Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Jan 2

================================================== ======================

* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - January 2, 2004 * * *

================================================== ======================

Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full text of stories
abridged here, and other enhancements are available on our Web site,
SkyandTelescope.com, at the URLs provided below. (If the links don't work, just
manually type the URLs into your Web browser.) Clear skies!

================================================== ======================

2003: A YEAR OF TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY

In 2003 we witnessed triumph and tragedy in astronomy and space exploration.
Throughout the year, SkyandTelescope.com stayed on top of the most important
stories, including the closest Mars approach in nearly 60,000 years, exciting
new developments in cosmology and gamma-ray bursts, and NASA's successful
deployment of the Spitzer Space Telescope.

But while we rejoiced over these magnificent events, our celebration was
tempered by the Columbia disaster of February 1st. Astronomers around the world
also mourned the loss of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia to
bushfires.

From a public perspective, the biggest astronomy story of the year was
undoubtedly the close Mars approach in late August....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1132_1.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LISTENING FOR BEAGLE 2's CALL HOME

Many scientists in England stayed up through Christmas Eve, not awaiting a
visit from a red-suited man bearing gifts, but for the landing of their
ambitious mission to the red planet, Mars. Alas, after the appointed hour
passed, anticipation turned into uncertainty as the European Space Agency's
Beagle 2 lander's faint signal was not detected. It still has not been heard
from....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1133_1.asp

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS

Mars Express To Listen for Beagle 2

Scientists still have not heard a peep from the British-built Beagle 2 Mars
lander. Fortunately the European Space Agency's Mars Express -- the spacecraft
that carried Beagle 2 -- is working well. A 4-minute engine burn on December
30th successfully put the spacecraft into a polar orbit. Another burn on
January 4th will place Mars Express into a 7.5-hour orbit that will bring it to
within about 260 kilometers of the Martian surface. Afterward, the spacecraft
will also listen for the call of Beagle 2. The orbiter will pass directly over
Beagle's landing site on January 7th.

Catch a Shooting Star and Sail Away

At 2:44 p.m. EST on January 2nd, NASA's Stardust spacecraft encountered the
5.4-kilometer-wide Comet Wild 2 at a distance of about 300 kilometers. Attached
to the spacecraft is a racket-shaped "net" of more than 1,000 square
centimeters of aerogel. The material, which is 99.8-percent air and 0.2-percent
pure silicon dioxide, slowed and trapped whatever Wild 2's particles it
encountered. Astronomers assume that most were between 10 and 300 microns in
size (about the thickness of a human hair).

Stardust will now collapse itself into a capsule and head back to Earth. It is
set to land in Utah in January 2006. Once on the ground, the cometary and
interstellar dust inside will be sent to NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston, Texas, for analysis.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1137_1.asp

================================================== ======================

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to peak during the early-morning hours of
January 4th.
* Full Moon on January 7th.
* Saturn (magnitude -0.4, in Gemini) is just past opposition this week.

For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/

================================================== ======================

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Advertisement)

Experience the majesty of the cosmos year-round with these picturesque
selections from Shop at Sky!

Celestial Wonders 2004 Calendar
http://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=368

SKY & TELESCOPE's Beautiful Universe
http://SkyandTelescope.com/beautifuluniverse

================================================== ======================

Copyright 2004 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided as a
free service to the astronomical community by the editors of SKY & TELESCOPE
magazine. Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as long as our
copyright notice is included, along with the words "used by permission." But
this bulletin may not be published in any other form without written permission
from Sky Publishing; send e-mail to or call +1
617-864-7360. More astronomy news is available on our Web site at
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

To subscribe to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin or to S&T's Skywatcher's Bulletin,
which calls attention to noteworthy celestial events, go to this address:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/shopatsky/emailsubscribe.asp

================================================== ======================

*-----------------------------------------------------*
| Stuart Goldman |
* Associate Editor *
| Sky & Telescope |
* 49 Bay State Rd. Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Cambridge, MA 02138 Magazine of Astronomy |
*-----------------------------------------------------*