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Earth-Sized World Found Next Door - Discovery

Scientists have found an Earth-sized planet circling a neighbor star just 4 light-years away.

No need to brush up on extraterrestrial etiquette quite yet, however. The planet, which flies around its parent star 10 times closer than Mercury orbits the sun, probably is inhospitable for life since its temperature would be more than 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit -- far too hot for liquid water to exist on the surface. Water is believed to be necessary for life.

But the newly found planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B, a sun-like star roughly 25 trillion miles away, could have better-positioned siblings.

SLIDE SHOW: Exquisite Exoplanetary Art

“From statistical studies, low-mass planets are very frequently found in multiple systems,” lead researcher Xavier Dumusque, with the University of Geneva in Switzerland, wrote in an email to Discovery News.

So far, scientists have only ruled out the possibility of massive planets with orbital periods of 200 days or less around Alpha Centauri B, so that leaves plenty of room for the detection of low-mass planets in the star's so-called "habitable zone" -- the distance where water can exist on a planet's surface, Dumusque added.

Planets positioned the same distance as Earth is to the sun would take 365 days to orbit a parent star of the same type and size as the sun. Alpha Centauri B’s newly found world circles in just 3.2 days, but the star is roughly half the size of sun, which puts its habitable zone about where Venus is in our solar system. Venus orbits in 225 days.

SLIDE SHOW: Top Exoplanets for Alien Life

Scientists already have found nearly 800 planets beyond the solar system, about 10 percent of which are considered low-mass worlds, meaning they are up to about 10 times the size of Earth or smaller.

“Most of the low-mass planets are in systems of two, three, up to six or seven planets, so finding in our closest neighbor one Earth-mass planet ... opens a really good prospect for detecting planets in the habitable zone in the system that is very close to us,” astronomer Stephane Udry, with Geneva University in Switzerland, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.

"In that sense, it is a landmark," Udry said.

HOWSTUFFWORKS: Top 10 Remarkable Exoplanets

Scientists using Europe’s HARPS telescope spent four years trying to ferret out telltale signs of a small planet’s gravitational tug on light coming from Alpha Centauri B.

The measurement is difficult because of variations in the star's light caused by other phenomenon, such as flares and magnetic storms, similar to sunspots on the sun.

“Trying to extract a signal that you are interested in when it is in the presence of “noise” -- in this case the variability of the star -- is difficult. One has to apply special analysis methods and tricks. The real challenge, in this particular case, was in how to analyze the data,” astronomer Artie Hatzes, with Thuringian State Observatory in Tautenburg, Germany, wrote in an email to Discovery News.

“I still have my doubts,” Hatzes added. “Even though there is clearly a signal in the data at 3.26 days, the nature of this is still open to debate.”

More data -- and more sensitive instruments -- will nail down whether the planet actually exists or not, and if it has any siblings.

“Everything we know about this system so far is extremely tantalizing," said astronomer Greg Laughlin, with the University of California in Santa Cruz. “This is our backyard and to find out that planet formation did occur there is just extraordinarily exciting.” The research appears in this week’s Nature.

Giant Eyeball Found On Pompano Beach, Florida (PHOTOS) - Huffington Post

South Florida beaches are usually places where people find sea shells, tiny crawling creatures and a shark tooth here and there, but a man walking on Pompano Beach Wednesday came across something out of the ordinary.

A giant eyeball.

Large enough to fit into his cupped hands, the beach stroller made a few calls and eventually got in touch with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, who had an interest in his discovery, Carli Segelson, spokeswoman for the FWC told HuffPost Miami. (See photos below.)

"This is definitely an unusual situation, where an eye would be found independent of any other body part," she said.

Later in the day, an FWC employee came to pick up the blue-and-purple-colored eyeball and put it on ice. It will be shipped to the FWC's Fish and Wildlife Research Center in St. Petersburg, where staffers hope to make an identification.

