Latest news with #Iguanodons
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Science
- Time of India
Was the colour of the sky blue during the dinosaur era?
When we gaze up at the sky, it's easy to assume it's always looked blue all through the years. After all, the sky's colour is such a consistent backdrop in our daily lives. But Earth's past is full of unimaginable changes, like shifting continents, evolving life, and even an ever-moving position of our galaxy in terms of the shifting universe. But was the colour always the same shade? A NASA research scientist, Jessie Christiansen, explained that the night sky, and possibly even the daytime one, may have looked a little different during the age of dinosaurs. The reason isn't just atmospheric changes but also the solar system's journey through the Milky Way galaxy. Was the sky during the dinosaur era a different colour from today's blue? The sky we see today is blue because of Rayleigh scattering. Sunlight contains all the colours of the spectrum, but shorter wavelengths, like blue and violet, scatter more when they hit air molecules. Our eyes are more sensitive to blue than violet, which is why the sky appears blue. However, during the time of the dinosaurs, which lasted for about 250 to 65 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era, Earth's climate and atmospheric conditions were quite different. Earth was generally warmer during this era, which meant more water vapor in the air. This didn't necessarily mean more clouds, since cloud formation depends on evaporation and saturation levels, but it could have impacted how the sky appeared. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Everybody Is Switching To This Enterprise Accounting Software [Take a Look] Accounting ERP Click Here Undo This means that while the physics of Rayleigh scattering still applies, the exact appearance of the sky may have shifted due to changes in humidity, temperature, and atmospheric particles. Closer to the end of the Mesozoic, it likely resembled the nearly-clear light blue skies we know today. The night also looked different than today! The sky's appearance also changed depending on where Earth was in the Milky Way galaxy. According to NASA scientist Jessie Christiansen, when dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus and Iguanodons roamed Earth during the early Cretaceous period, "our entire solar neighborhood was on the opposite side of the Milky Way galaxy that it is now." Christiansen explained that "the dinosaurs were around for 200 million years, give or take, so the sky might have looked different early on but more like today towards the end, about 65 million years ago," as reported by CNN. It is never possible to reach the same point that the Earth travelled years ago! Apart from that, Christiansen also said that "we're back to where we were between 200 to 250 million years ago" in terms of our position within the galaxy. But because everything in the galaxy, including stars and solar systems, is constantly moving and rotating around a central black hole, she clarified that "we've never really [been] back at the same absolute point in space because it's not possible." So, was the sky a different colour back then? The answer is probably yes, at least for some time. While it may not have been of a starkly different colour but probably of a slightly different shade of blue as per some reports. While the scattering of light works the same, Earth's shifting climate, atmosphere, and cosmic position likely made the sky appear a bit different at various points in dinosaur history. Photo: Canva
BBC News
18-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Huge dinosaur footprint found on Isle of Wight beach
A palaeontologist has discovered a huge dinosaur footprint on a beach on the Isle of guide Joe Thompson said the 130-million-year-old Iguanodon print at Shepherd's Chine was the best footprint he had ever three-toed shape, which is almost 1m (3ft) across, was revealed after storms stripped the beach of Thompson described the find as "really lucky", adding it would wash away in "a few months". Iguanodons were large herbivores, measuring up to 11m (36ft) long and weighing up to 4.5 Thompson said he had been looking for fossilised bones on the beach near Atherfield when he spotted a "big purple toe" in a gap in the shingle. He said: "Anything that's that old and that exciting - it gives you such a rush, especially a huge, almost 1m-long footprint just lying on the beach."It just makes you think about everything that happened before humans even existed."Mr Thompson conducts tours for Wight Coast Fossils and has recently launched South Coast Fossils, offering fossil walks at Highcliffe, near advises anyone who finds a dinosaur footprint to photograph it, preferably with something like a shoe for scale, and send the picture to a local museum or expert for said: "It's a shame they are not completely permanent - they do wash away after a period."In the mud, it will only be around for a few months at the most."Mr Thompson said the footprint was in the "top 10" of all his fossil finds "because it's such a beautiful example"."It's probably the best footprint I've discovered myself," he said. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Miami Herald
14-02-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
3-foot-long purple footprint found pressed in clay on coast of UK island, photo shows
A tour guide in the United Kingdom was confronted with something both rare and fantastical when he stumbled upon a 3-foot-long purple footprint pressed in coastal clay, a photo shows. It was clearly a 'huge' dinosaur track, but not quite a fossil. What the guide found Feb. 12 on the Isle of Wight was much more fleeting. 'Revealed by shifting (gravel), this track ... was left as a large ornithopod lumbered across boggy floodplain soil,' the fossil-hunting company Wight Coast Fossils wrote in a Feb. 12 Facebook post. 'Unlike the resistant sandstone footcasts ... these clay tracks are often short-lived, being eroded away relatively quickly once exposed. They are amazing but ephemeral glimpses of an early Cretaceous world and its inhabitants, now lost to time.' The print, found on the southern side of the island, was likely left by a large Iguanodon and the size implies the beast was about 32 feet long, the company said. Iguanodons roamed 110 to 140 million years ago, and could walk on two legs or all fours, the Natural History Museum in London reports. They were herbivores and defended themselves with 'a large thumb spike on the end of its hand.' Their skull size suggests they had 'a very long tongue,' the museum says. Trails of fossilized Iguanodon prints have been documented in stone on the Isle of Wight. Those prints found in clay are known to erode away in a matter of days or weeks — just like fresh animal tracks, the company says. The fading starts as soon as an unpredictable shift in rocks suddenly exposes something hidden for millions of years. 'We've found a good number of them over the years, but usually when you go back they're gone!' the company said.
