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  * * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - April 8, 2005 * * *

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Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full text of stories
abridged here, and other enhancements are available on our Web site,
SkyandTelescope.com, at the URLs provided below. (If the links don't work,
just manually type the URLs into your Web browser.) Clear skies!

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CELESTRON SOLD (AGAIN)

After nearly a week of Internet-fueled rumors and speculation,
California-based telescope maker Celestron announced on April 6th that the
company had been purchased by SW Technology Corp., an affiliate of the
Asian telescope manufacturer Synta Technology Corp. In a press release,
Celestron's Chief Executive Officer Joseph A. Lupica Jr. categorized the
purchase as "a very positive development for Celestron [since it] will
allow us to continue providing the best telescopes available on the
market." Synta is widely known for its SkyWatcher telescopes and is a
major supplier of privately labeled astronomy equipment sold worldwide
through such sources as Orion Telescopes & Binoculars. The company has
maintained a business relationship with Celestron for more than 15
years....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1495_1.asp

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AURORAS AREN'T MIRROR IMAGES

If you've ever read much about auroras, you probably learned that the
Northern and Southern Lights ringing Earth's magnetic poles are always
mirror images of each other. Well, it ain't necessarily so....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1496_1.asp

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THE MILKY WAY'S NEW NEIGHBOR

The Milky Way's family has just grown a little bigger. By teasing out a
loose congregation of faint stars in Ursa Major, a team led by Beth
Willman (New York University) has discovered the Milky Way's 13th known
satellite galaxy....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1493_1.asp

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ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS

Mars Rovers' Mission Extended -- Again

This week NASA extended the funding for the Mars Exploration Rovers,
Spirit and Opportunity, to September 2006. The rovers, now 11 months past
their expected lifetimes, continue to amaze. As previously reported,
Spirit is continuing to climb and is nearing the top of Husband Hill.
Meanwhile, Opportunity is sprinting across the Meridiani Planum flats and
is close to a region of etched terrain that appears to be stripped by wind
erosion....

Naming Jovian Moons

As published in the March 30th International Astronomical Union Circular
8502, the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Planetary
System Nomenclature approved the names of one Jovian satellite discovered
in 2002 and nine found in 2003....

Swift Nabs Its First Gamma-Ray-Burst Redshift

On March 18th and 19th scientists using the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope
(UVOT) aboard NASA's Swift satellite spotted a pair of gamma-ray bursts.
The detections marked the mission's first distance measurements to GRBs.
The team measured redshifts of 1.44 (9.2 billion light-years) and 3.24
(11.6 billion light-years), respectively. The blast on the 18th was the
first time the UVOT instrument observed a GRB afterglow. To date Swift has
seen 24 bursts, and the craft's X-ray telescope has seen several
afterglows already.

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1494_1.asp

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* New Moon on April 8th.
* Jupiter (magnitude -2.5, in Virgo) glares brilliantly after dusk as the
brightest "star" in the southeast.
* Saturn (magnitude +0.1, in Gemini) shines high in the west during
evening, below and a bit left of Castor and Pollux. It's still well placed
(Continued to next message)

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