"It will probably take a little while to identify the eye," Segelson said.

Loading Slideshow

Could it be a giant squid?

Could it be a big-eye thresher shark?

Could it be a marlin?

Could it be a sunfish?

Could it be a giant grouper?

Could it be a swordfish?

Could it be a blue fin tuna?

Also on HuffPost:

160 New Species Found On Malaysian Peak - CNN

160 new species found on Malaysian peak – Light Years - CNN.com Blogs /* */(function() {var warn = '';warn = 'Template Type Content already set to: ';if ('undefined' === typeof cnn_metadata.template_type_content) {cnn_metadata.template_type_content = 'gallery';warn = '';}if ('' !== warn && 'function' === typeof console.log) {warn = warn + cnn_metadata.template_type_content;console.log(warn);}}());.recentcomments a{display:inline !important;padding: 0 !important;margin: 0 !important;}/* */// EDITION:  U.S.INTERNATIONALMÉXICOARABICTV:  CNNCNNiCNN en EspañolHLN#hdr-editions a { text-decoration:none; }#cnn_hdr-editionS { text-align:left;clear:both; }#cnn_hdr-editionS a { text-decoration:none;font-size:10px;top:7px;line-height:12px;font-weight:bold; }#hdr-prompt-text b { display:inline-block;margin:0 0 0 20px; }#hdr-editions li { padding:0 10px; }#hdr-editions ul li.no-pad-left span { font-size:12px; }.hdr-arrow-intl, .hdr-arrow-us, .hdr-arrow-us2 { left:148px; }.hdr-arrow-us2 { left:180px; }#hdr-editions a.cnn_hdr-editionlnk { position:static;color:#fff; }HomeTV & VideoNewsPulseU.S.WorldPoliticsJusticeEntertainmentTechHealthLivingTravelOpinioniReportMoneySports Main|News|In Space|On Earth|Discoveries|Voices| October 4th, 201212:12 PM ETShare this on:FacebookTwitterDiggdel.icio.usredditMySpaceStumbleUpon160 new species found on Malaysian peakAbout 160 new species have been discovered on a mountain in Borneo, researchers reported Thursday.

Fungi and spiders dominate the new species on Mount Kinabalu, the Malaysian and Dutch researchers said, but there are also new beetles and snails on the creature list and ferns on the plant list.

A frog the researchers found may also prove to be new once DNA testing is done, they said.

"While the detailed scientific work will take years, we already know that many of these species are new to science," researcher József Geml said in a press release.

The research was conducted by Sabah Parks, a Malaysian conservation organization, and Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands.

They went to the mountain to collect DNA samples and try to determine whether species there evolved recently or long ago on the Malaysian peak.

At 13,435 feet, Kinabalu is the largest mountain in the Malay archipelago. It is a Malaysian national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

All told, about 3,500 DNA samples were collected from more than 1,400 species. Researchers plan a publication on how evolution works in Borneo by the middle of next year.

Post by: CNN's Brad Lendon
Filed under: Discoveries • News • On Earth We recommendFrom around the web soundoff (101 Responses) Sofiya

this butterfly looks like prosciutto

October 6, 2012 at 5:49 pm | Reply Observer

The orchid is not Calanthe woodii. It is an unusual Coelogyne species. Unusual, due in part to the fact the
flower stems are associated with a very large bract or sheath on the inflorescence, (flower stalk). Calanthes
are not an Old World species but rather only found in the New World in South America.

October 6, 2012 at 2:10 pm | Reply Carlo

What if they are defects as has been mentioned before and some how they start showing up in US or Europe or other part of the world? Now that is scary, dont you agree?

October 6, 2012 at 11:07 am | Reply mikrik13

Probably pollution mutants from the upper atmosphere.

October 6, 2012 at 10:20 am | Reply Rufus T. Firefly

The tips of the wings on that moth look like the head of a newt or small snake. I wonder if there is some sort of defensive mimicry going on there.

