First pictures from inside the 'crater at the end of the world'

[Ichingcarpenter]

The crater on the Yamal Peninsula was caused by aliens, a meteorite, a stray missile, or an explosive gas cocktail released due to global warming, according to various theories in recent days.
Images of the remarkable phenomenon have gone round the world since The Siberian Times highlighted helicopter images of the giant hole earlier this week.

The first expedition to the scene - the scientists have just returned - took these epic pictures of the hole, including the darkening pattern on the inner rim.

Now they are using Russian satellite pictures to fix the moment when it suddenly formed.

They found the crater - around up to 70 metres deep - has an icy lake at its bottom, and water is cascading down its eroding permafrost walls.




The crater is different from others on Yamal.
'There is nothing mysterious here, it is simply Mother Nature's law with its internal pressure and changes in temperatures', Andrey Plekhanov said.
Marina Leibman,Senior Researcher at the Earth's Cryosphere Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: 'About the future of the crater - its walls are constantly thawing, water is gathering up and I suspect that it gets frozen at the bottom of the crater. If the water stream intensifies - for example because of the hot second part of July - then it won't have enough time to freeze. This will likely lead to a formation of a new lake.'

Vladimir Pushkarev, Director of the Russian State Scientific Center of the Arctic Research, 'It is an interesting phenomenon, there is every sense in continuing scientific work on it and right now we are discussing the best ways of exploring the site.'

pictures
http://siberiantimes.com/science/casestudy/news/first-pictures-from-inside-the-crater-at-the-end-of-the-world/

[defacto7]

1. I'm having an ecstatic vision...

of... of... the future....

I see... a road sign... closer... it says, "Only 500 Km to Crater at the End of the World Theme park and Hotel" Created by nature, Enhanced by Man.
finanaced by Putin Real Estate and Development Ltd.

[KansDem]

7. You'll need a mascot...

How about "Crater Man?"



I wuv you a 'hole lot!'

http://lowbrownie.com/tag/crater-man/

[Skittles]

2. amazing

[LuvNewcastle]

3. The aliens are warning us, I tell ya.

They're going to make one of those in Manhattan next.

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. What are the terrifying possibilities about existence/ufos/ets you would hate to find out?

they are only here to observe how a species drives itself to extinction.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I would hate to find out that the aliens were even worse than we are,

and they have plans to encourage our darker side to become even more dominant than it is already. I certainly don't see things improving in that respect. I'm not sure things are getting worse, but I certainly don't see us maturing as a species. I think right now that we could go either way. We've been dangling over that precipice for a very long time.

I read a couple of books by Greg Bear that made me think about how things might turn out for our species. One book was called "Darwin's Radio." The book described a future where different genes became activated in our DNA and people began having children who were of a different species. The book's theory is that other races, like the Neanderthals, died out because they started producing children who were homo sapiens. It was an interesting theory, one I'd never considered, and it gave me some hope for the future of the world, because the new species described in the book were peaceful and harmonious.

Maybe one day humans will die out, either by nature's design or the intervention of aliens. Who knows how it happened before, but I've been thinking for a long time that maybe it would be best if our species died out. Events lately have only reinforced that feeling. All I know is that if we can't move forward from where we are now, I certainly hope we do die out. It would be the best thing for the world and for the cosmos.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Oldest Known Alien Planet That Might Support Life

Astronomers have discovered what appears to be the oldest known alien world that could be capable of supporting life, and it's just a stone's throw away from Earth.

The newfound exoplanet candidate Kapteyn b, which lies a mere 13 light-years away, is about 11.5 billion years old, scientists say. That makes it 2.5 times older than Earth, and just 2 billion years or so younger than the universe itself, which burst into existence with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.

"It does make you wonder what kind of life could have evolved on



those planets over such a long time," study lead author Guillem Anglada-Escude, of Queen Mary University of London, said in a statement.


http://www.space.com/26115-oldest-habitable-alien-planet-kapteyn-b.html

[LuvNewcastle]

13. Wow, I hadn't heard about that!

Isn't it remarkable that the planet's star and the planet itself were able to stay together when the Milky Way absorbed their galaxy? It's very possible that life has been evolving there for quite some time. I'm not sure if we want to meet the inhabitants of Kapteyn b. I've got to admit my curiosity would probably overcome my fears about exploring it, though.

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Site of the 2016 republican convention. eom

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. That fits my "Earth's zit got popped" theory....

We don't EVEN want to go all trypophobia here.

[tclambert]

9. It was from a giant bubble of methane wasn't it? Cue the dinosaur fart jokes.

Millions of years of dinosaur flatulence trapped underground suddenly released a few months ago, producing the largest rude sound ever. One scientist said, "If it you think it looks bad, you should smell it. Hoo, boy, it's like smelling Vladimir Putin's soul." That scientist disappeared shortly afterwards.

[Warpy]

11. That seems most likely to me, given the size and shape

and the way rock and earth was tossed out and away, leaving ice at the bottom.

It looks like a giant sinkhole other than the raised rim.

The earth farted. It's probably going to do so a lot in the coming years and that spells trouble.

[nikto]

12. Godzilla's down there.

But I could be wrong--It might be Mothra or Ghidrah.

[snot]

14. They need to send a little drone w/ a camera down there.

[pokerfan]

15. Kinda reminds me of a cenote

except that it looks like it erupted somehow where a cenote is more like a sinkhole.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenote