A Glorious Dawn, which was remixed by John Boswell (a.k.a. melodysheep to YouTube users) as a tribute to astronomer Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, is now available as a seven-inch single.  The single was produced by Jack White's [wiki] Third Man Record label.  Link

Previously on BC:
A Glorious Dawn - Cosmos Remixed [video] - Link

Related Links:
The Carl Sagan Portal - Link
Carl Sagan - Link [wiki]
Professor Stephen W. Hawking (official website) - Link

When Venetia Phair was 11-years-old she named a distant planet (now categorized as a dwarf planet), which we now know as Pluto. 

On March 14, 1930, the day newspapers reported that the long-suspected “trans-Neptunian body” had been photographed for the first time, she proposed to her well-connected grandfather that it be named Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld.

And so it was.

Phair died on April 30, 2009 in her home.  She was 90-years-old.

Link (via ShortFormBlog)

Today is summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere)!  Go out and enjoy the longest day of the year.  Link [wikipedia]

Planetary systems much like our own may be more common than what we thought:

Dr Dominik told BBC News: "We found a system with two planets that take the roles of Jupiter and Saturn in our Solar System. These two planets have a similar mass ratio and similar orbital radius and a similar orbital period.

"It looks like this may have formed in a similar way to our Solar System. And if this is the case, it looks like [our] Solar System cannot be unique in the Universe. There should be other similar systems out there which could host terrestrial planets."

Link to full article.

The first total lunar eclipse in three years will be occurring Saturday night, March 3, 2007. 

The eclipse will be at least partly visible from Asia to the Americas, although those in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will have the best view.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. The event is rare because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.

Stephen Hawking urges our population to begin spreading out into space and establishing colonies on other planets.  A nuclear disaster or asteroid hitting the Earth could wipe out our population completely.

Our search would have to be found on another star because there is no other planet in our solar system quite like ours.

How do we get there?  Hawking says by "matter/anti-matter annihilation."

He explained: "When matter and anti-matter meet up they disappear in a burst of radiation. If this was beamed out of the back of a spaceship it could drive it forward."

Travelling at just below the speed of light, it would mean a journey of about six years to reach a new star.

Maybe Sir Richard Branson can get us there.

Update:  Sir Richard Branson wants to send Stephen Hawking into space.

so things tend to be strange, and how bout tht new planet ..

It was first seen by astronomers using California's Mount Palomar Observatory, and has been given the name "Sedna" after the Inuit goddess of the ocean.

Observations show it measures about 1,180-2,360km (730-1,470 miles) across, making it similar in size to Pluto.

Astronomers now say they have evidence that Sedna has its own moon, although this needs to be confirmed, and is also very red in colour.

There is likely to be some debate about whether it qualifies as a true planet, but some scientists are already saying it re-defines our Solar System.