October 6, 2012 at 3:39 am | Reply KZilla

And don't forget the microorganisms they're bringing back.

October 5, 2012 at 1:05 pm | Reply TruthMatters

New species discovered: the Mit Romney snake. Traits: lies and deceipt.

Romney has said several times that he wont lower the SHARE of taxes that rich people pay, then he also says he wont lower their taxes. People are focusing on the the second part when really his policy is the first part. Taxes can be lowered for rich people while they still pay the same overall share, if other taxes are also lowered. Also the lowering doesn't necessarily have to be the same percentage for both rich and middle class. Nevermind that 10% for a rich person isn't the same as 10% for a middle class person. ($50,000 vs $5,000 in savings for example).

October 5, 2012 at 1:01 pm | Reply TruthMatters

Evolution, as all other natural processes and laws, was created by God. Evolution doesn't prove God doesn't exist. For bunch of science lovers, you sure aren't that smart. Scientists are human beings and are prone to the same flaws as other human beings, i.e. unwarranted exaggeration and extrapolation. You can't prove the non existance of God. You can't prove the existance of God either. That's why its called faith. Natural observations don't in and of themselves prove anything.

October 5, 2012 at 12:48 pm | Reply peterz

If there were more than one faith existing then faith was supposed to be under evolution too, if evolution was accepted in the picture of creation.

October 5, 2012 at 12:57 pm | Reply Local

Sorry. I don't care what you said about these species found in my country, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with religion and politics.

October 5, 2012 at 12:58 pm | Reply Raider

Faith is the desperate attempt to cling to idiotic beliefs when those beliefs have been proven to be ridiculous repeatedly.

October 5, 2012 at 1:33 pm | Reply Ron P

I sure would like to try that purple mushroom..

October 5, 2012 at 12:44 pm | Reply fosho

no kidding! lol i thought it was blue

October 6, 2012 at 4:21 pm | Reply EON

Those creatures are probably reporting to each other "we just discovered humans".

October 5, 2012 at 12:43 pm | Reply Ca Ed

Message from several of the near extinct species to the 'newly discovered' ones:
You are so screwed!!!!!!

October 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm | Reply Bill

Let just hope they took a picture of one of our finer looking humans.

October 5, 2012 at 3:46 pm | Reply Michael

Cool stuff....too bad mankind will likely be logging in this area in the near future and killing all of these species.

October 5, 2012 at 12:39 pm | Reply wendellverli

God's Glory is infinite!

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities —his eternal power and divine nature —have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. Romans 1.20

October 5, 2012 at 12:15 pm | Reply aRTHURrrrr

God creates all this for us...and yet He is so Humble about it, some people actually believe that all of this is an accident.

October 5, 2012 at 12:29 pm | Reply Michael

It's not an accident, it's Evolution. Believe what you want, that's your choice. Some of us prefer facts and things that can be proven.

October 5, 2012 at 12:36 pm | TruthMatters

Michael, scientific understanding of evolution is that its an accident (specific mutations and anamolies being superior to the standard), so was the creation of the Earth, so was its placement in the right distance from the sun, as well as the existance of water, as well as the first compunds of life and life forms.

October 5, 2012 at 12:52 pm | fosho

Proof that evolution isnt apart of Gods plan? This is the only planet ever!!! to have living species, in the whole entire universe. as if its a huge comparison to how much he loves us, and how perfect this place is. considering the many different temperatures, mixtures of chemicals, etc. life would have evolved on a planet somewhere else, near us, in the next galaxy, or even in the next three galaxies over. it hasnt. one God, one earth.

October 6, 2012 at 4:25 pm | Enough already

Can we NOT drag religion and politics into EVERY thread?
We can debate faith vs. fairytales over on the Belief blog.
This is science, folks.
EVOLVE.

October 5, 2012 at 12:41 pm | Reply scottaustintexas

Exactly. Ugh.

