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2008 December 23 Collinder 399: The Coat Hanger Credit & Copyright: Processing -NoelCarboni,Imaging – Greg Parker,New ForestObservatoryIs this coat hanger a star cluster or an asterism? This cosmic hang-up has been debated over much of last century, as astronomers wondered whether this binocular-visible object is really a physically associated open cluster or a chance projection.Chance star projections are known as asterisms, an example of which is the popular Big Dipper. Recent precise measurements from different vantage points in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun have uncovered discrepant angular shifts indicating that the Coat Hangeris better described as an asterism.Known more formally as Collinder 399, this bright stellar grouping is wider than the full moon and lies in theconstellation of the Fox(Vulpecula). On the far right of the image is the open cluster of stars NGC 6802.skyscape

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SPACE.com – Twoastronauts floated outside the International Space Station late Monday toinstall new experiments that will study the harsh orbital environment and help explainrecent glitches with Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

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AP – American and Russian crewmen installed a probe Tuesday aimed at tracking down problems with a Russian module attached to the international space station and conducted an array of other maintenance and scientific work during a six-hour spacewalk.

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SPACE.com – NASA has awarded a pair of contractsworth $3.5 billion through 2016 to two private aerospace firms seeking to haulvital supplies to and from the International Space Station, the space agencyannounced late Tuesday.

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Like an illustration in a galactic

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2008 December 28 Thackeray’s Globules Hubble Heritage Team(STScIAURA),NASARich star fieldsand glowing hydrogen gas silhouettedense, opaque clouds of interstellar gas and dustin this Hubble Space Telescopeclose-up of IC 2944, a bright star forming regionin Centaurus, 5,900 light-years away.The largest of these dark globules,first spotted by South African astronomer A. D. Thackeray in 1950,is likely two separate but overlapping clouds, each more than onelight-year wide.Combined the clouds contain materialequivalent to about15 times the mass of the Sun, but will they actuallycollapse to form massive stars?Along with other data, thesharpHubble images indicate thatThackeray’s globules are fractured and churning as a resultof intense ultraviolet radiation from young, hot stars alreadyenergizing and heating the bright emission nebula.These and similar dark globulesknown to be associated with otherstar forming regions may ultimately be dissipatedby their hostile environment –like cosmic lumps of butter in a hot frying pan.irregular starburst

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AFP – A Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut from the International Space Station began a space walk Tuesday to install a gadget aimed at measuring electromagnetic fields around the ISS, Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported.

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SPACE.com – Astronomershave continued to cast their eyes to the heavens, with bigger and bettertelescopes and as much passion as ever this year, but some of the coolestfindings of 2008 were right in our own backyard, or at least looked like theywere.

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SPACE.com – Twoastronauts will step outside the International Space Station tonight to add newexperiments to the orbiting laboratory’s hull, including one to aid an ongoinginvestigation into recent Russian Soyuz spacecraft glitches.

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Reuters – CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) — A U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut completed a 5-1/2-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Tuesday to install a device that monitors conditions around the orbital outpost.

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