Ranger 7 was the first successful probe in the series only because NASA finally decided to go with a rocket as the launch method rather than a roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris.

Now all we need is an exact time for the entry parachute photograph and we can tell everything about it.

In about 20 years, the younger of us will be regaling the next generation with stories of how you actually had to click on stuff in an internet browser to bring it up instead of willing it so...

I've heard it's not ruled out that Dawn will be directed to rendezvous with 2 Pallas (for a slow flyby) in 2018, after the main mission at Vesta and Ceres is completed and enough fuel is left.

Getting old sucks . . . :-)

Using the current positon and velocity from the "where is NH" page ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_grav...ional_parameter ... We can figure the "hyperbolic excess" (the velocity at infinity) which I estimate at 12.7 kps.

Questions come to my feeble mind: how does the trajectory of the Sun around the Milky Way play into the escape velocities of spacecraft like the Voyagers, Pioneers and NH? At what point would it figure into the equation?

I wasn't aware that the reason might be political political. Thought it might be sports politics.

People identify with the underdogs, ...

European countries just don't get it with sports. When we have a world championship (baseball, football, and basketball, for example), we don't invite other countries, with the exception of a few Canadian teams. That is a great way to ensure victory!

Whether you sit down to watch the final UEFA EURO 2008™ group stage games with a match ticket or a remote control, you need not have a calculator handy as euro2008.com explains the possible permutations in the decisive matches, which kick off simultaneously at 20.45CET over the next four nights. To read the 2008 UEFA European Championship regulations in full, click here; the relevant articles are 7.07 and 7.08. All current standings are here.

GROUP A (Sunday)
Switzerland (0 pts, out) v Portugal (6, winners), Turkey (3) v Czech Republic (3)
Portugal have clinched first place and Switzerland will finish fourth ahead of their game in Basel, so the focus will be on the winner-takes-all meeting of the Czech Republic and Turkey in Geneva. After a win and a loss each, the two teams are level in second place on points, goal difference and goals scored, so if they draw over 90 minutes, under UEFA regulations there will be a penalty shoot-out.

GROUP B (Monday)
Poland (1) v Croatia (6, winners), Austria (1) v Germany (3)
Croatia are confirmed group winners so will take on Turkey or the Czech Republic in Vienna on 20 June. However, Germany, Austria and Poland all have chances of earning a Basel tie against Portugal the night before. Germany, two points ahead of their rivals, need only draw with co-hosts Austria in Vienna as then Poland could not catch them on head-to-head record even if they beat Croatia in Klagenfurt. If Austria win they would go through, unless Poland defeat Croatia by a bigger margin to overtake the co-hosts' currently superior goal difference (1-2 to 1-3).

If Austria and Poland finish level in second position on points, goal difference and goals scored, they will be split on qualifying coefficients (points per game) from the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2008™, and Poland are superior 2.167-1.500 (only Austria's World Cup results count as they did not have to qualify for this tournament).

Group C (Tuesday)
Netherlands (6, winners) v Romania (2), France (1) v Italy (1)
Again, top spot is decided in favour of the Netherlands, and second-placed Romania will join the Dutch in the quarter-finals by winning their encounter in Berne. If Romania draw or lose then that would allow either France or Italy to go through by winning their match in Zurich – the only way Les Bleus can progress. If Romania lose and the others play out a score draw, Italy would go through in a three-way head-to-head tie on two points as they would have scored more goals in the games involving France and Romania.

If Romania fall by one goal, two goals or by a three-goal margin other than 3-0 and the other match finishes 0-0, Romania would advance as their head-to-head record with Italy would be dead level but they would have a superior overall goal difference (or in the case of the three-goal defeats, goals scored). If Romania lose by four goals or more and the other game ends 0-0, Italy would proceed with a better overall goal difference than Romania. If Romania lose 3-0 and the other match finishes 0-0, Italy and Romania would have to be split on qualifying coefficients, in which case Italy would prevail 2.364-2.250.

Group D (Wednesday)
Greece (0, out) v Spain (6, winners), Russia (3) v Sweden (3)
Spain completed a quartet of group winners with their last-gasp 2-1 defeat of Sweden and Russia's 1-0 victory against holders Greece, who are now eliminated. Therefore all the focus is now on Sweden's meeting with Russia in Innsbruck. Sweden are ahead on goal difference, so they require only a draw to set up a second consecutive UEFA European Championship last-eight encounter with the Netherlands in Basel on 21 June; Russia must win to go through. Whatever the result of Spain's Salzburg encounter with Greece, they will travel to Vienna on 22 June to take on the Group C runners-up.

Now an IAU committee, meeting in Oslo, has suggested that small, nearly spherical objects orbiting beyond Neptune should carry the "plutoid" tag.

"It's just some people in a smoke-filled room who dreamed it up," he told the Associated Press. "Plutoids or haemorrhoids, whatever they call it. This is irrelevant."

Here's a file listing the geometries of the icy satellite flybys in the chosen extended mission tour. Close encounter geometries may change slightly as the tour is fine-tuned, but by no more than a couple of thousand kilometers, and the dates will not change.[attachment=9223:attachment]

Here's a list of Titan flybys in the PF6h9 tour:[attachment=9242:attachment]
And here's a list of small satellite flybys:[attachment=9243:attachment]

Euro 2008, We're talking about stars...aren't we?...