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July 30, 2010: Mu Normae
Fifth magnitude Mu Normae is within the obscure modern constellation of Norma, the Square, which lies to the southwest of Scorpius. As a blue class B supergiant, it is among the most luminous stars of the Galaxy. And measures agree. Obscured by nearly a magnitude of dust absorption, the result of a grand distance within the Milky Way of 4240 light years. From that and a temperature of some 30,500 Kelvin, we get a luminosity of half a million times that of the Sun. ... Full Details

Return of the Mars Hoax
For the seventh year in a row, a message about the Red Planet is popping up in email boxes around the world. It instructs readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and behold the sky. "Mars will look as large as the full moon," it says. "No one alive today will ever see this again." Don't believe it. ... Full Details
STAR OF THE WEEK SPECIAL: R136, NGC 3603, and Their Supermassive Stars
One of the sacred numbers in stellar astronomy, the upper limit to stellar masses, has been shattered by a team of astronomers observing highly evolved stars within a huge star cluster called R136 within the Large Magellanic Cloud in the southern constellation Dorado and within the distant, dust-obscured nebula-cluster complex NGC 3603 in Carina. Check out this Star of the Week special for more information on this amazing discovery! ... Full Details
Two Peas in an Irregular Pod: How Binary Stars May Form
New observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal the early birth process of binary stars. Images show blob-like, asymmetrical dusty envelopes surrounding newborn stars. According to a team of astronomers led by Illinois alumnus John Tobin (currently at the University of Michigan), such irregularities might trigger binary stars to form. Other authors of this study include Lee Hartmann of the University of Michigan; and Hsin-Fang Chiang and Leslie Looney of Illinois. ... Full Details