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by Letters on (#P2CJ)
Within the space of a few weeks liquid water has been declared to exist on Mars (Is there life on Mars ? Running water may give a hint, 29 September), the Saturnian moon Enceladus and Pluto (Telegraph, 17 July). This must also surely spell out an abundance of Earth-like bacterial life for the simple reason that these planetary bodies must have had routes of physical connection over the past four billion years. The clear example is in Martian meteorites that blasted off the surface of Mars and fell on Earth as meteorites. In the cosmic context our planetary system is a small place and likely to be intimately interlinked. Water everywhere must mean life everywhere.
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| Updated | 2026-06-29 02:45 |
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by Mo Costandi on (#P290)
Human endogenous retroviruses may cause or contribute to some forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosisSleeping viruses that lurk inside the human genome may “reawaken†and contribute to the development of motor neuron disease, according to new research published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
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by Haroon Siddique on (#P21R)
Protective variant most common among children in Kenya, where it offered greatest protection, while effect was less for other African populations studiedGenes have been identified in African children that reduce their risk of contracting severe malaria by up to 40%.The locus, or position of the resistant genes on the genome, was found near a cluster of genes called glycophorins, which are involved in the malaria parasite’s invasion of red blood cells. Continue reading...
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by Guardian Staff on (#P1EJ)
Readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsIf one accidentally wandered into the Large Hadron Collider while particles were being hurled around at unimaginable speeds, would they pass through the human body without trace, or would they render one what a layman might describe as “toast�Mark Lloyd, London WC1 Continue reading...
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by Ian Sample and Laurence Topham on (#P0RS)
Mars has captured the popular imagination for hundred of years. But hang on – didn’t Nasa discover evidence of water on the red planet a while ago? So what’s different this time around? And even if we did discover signs of life, space agencies are forbidden from contaminating alien ecosystems, so could we even check it out? Ian Sample explains
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by Ameenah Gurib-Fakim on (#P0K9)
The Mauritian government is offering tax breaks for scientists who move against the brain drain. Policies like this are vital says President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
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by Chris Johnston and agencies on (#NZD1)
Ethical approval given for operations as part of local clinical trial following procedure’s success in SwedenThe UK’s first womb transplant is set to take place next year as part of a clinical trial in which 10 women will get the chance to carry their own babies.Following the birth of a baby boy last year after a successful procedure in Sweden, the Health Research Authority has granted ethical approval for 10 transplants. The first British baby born from a transplanted womb could arrive as soon as late 2017 or 2018. Continue reading...
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by GrrlScientist on (#P0CB)
Hummingbird eggs and babies are a favourite snack for nest-robbing jays, so what’s a mother to do to protect her family? According to a new study, it’s best to build her nest near or under a hawk nestTiny hummingbird eggs and babies are a favourite snack for nest-robbing jays, so what’s a mother hummingbird to do to protect her family? According to a study published recently in the journal, Science Advances, the hummingbird cleverly builds her nest near or under a hawk nest. The reason for this seemingly risky behaviour? When hawks are nesting nearby, jays forage higher above the ground to avoid being attacked from above by the hungry hawk parents. This elevation in the jays’ foraging height creates a cone-shaped jay-free safe area under the hawk nests where mother hummingbirds, their babies and nests, enjoy dramatically increased survival rates. Continue reading...
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by Steve Rose on (#P08M)
Nasa helped make The Martian. But it also advised on Men in Black III. So what exactly is its relationship with movies? And can the truth survive blockbuster blast-off? The agency’s director of planetary science reveals allA rumour started a few years ago that Nasa routinely screened Armageddon to new recruits. Not because the asteroid-smashing Michael Bay epic was in any way edifying, but for the exact opposite reason: Armageddon got so much wrong that it was a showreel for how space doesn’t work. According to one estimate, the movie contains 168 scientific impossibilities and inaccuracies, which Nasa challenged its recruits to spot; they include space shuttles taking off like planes from asteroids, gravity working the wrong way on space stations and the fanciful notion that a nuclear blast could deflect an asteroid the size of Texas – they’d need a bomb a billion times bigger, physicists calculated.Related: The Martian and Nasa – a coincidence too good to be true? Continue reading...
