7/16/2003:

Intermediate Word:  muliebrity  (a) femininity  (b) stubbornness  (c) mental density  (d) far-sightedness
Difficult Word: - obtund - (a) flat on one end  (b) restricting passage  (c) dull-witted  (d) preventing passage

Green light for Moon launch  - BBC  Europe's first mission to the Moon has been given the green light for launch on 28 August. "All we have to do now is go to Kourou and light the blue touch paper." The probe will map the composition of the Moon in an attempt to solve the mystery of how it was born. One idea is that a Mars-sized object smashed into the juvenile Earth, flinging up debris which later merged to form the Moon. Smart 1 is using an innovative form of propulsion - an ion thruster - that will take it on a 15-month journey to the Moon. The technology has been used only once before on an interplanetary mission by the US space agency (Nasa).

Stellar Occultations Reveal Drastic Expansion Of Pluto's Atmosphere - SpaceDaily  Left:  This movie simulates what would have be observed with a very big telescope (of the class 50-m!) during the P131.1 occultation at Hawaii. As Pluto gets closer to the star, the latter gradually dims, due to the differential refraction of stellar rays. Simultaneously, the stellar image is deviated along the planet limb. Note the strong fluctuations of signal (the spikes) at the beginning and at the end of the event, caused by small temperature fluctuations in Pluto's atmosphere. avi movie (1MB)     gif movie (800KB)     mpeg movie (2MB)      The pressure in Pluto's atmosphere more than doubled between 1988 and 2002.

Different world: What the man who spent two decades in a coma needs to know  - BBC  One of the first things that may strike Mr Wallis will be the huge technological strides the world has taken. Perhaps one of the most astonishing things he will discover is that the world around him is controlled by computers. Everything from a kitchen appliance to a car engine now has a tiny chip in it. Mr Wallis will also find that such science fiction as dreams of living in space could become science fact, thanks to advances like the International Space Station. One of his priorities will be to get to know his 19-year-old daughter.

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