SUNSET: 
Martian Mega-Rover Gets a "Time Out"
Plagued by a technical obstacles that could threaten its success, a $2 billion Mars rover has been postponed two years by NASA officials. The Mars Science Laboratory's new launch date is 2011.
Tour December's Sky! | November 30th, 2008
After listening to this podcast, you'll have no trouble spotting Venus, Jupiter, the Pleiades star cluster, and much more in the evening sky! Host: S&T's Kelly Beatty. (5MB MP3 download: running time: 5m 47s)
Betelgeuse is Making Waves
The famously red supergiant star that marks Orion's shoulder is creating an enormous shock wave as it plows through the interstellar medium. New infrared views from a Japanese space observatory called Akari show what's going on with unprecedented clarity.
Chandrayaan 1 is a Hit
India's first deep-space mission has chalked up another success during the first days of its two-year mission: slamming an instrumented probe into the lunar surface.
Sleuthing Reveals Mars's Watery Past
New findings announced this week suggest that the Red Planet may have had an ancient ocean after all and that buried glaciers of ice have turned up in surprising places.
New Eyes on the Cosmic-Ray Sky
High on the Argentinian pampa, 1,600 water-filled "eyes" await the arrival of the most powerful high-energy particles in the universe.
Tour November's Sky! | November 6th, 2008
With the return of standard time in the Northern Hemisphere, evenings arrive much sooner than they did just a few weeks ago. That makes it a snap to get in some quick stargazing before dinnertime.
Amazing Close-ups of Enceladus
Ever wonder what it'd be like to view the icy terrain of Saturn's enigmatically active moon as if you were just 12 miles above it? Now you can, thanks to Cassini's close brush with Enceladus on Halloween.
S&T's Audio Sky Tour for November 2008
Download this podcast to take a guided tour of evening sky sights — find the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and much more! Host: S&T's Kelly Beatty. (4MB MP3 download: running time: 4m 32s)
Hubble Returns to Work
After a month-long hiatus caused by an electronics failure, the Hubble Space Telescope has resumed its observations of the cosmos. But a final house call by Space Shuttle astronauts will have to wait until NASA engineers can round up some spare parts.
Mercury Gets a Second Look
When NASA's Messenger spacecraft flew past the innermost planet on October 6th, it mapped another 30% of the surface never before viewed by spacecraft and gave scientists tantalizing hints of what Mercury is all about.
India's First Moon Shot
There's a new player in deep-space exploration, as India launches a highly instrumented spacecraft destined for lunar orbit.
Light Pollution in the Spotlight
A flurry of articles, editorials, and even Congressional briefings has provided much-needed momentum for the fight against astronomers' Public Enemy #1.
Giant "Hurricanes" Ring Saturn's Poles
NASA scientists are scratching their heads over the monstrously large swirls revealed by the Cassini orbiter at the planet's top and bottom.
A Deep (Impact) Mystery
Deep Impact's in-your-face encounter with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, created an enormous splash of dust and gas far more massive than anyone predicted. Some 3½ years later, planetary scientists are still struggling to understand what happened.
Kooky Kuiper-Belt Object
Observers have spotted a distant body that's veered far off the interplanetary highway.
Little Asteroid Makes a Big Splash
You'd think that a car-size space rock racing through space and slamming into Earth's atmosphere at night would put on a dazzling show. One did just that early Tuesday morning — but did anyone on the ground actually see it?
The New Face of Mercury
NASA's Messenger spacecraft slipped past the innermost planet on October 6th, revealing an amazing Mercurian landscape never before seen at close range.
The Sun Goes Round and (Less) Round
Incredibly precise measurements of the solar surface show that our star isn't quite as spherical as once thought.
Tour October's Sky! | October 1st, 2008
Halloween might be just around the corner, but there's nothing scary about heading outdoors tonight — as long as you've downloaded this podcast to find your way in the nighttime sky.