October 5, 2012 at 12:50 pm | TruthMatters

It's the science folks that always drag religion into it by saying this or that proves religion is wrong. Religious people respond.

October 5, 2012 at 12:54 pm | king

@truthmatters and where exactly in the article does it say that the finding of these species disproves the existence of any diety worshiped on this planet? Where does it mention religion at all? Not at all. The whole purpose of this article was to announce the beauty still left in this world.

October 5, 2012 at 1:24 pm | Raider

Random quotes from a fairytale book have nothing to do with this article.

October 5, 2012 at 1:34 pm | Reply larry

All of these species must have jumped off of Noah's ark a bit early.

October 5, 2012 at 11:58 am | Reply EternalBliss

Hmmm.. wonder what kind of incredible goodness is in those mushrooms...

October 5, 2012 at 11:53 am | Reply aneas

I was thinking the same thing

October 5, 2012 at 12:39 pm | Reply hingedlwnb

Is Karl Rove one of the new species?

October 5, 2012 at 10:49 am | Reply lol

half pig half snake

October 5, 2012 at 1:03 pm | Reply ER

Why do people still believe in this 'evolution' thing? You just need more faith.

October 5, 2012 at 10:48 am | Reply bdl1978

because faith doesn't equal fact. and it never will. thank your lucky stars you have the word "faith" to make yourself feel better about being delusional.

October 5, 2012 at 10:53 am | Reply CosmicC

I suspect sarcasm was in use.

October 5, 2012 at 10:59 am | Believer

...But when your small mind stops working...trust me, you'll be believing God for a new one! Now, go FACT CHECK that!!

October 5, 2012 at 12:42 pm | peterz

Malasia was a muslim country. What kind of faith mentioning ?

October 5, 2012 at 12:46 pm | Reply crawlfish

God definitely dropped them off last week.

October 5, 2012 at 10:31 am | Reply iliab

You’ll need a bigger boat, Noah.

October 5, 2012 at 10:09 am | Reply average dude

This article didn't even mention the bioluminescent mushrooms

October 5, 2012 at 8:53 am | Reply Tinto

I'm gonna start one: they are new, they recently Evolved. Is this the proof we have been looking for?

October 5, 2012 at 8:30 am | Reply Bunsen Honeydew

I have discovered several new species of Doofus in these comments!

October 5, 2012 at 7:46 am | Reply CUTIE

lol that was funnnnyyyy!!

October 5, 2012 at 12:22 pm | Reply Michael

I like it! Good on ya, thank you for the laugh.

October 5, 2012 at 12:34 pm | Reply EON

LOL! Brilliant!

October 5, 2012 at 12:36 pm | Reply Ca Ed

Great discovery, now we need to catalog, analyze and describe them scientifically.

What is the plural of Doofus? Doofi? Doofuses?

What about the collective noun for Doofus? Journalists, Congress, Senate, DemoDoofus, DoofusReps?

BTW, does a Doofus have DNA and how would you extract it?

October 5, 2012 at 1:22 pm | Reply H Manuel Montes

I'll bet one of those "creatures" could have been part of Obama's butt that he lost the other night after being kicked in it 10-20 times.

October 5, 2012 at 6:15 am | Reply Greg

Let me guess, you're a Romney guy. Spoken like a truly unlearned GOP; what does finding new species have to do with the POTUS?

October 5, 2012 at 8:28 am | Reply ChillOut

Let me guess. You're butthurt about Obama going down in flames and you have no sense of humor? Reeeee-laaaaax, maybe he does better next time.

October 5, 2012 at 8:57 am | Snacklefish

I'm sure Romney is still basking in tha- oh, wait, unemployment just dropped below 8%? It was fun while it lasted, Mitt.

