Sky & Telescope's Weekly Bulletin - Jun 9

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SKY & TELESCOPE'S WEEKLY BULLETIN - June 9, 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
http://SkyandTelescope.com

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
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Birth of Carbon Planets?

June 8, 2006 | Exotic planets, dense with diamonds and graphite, might
be forming around a nearby star. Astronomers announced this week that
the disk around the young star Beta Pictoris is brimming with carbon,
raising the possibility that abnormally carbon-rich planets might be
forming within it.

The rocky planets in our solar system are made mostly of silicate
minerals such as quartz and feldspar. But last year, Marc Kuchner
(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) and Sara Seager (Carnegie
Institution of Washington) presented models showing that silicate
planets aren't the only possibility. . . .

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1739_1.asp

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Agreement Reached on Yerkes Sale

June 7, 2006 | The University of Chicago has reached an $8 million
sale agreement with a private developer to preserve the venerable
Yerkes Observatory, one of the world's great astronomical landmarks.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mirbeau Companies of Skaneateles, New
York, will develop 45 acres of land around the historic observatory for
housing, but the observatory's three major telescopes will continue to
be used for research and education. . . .

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1738_1.asp

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Did Ancient Americans Record a Supernova?

June 6, 2006 | Two astronomers have proposed that a rock carving found
in the White Tanks Regional Park, north of Phoenix, Arizona, may
represent the supernova of AD 1006. But experts in archaeoastronomy
dismiss the claim as groundless. . . .

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1737_1.asp

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Planets Around Planets?

June 5, 2006 | Evidence continues to mount that planets can form around
very-low-mass objects. In fact, planets might even form around isolated
objects so low in mass that they themselves could be considered
"planets. . . ."

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1736_1.asp

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OBSERVING - SKY AT A GLANCE
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June 9 - June 17

Watch Mars closing in on Saturn in the western sky after dusk. They
reach a close conjunction on the 17th. Meanwhile, Jupiter blazes in the
south.

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

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OBSERVING - THIS WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS
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A Jupiter Observing Guide

With Jupiter now shining brightly in the evening, here's how to see all
that you can with your scope.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing...icle_174_1.asp

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