Imagine driving along the street and running into this… Image Credit: YouTube / Guardian News
Organizers of a festival in China’s Henan province were recently forced to chase after a giant runaway moon.The enormous inflatable satellite was seemingly caught by a particularly strong gust of wind during this year’s lunar festival celebrations in Henan province and broke free of its moorings.
In a video clip that has been circulating online, festival organizers can be seen chasing the errant lunar sphere as it careens down the street while motorists stop nearby to observe the spectacle.
It isn’t clear how (or even if) they managed to get a handle on the thing.
This wasn’t the only mishap to beset the lunar celebrations this year either – another inflatable moon reportedly escaped its handlers in Hong Kong and ended up blowing into a river.
The same thing has happened before, too, in the city of Fuzhou in 2016 during Typhoon Meranti.
Suffice to say, festival organizers might want to come up with a better way to secure their balloons.
Meet LEO: Tiny 2.5ft-tall drone-robot hybrid can use its two legs to navigate a slackline and skateboard, or switch on its thrusters to fly through the air
LEONARDO (Legs Onboard Drone) is a 2.5ft-tall robot that has bipedal legs and thrusters
It is able to walk on two legs with enough dexterity to slackline and skateboard, but can also fly through the air
The team says the robot could one day be used to perform tasks currently very difficult for drones, robots or humans – including operating in hazardous and hard to reach environments
The idea of a robot that can navigate a slackline, skateboard and fly might sound like a concept of science fiction.
But such a bot is very much real, in the form of LEONARDO, or Legs Onboard Drone – a bipedal robot that has drone like thrusters for stability.
Known as LEO for short, it was built from parts of robots and drones found around the lab by engineers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
As well as improving stability when walking a tightrope, the propeller-based thrusters also allow the 2.5 foot tall bot to take to the air and fly.
The team says that LEO could someday apply its conquest of land and air to robotic missions currently difficult for ground- or aerial-based robots and drones.
As well as slacklining and skateboarding, the team says the robot could one day be used to perform tasks currently very difficult for drones, robots or humans – including operating in hazardous and hard to reach environments.
The team hasn’t said when LEO would be available for commercial use, or how much it would cost, as it is still at the research and development stage, but hope to work with a manufacturing partner in the future.
Quetzalcoatlus Northropi An Ancient Bird Next To A Human
Image running into this thing. Luckily no humans around when this beast was on the planet.
Quetzalcoatlus is a pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous period of North America, it was one of the largest known flying animals of all time. Quetzalcoatlus is a member of the family Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. Its name comes from the Aztec feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, in Nahuatl. The type and only species is Q. northropi.
The first Quetzalcoatlus fossils were discovered in Texas, United States, from the Maastrichtian Javelina Formation at Big Bend National Park (dated to around 68 million years ago in 1971 by Douglas A. Lawson, a geology graduate student from the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. The specimen consisted of a partial wing (in pterosaurs composed of the forearms and elongated fourth finger), from an individual later estimated at over 10 m (33 ft) in wingspan.
When it was first named as a new species in 1975, scientists estimated that the largest Quetzalcoatlus fossils came from an individual with a wingspan as large as 15.9 m (52 ft). Choosing the middle of three extrapolations from the proportions of other pterosaurs gave an estimate of 11 m, 15.5 m, and 21 m, respectively (36 ft, 50.85 ft, 68.9 ft). In 1981, further advanced studies lowered these estimates to 11–12 m (36–39 ft).
Odd green light spotted at Indonesian volcano was a meteorite
A series of photos of Indonesian volcano Mount Merapi have gone viral after a photographer captured images that look like a laser is erupting from the massive peak, but it’s most likely a meteorite, according to experts.
Indonesian photographer Gunarto Song took the photos on May 28 that have now garnered more than 28,000 likes. The caption on the photos reads: ‘a meteor fell into the peak of Mount Merapi?’
However, it’s likely that the strange green light stems from two meteor showers, the Eta Aqarid meteor shower and the Arietid meteor shower, that happened during the time, according to National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN).
The beam was captured in a still photograph and confirmed by CCTV monitoring of the volcano by the Kalitengah Kidul Post for a few seconds.
‘So, from these two data, it can be assumed that the flash of greenish light that appears near Mount Merapi may be related to meteor shower activity,’ LAPAN wrote in a translated version of its website.
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower happened between April 19 to May 28, while the Arietids shower started on May 14 and will last through June 24.
As for the bright greenish hue, that can likely be explained by the level of magnesium in the space rock.
‘Given that the light emitted is green, it is likely that the meteor that feel around Merapi was dominated by the element magnesium,’ LAPAN added.
A piece of an asteroid or comet is also known as a meteoroid. Upon entering Earth’s atmosphere, it turns into a meteor, fireball or shooting star.
The pieces that reach the ground are known as meteorites.
Speaking with CNN Indonesia, Gunarto said he set the shutter speed of his camera at four seconds and hoped for the best.
‘Because I use a speed of 4 seconds. Like it or not, the photo [of light] will be long. But the light is round light, hurry up, the round light keeps falling,’ Gunarto told the news outlet.
