Exciting news for astronomers, star-gazers, and other humans in today's New York Times.
The link includes our civilization's first-ever glimpse of an actual planet outside our solar system. In fact, the remarkable photograph includes several possible planets - and it's really beautiful. Follow the link.
(UPDATE: Terre offers a more detailed article from MSNBC.)
For the past ten or so years, scientists have been discovering extrasolar planet after extrasolar planet using various complex methods - measuring the gravitational "wobble" of a star, the slight dimming of its magnitude when a massive planet passes between it and the viewer, etc. But never before have we actually been able to see such an astronomical body with human eyes.
Not only does this represent a huge breakthrough for planetary scientists - who have been scrambling over each other for years to be the first to view and photograph an extrasolar planet - it is likely to be the first of many similar images, which can give us an enormous amount of information (I'm astounded by what they've been able to reasonably conjecture in the past, without ever even seeing the things).
This is an example of one area where NASA should be spending their money. This is possibly the biggest frontier of current astronomical research - and is inviting the budding field of astrobiology its first chance at really studying the attributes and possible life sustainability of faraway worlds.
But NASA is currently run by Michael Griffin, a recent George Bush appointee, who's taken a hatchet to the budget of exploratory programs so he can pour more money into the International Space Station - not a total waste of time, but a money-burning boondoggle compared to countless worthwhile programs that are being cut - and foolishly clinging to outdated rocket technology rather than investing in brilliant new concepts for human space travel (see: solar sailing, the USA's excellent Planetary Society).
I don't know if Obama will find an excuse to fire this guy, or if that's really fair to ask for anyway. But I do hope the new President helps to redirect the United States' space program toward real exploration rather than bureaucratic prostitution.
That was a political sidetrack, since this is a political blog, but I apologize if I almost let news of a great discovery turn into a rant. This being my first diary here, I'd like to end reiterating that this is an awesome day for all of us. And check out the photo, because it's totally cool.