People living in the northern hemisphere will be able to go out any night this week an hour after sunset and see Venus, Saturn and Mars.

A Johns Hopkins astronomer is a member of a team briefing fellow scientists about plans to use new technology to take advantage of recent, promising ideas on where to search for possible extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy.

PASADENA and MOFFETT FIELD, Calif., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- A collaboration between entrepreneurial space firm Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation and the NASA Ames Research Center reached a notable milestone in mid-January with final acceptance of the Ames-developed science payload for the LCROSS lunar mission and its shipment to Northrop Grumman Space Technology in Redondo Beach, CA, for integration and testing with the LCROSS spacecraft there starting in late February.

By John Goss ecoacres@rbnet.com It was just three years ago that I turned 4 years old. Today, I'm still 4 and will remain so for another eight years.

It is always out there. Nearly everything within it disappears from view. Directly on the opposite side of the Earth from the sun outstretches the cone of Earth's shadow. On the night of Oct. 27, the full moon will glide into that shadow and become eclipsed.