À In this issue À

Å The cover image is the rising “blue Moon” of 2007 May 30, taken by David F. Putnam of Sequim WA. See the article about blue moons (described below) for a discussion of the origin and evolution of that expression.

Å We are often asked when Meta Research will organize a conference for its Members and supporters. But they are spread all over the world and have a variety of interests. Now an occasion has arisen to make that happen. Meta Research and two other organizations have come together to sponsor an international meeting about problems with the Big Bang and viable alternatives. It will be held next September (2008) in Port Angeles WA on the Olympic Peninsula, a beautiful place to visit. Our first article is the invitation and call for papers. We very much encourage our Members to attend this major event, even if only as Observers.

Å The recent lunar eclipse and the recent publicity given to this year’s “blue Moon” led to the second article, very much one of the kind of topics Meta Research covers, where the original meaning and the history of a term has become lost.

Å Neil DeRosa is the author of our third article in this expanded issue, which takes full advantage of the lack of a length limitation for such articles that our electronic medium affords. The direct subject is “black gold” or petroleum. But there are several astronomical tie-ins, and the case is another example of how minority viewpoints with considerable support struggle against an entrenched mainstream position. One reviewer said: “It just seems that everyone has their comfort level of how much they are willing to believe at the fringes; but showing that some of those beliefs are well crafted while some are unsupportable might help us all with our reasoning skills.”

Å Meta Science in the News catches up with five items. The black axiom states that the distribution of black, carbonaceous material around the solar system is in accord with the spreading of a blast wave from an exploded planet throughout the solar system. Our first item describes the discovery that another body, Saturn’s moon Hyperion, conforms to the black axiom. And in breaking news, the latest images from half-black, half-white Iapetus are the closest look yet at the transition region on that Saturnian moon. We also have a news note about a new NASA office to study cosmic phenomena, all of which have very different natures in mainstream science and Meta Science. A note about quasar light curves virtually proves they cannot be at distances suggested by their redshifts. And finally, the EPH’s satellite model for comets has made another successful prediction of a meteor outburst. This is the first time such a prediction has been applied to a long period comet.