Americans who want to save money on taxes may want to consider rocketing their ashes into space, according to legislation being proposed in Virginia.
The Bill, up for debate next year, would offer state residents a tax deduction of up to $8,000 for deciding to send their remains into space.
State officials say it would be good for the economy as the goal is to boost visitors to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island.
Costs range from $1,000 to have one’s remains launched into space and return to earth, and $10,000 to have one’s ashes sent to the Moon.
Astronomers reveal galaxy snapshot
Astronomers have taken a dramatic snapshot of one of the brightest galaxies in the sky, revealing its striking beauty in unprecedented detail.
NGC 253 is a spiral galaxy 11.5 million light years away in the constellation of Sculptor. Also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar galaxy, it is peppered with hot young stars which have just ignited. Radiation from these stellar nurseries makes the surrounding hydrogen gas glow brightly. The new image was taken with the European Southern Observatory’s 2.6 metre VLT Survey Telescope (VST), which has an exceptionally wide field of view.
VST, located at Paranal on a mountain top in Chile’s Atacama desert, is the largest telescope in the world designed exclusively to survey the sky in visible light. It is the newest telescope at the Paranal observatory.
Caught after 15 years
A man who tunnelled his way out of a Chinese prison cell nearly 15 years ago has been caught by police, state media said yesterday.
Li Junlin was awaiting trial in 1997 over his suspected involvement in armed robberies, murder, burglaries and rapes across the province of Hebei and the province of Henan when he escaped. It took the handcuffed and shackled Li and another 10 inmates – including a former miner – one night to dig a 13-metre tunnel from their cell to outside the prison walls in the middle of winter.
After escaping, Li changed his name to Liu Jun, moved to Yanan city in Shaanxi province, married a local woman and had four children. Police finally caught up with Li, now 41, this month after tapping the phone of a relative.
Meerkats enjoy merry munch
Meerkats enjoyed a taste of Christmas when their keepers gave them stockings and baubles filled with treats, yesterday.
The small animals munched on mealworms stuffed inside the socks and decorations. One adventurous meerkat even climbed inside a stocking to find every last morsel of the snack. Gary Gilmour, manager of Blair Drummond Safari Park near Stirling in the UK, said the nine meerkats enjoyed the experience. He said: “The keepers thought it would be a good idea to give them a festive treat. The meerkats were very excited when they put the tree in with the baubles on it. “
Meerkats are omnivores and are found in dry, open country in south-west Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.