Resurrection of the Blog

It's been too long since there has been a posting on the Beagle's science blog. Apart from the fact that we've done many, many regular updates on the Beagle's Facebook group, and on our Twitter feed, there's no real excuse for this other than lack of time, maybe even a touch of laziness. So let's try again... hi! Welcome to the H.M.S. Beagle Science Blog.

At the moment, we're in the midst of a nasty cold and snow snap in the American Midwest, in what has been called one of the biggest and most widespread snow storms to hit the United States since the 1950s. In case you were wondering, for the Kansas City metro area, temperatures of minus six degrees Fahrenheit (-21 deg. C) are not considered normal. Not to put too fine a point on it, it has been an interesting few days.

As life returns to normal, we can return our focus to the news: big news, especially, from the beyond our world, out into space. The Kepler mission has come in with big results, including yesterday's announcement of multiple candidate Earth-like planets, and the announcement of a six-planet system, for now known as Kepler-11 ( Science Daily link | BBC News ). Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy is decidedly enthusiastic as well, and he's not alone.

So... a lot going on. Watch the blog for longer articles, more commentary, and keep up with us elsewhere too. Website updates, new and exciting things, and lots of really weird, wild stuff is all in store. Stay tuned!