The Astronomy Department is pleased to announce the 2010 Icko Iben Jr. Distinguished Lecture in Astronomy will be delivered by Dr. Tony Tyson, Distinguished Profesor of Physics at the University of California, Davis. In his lecture, "Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe," Prof. Tyson will discuss one of the most intriging mysteries in astronomy today. The talk will be at 7:00pm on September 15th in Foellinger Auditorium at the University of Illinois. This event is free and open to the public.

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.

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!

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.

The Astronomy Department would like to commend its May 2010 gradautes on a job well done: Wang Lim, Matthew Miller, Shane Moffet, James Payne, and Rubin Torf. Congratulations to you and all the best in your future endeavors! You make us proud!