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by Ian Sample Science editor on (#NYG7)
Curiosity rover already on red planet cannot study streaks left by flowing water because it could be carrying bugs from EarthNasa scientists may still be celebrating their discovery of liquid water on Mars, but they now face some serious questions about how they can investigate further and look for signs of life on the red planet.The problem is how to find life without contaminating the planet with bugs from Earth. Continue reading...
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by Lidija McKnight on (#P045)
With the opening of a major new exhibition on mummified animals from ancient Egypt, curator Lidija McKnight celebrates the discovery of a crocodile with eight heads
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by Letters on (#NYP4)
Your report (Last British resident in Guantánamo to be freed after 13 years held without charge, 26 September) is welcome news. However, Shaker Aamer’s nightmare years of abuse and torture will be over only when he is safely home. This is the first time the Pentagon has announced a detainee transfer prior to a 30-day period for approval by US Congress. The UK government should demand his immediate return. He has suffered enough.
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by Nigel M Smith on (#NYKK)
Nasa astronaut Tracy Dyson coached actress Jessica Chastain for her role in The Martian, and no question was too silly – do astronauts wear their wedding rings in space? Continue reading...
by Editorial on (#NYKM)
Now the search is on to find living organisms on the red planet. Even traces of primitive microbes would rank among the most important discoveries in historyWhen ancient explorers set off from home they would follow the water, along rivers and coastlines, from lake to lake. There was little else they could do; for water is unique. The simple combination of hydrogen and oxygen is crucial for life as we know it. Without liquid water, cells fail, and so do those functions that define us.The US space agency put the same intuition at the heart of its exploration of Mars. On our home planet, where there is water, life is never far away. And it is this that makes Nasa’s latest discovery so exciting: that water may flow on Mars today, at least in the warmer months of summer. It is very likely that there is life on the red planet, said one of the scientists on the team. Continue reading...
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by Dr David Givens on (#NYJC)
The gestures of the US and Russian presidents told stories that clashed as much as their words, a body-language expert explains in an analysis of their behaviorThe United Nations general assembly gives us a rare chance to see world leaders speak from the same podium – and sometimes interact with one another, too.Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Raúl Castro have all spoken from the stage this week – and the US president has publicly shaken hands with his Russian and Cuban counterparts. But what does their body language tell us about them? Continue reading...
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by Nick Duffell on (#NXZF)
A new claim that modern technology means boarding pupils no longer feel cut off from their parents ignores the deep and lasting effects of institutionalised abandonmentTwo things are infinite, suggested Einstein: the universe and mankind’s stupidity. Should we survive as a species, we will surely look back with horror on how we sanctioned the abandonment of children in boarding schools. We may wish we had outlawed publicity stunts such as an article in the Telegraph this week celebrating the fact that: “Today’s boarders are no longer cut off from their overprotective parents.†This is apparently due to the smartphone, which has “killed the ‘traditional’ boarding schools’ experienceâ€, according to an “expert†who happens to be Hilary Moriarty, former director and marketing guru of the Boarding Schools Association.Moriarty seems unaware of the evidence: not one child development theory supports the British habit of sending children away from their homes. Leading neuroscientists and attachment theorists now conclude that the trauma of early boarding has severe repercussions in adult family life; the publisher Routledge has commissioned two new books on psychotherapy with ex-boarders in the past two years, as demand for informed therapeutic treatment outstrips supply. Continue reading...
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by Kate Connolly in Berlin on (#NXW5)
Toxicologists blame 40 cases, with one fatality so far, on mainly Syrian arrivals mistaking poisonous fungi such as the death cap for foodMost refugees have already defied the odds by the time they arrive in Europe, having typically undertaken perilous journeys across land and sea. But once they have reached Germany they are not out of danger, according to mushroom experts and doctors, who warn record numbers of people are becoming ill after eating poisonous mushrooms.
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by Dave Bry on (#NXX4)
Now that we know that there is water on Mars, will it soon be accepted knowledge that octopuses trace their evolutionary roots back to the planet?