October 5, 2012 at 9:44 am | Reply Arlene

Ir lasted because we are enyerint the HOLIDAY season and nusinesses are raoming up. This wolld ot be happing in April...Did you NOT see the article on CCC that 177.000 may lose their hob. Go to CNN and check it out

October 5, 2012 at 10:19 am | GodisaMYTH

With the numbers given the UE rate could not possibly drop to 7.8% It takes 250k new jobs to stay even with population growth (even as this admins trys to change it to 150k), only 114k new jobs plus 86k revised jobs were added that is 1 tick not three ticks. Second fact was that the new jobs primarily were part time/temp jobs which does not bode well.
Is it not funny that after the butt whomping Obama received on Wednesday that this overly positive number showed up today??
I am not a republican nor a democrat, I choose to vote for the best person available for the job. I voted for Obama in 2008. I will not be voting for Obama in 2012.

October 5, 2012 at 11:41 am | bspurloc

yet mittens still has not explained how he will pay for what he spews....
cuz he does not know himself...
mittens biggest enemy is his mouth.... OH OH did he just apologize to the 47%? floppy flippy

October 5, 2012 at 9:55 am | Reply TruthMatters

Obama's problem during the debate was he was self depreciating or whatever its called. He kept pointing to how wrong he was about something or how similar he is to Romney. Obama! Attack Attack Attack. Romney has ALOT to be attacked about, use it and remind people of it! Just dont be an a$6 about it.

October 5, 2012 at 1:10 pm | Reply dougaussie

no sabretooth? tyranosaures? or terradactul? mamoths? any kingkong monkeys? I wouldn't mind seeing the blue mushroom....is it edible?

October 5, 2012 at 5:15 am | Reply Frank

King Kong wasn't a monkey. He was an ape.

October 5, 2012 at 9:45 am | Reply Laugh

Yup...that's what she said too, "Once you go ape, you can't escape."

October 5, 2012 at 10:01 am | 2/8

Ummmm....just because the scientific community just found out about them now doesn't mean they're "new". What is it with these guys who think nothing exists until they can get it on paper.

October 5, 2012 at 2:23 am | Reply Primewonk

Ummm... That's not what science says. These are newly discovered, meaning we hadn't seen them before. It does not mean they are new species.

October 5, 2012 at 8:30 am | Reply A Random Guy

That spider looks terrifying!!!

October 4, 2012 at 11:39 pm | Reply CosmicC

While it does look nasty and there's no scale, I'm thinking it's pretty small, may be a half inch or less.

October 5, 2012 at 11:05 am | Reply EON

It is those pincher's that have me more concerned.

October 5, 2012 at 12:37 pm | Mark

frogs, spiders and mushrooms... just great ;(

October 4, 2012 at 11:34 pm | Reply Brolle

These are not new species..The locals new they existed for years. Might be new to western scientists!!

October 4, 2012 at 9:47 pm | Reply S Kyle

It only matters if the West knows about it... duh.

October 4, 2012 at 11:11 pm | Reply Rudy

new and Knew are two different things please use proper grammar

October 5, 2012 at 8:04 am | Reply Greg

Columbus discovered America. It wasn't there until... wait... there were people there already and... the Vikings and wait... Africans? What the fudge is going on here?

October 5, 2012 at 8:32 am | Reply Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son

They are new to science. It has nothing to do with being from the “west” you ignorant tools.

October 5, 2012 at 9:25 am | Reply arachnophobia

GREAT! Even MORE spiders!

October 4, 2012 at 9:45 pm | Reply Piranha

Creepy , makes my skin clawls. That blue mushroom looks familiar, is it a relative of the blue dot. Good sh^t.

October 4, 2012 at 9:39 pm | Reply Colin

Beautiful and fantastic. Praise to G-d

October 4, 2012 at 8:24 pm | Reply God

General Dynamics?

October 4, 2012 at 10:38 pm | Reply shrinktofit

No... General dynamics

October 4, 2012 at 11:47 pm | saggyroy

Noah doesn't mention these on the ark.

