Stars Above, Earth Below and Arthur C. Clarke

I've just posted another of Tyler Nordgren's reports from his travels to America's national parks to see their night skies, this one from Big Bend National Park in west Texas. Big Bend is near and dear to my family's hearts; for me, it was the first place I applied my newly developed skills in "geologic remote sensing and multispectral image processing" during a summer course in satellite imaging I took while I was in college. Tyler's story about witnessing the rise of the Milky Way is breathtaking -- go read it.

Also, today's Planetary Radio is a special program on Arthur C. Clarke, including the recording he made for the "Visions of Mars" disk that's on its way to Mars with Phoenix. And longtime friend (of both Clarke and the Society) Jim Burke reminisces about the author. In addition to the radio show, you can download an extended version of the Jim Burke interview (mp3 format, 13 MB).