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by Joanna Walters on (#NXGP)
As the UK reacts to allegations about David Cameron in his youth, the US grapples with tragic results of brutal initiation ceremonies – practices with strong ties to class structure and demonstrations of masculinity, experts sayWhere were you when #piggate broke? Did you squeal with laughter and disbelief? Did you shamefully recall some embarrassing youthful memories of your own?Public reaction to Lord Ashcroft’s claims about David Cameron has ranged from shrieks to mere shrugs, but the story also offered a fresh glimpse into the mystique of the elite. Whether harmless or destructive, such rites take place in social contexts that are breeding grounds for unbridled behavior.
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by Guardian Staff on (#NX3P)
The world’s first embryonic stem-cell operation has the potential to save the sight of hundreds of thousands of Britons. Speaking on ITN’s Good Morning Britain, Dr Hilary Jones explains the first operation, which was carried out a month ago at Moorfields Eye Hospital, involves growing a sheet of cells from an embryonic stem cell which is transplanted into the back of the eye
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by Andrew Pulver on (#NX2C)
Director of The Martian was shown photographs of water flows by Nasa ‘about two months ago’, but by then it was too late to include the information in the plot of the Matt Damon filmRelated: The Martian and Nasa – a coincidence too good to be true?On one level, The Martian may be functioning as a giant advertisement for Nasa, but the close collaboration between the space agency and Ridley Scott’s film-making team has resulted in the director remaining blasé about the dramatic announcement of evidence of flowing water on Mars. “I knew that months ago,†he said in response to the news. Continue reading...
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by Peter Bradshaw on (#NTP2)
The announcement that water has been found on the Red Planet just happens to have emerged at the same time as the Matt Damon film, with Nasa branding all over it, is released. Spooky, or what?It could hardly have come at a more spookily appropriate time: just when film-fans and the media are getting excited about the entertaining new sci-fi movie The Martian, about a troubled Nasa mission to Mars, released this week in the UK and the US. Matt Damon’s lovely chops in his space-helmet are all over the airwaves and the billboards, promoting a film with which Nasa has cooperated, with generous use of their branding. And now Nasa itself has chosen this moment to get us all excited about some news about the red planet.They’ve offered an answer to David Bowie’s famous question about whether there is life on Mars. Well … yes! Or rather … not exactly! But there is water. Water that could sustain life! Possibly! Nasa has now revealed that there is evidence of stain-marks on Mars’s canyons and crater-walls: water is trickling downhill before drying up in the valleys and plains. The water flows could lead Nasa or another country’s space agency to potential sites where life on Mars could be found. Continue reading...
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by Sarah Boseley Health editor on (#NVHN)
Experimental transplant uses eye cells grown in a lab and if successful could be used to treat hundreds of thousands of macular degeneration sufferers in UKA patient has become the first in the UK to receive an experimental stem cell treatment that has the potential to save the sight of hundreds of thousands of Britons.
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by Maev Kennedy on (#NWJ4)
Daughter and granddaughter of Polish pilot Kaziemierz Wünsche involved in digging up remains of Hurricane fighter near Beachy Head, BrightonSeventy-five years ago a young Polish pilot crashed into the hills near Beachy Head, Brighton, after his Hurricane fighter plane was shot down by a German Messerschmitt during the Battle of Britain. Now, the late pilot’s daughter and granddaughter have joined archeologists in uncovering the aircraft’s remains.
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by Nick Clarke on (#NWAC)
Data isn’t just about retail analysis – when used in scientific applications it has bigger uses from targeted personal health treatment to tackling poverty and disease
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by Press Association on (#NVMZ)
Oxford University research on 4 million people found sufferers have 60% greater chance of developing type 2 diabetesPeople who have high blood pressure are almost 60% more likely to develop diabetes, according to research on 4.1 million people.
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by AFP Bangalore on (#NVKJ)
Mini space observatory will orbit 400 miles above Earth, cost £17.7m and has a lifespan of five yearsIndia successfully launched its first hi-tech telescopes into space to study the stars, as New Delhi seeks to take another step in its ambitious space programme.A rocket carrying the 1.5-tonne mini space observatory, called Astrosat, along with six foreign satellites, blasted off on schedule from India’s main southern spaceport of Sriharikota on Sunday. Continue reading...
