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  * * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - April 29, 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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CATCHING DUST DEVILS IN THE ACT

The terrain around the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit isn't just teaching
astronomers about Mars's ancient past -- it's telling a story about
present-day wind conditions on the red planet....

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1506_1.asp

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HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY HUBBLE

The week marks the 15th birthday for the Hubble Space Telescope. On April
25, 1990, Space Shuttle DISCOVERY astronauts released the school-bus-size
telescope into Earth orbit. Despite controversy about its future and aging
parts, the instrument continues to add to its archive of more than 700,000
images.

To celebrate its birthday, the team at the Space Telescope Science
Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, Hubble's operational home,
unveiled two magnificent new images of classic astronomy scenes: the
Whirlpool Galaxy (Messier 51) in Canes Venatici and a column of gas in the
Eagle Nebula (Messier 16) in Serpens, home to Hubble's earlier, epic
image, the "Pillars of Creation...."

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1505_1.asp

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PHILIP MORRISON, 1915-2005

One of the 20th century's most innovative physicists and science
communicators died last Friday, April 22nd, at age 89. Philip Morrison
will long be remembered as a designer of the first atomic bomb, a lifelong
advocate for nuclear disarmament thereafter, a pioneering figure in
high-energy astrophysics and cosmology, an originator of the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence, and a public explainer of science through
his numerous books and articles, his film "Powers of Ten," and his PBS
television series "The Ring of Truth...."

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1503_1.asp

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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY

* The Moon is last-quarter on Sunday, May 1st.
* The first-discovered asteroid, 1 Ceres, shines at 7th magnitude this
week. Spot it just a degree or two from Beta Librae using binoculars or a
low-power telescope and the finder chart in the May SKY & TELESCOPE, page
56.
* The Eta Aquarid meteor shower should be at its maximum activity before
dawn Thursday and Friday mornings. This is usually the best shower of the
year for Southern Hemisphere observers, but little or none of it can be
seen from north temperate latitudes.

> http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance

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(Advertisement)

CHINA'S 3rd ANNUAL BOOTES STAR PARTY
July 29 to August 2, 2005

The Bootes Star Party attracts both amateur and professional astronomers
from around the world. Observe and photograph the night sky from the
summer resort town of Quingdao, China. This is a marvelous opportunity to
experience the Chinese astronomy scene first hand.

For more information, visit

> http://www.astronomy.com.cn/bsp/

or e-mail Renjiang Xie at rjxie{at}vip.sina.com

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Copyright 2005 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided
as a free service to the astronomical community by the editors of SKY &
TELESCOPE magazine. Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as
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