Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! While the Moon will figure strongly in this week's observations, that won't stop us from locating Neptune, visiting a faint comet or studying a radio source. Join us as we hike along the Alpine Valley, stare into the eye of Plato, reveal the details in Clavius and set sail on the "Ocean of Storms." It's time to open your eyes to the skies...

Because here's what's up!

ESA officials have confirmed that the Cryosat mission smashed into the Arctic ocean minutes after launch on Saturday. It was launched on board a Rockot vehicle - a converted SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missile - from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. The 135m euro satellite was designed to monitor ice thickness around the planet. Another version of the satellite may be constructed.

After 17 months of productive data collection, NASA's Gravity Probe B satellite has gathered all the data it needs to pronounce Einstein right or wrong. The probe was launched in April 2004, with four spherical gyroscopes designed to test two of Einstein's predictions about General Relativity: how the Earth's gravity warps space, and how its rotation drags space around with it. Scientists will now spend about a year analyzing the data before presenting their conclusions.

Researchers from NASA have confirmed that it would have been impossible for advanced life forms, like fish or mammals, to live in the Earth's early oceans because it was such a toxic environment. The scientists studied ancient rock formations, and found evidence of photosynthetic bacteria living as recently as 1.6 billion years ago. This bacteria would have required both sunlight and an environment rich in hydrogen sulfide - this environment would have been quite toxic for air breathing creatures.

ESA's CryoSat ice observation satellite is scheduled for a Saturday launch from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Once in orbit, the satellite will used a specialized radar altimeter to measure changes in land and sea ice thickness over a three-year period. Until now, scientists have known that Arctic sea ice is shrinking, but not if it's thinning. Existing Earth observation satellites don't have the resolution to detect smaller pieces of pack ice, so CryoSat will help fill the gaps.

This Cassini photograph shows several of the large craters that pockmark Dione, one of Saturn's moons. The most prominent crater in the image is 188 km (73 mile) Dido, and the smaller crater above it is Antenor. On the sunlit side you can see some of the wispy markings, which Cassini has revealed to be a complex system of fractures in the moon's surface.

Gregory Blount captured this image of the International Space Station as it passed over his my farm near Ketchum, Ok. Greg used a Nikon D70. This photo is facing south, just as ISS passed below Corona Borealis and into Sagittarius.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.

Scientists from the University of Arizona think they have an explanation for a strange bright spot on the surface of Titan. It originally wasn't clear whether this crescent-shaped feature was a mountain, cloud, or even a geological hotspot. By comparing observations of the region in both visible wavelengths and microwave radiometry, the scientists were able to rule out hotspots. It hasn't moved for years, so it's probably not a cloud. They currently think this region must be a bright patch with a different composition to the surrounding areas.

NASA engineers tested out a prototype unmanned sailplane this week at the Dryden Flight Research Center in California. This robotic aircraft is capable of detecting and using rising air thermals, similar to a glider or bird, to gain altitude. It launched from the ground, and navigated to a likely location for updrafts. Once it found a thermal, it turned off its engine and circled to stay within the updraft. NASA hopes to develop techniques for using thermals that could extend the range of unmanned aerial vehicles that often have very limited fuel.

An international team of astronomers think they've solved the mystery of short gamma-ray bursts. These powerful explosions shine brighter than a billion suns for only a few milliseconds and fade away quickly. But now, thanks to NASA's Swift satellite, which can detect and analyze these blasts anywhere in the sky, astronomers were able to measure short bursts. The evidence now points to the theory that these bursts occur when a black hole consumes a neutron star, or two neutron stars collide together.

Tour guides add vibrant, often personal accounts of locales along your travels. They impart much more knowledge than simply standing in front of a building and reading some brief nameplate. By including a relative context, they tie a building to its neighbours and even substantiate its mere existence. Ron Miller and William K. Hartmann in their book The Grand Tour, A Traveler's Guide to the Solar System equally provide this important service for worlds within our solar system. They take the reader along on a detailed tour, and, without assuming prior knowledge, they vividly distinguish and join each of the worlds into a technical and visual journey.

Tom Davis wows us again with this astonishing picture of M45 (aka Pleiades). It was taken using his AP 155 EDF f/7 refractor and STL-11000M CCD camera.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this beautiful photograph of supernova remnant N132D, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud - a satellite galaxy to our Milky Way. By measuring the wispy cloud, astronomers estimate that the original star probably detonated about 3,000 years ago. A supernova-generated shockwave is traveling through space at a velocity of more than 2,000 kilometers per second (4 million mph), and colliding with surrounding material. This causes the material to heat up to millions of degrees so we can see it from here on Earth.

Astronomers knew something was hiding inside a dark, dusty cloud, but they weren't sure exactly what it was. The Spitzer Space Telescope confirmed a faint infrared object within the cloud. But by focusing the Hawaii-based Submillimeter Array on the object, astronomers learned that the hidden object has a weak outflow of material, which was predicted by star formation theories. This revealed the object to be a young star, perhaps only 10,000 to 100,000 years old with only 25 times the mass of Jupiter.

Australian researchers are using ESA's Envisat Earth Observation Satellite to peer down and help judge the health of the Great Barrier Reef. Envisat's MERIS sensor can detect coral bleaching down to 10 metres below the surface of the water. This bleaching occurs when the symbiotic algae living with the coral are expelled when ocean temperatures rise. Since Envisat images the entire planet every three days, scientists will be able to watch this bleaching process on a weekly basis to see how the reefs are doing.

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! We hope that the skies were cooperative for today's annular eclipse. This week we'll explore the "Helix" nebula, begin tracking a new comet, remember our history, visit the lunar surface, watch Mars and be treated to two meteor showers. So open your eyes to the skies, because...

Here's what's up!

Christophe Bogaert captured today's annular eclipse from Beligium. This partial eclipse was taken using an 8" newtonian telescope with a Canon EOS 300D camera. The final photograph is a stack of three 1/640 sec. exposures.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.

The newly discovered 10th planet - which the discoverers have dubbed "Xena" - appears to have a moon of its own. Nicknamed "Gabrielle", this moon is 100 times fainter than Xena, and seems to orbit the planet once every couple of weeks. It's estimated to be 1/10th the size of Xena, so approximately 250 km (155 miles) across. The powerful Hubble Space Telescope will be turning its gaze on the pair in November/December, and should reveal even more details.

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying the crew of Expedition 12 and space tourist Greg Olsen docked with the International Space Station on Monday. The visitors were greeted by the crew of Expedition 11, who have been on board the station for nearly 6 months. Olsen will conduct several experiments on the station, and then return with the crew of Expedition 11 in about a week.

Efrain Morales took this recent photograph of Mars. He took 750 individual frames of the planet with his telescope in Puerto Rico, and then merged them on computer to build these composite photographs.

Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.