The semi-annual phenomenon in late May and mid-July each year occurs when the Sun aligns with the street grid in Manhattan, casting a shaft of light between the skyscrapers.
The first of two satellites carrying the sail is set to launch later this month. A second, scheduled for launch next year, will go into higher orbit to fully test the concept.
The launch is the latest in a string of failures for the Proton-M rocket, a workhorse for the International Launch Services, a joint Russia-American satellite carrier business.
A team in England looked at thousands of galaxies that had stopped forming stars and determined that the vast majority of them showed signs that their stellar fuel supply had been choked off.
Astronomer Chris Impey discusses the future of space travel, sex in space and the connection between science and Buddhism. Impey is the author of Beyond: Our Future in Space.
A new glimpse of what the universe looked like in its youth has been captured. Researchers say light from galaxy EGS-zs8-1 has spent the past 13 billion years traveling to Earth.
Writers Richard Paul and Steven Moss's new book is called We Could Not Fail. It's about the first African-Americans to work for NASA. They profile 10 African-American scientists and engineers.
Will we find ET in the next 25 years? Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at SETI, says yes. He explains that new technologies and the laws of probability make the breakthrough likely.