Enjoy Some Cosmic Fireworks For Independence Day

It's been a good month for cosmic wonderment.  The Wide Field Imager (WFI) at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile caught the region around the star R Coronae Australis and on June 13th, the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa returned after 7 years and 1.25 billion miles on a mission to gather material from the comet Itokawa. It exploded over the Australian outback - intentional, it seems, since it had parachuted its cargo already.  At least we hope it has cargo.  It experienced some malfunctions on the trip and the researchers will let us know, since they have already picked it up. But we get cosmic fireworks, so thanks Japan. read more

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