Mount Merapi on the border of Central Java and the Special Region of Yogyakarta,, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It last erupted on March 27, 2021, with prior eruptions happening twice in March 2020.
Indonesia sits on the ‘Ring of Fire,’ a tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean that results in frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a yearly hot air balloon festival that takes place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during early October. The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event occurring in the first full week of October, and has over 500 hot air balloons each year far from its humble beginnings of merely 13 balloons in 1972. The event is the largest balloon festival in the world, followed by the Grand Est Mondial Air in France.
You can even take these unnerving, almost-human figures home with you.
Film crews, like the one pictured here, have used the 20-foot-tall mountain of mannequins as a backdrop for horror movies and music videos. DAVE HOLLOWAY
IN LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND, ROZ EDWARDS is known as the “Mannequin Lady.” Over the past fifteen years, Edwards has built an impressive a collection of some 15,000 human-like forms. She regularly rents them to shows like “X Factor” and “Top Gear,” but she has amassed so many that the majority now form a mountain. The 20-foot-tall mound that stretches for 150 feet was originally christened Dollywood, but is now called Manakin Hall—to sound more posh, Edwards jokes. Photography, film and music video shoots have used the mannequins as creepy backdrop.
And Edwards now offers what might be the world’s most unique souvenir: For about $70, you have 15 minutes to fill your car trunk with as many mannequins as you like; she calls it the “Body Part Heist.” Atlas Obscura chatted with Edwards about — literally — building her unique business and the unexpected appeal of mannequins.
Roz Edwards says that counting the mannequins in the mountain is “like herding cats.” She puts the number somewhere around 15,000. PAUL GREEVES
What inspired you to start Mannakin Hall?
I lived in Malawi for 10 years, went through a relationship breakdown, and returned to England with literally nothing. I was determined to get a business going. I used to have an African art shop, so I thought I’d be a retail consultant. Whilst I was building the website, I thought “What else can I write about retail?” So I wrote down everything I knew. Then I thought, “I don’t know anything about mannequins.” I got pictures off the internet and wrote, “These mannequins are for hire and here’s my phone number.” Within 24 hours my phone started ringing with people asking for them. But I didn’t have any mannequins, so I said, “Oh, terribly sorry, they’re all out on hire at the moment.”
How did you go from zero mannequins to a mountain?
This was about the time the credit crunch started in 2007. A lot of shops were closing, especially people who had clothing businesses for years and had all these old mannequins. I drove around the countryside picking them up. They take up a lot of space. I had mannequins in the house, then I moved them into a shipping container, and then I rented a warehouse. The business was doing well, so I bought a property. When the trucks first started coming, we said, “Well put the men there, the women there, the children there, the legs there, the bums there.” Then we’d have four big trucks a day. It was a case of “ just empty them there.” That’s how the mountain grew. We’ve got about 3,000 for rent. In the mountain, I’m not sure of the number because when you start counting, it’s like herding cats.
“People who come in the daytime say, ‘I bet it’s scary here at night,’” says Edwards. She offers Halloween tours of the eerie property. ROZ EDWARDS
What makes mannequins appealing?
First of all, they’re very unusual things to look at. We’re geared up as human beings to respond to the human form. Mannequins attract our attention because if we see the shape of a human out of the corner of our eye, our survival instincts are geared to turn the head and look. They’re so unusual, visually, when they’re bought into creative environments. For a Halloween-inspired performance, “X Factor” rented about 10 mannequins to go along with 10 dancers. The mannequins were all white with plain faces and the dancers wore white body suits. Obviously they moved but the mannequins didn’t. It looked amazing.
You also specialize in obscure mannequins; what are some of the most interesting ones?
We have one we named Audrey after Audrey Hepburn. Christie’s is one of my clients and they were auctioning all of Hepburn’s clothes, so they needed the right-sized mannequin, with a 21-inch waist. I also have a full-sized artist’s mannequin called Bertie. Artist mannequins are articulated; you compose them for what you’re drawing. He’s very rare. Also sizing: Most mannequins are between sizes 8 and 10. We have bigger ones that are 16 to 18 for plus-sized fashion, but they’re quite rare.
Hands are one of the most popular items in the “Body Part Heist.” “I’ve had people just fill up the car with hands,” Edwards says. There is now a five-pair limit. PAUL GREEVES
Who participates in the “Body Part Heist”?
We just had somebody who’s building a Halloween set in their garden for which they’ll probably put a bucket outside and raise money for charity. We had a university fine art tutor who collected bits for his students to work on as blank canvases. We’ve had people making props for films. One person was building a robot, which is so cute. Then we get lots of people who’ve got a small business or side hustle. They make lamps or planters with the body parts and then decorate and sell them, usually somewhere like Etsy. I mean it really caters to everybody.
What would happen to these mannequins if they weren’t a part of the mountain?
Normally they get crushed and go into landfill. I’ve seen it with the roller crusher; it’s heartbreaking. The new ones are made of hard plastic resin, but old ones are made of fiberglass, which you can’t recycle. When you look at mannequins being thrown away, there’s nothing wrong with them. They need a bit of repair here and there.
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