Space ...

The Augustine panel, also known as the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, has released their initial summary report. The summary report can be downloaded here. I haven't yet had a chance to study it in detail, but Network World has a decent wrap up here. Bottom line, the future all comes down to setting a compelling vision, allocating resources to match that vision, and making some tough choices about national priorities. I may post more later once I've had the chance to think about the panel's conclusions.

In the meantime, NASA released the latest images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The image below is that of planetary nebula NGC 6302. You can download various sizes of this stunning "butterfly" image and an explanation of what you are really seeing from the Hubble page on NASA's website.


I can only imagine what it must be like to see such things close up with the naked eye. Wondrous.