I thought I'd start with a story that's near and dear to my heart. It's been a great disappointment to me that humans didn't follow up on the space successes of the '60's and '70's. Of course, they weren't really 'space' successes, they were 'war' successes and the collapse of the Soviet Union removed any more competition. And in case you were wondering why our government has decided that humans should once again venture beyond low Earth orbit, you have only to realize that China is planning to put their astronauts on the Moon. MORE>>

An international team of scientists representing six institutions, including Texas A&M University, has succeeded in establishing a new astronomical observatory at Dome Argus on the highest point of the Antarctic Plateau, four kilometers above sea level. There is very little wind at Dome Argus and since the installation is 400 miles from the nearest habitation, you don’t have to worry much about light pollution either. MORE>>

We'll start this week with a little news from outer space. Several years ago; the Stardust mission was launched to sample the material given off by a melting comet; specifically Comet Wild 2 (named for the gentleman who discovered it). Astronomers were eager to examine material from comets because they are thought to have formed far from the Sun and to be unchanged remnants of the ice, gas and dust cloud that formed our solar system and Sun. MORE>>