Sky & Telescope's Weekly Bulletin - Apr 7

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SKY & TELESCOPE'S WEEKLY BULLETIN - April 7, 2006
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Welcome to Sky & Telescope's Weekly Bulletin. Images, the full stories,
abridged here, and other enhancements are on our Web site, at:
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
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Why Galaxies Tilt Just So

April 5, 2006 | From the earliest moment of the Big Bang to the
universe we see today, just about every step of cosmic evolution has
been falling neatly into place in the last few years. Now a group of
astronomers is announcing their discovery that another piece of the
puzzle fits just right: the ways in which spiral galaxies, such as the
Milky Way, tend to be oriented in space....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1709_1.asp

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NASA's Dawn Mission Gets a Reprieve

April 4, 2006 | After enduring weeks of outrage from space scientists
and an official objection from the director of its Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, NASA has reversed its decision to cancel the Dawn asteroid
mission. NASA associate administrator Rex Geveden, who chaired a
high-level review panel, concluded on March 27th that the mission
should proceed as planned, overturning the abrupt decision to cancel it
made by Mary Cleave, the agency's space-science chief, earlier in the
month....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1708_1.asp

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The April 1st Pleiades Occultation

April 2, 2006 | A hundred people were milling and chattering inside the
church dining hall at a fundraising dinner, but I was outside alone in
the churchyard gazing at the Moon. Resting on my shoulders was my
homemade image-stabilizing binocular frame , and in the view of the
10x50 binoculars was a glorious spectacle: the crescent Moon amid the
Pleiades in the last fading purple twilight. For now, I wanted the show
all to myself. I watched as the Moon's earthlit limb crept surprisingly
quickly up to 4th-magnitude Electra, one of the stars forming the
bottom of the Pleiades' "dipper" shape. And suddenly Electra was
gone....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing.../occultations/

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OBSERVING - SKY AT A GLANCE
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April 7 - - April 15

Watch Mercury at greatest elongation in the dawn sky, Jupiter rise in
the east-southeast around 9 p.m., and be sure to check in on Saturn as
it shines pale yellow very high in the south to southwest during
evening.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing...icle_110_1.asp

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OBSERVING - THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS
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Update on Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3: This periodic comet, due to
reach 4th magnitude in May, has shed more fragments. We may get not
just a double comet, but a string of little comets.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/

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Stuart Goldman
Associate Editor http://SkyandTelescope.com
Night Sky Magazine http://NightSkyMag.com
49 Bay State Rd.
Cambridge, MA 02138