“…and Behold, the Star which they had seen in the East went before them…”
That would, of course, be a reference to the biblical Star of Bethlehem.  According to the Bible story, a “star” appeared and inspired the wise men, or “magi”, from the East to follow it to Jerusalem, where they met with King Herod.  After that meeting, the magi followed the star to Bethlehem, where it led them to Christ.  After they had worshiped Christ, they returned to their own country. But was there an astronomical “star of Bethlehem”?  Was there really something unusual visible in the sky at the time of Christ’s birth, as reported in the Gospel of Matthew (the other Gospels do not mention the Star of Bethlehem)?  Was it a comet

The Way Out?
The way out. Click for larger. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The plan is to drive Spirit out of trouble by following the tracks it made on the way in  have slowed down a bit. On November 21, 2009,  the rover was instructed to drive straight ahead in two 2.5 meter (8.2-foot) increments, or at least to get enough wheel spin to get that much distance.  Part of the plan was also to rotate the right rear wheel at a slightly slower rate, the idea being to allow the right middle wheel to get more traction. 

DAWN Mission
Click here to view the embedded video. The DAWN spacecraft crossed the inner limit of  the asteroid belt for the last time on November 13, 2009 on its way to the asteroids Ceres and Vesta.  The inner limit is defined as the greatest distance Mars travels from the Sun and is equal to 1.666 astronomical units. The trip will be almost two more years longer arriving at Vesta in July 2011. The video was done pre-launch and gives a pretty good explanation of the mission and you can find out more at the DAWN mission website.

How Fast Can You Figure This One Out?
Are you ready to pull your brain out of tryptophan-saturated cruise control?  Come on… wake up and let’s play!  You can slump back down into turkey-induced euphoria in a minute.  Meanwhile, you’re due for a brain-teaser (just a small one) to round out your week.  Remember, this is something you’ve known about since childhood, so grab the coffee… here are the clues: Although thought of as one “thing”, it is actually a group.

Looking Back…
Do you remember the beginning of the Space Shuttle Program?  We’re coming to the end of the program now, and there are a lot of “last times” for the record books.  Tom brought us that great video of the picture-perfect landing of Atlantis this morning… it’s always a pleasure to have our astronauts home safe after a mission.  So, while we’re looking at the ending of this very successful program, let’s spare a moment to look at it from the beginning. The program officially began operations January 5, 1972 (although NASA was kicking it around in 1969); and the first orbiter, Enterprise, began ground testing in 1976 (E