Astronomy news update from NASA :
What's that small black dot moving across the Sun? Mercury. Possibly the clearest view of Mercury crossing in front of the Sun in 2016 May was from Earth orbit. The Solar Dynamics Observatory obtained an uninterrupted vista recording it not only in optical light but also in bands of ultraviolet light. Featured here is a composite movie of the crossing set to music. Although the event might prove successful scientifically for better determining components of Mercury' ultra-thin atmosphere, the event surely proved successful culturally by involving people throughout the world in observing a rare astronomical phenomenon. Many spectacular images of this Mercury transit from around (and above) the globe were proudly displayed. The next transit of Mercury will take place in three weeks: on 2019 November 11.

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Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : smell you later , interj :
(humorous, informal) See you later; goodbye.

Astronomy news update from NASA :
The night side of Pluto spans this shadowy scene, a stunning spacebased view with the Sun 4.9 billion kilometers (almost 4.5 light-hours) behind the dim and distant world. It was captured by far flung New Horizons in July of 2015. The spacecraft was at a range of some 21,000 kilometers from Pluto, about 19 minutes after its closest approach. A denizen of the Kuiper Belt in dramatic silhouette, the image also reveals Pluto's tenuous, surprisingly complex layers of hazy atmosphere. The crescent twilight landscape near the top of the frame includes southern areas of nitrogen ice plains now formally known as Sputnik Planitia and rugged mountains of water-ice in the Norgay Montes.

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Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : knacker's yard , n :
The area of a slaughterhouse where carcasses unfit for human consumption or other purposes are rendered down to produce useful materials such as glue. (colloquial, figuratively) A (notional) place to send a person or object that is spent beyond all reasonable use.

Astronomy news update from NASA :
The failed unit was beyond the reach of the robotic Canadarm2. Therefore, this repair of the International Space Station would require humans. The humans on duty were NASA's Jessica Meir and Christina Koch. This was the fourth spacewalk for Meir, the first for Koch, and the first all-female spacewalk in human history. The first woman to walk in space was Svetlana Savitskaya in 1984. Koch (red stripe) and Weir are pictured hard at work on the P6 Truss, with solar panels and the darkness of space in the background. Working over seven hours, the newly installed Battery Charge / Discharge Unit (BCDU) was successfully replaced and, when powered up, operated normally.

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By BY CECILIA KANG AND MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/33JSLBu
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Our new 'Word Of The Day' article update : stink to high heaven , v :
To have a very strong and unpleasant smell. (figuratively) Of a person or situation: to be highly ethically dubious; also, of a person: to be very incompetent.