Astrosphere for October 9th, 2007

Today’s astrophoto was captured by RickJ. It’s VdB152, a reflection nebula in the constellation Cepheus. Around the Bad Astronomy/Universe Today forums, we call it the “Star Eating Leech”.

First up, Astroprof reviews a device that can help you measure just how light polluted your skies are.

Discover Magazine has a great interview with SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan about his plans for private space exploration.

We saw the model rocket X-Wing destruction. Now enjoy similar destruction of a scale model Y-Wing. Come on, can’t anyone build a scale model Star Wars vehicle that doesn’t tear itself to pieces in mid-flight? Death Star anyone?

Remember that terrible accident during the testing of SpaceShipTwo? Flight is reporting that it’s going to cause delays to Virgin Galactic’s plans for tourist flights.

MSNBC’s Alan Boyle helps you locate the beautiful images he uses for Cosmic Log.