Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Feb 25

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* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - February 25, 2005 * * *

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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!

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FROZEN LAKES IN MARS'S MIDSECTION

Saying that Mars was once wet is hardly a provocative statement. For
decades scientists suspected that ancient lakes, rivers, and streams
soaked the red planet's surface billions of years ago. Evidence for
water abounds: The poles both sport ice caps that grow and recede with
seasons, and NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers each found proof of fluvial
activity at their respective landing sites. But nobody had ever seen
evidence of current ice reservoirs near the planet's midsection --
until now....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1467_1.asp

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THE MOON OCCULTS FIERY ANTARES

If you're one of the countless skywatchers who got clouded out (or
rained or snowed out) for the Moon's predawn occultation of Jupiter
across most of North America last December 7th, don't give up yet. A
shot at another spectacular early-morning occultation is coming up,
weather permitting.

This time the Moon will cross not a big planet but big Antares, one of
the two brightest red supergiant stars in the sky (the other being
Betelgeuse, which is too far from the ecliptic for the Moon ever to
occult it). Mark your celestial calendar for March 2, 2005, with a
reminder to set your alarm clock for early Thursday morning, March 3rd.
For nearly all of the North American continent, the last-quarter Moon
will be hanging in plain view in the southeast or south when it covers
and uncovers Antares....

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

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* Last-quarter Moon on Thursday, March 3rd.
* Mercury (magnitude -1) is emerging into view low in the west in
evening twilight.
* Saturn (magnitude -0.1, in Gemini) shines brightly very high in south
the during evening, excellently placed for telescopic viewing.

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

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance

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Copyright 2005 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is
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Stuart Goldman
Associate Editor http://SkyandTelescope.com
Sky & Telescope http://NightSkyMag.com
49 Bay State Rd.
Cambridge, MA 02138