... Observational astronomy has recently provided evidence of the existence of massive Jupiter-sized planets orbiting distant suns, protoplanetary disks of gas and dust surrounding newly formed stars, and planetary bodies orbiting exotic stellar corpses known as pulsars. ... A massive star ends life as a supernova, blasting its outer layers back to interstellar space. ... Seven Jets from Comet Hale-Bopp . ... Will Comet Hale-Bopp become as bright in early 1997 as Comet Hyakutake did in early 1996? ...