AstronomyTeacher

NASA -
10,000 Earths' Worth of Fresh Dust Found Near Star Explosion: "Astronomers have at last found definitive evidence that the universe's first dust - the celestial stuff that seeded future generations of stars and planets - was forged in the explosions of massive stars.

The findings, made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, are the most significant clue yet in the longstanding mystery of where the dust in our very young universe came from. Scientists had suspected that exploding stars, or supernovae, were the primary source, but nobody had been able to demonstrate that they can create copious amounts of dust - until now. Spitzer's sensitive infrared detectors have found 10,000 Earth masses worth of dust in the blown-out remains of the well-known supernova remnant Cassiopeia A."

TWAN project official website - About TWAN: "The World At Night (TWAN) is a new program to create and exhibit a collection of stunning photographs of the world’s most beautiful and historic sites against a nighttime backdrop of stars, planets and celestial events. The eternally peaceful sky looks the same above all the landmarks and symbols of different nations and regions, attesting to the truly unified nature of Earth as a planet rather than an amalgam of human-designated territories. Those involved in global programs learn to see humanity as a family living together on a single planet amidst the vast ocean of our Universe. This global perspective motivates us to work for a better, more peaceful planet for all the world’s inhabitants. Astronomers Without Borders was created to work toward this goal. TWAN is an innovative new approach to expanding this global perspective."

InterPlanetaryVentures.org

Chandra :: Photo Album :: 3C321 :: 17 December 07: "This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy, the first time such an interaction has been found."

UC Davis News & Information :: Earliest Stage of Planet Formation Dated: "UC Davis researchers have dated the earliest step in the formation of the solar system -- when microscopic interstellar dust coalesced into mountain-sized chunks of rock -- to 4,568 million years ago, within a range of about 2,080,000 years.

UC Davis postdoctoral researcher Frederic Moynier, Qing-zhu Yin, assistant professor of geology, and graduate student Benjamin Jacobsen established the dates by analyzing a particular type of meteorite, called a carbonaceous chondrite, which represents the oldest material left over from the formation of the solar system."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Great beasts peppered from space: "Startling evidence has been found which shows mammoth and other great beasts from the last ice age were blasted with material that came from space. Eight tusks dating to some 35,000 years ago all show signs of having being peppered with meteorite fragments."

Gimpy rover has turned up a surprise on Mars / Jammed front wheel plowing surface has uncovered signs of habitability in silica: "On the opening day of the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco on Monday, Steven Squyres of Cornell, the Mars mission's principal investigator for science, disclosed that the rover's dragging wheel has serendipitously been working as a plow and has turned over yards and yards of Martian crust to reveal a startlingly white track of almost pure silica - the material that makes ordinary glass. The tracks also reveal small amounts of titanium."

%u2018Flying saucers%u2019 around Saturn explained - Space.com- msnbc.com: "The formation of strange flying-saucer-shaped moons embedded in Saturn's rings have baffled scientists. New findings suggest they're born largely from clumps of icy particles in the rings themselves, an insight that could shed light on how Earth and other planets coalesced from the disk of matter that once surrounded our newborn sun."

Follow the link for a picture-- note, however, the first picture you see is computer-generated and not an acutal photo.

Texas official resigns, cites creationism conflict - USATODAY.com: "AUSTIN (AP) %u2014 The state's director of science curriculum said she resigned this month under pressure from officials who felt she gave the appearance of criticizing the instruction of intelligent design. "