(American Geophysical Union) Featured in this release are research papers on the following topics: “Was ocean acidification responsible for history’s greatest extinction?” “Reforesting northern farmland can have a cooling effect,” “Dikes provide insight into early history of Mars,” “Exploring the effects of climate change on carbon stored in northern soil,” “Magnetic field data suggest thin atmosphere on Saturn’s moon Dione,” “Ultraviolet and infrared observations of Saturn’s aurora.”

• NASA Hosts News Conference On Upcoming Mission To Moon
  NASA will host a news conference at 11 a.m. EDT, on Thursday Aug. 25, to discuss the upcoming launch of the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission.
• NASA And Tor-Forge Books Partner In Themed Science Fiction Works
  In an effort to introduce, inform and inspire readers about NASA, the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. has partnered with Tor-Forge Books to develop and publish a series of science-fiction-themed books.

• NASA Book Available For Visually Impaired To Learn About Moon
  NASA has released a new book for visually impaired people to experience the wonders of the moon.
• Two NASA Probes Tackle New Mission: Studying The Moon
  Two small NASA probes that had been used to study space weather now are orbiting the moon to study its interior and surface composition.
• Media Invited To Cape Canaveral Job Fair On July 26
  NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Brevard Workforce are partnering to host a job fair with private sector companies and federal employers from across the country on July 26.

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) The first of two ARTEMIS (“Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun”) spacecraft is now in its lunar orbit.

People in Asia have seen the longest total solar eclipse this century, with large areas of India and China plunged into darkness.

Amateur stargazers and scientists travelled far to see the eclipse, which lasted six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.

The eclipse could first be seen early on Wednesday in eastern India.

It then moved east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Japan and the Pacific.

The eclipse first became total over India at 0053GMT, and was last visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. It ended at 0418GMT.

Elsewhere, a partial eclipse was visible across much of Asia.

The next total solar eclipse will occur on 11 July, 2010. It will be visible in a narrow corridor over the southern hemisphere, from the southern Pacific Ocean to Argentina.

Video Solar Eclipse 2009: