This unique photograph, taken by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, contains not one, but two supernova remnants. The pair are known as DEM L316, and they're located in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The gas shell at the upper-left contains considerably much more iron, so it's probably the product of a Type 1a, triggered by the infall of matter from a companion star onto a white dwarf. The lower-right shell is a Type II supernova, the remains of a massive star that exploded a few million years into its short life.

In this face-on view of Saturn's rings, the darker Cassini Division is clearly visible. On the left is Saturn's massive B ring, which is has its edge maintained by Mimas, one of its moons. This photograph was taken on May 18, 2005, when Cassini was approximately 1.6 million km (1 million miles) from Saturn.

NASA has announced that its Ames Research Center will manage the agency's new Robotic Lunar Exploration Program. Before humans set foot on the Moon again, a fleet of robots will map the lunar surface in tremendous detail. NASA Ames has already sent robots to the Moon; most recently the Lunar Prospector, which was launched on January 6, 1998. The spacecraft orbited the Moon, and found evidence of water ice at its poles.

Star-forming region NGC 1333 is located 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus, and is normally enshrouded by thick dust. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope used its infrared capabilities to pierce this dust layer to reveal the young stars hidden inside. Astronomers are hoping to use Spitzer to spot any nascent planetary structures around these young stars. Now that they're getting going, the young stars are firing out jets of radiation that are steadily clearing the surrounding region of additional dust.

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! With plenty of Moon and Mars to go around this week, let's see what else we can find as we begin by honoring the Southern Hemisphere and 47 Tucanae. We'll explore in Cassiopeia, watch for the Leonid meteor shower, capture double stars and look at both northern - and southern - spiral galaxies. So keep your eye on the sky...

Because here's what's up!

One of the most intriguing ideas that pursued by philosophers, artists, and scientists throughout the ages is the one of other dimensions. Is it possible that there is another reality hiding right before our eyes? In his latest book Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond, Dr. Lawrence Krauss explores the existence of extra dimensions in culture and science.

One of the most iconic images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope is of the Eagle Nebula, aka the "Pillars of Creation". NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has taken a similar photograph of a region in the Cassiopeia constellation called W5. This region is dominated by a single massive star blowing powerful solar winds. The surrounding dust and material has been cleared, and compacted into the pillars - these contain clusters of newborn stars.

Venus is our nearest planetary neighbour. Compared to the Earth, it's nearly identical in size and distance from the Sun. But that's where the similarities end. While we enjoy our comfortable temperature, pressure and atmosphere, Venus' environment is downright hostile to life. The European Space Agency's Venus Express blasted off for our "evil twin" planet today, and will hope to help answer the question: what went wrong? My guest today is Larry Esposito from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado. He's a member of the Venus Express science team.

One of the many hassles of returning humans to the Moon will be the lunar dust. This tiny, gritty, static-loving dust will get into everything, jamming seals, wearing down equipment, and generally causing astronauts endless headaches. Larry Taylor from the University of Tennessee is proposing that astronauts use a heated "lawn mower" to melt the surface of the Moon around their base camp to fuse the dust into larger pieces which won't be so destructive. Lunar dust will melt down with surprisingly little energy because it contains microscopic beads of pure iron which can fuse the grains together.

In this amazing image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, you can see three of Saturn's moons. Dione is on the left, and it's possible to see a large impact crater on the bottom right. Tethys is in the middle, and tiny Pandora is visible against the rings. Cassini took this image on September 22, 2005 when it was 1.2 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn.

An international team of researchers have developed a new computer model that simulated Jupiter's incredible weather systems. Jupiter's weather is much different from the Earth's, as the strong winds continuously circle the planet, changing very little over time. The massive East-West winds in Jupiter's equatorial region can reach speeds of 550 kph (340 mph). The simulation predicts that the planet's hot interior powers these winds, and explains why they can stay so stable for centuries.

This Hubble Space Telescope photograph shows NGC 346, a star forming region in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The radiation pouring out of the young hot star at the heart of the nebula is pushing out the surrounding gas and dust creating the beautiful shapes in the image. The small dark globules of material point back at the star like windsocks. NGC 346 can be resolved into at least three different sub-clusters of material each of which contains several more hot, blue, high-mass stars.

"Aruba, Jamaica oh I want to take you, Bermuda, Bahamas, come on pretty mamma, that's where you want to go to get away from it all", or do you? What about the edge of space, low earth orbit or Mare Tranquillitatis? They don't rhyme as well, but the company Space Adventures can take you there or get you as close as any private company can make possible. To show their stuff, Eric Anderson, the president of Space Adventures, together with Joshua Piven, have written, The Space Tourist's Handbook. In it, they help you decide which space vacation to choose and how to make the best of your special time. So really get away from it all, skip the run-of-the-mill, and read about trying some truly out-of-this-world stuff.

ESA's Venus Express lifted off today atop a Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket, beginning its journey to Venus. ESA's Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany made contact with the spacecraft two hours after liftoff, and reported that it has oriented itself correctly and deployed its solar arrays. Its onboard systems are working properly, and its low gain antenna is communicating back to Earth - the high-gain antenna will be deployed in three days. If all goes well, Venus Express will arrive at our closest planetary neighbour in April 2006 and begin orbiting maneuvers.

Scientists have found that hardy bacteria can survive a trip into space, and now the list of natural astronauts includes lichen. During a recent experiment by ESA, lichen astronauts were placed on board the Foton-M2 rocket and launched into space where they were exposed to vacuum, extreme temperatures and ultraviolet radiation for 14.6 days. Upon analysis, it appears that the lichens handled their spaceflight just fine, in fact, they're so hardy, it's possible they could survive on the surface of Mars.

Astronomers have discovered a massive star moving extremely quickly through the outer halo of the Milky Way, and into intergalactic space. The star, named HE 0437-5439, was discovered as part of the Hamburg/ESO sky survey, and was clocked traveling at 723 km/s, or 2.6 million kilometres per hour (1.6 million miles an hour). It's possible that the star was accelerated when it came too close to a supermassive black hole in the centre of the Large Magellanic Cloud.

This Cassini photograph shows Saturn's moon Dione, passing just underneath the planet's wispy F ring. If you look carefully, you can actually see several strands of the ring. This picture was taken on September 20, 2005, when Cassini was approximately 2 million km (1.2 million miles) from Dione.

After yesterday's launch delay, a Zenit-3SL rocket blasted off from Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform carrying the Inmarsat-4 satellite into orbit. Inmarsat-4, one of the heaviest communications satellites ever launched, will provide high-speed mobile communications to customers in the Americas. Early data indicates that the satellite is in excellent condition.