Episode #356

Item #1 Fiction
Astronomers have demonstrated the ability to detect the composition of expolanet atmospheres by viewing massive lightening discharges. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/lightning-planets.html
Item #2 Science
Astronomers find that solar systems with so-called hot Jupiters do not have any other detectable planets in their system. http://news.ufl.edu/2012/05/07/hot-jupiters/
Item #3 Science
Astronomers plan to view the upcoming transit of Venus across the sun with the Hubble telescope by using the moon as a giant mirror. http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2012/22

“Skepticism is the highest duty and blind faith the one unpardonable sin.” — Thomas Henry Huxley