quote:

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The images, of the star named V838 Monocerotis about 20,000 light-years away from Earth, show an effect called a "light echo" that works in a similar way to sound echoing through air.

The red supergiant star gave off a pulse of light over several weeks in early 2002, which scientists compared to setting off a flashbulb in a dark room.

As the light from the stellar explosion continues to spread outward, ever-further parts of dusty clouds that surround it are illuminated, just as a sound echo first bounces off objects near to the source and later off ones that are more distant.

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Apparently they're going to focus their effort on putting some more people on the moon.

No mention of the space station...I suspect that's a dead issue.

If NASA had spent 1/10th of the money they threw away on the space shuttle (and space station), on basic science, there would have been a huge increase in our knowledge of the universe.