In this issue

Å The cover photos feature objects that are the subject of astronomy news stories in this issue. On the left is a photo of post-outburst Comet Holmes, taken on 17 November 2007 by Curtis Roelle, a 54 second exposure at F8 with ISO 1600. On the right is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of low-redshift galaxy NGC4319, with high-redshift quasar Markarian 205 in the same field of view. The rectangular box was contrast-adjusted to allow the low-surface-brightness bridge connecting the two to be seen.

Å Sign-ups for our international “Crisis in Cosmology – 2” conference from 2008 September 7-11 in Port Angeles, WA are proceeding briskly. Both participants and observers are encouraged to register early, because hotel space may be at a premium by this summer. See http://www.cosmology.info/2008conference/. We’d like to have a strong turnout of Meta Research Members.

Å It has been some time since we have recommended a book, but a new publication by Hilton Ratcliffe seems to qualify for such a recommendation. Our first article contains several reviews of the book.

Å The second news story is about the NASA Messenger mission to planet Mercury together with predictions that Meta Science makes. Those predictions are based on the fission hypothesis’s implication that Mercury is an escaped moon of Venus rather than an original planet.

Å The third article is about the surprise outburst of Comet Holmes in October 2007 – the largest comet outburst on record! Meta Science tells us it is no coincidence that Jupiter changed the orbit of the comet during its last revolution, giving it a new, lower perihelion. That in turn allowed the Sun to disturb a few loosely bound satellites of the comet, with some escaping and at least one hitting the nucleus. The ensuing impact explosion then sent millions of tons of dust into an expanding plume.

Å Meta Science in the News features a potpourri of two dozen major astronomy news stories of the year, in part to compensate for the discontinuation of our popular Meta-notes by E-mail (EME) series. We first give a summary of the news story as it was presented, and often ignored, from a mainstream perspective. Then, where relevant, we give the interpretation of the same data in Meta Science. These articles are arranged in rough order of Earth outward, first through the solar system, then out through the Galaxy to the universe as a whole. Collectively, these stories imply needed revolutions in our understandings of Earth geological history, what powers the Sun, how planets and moons are formed, what asteroids and comets are made of and where they come from, the possibilities for life elsewhere, and much about the nature, structure, and scale of the universe as presently interpreted.