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by Amanda Holpuch in New York on (#NV2A)
Nasa released evidence of water on the red planet, raising the odds of finding extraterrestrial life, and Earthlings took to Twitter to celebrate
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by Guardian Staff on (#NTQ5)
Nasa announce that there are watery flows on the surface of Mars during the red planet’s summer months. Scientists say they’re still trying to figure out the chemistry and source of the water on the red planet, the discovery has them now rethinking whether Mars can support present day microbial life Continue reading...
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by Patrick Barkham on (#NTP3)
Swooping birds are under threat from wind turbines. Clean energy is good for us, bad for themA gannet flying low over the ocean is an awesome sight. In a big swell, these brilliant-white seabirds seem to hug the contours of the waves on their epic, effortless-looking quest for fish.So it is a shock to learn that up to 12 times more gannets could be killed by wind turbines than current figures suggest because GPS devices fitted to gannets have shown they actually fly at an average of 27 metres when searching and diving for prey. Such a height puts them on collision course with the blades of offshore windfarms. Continue reading...
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by Stuart Clark on (#NSN4)
Nasa confirm discovery of summer watery flows on planet’s surface down cliffs and crater walls raising odds of finding life on red planet
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by Alex Bellos on (#NTE8)
Here’s the solution to the woodblock puzzle – were you able to correctly draw a side view of the three-dimensional object?
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by Alex Bellos, Tash Reith-Banks and Paul Boyd on (#NTEA)
What’s the solution? The woodblock puzzle is a problem shared with Alex by readers from Singapore and Uzbekistan. Alex presents a drawing of a top view and a front view of a wooden three-dimensional object. Did you manage to to draw the side-view of the object, firstly where you are only allowed flat surfaces and secondly when you’re allowed curved surfaces too? Continue reading...
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by Sean Clarke, Finbarr Sheehy, Paddy Allen and Cath on (#NT9K)
Nasa has announced the discovery of long rivulet-like streaks on the cliffs and crater walls of Mars, saying they are evidence of flowing water in the present day. The streaks, running hundreds of metres long in places, had suggested flowing liquids, but new techniques have allowed researchers to confirm the presence of briny liquid water
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by Guardian Staff on (#NT7A)
View images of Martian briny flows of water from analysed spectral data from the CRISM instrument onboard Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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by Ian Sample Science editor on (#NT6N)
Researchers say discovery of stains from summertime flows down cliffs and crater walls increases chance of finding life on red planet
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by Gayatri Devi on (#NS98)
Lean in to boredom, not your smart phone screen. You’ll learn more about yourself and the world around you than you thinkConfessing to boredom is confessing to a character-flaw. Popular culture is littered with advice on how to shake it off: find like-minded people, take up a hobby, find a cause and work for it, take up an instrument, read a book, clean your house And certainly don’t let your kids be bored: enroll them in swimming, soccer, dance, church groups – anything to keep them from assuaging their boredom by gravitating toward sex and drugs. To do otherwise is to admit that we’re not engaging with the world around us. Or that your cellphone has died.But boredom is not tragic. Properly understood, boredom helps us understand time, and ourselves. Unlike fun or work, boredom is not about anything; it is our encounter with pure time as form and content. With ads and screens and handheld devices ubiquitous, we don’t get to have that experience that much anymore. We should teach the young people to feel comfortable with time. Continue reading...
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by Damien Gayle on (#NS6K)
British scientific team have identified certain DNA profiles at lower risk of a range of lung diseases and hope their findings might lead to better treatmentsThe genetic factors that explain why some people seem to maintain healthy lungs despite a lifetime of smoking have been uncovered by British scientists.A team funded by the Medical Research Council say their investigations into smokers who survive their habit into old age could hold the key to better treatment for diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Continue reading...
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by Guardian readers and Carmen Fishwick on (#NS6N)
A rare astronomical event – in which a lunar eclipse combines with the closest full moon of the year – caused the moon to appear to redden in the night. Sky-watchers from North and South America to western Europe share their photographs Continue reading...
