After spending 10 months traveling to Mars, the Phoenix lander will touch down on Mars this Sunday. NASA scientists will be biting their nails between the seven minutes it will take to land once it enters Mars' atmosphere.

So what is NASA doing this time? This wire graphic explains the mission and how the spacecraft will make its landing. The Phoenix's goal is to find evidence that life existed on the planet by studying soil and ice samples.

Need more? NASA has some great images and a blog, while the University of Arizona (the brains behind the ship) has a more in-depth site on the spacecraft and its mission.

But please, try to keep the theme music to "2001: A space odyssey" on low as you do the research.

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If you didn't see Sunday's New Illustrated page on the Air Force's "Airborne Laser," you can download it here. The page explains how the plane shoots down ballistic missiles and gives an in-depth view on how its nose turret and chemical laser works.

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Ok so you may have been wondering when was the guy with the “flat head” ever going to do a post? Well here it is...

This video shows how the "nose turret" on an Air Force's Airborne Laser works, The ABL fires its powerful chemical laser through this turret to shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost phase.

Looks Sci-fi huh? Well guess what, it may become reality in a couple of years.

The ABL will be part of a missile defense system intended to protect U.S. territory from missile attacks. Contractors are currently working on this weapon which has so far totaled $4.3 billion. You can learn more about it in this Sundays News Illustrated page.

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Light pollution is most prevalent in urban areas across the U.S. Many parts of Florida are not good for people looking to catch a nice view of stars. Here's some information about where you'll find the most and least polluted areas in case you want to do some star gazing.

Here is another map that has details about where to check out the night sky, including detailed light pollution maps for areas all over Florida.

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