October 5, 2012 at 6:38 am | Reply André Kruger

"there are also new beetles and snails on the creature list and ferns on the plant list".. do these scientists not consider plants to be creatures also?

October 4, 2012 at 7:04 pm | Reply SixDegrees

No one does.

October 5, 2012 at 2:40 am | Reply Ian

I'm sure that all the new species discovered are smarter than the people who have posted comments so far

October 4, 2012 at 5:37 pm | Reply Jan

Thank you! Thank you for putting it out there!

October 4, 2012 at 6:25 pm | Reply shrinktofit

Including yours, I presume.

October 4, 2012 at 11:48 pm | Reply andrew

there is many frogs that look like that

October 4, 2012 at 5:08 pm | Reply Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son

You wife looks like a frog too....whats your point?

October 5, 2012 at 9:27 am | Reply EON

Only because he refused to kiss her.

October 5, 2012 at 12:39 pm | andrew

who knew that more animals and plants would show up with all of the hunting and war

October 4, 2012 at 5:04 pm | Reply shrinktofit

The Great Borneo War? Never heard of it.

October 4, 2012 at 11:49 pm | Reply Garamasala

fuuuck Israel

October 4, 2012 at 3:07 pm | Reply Ramikz

you are such a small and pathetic creature .

October 4, 2012 at 7:28 pm | Reply Bong Laude

Israel is more bless than Islamic countries!

October 5, 2012 at 3:25 am | Reply wow

That butterfly looks like meat

October 4, 2012 at 2:46 pm | Reply andrew

its not a butterfly its a moth read the capsion

October 4, 2012 at 5:05 pm | Reply wow

moths are just low fat butter-flies. should be called margarineflies

October 5, 2012 at 12:43 pm | citizenUSA

Inspired by Lady Gaga.

October 5, 2012 at 10:19 am | Reply The Woof

There will be no way ever that man will fin dout everything that has been created by a source more powerful to even comprehend.

October 4, 2012 at 2:21 pm | Reply God

I created Evolution and saw that it was good...

October 4, 2012 at 10:36 pm | Reply Earthling

English, please.

October 4, 2012 at 10:50 pm | Reply bdl1978

and what source would that be? your god or a more powerful source according to the other countless religions in the world? your faith is strong, but my hindu friend has a stronger faith so therefore by your logic the possibility of his god exiting is just more plausible than yours? silly sheeple

October 5, 2012 at 10:55 am | Reply aneas

I think they have already exited.

October 5, 2012 at 12:44 pm | Michael

Mount Kinabalu is on the island of Borneo, not the Malay Peninsula!

October 4, 2012 at 12:53 pm | Reply orangutan

article doesn't say Malay peninsular, it is right saying Malay archipelago, which includes Indonesia as well

October 4, 2012 at 7:05 pm | Reply Antonio

Michael,

Sounds like you've been to Borneo! Many people don't know where Borneo is, except for the older generation who've been in the war and were stationed in the Asia (or SE Asia). I've been there, climbed the mountain....beautiful place. But I don't remember seeing any of the plants and animals described.

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Return to Antikythera: Divers revisit wreck where ancient computer found - Guardian

It took more than 100 years to work out from its corroded remains how the Antikythera mechanism worked. Video: New Scientist

In 1900, Greek sponge divers stumbled across "a pile of dead, naked women" on the seabed near the tiny island of Antikythera. It turned out the figures were not corpses but bronze and marble statues, part of a cargo of stolen Greek treasure that was lost when the Roman ship carrying them sank two thousand years ago on the island's treacherous rocks.

It was the first marine wreck to be studied by archaeologists, and yielded the greatest haul of ancient treasure that had ever been found. Yet the salvage project – carried out in treacherous conditions with desperately crude equipment – was never completed. So this month, armed with the latest diving technology, scientists are going back.