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by Matthew Weaver on (#NS2M)
What is a ‘blood moon’? Why is it red? Key questions answered about the latest lunar phenomenon
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by Tracey Brown on (#NRYQ)
Ahead of her Sense About Science lecture, Tracey Brown digs around the evidence with some uncomfortable concerns about accountability in public life
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by Guardian Staff on (#NRWV)
On Sunday night and Monday morning, millions of people around the world are treated to the sight of a ‘blood moon’, as a lunar eclipse and a ‘supermoon’ – a full moon that is particularly close to earth – combine to make our natural satellite appear red. It happens specifically when the Earth’s shadow completely covers the moon, causing it to dim and take on a yellowish hue.Click here to contribute your photos Continue reading...
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by Jonny Weeks on (#NREM)
Sky-watchers from the Americas to western Europe enjoy a rare astronomical event in which the moon appears to redden in the night sky – a ‘blood moon’. It is the result of a rare combination of an eclipse with the closest full moon of the year
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by Guardian Staff on (#NRV0)
This geometric woodblock puzzle will twist and draw your brain into another dimension – but in a good way!Hello guzzlers!I do my best to bring you the best puzzles I can source from around the world. So far I have brought you puzzles from Japan, Vietnam, Israel and the US. Continue reading...
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by Oliver Wainwright, Imogen Fox, Ian Sample and Tom on (#NRSV)
Architecture, opera, fashion, parapsychology … this year’s contenders are taking contemporary art into exciting new territory. We sent our experts to meet the artists on the shortlist Continue reading...
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by Alex Bellos, Tash Reith-Banks and Paul Boyd on (#NRSW)
A modern take on a classic – the woodblock puzzle. This problem was shared by readers from Singapore and Uzbekistan. Alex presents a drawing of a top view and a front view of a wooden three-dimensional object. The challenge is to draw the side-view of the object, firstly where you are only allowed flat surfaces, and secondly when you’re allowed curved surfaces too Continue reading...
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by Suzi Gage on (#NRRZ)
On Sunday the Express front page warned us that ‘statins age you faster’. But what does the research really show?A lot of people are on statins. The British Heart Foundation state on their website that they are the most commonly prescribed drug in the UK. They’re taken predominately by middle aged men, some who have already suffered heart problems, and some who haven’t but fit in to an ‘at risk’ category that predicts cardiovascular disease. But there are often scare stories around statins (I’ve written about this before), perhaps because they’re so widely prescribed, so it can be hard to work out what’s really known, or not known about them.On Sunday, the Express’ front page claimed that ‘Statins age you faster’. The study it was referring to was published in July this year in the journal Cell Physiology. The research involved taking fat tissue biopsies from healthy people and extracting stem cells, and then exposing the stem cell samples to one of two types of statin. Stem cells are special cells that are found in fat tissue (and various other tissues), that can differentiate in to a variety of other specific types of cells, and are involved in tissue repair in adults. Continue reading...
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by Kevin Rawlinson on (#NRQB)
US space agency has promised a solved mystery, and invited guest who discovered possible signs of water while a studentNasa is to reveal a “major science finding†from its Mars exploration mission, giving rise to rumours that the US space agency has found traces of liquid water on the red planet.It has invited reporters to a press conference at 11.30am ET (3.30pm GMT) on Monday, which will be attended by Lujendra Ojha, who discovered possible signs of water on Mars as an undergraduate student. Continue reading...
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by Alexandra Topping and agencies on (#NR2N)
Study of 14,000 people with cancer in gastrointestinal tract finds regular users of drug twice as likely to be alive after four yearsA daily dose of aspirin can double the life expectancy of patients with cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract, according to a study.It was already known that that frequent use of aspirin can prevent bowel cancer, but the most recent study also suggests that men and women with a range of cancers who take the anti-inflammatory painkiller experience a significant survival benefit compared with those who do not. Continue reading...
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by Alan Pickup on (#NQXH)
The Summer Triangle still dominates the high meridian at nightfall as Saturn, like a yellowish bright star of mag 0.6, hovers low in Britain’s SW sky where it is swamped by the evening twilight later in October. Continue reading...
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