FIFA 2012 World Cup Qualifying Draw

Group A:

• Wales
• Scotland
• Belgium
• Croatia
• Serbia
• FYR Macedonia

Three sets of interesting, home derby matches there:

• Wales v Scotland
• The former Yugoslav countries
• Belgium, who will just play itself and fight about it - or if their current government is anything to go by, two halves of that team won't speak to each other...

Dawn Mission: News & Events Image of Vesta Captured by Dawn on July 17, 2011

Wow!

Dawn Mission: News & Events Image of Vesta Captured by Dawn on July 17, 2011

Neptune's Discovery

Fascinating article by way of The Guardian this morning, tomorrow is 1 year since the discovery of Neptune 167 Earth years ago...

Neptune's first orbit: a turning point in astronomy

As Neptune nears a historic orbit around the Sun, Robin McKie recalls the dramatic story of how the icy world was discovered

• • Robin McKie
  • The Observer, Sunday 10 July 2011

Neptune rising: although discovered in 1846, we didn’t get a glimpse of this alien world until Voyager 2 swept past in 1989. Photograph: Corbis
Astronomers will celebrate a remarkable event on 11 July. It will be exactly one year since the planet Neptune was discovered. Readers should note a caveat, however. That year is a Neptunian one. The great icy world was first pinpointed 164.79 years ago – on 23 September 1846. And as Neptune takes 164.79 Earthly years to circle the sun, it is only now completing its first full orbit since its detection by humans. Hence those anniversary celebrations.

Tycho Crater Mountains

Incredible image from AOPD of the central peaks of Tycho Crater on the Moon taken by the Lunar Recon Orbiter ( NASA,  Wikipedia ).

 The resolution is 1.5m per pixel so there are some spectacular boulders and rock-falls on show.