Underwater Alexandria
IT WAS one of the original seven wonders of the world: a 135-metre-tall lighthouse that dominated the Egyptian port of Alexandria in 300 BC. Nearby, around the time of Christ, would have been Cleopatra’s palace and other monuments.
You’d be hard-pressed to gaze upon these wonders today: the city and lighthouse were submerged in the Mediterranean 1600 years ago, following a series of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis.
But tourists might yet get to walk amid the sphinxes and statues that lie beneath the waves. UNESCO and the Egyptian Ministry of Culture are planning a feasibility study for an underwater museum, allowing visitors to view these ancient treasures in situ.
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I’ve dreamed of visiting Atlantis, and this is probably as close as I’m ever going to get.
Linda Geddes
Hessdalen lights
FOR ALL the rugged beauty in the forests and mountains of the Hessdalen valley, Norway, it might be better to be here after dark – when you just might catch a glimpse of the area’s mysterious light show.
For over a century, locals have reported seeing blinking and spiralling balls of light that appear from nowhere and hang, ghost-like, in the air. Prompted by a flurry of reports in the 1980s, Norwegian and Italian scientists set up an automated observatory to keep permanent watch on the valley.
Yet despite this and regular visits by research teams, it wasn’t until September 2006 that they recorded a floating light that couldn’t be explained away as a star, planet, aircraft or meteor. Experiments followed to ascertain its chemical make-up, but the jury is still out. I want to visit Hessdalen and judge for myself.
Ben Crystall
Heavenly sprites
FORGET the flickering bolts of lightning sent down by thunderstorms. They are nothing compared with displays high above the clouds, where towering red lights known as sprites shoot up to the edge of space. Though they are short-lived, with a bit of luck you can catch sight of them with the naked eye – and I’d love to try.
Sprite-hunters should head for a high ridge, for example, in the Colorado Rockies, which offer a clear view across the plains of Kansas and Nebraska. When there’s a storm in the distance, let your eyes adapt to the dark and then look towards it. Shield your eyes from the lightning and focus on a region at four or five times the height of the cloud tops.
Now be patient – sprites typically appear every 5 or 10 minutes. And while they are red, your eyes may perceive them as orange, or even white or green.
Ben Crystall
Read more: Wonder lust: Scientific expeditions without a PhD
