I thought I’d end the year with a nice bang-up picture of starbirth fireworks in another galaxy, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. 2003 has been a lovely year for astronomy — lots of cool pictures to look at, and plenty of objects to observe from our backyards. Even the end of the year has cooperated, giving us here in our neck of the woods some uncommonly clear night-time skies at a time when there’s more likely to be snow and rain. So, let’s have a little New Years’ Eve Star Party. If you’re outdoors around midnight, the moon will be low in the west, and Saturn will be low in the east. Saturn will be nearly overhead in the constellation Gemini. While you’re there, drop your gaze down to the feet of the twins and look for a little globular cluster called M35. Also, don’t miss the Pleiades, over by the horns of Taurus. Have a safe New Year’s Eve celebration! Click here for a larger version (dialup warning: it may take a few minutes to open).

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday — in whatever sense you celebrate this time of year. We took the day off yesterday to enjoy the fruits of the season and be with friends. I did keep an eye on the news to see if the folks in London had heard from the Beagle 2 lander at Mars, and although the news is not good, it appears they’re still hopeful that a signal will be picked up in the next few days. For their sake I hope so. A few years ago I was at JPL for the Mars Polar Lander mission and when that one failed to “phone home” it was a very disappointing experience. You could feel the scientists’ pain at the loss of all their hard work and their hopes for a successful science mission. Mars is turning out to be a difficult target for a variety of reasons, but the things we learn are worth the risks. Still… it’s a sad day when a mission doesn’t work out. So, I have good wishes for the science and engineering teams and hope it comes through for them.