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Features: March 2009
Brave new worlds
The abundance of Earth-like planets will be determined in the next five years, with profound implications for the prevalence of life in the universe. Alan Boss describes the coming revolution in extrasolar planetology
Another giant leap for mankind
The Moon has been neglected by space scientists and astronomers alike since the Apollo days, but now we want to go back. Paul D Spudis explains what motivates the new vision of lunar exploration
The Galileo affair
Maurice A Finocchiaro discusses the lessons and the cultural repercussions of Galileo’s telescopic discoveries
Stars in his eyes
Inspiring public interest in the night sky is one of the key objectives of the International Year of Astronomy. You can be sure then that the Public Astronomer of the UK – Marek Kukula – is experiencing a very high workload right now. Physics World reporter James Dacey managed to steal a bit of time from Kukula's schedule to find out about his job, his interests, and his thoughts on the future of astronomy.