Lunar Eclipse: North Americans should keep an eye on the skies on the night of September 26, when a lunar eclipse will darken evening skies. The eclipse, the last total eclipse to be seen from the continent this century, will start at 8:12pm EDT (0012 GMT September 27) and end by 1:36am EDT (0536 GMT). All of North America except Alaska should see at least part of this eclipse, as well as observers in Western Europe. Look for the planet Saturn to be just to the lower right of the eclipsed Moon.

Soyuz-U2 Phased Out: The Soyuz-U2 rocket, used to launch Soyuz capsules to the Russian space station Mir, will no longer be used. According to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass, it became too expensive to make synthin, a synthetic hydrocarbon fuel used by the rocket. The older but less-capable Soyuz-U rocket, which uses kerosene, will be used for Soyuz launches. To make up for the lack of performance in the Soyuz-U engineers will remove "duplicated equipment" found in the Soyuz capsule.

Plagues and Space: Impacts by comets or meteorites may have triggered two plagues that swept through Europe, according to a British archeologist. Mike Baillie said that the Justinian plague of 542 and the Black Death in the 1340s may have been aided by impacts which altered climate conditions and forced population movements which allowed the already-existing plagues to come into contact with non-immune populations. Baillie pointed to tree growth records which showed poor conditions in the sixth and fourteenth centuries, as well as records of famines and "dry fogs" during those times, possible results of an impact. Baillie does not believe the plagues themselves came from outer space.

Alien Believers: A poll released September 3 by Louis Harris and Associates states that 53% of Americans believe there is intelligent life "somewhere in space." Forty percent of those polled believed intelligent life could be found on another planet in our solar system. Nearly three-fourths of those who believe in alien intelligence believe that we will be able to communicate them, while only one in six think aliens pose a hostile threat to the Earth... One person who doesn't need to be convinced about alien life is Lynne Plaskett. The candidate for the Volusia County, Florida, council, told the Orlando Sentinel that aliens cured her cancer. "If this costs me my election I think that would be very sad," she said. Perhaps she can convince the aliens to treat the brains of fellow politicians in Washington...