Between 1900 and 1901, the sponge divers retrieved a string of stunning antiquities, including weapons, jewellery, furniture and some exquisite statues. But their most famous find was a battered lump that sat unnoticed for months in the courtyard of Athens' National Archaeological Museum, before it cracked open to reveal a bundle of cogwheels, dials and inscriptions.

It has taken scientists over a hundred years to decode the inner workings of those corroded fragments, with x-ray and CT scans finally revealing a sophisticated clockwork machine used to calculate the workings of the heavens (video).

Dubbed the Antikythera mechanism, it had pointers that displayed the positions of the sun, moon and planets in the sky, as well as a star calendar, eclipse prediction dial and a timetable of athletics events including the Olympics.

It's a stunning piece of technology that revolutionises our understanding of the abilities of the ancient Greeks. Nothing close to its complexity is known to have been created for well over a thousand years afterwards, and the emergence of mechanical clocks in medieval Europe.

There are questions that remain unanswered, such as where it's from and who built it (Posidonius, a philosopher who lived on Rhodes during the first century BC, is one candidate, while the third century BC genius Archimedes may have invented this type of device). But one of the most intriguing mysteries relates to the wreck on which it was found. What's still down there?

The wreck lies in around 60 metres of cold, rocky, current-swirled water – not an easy place to visit. The sponge divers who salvaged its cargo worked in clunky metal diving suits with little understanding of the dangers of diving at such depth. By the time they abandoned their project, two of them had been paralysed by the bends, and one was dead. They left behind stories of abandoned treasures, including giant marble statues that rolled down the steep slope from the wreck and out of reach.

The undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau spent a couple of days at the wreck site in 1978 and brought up some precious smaller items, including some coins from the Asia Minor coast, which suggested that the ship sailed from there around 70-60 BC (probably carrying war booty from Greek colonies back to Rome). But even with their sleek scuba gear, Cousteau's divers could spend only brief minutes on the seabed without risking the bends.

No one has been back since. Now, after years of negotiations with the Greek authorities, Brendan Foley, a marine archaeologist based at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, finally has permission to dive at Antikythera. He's working with Greek archaeologists including Theotokis Theodoulou of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities.

This week, the team begins a three-week survey using rebreather technology, which recycles unused oxygen from each breath and allows divers to stay deeper for longer. The aim is to survey the wreck site properly for the first time, to find out once and for all what has been left down there – and to check down the slope, to 70 metres depth or more, to see if those stories of runaway statues are true.

Any items found on the wreck site could provide further clues to the origin or ownership of the ship. And not all of the pieces of the Antikythera mechanism were ever found. It's a long shot, but those missing bits could still be on the seabed.

This isn't what gets Foley most excited about the project, however. His team will also dive around the entire island, a distance of about 17 nautical miles, using James Bond-style propellers to cover ground quickly. Foley hopes this could reveal a whole clutch of previously unknown wrecks.

The island of Antikythera sits in the middle of what has been a busy trade route since ancient times: a treacherous shard of rock notorious for downing ships in a storm. In Roman times, it was also an infamous centre for pirates. So it's a good bet that there are plenty of other wrecks here, from all periods of history.

On a two-day reconnaissance survey in June this year, Foley and his team discovered the wreck of a British warship called HMS Nautilus, lost in 1807, plus a range of ancient anchors, ceramics and a 19th-century naval gun.

This suggests the area hasn't been looted (which makes sense given the difficulty of diving here), so any new wrecks found could be pristine. "Everyone is very, very excited," Foley says of the upcoming mission. "This ought to be extraordinary."

He also points out that the Antikythera ship, with its valuable cargo, is unlikely to have been travelling alone. When it sank, others in its fleet may have gone down too. Could one of them have been carrying another Antikythera mechanism? For the past hundred years, this awe-inspiring device has stood alone, our only glimpse into a technology lost for millennia. That might – just might – now change.

Jo Marchant is the author of a book about the mechanism, Decoding the Heavens: Solving the Mystery of the World's First Computer

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