- ALMACH (Gamma Andromedae). You take your new telescope to the back yard perhaps wondering what to examine. When finished with the Moon and the bright planets you turn to the stars, first perhaps to the grand Orion Nebula, next maybe to the magnificent Andromeda Galaxy. Then it is time for double stars. The sky abounds with them, northern winter’s Castor, springtime’s Mizar and Alcor, summer’s Albireo (the seasons reversed for the southern hemisphere), dozens of others easily found. Among the best of all, however, is the last star of the string of bright beauties that helps make the constellation Andromeda, second magnitude (2.16) Almach, Andromeda’s Gamma star.
- Space Invaders (Atari 2600) online game (atarionline.org)
Space Invaders, developed by Tomohiro Nishikado in 1978, is a groundbreaking shoot ’em up arcade game that set the standard for the genre. The objective of the game is to eliminate waves of descending aliens using a horizontally-moving laser, accumulating as many points as possible in the process.