These lightshows of dying stars have been seen since ancient times, but modern astronomers use details of their light to probe the Universe's secrets.

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Once the hole has been blasted open with hot water, a probe carrying an ultraviolet light will be lowered to sterilise its upper section.

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He used photons (in the form of carefully calibrated pulses of laser light) to probe atoms.

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The schemes were originally brought to the light by the Thompson probe.

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And it would also give us insight into what would be needed to think about even sending a probe to Alpha Centauri some 4.37 light years distant.

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Indeed, Questcor will have to wade through and survive lots of challenges in light of the Aetna factor, and the government probe.

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Nonetheless, Mr O'Keefe and Mr Koptev have given the green light to a programme to build a US-Russian space probe for the exploration of Mars.

BBC: Mars rover (Nasa)

The Scottish government said it would probe any new leads surrounding the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, should information come to light following the developments in Libya.

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