The heavens still twirl when we're not looking, so those of us Earthbound might do well with a brief NASA roundup. The mystery of Spirit's Martian scrub-down has been solved, and though the removal of dust from the rover has been accomplished by neither little green hobos nor a self-propelled vacuum droid, Jet Propulsion Laboratory's theory holds fascinating implications for Martian weather. Spirit's brother Opportunity, meanwhile, has been blithely trolling about, capturing panorama photographs of subtle landmarks like the "Naturaliste" crater, the Meridiani plain, and a point just outside of the "Alvin" crater.
Our darling Cassini, flung about the Saturnine planetary system, has a new portrait catalog of the gas giant's moons.
Finally, for the dreamers: an extrasolar planet, one of 150 discovered through indirect telescopic means since 1990, has been spotted in infrared light by astronomers.