to scientists Janet Fischer and Mark Olson of Franklin & Marshall College, Penn. 

Simbad LakeCredit: Paul De La Cour | DreamstimeThe Atacama Desert of Northern Chile borders Bolivia and is the driest desert in the world, according to NASA. Located within the Atacama Desert, the otherworldly Simbad Lake is surrounded by amber-colored sand. The sand's red hue is due to its algae and mineral content, and its water can turn scarlet too — its floating algae produces bright red pigments in order to that protect themselves from the hot desert sun's damaging UV radiation. 

A Shock of GreenCredit: Jorg Hackemann | shutterstockThe crystal clear water of this lake, nestled by the Dolomites mountain range of north-eastern Italy, allows for the electric-green algae at its shallow bottom to show through to the surface. 

Black LakeCredit: javarman | shutterstockThis black lake is located in a volcano crater in Flores, Indonesia. Its water fills the old cone of the still-active Kelimutu volcano, and the lake gets its mysterious, onyx appearance from volcanic ash particles that seep into the water from below. 

Lake TekapoCredit: Pichugin Dmitry | shutterstockThe surreal, pastel hue of Lake Tekapo is the result of finely ground rock particles coming from the waters of melted glaciers. Located in the South Island of New Zealand, the lake's name derives from the Maori words "Taka," which translates to "sleeping mat," and "Po," which means "night." 

Reflection LakeCredit: mlwinphoto | shutterstockThis beautiful photo of Reflection Lake was taken at dawn as the early morning mist floated over the water, casting a purple haze. The lake is located in Mount Rainier National Park in west-central Washington. 

Gem Green LakeCredit: Sam DCruz | shutterstockTongariro, New Zealand's oldest national park, boasts an emerald-green lake. Located near the volcanic sites of New Zealand's central North Island, the lake gets its unique color from ash and rock particles that have seeped into its water. 

Mono LakeCredit: Arvind Balaraman | shutterstockThe unusual rock formations that jut out of Mono Lake in California's Eastern Sierra are called tufa. The greatest concentration of these unique "towers," which occur naturally and are made of limestone, is located at the south end of Mono Lake. In the photo above, the moon rises over the dark ivory tower. 

Lake Atitlan Credit: AISPIX | shutterstockLocated in the Guatemalan Highlands, Lake Atitlan is believed to be the deepest lake in Central America, with an estimated maximum depth of up to 1,115 feet (340 meters). The picturesque lake fills a massive caldera that formed during a volcanic eruption about 85,000 years ago. 

Alpine LakeCredit: Brykaylo Yuriy | shutterstockTucked away near the small Austrian village of Altausseer, this alpine lake is a popular tourist attraction with its pristine, jade-hued water. 

Painted Hills LakeCredit: Gregory Johnston | shutterstockThis peaceful, purple-tinted lake is located near the Painted Hills of Wheeler County, Ore. The mauve shades of the lake's shores come from iron oxides and other mineral particles that have trickled down into the water from the colorful hills. 

Croatian LakeCredit: CCat82 | shutterstockThis stunning lake rests in the Croatian forest of Plitvice. It is part of the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which also contains breathtaking waterfalls and is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe.