News

After a voyage of 173 days and 431 million kilometers (268 million miles), NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft will get up-close and personal with comet Tempel 1 on July 4 (EDT). <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

The CI-700 and the G-11 tripods go head to head in this mount component comparison..

When a pair of researchers aimed the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope toward a famous quasar, they sought evidence to support a popular theory for why the superfast jets of particles streaming from quasars are confined to narrow streams. Instead, they got a surprise that "may send the theorists back to the drawing boards," according to one of the astronomers. <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

And you thought the central star in M57 was hard to spot! <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

A scientist using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found evidence that two white dwarf stars are orbiting each other in a death grip, destined to merge. <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b> NOTE: Sorry for the gap in news coverage this past week - your editor was on a sorely needed vacation - Ed.

These Canadian eyepieces upgrade the views through this users' scopes in this week's contest winner...

This week's review winner is all about the back-straining Bubba of SCT's. Celestron's monster field scope; the venerable, the drooled over, the big scope with the tiny name: C14

Using Chandra spectra obtained from more than 300 supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies, a team of astronomers has been able to determine the amount of iron near the black holes (see light blue in illustration). <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

BERKELEY – Observations by two of the world's largest telescopes provide strong evidence that a peculiar type of exploding star may be the origin of elusive gamma-ray bursts that have puzzled scientists for more than 30 years. Article by Robert Sanders, Media Relations, UC Berkeley.

When it comes to mysterious X-rays from Saturn, the ringed planet may act as a mirror, reflecting explosive activity from the sun, according to scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

Saturn's moon Titan shows an unusual bright spot that has scientists mystified. The spot, approximately the size and shape of West Virginia, is just southeast of the bright region called Xanadu and is visible to multiple instruments on the Cassini spacecraft. <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

The Meade 152ED sports a nice price for the specs but how does it perform in the field? This weeks review winner gives one amateur's viewpoint - in detail.

Every region has their favorite local astro-resources. Here in the northwest corner of the U.S., we are fortunate to have a local astronomical radio show called "It's Over Your Head" broadcast through KSER 90.7 FM. The rest of the world can still enjoy the programs via their extensive audio and script-text archive.

Photographs from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft released today are the first pictures ever taken of a spacecraft orbiting a foreign planet by another spacecraft orbiting that planet. <b>NOTE: French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations follow...</b>

AstroMarter Larry Carlino takes on the Celestron 12" Starhopper Dob and likes a lot of what he sees in this week's review contest winner...