g STARS - Last week, ESO's Very Large Telescope observed fragment B of the comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 that had split a few days earlier. To their great surprise, the ESO astronomers discovered that the piece just ejected by fragment B was splitting again! Five other mini-comets are also visible on the image. The comet seems thus doomed to disintegrate but the question remains in how much time. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0604/25comet/. For related story, see "NASA Says Comet Fragments Won't Hit Earth" at http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060427 cometsw3 noim
pact.html.
g ABODES - The depths of space are much closer to home following the University of Alberta's acquisition of a meteorite that is the only one of its kind known to exist on Earth! What makes it so rare? The meteorite is "pristine" - that is, still frozen and uncontaminated - and so provides an invaluable preserved record of material from when the solar system formed 4.57 billion years ago. See http://
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060421234604.htm.
g LIFE - Scientists are learning more about what appears to be one of the biggest meat-eating dinosaurs known, a two-legged beast whose bones were found several years ago in the fossil-rich Patagonia region of Argentina. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/
060417 big dino.html.
g INTELLIGENCE - How did ancient man make stone tools, such as a Clovis spear point? See http://students.kennesaw.edu/~bberger/
page1.shtml.
g MESSAGE - The search for extraterrestrial intelligence could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilizations. See http://www.newscientist.com/channel/space/mg18624944.800.
g COSMICUS - Here is a transcript of the remarks given by John Marburger earlier this year during the Keynote Address of the 44th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greenbelt, Md. See http://space.com/adastra/adastra marburger vision 060420.html.
g LEARNING - An excellent collection of books about SETI, including some for elementary and middle school children, appears online at http://www.space.com/searchforlife/sharing seti devore 041209.
html. These would make some great holiday gifts.
g IMAGINING - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Lisanne Norman's novel "Turning Point," published by DAW in 1993.
g AFTERMATH - For some provocative reading, pick up "Sharing the Universe," by Seth Shostak, at your local bookstore. SETI scientist Shostak almost single-handedly is outlining social and political issues that will arise once we make contact with extraterrestrials. For reviews, see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0965377431/
