ANDROID FLYBYS:
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MARS
ROVER IN PERIL: NASA is hoping for a 'miracle
from Mars' as mission controllers wait to hear from Spirit.
The rover is trying to survive its toughest winter yet, and
may never phone home again. Get the full
story from Science@NASA.
CELESTIAL
TRIANGLE: When the sun goes down tonight,
step outside and look west. Venus, Saturn, and Mars have converged
to form a skinny triangle in the sunset sky. Adrian New sends
this picture from San Antonio, Texas:

For the next few nights, Saturn and Mars will be especially
close together, only 2o apart, forming an eye-catching
pair opposite Venus. Keep an eye on the twilight! Sky
maps: July
30, 31,
August 1,
2.
triangle images: from
Stefano De Rosa of Viverone lake, Turin, Italy; from
Gary A. Becker of Coopersburg, PA
CORONAL
MASS EJECTION: During the late hours of July
30th, a magnificent coronal mass ejection (CME) billowed away
from the eastern limb of the sun. Click on the image to set
the cloud in motion:

If a CME like this hit Earth, polar sky watchers would likely
see bright auroras. In this case, however, the cloud is not
aimed in our direction. At most, it would deliver a glancing
blow to Earth's magnetic field around August 2nd, producing
only minor geomagnetic activity.
The source of the blast was apparently sunspot 1092. Future
CMEs could be more geoeffective as the sunspot turns to face
Earth in the days ahead. Stay
tuned!
Solar
Eclipse Photo Gallery
[NASA: South
Pacific Eclipse] [animated
map]
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