TIS THE SEASON: Modern data digitization means the plates haven't been used for two decades or so, but that doesn't mean they don't still have value. They make wonderful Christmas gifts -- and the chance to give young Alexander one last chance at life by providing funds for a new antibody treatment...

ORGANIC PLANET: The planet in question is so close to its star it completes an orbit in just over two days. Peeking through the cloud tops, the reddish star would be an overwhelming large ball of flames 40 times the angular diameter of the full moon. Temperatures at noon would be a seething 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit...

TAKE A TRIP TO ORION: His three Belt stars give him away - look south to see them late at night now. They're surrounded by a bright rectangle of stars that outline the hunter's body - among them, bluish Rigel at lower right, and reddish Betelgeuse at upper left, two of the most familiar of star names...

PETER DIAMANDIS - BREW MASTER OF THE KOOL-AID: He said things about American toga parties, Canadians with canoes full of beer and French cross-dressing "cultural nights" of years past. So Diamandis gets up there on his soapbox and talks. We ask questions about him, ISU, X PRIZE, and some "failures" he's had along the way...

SWAN LAKE - THE CELESTIAL VERSION: The force of the winds, as well as the radiation, are creating a cavity in the nebula, which is located about 6,000 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The winds come from massive stars, some of which are more than 40 times bigger than our sun...

THIS WEEK ON DISCOVERY SPACE: Mars Mission Delayed, LHC Fix, Spaceship Tix...Last week's big news is the Mars Science Laboratory delay, the Large Hadron Collider damage/fix-up and the discount of XCOR's Lynx tickets - they're ONLY $95,000 a pop now...