Astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley announced that they had discovered the two most massive black holes to date. Their findings situate the black holes at between 10 and 21 billion times the mass of the sun. They are being published in journal Nature. Theoretical astrophysicist Chung-Pei Ma led the team that made these discoveries, and she joins The Takeaway to discuss what this all means.

For the first time in over four hundred years, a lunar eclipse lands on the winter solstice. On the morning after this auspicious coincidence, we catch up with some professional star gazers to get a sense of the event’s astronomic and historical significance. We speak with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of NOVA's "Science Now," along with Cameron Hummel, a PhD Student at Columbia University’s Department of Astronomy. 

It sounds like something you'd see in a late-night Sci-Fi flick: Scientists have discovered bacteria in a California lake that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous to survive. Arsenic is plentiful in the universe, and so bacteria that uses it to survive suggests the possibility of alien life. But just how likely is it that this bacteria exists in space?

Scientists believe they may have discovered a planet that is capable of holding water on its surface; if true, it strongly implies life could exist there as well. 

The planet orbits a dim red star called Gliese 581, some 20 light years away from us.

This month, the Hubble Telescope celebrates twenty years in space. Why should we care? And does an orbiting telescope matter to those of us who aren't scientists?

Caroline Moore became the youngest person to discover a supernova on November 7, 2008 (at the age of 14).  She explains why, yes, the Hubble matters.

And Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, shares discoveries that the Hubble has revealed about the universe, which will blow your mind.

Caroline's eleven facts about the Hubble, as well as a Nova-sponsored video profile on her own work, are below. To learn more about the Hubble, tune in to Nova's mini-series "Hunting the Edge of Space."

Scientists working on the Kepler orbital telescope mission have found five new planets orbiting stars that are relatively nearby to us.  To tell us more is William Borucki, principal investigator for the Kepler Mission.

• Afghanistan Takeout:  At least 8 Americans are dead after a suicide bombing at a remote base in Afghanistan. Details are still emerging, but reports say most of the dead are CIA employees, which could make this one of the most deadly events in the intelligence agency's history. Anand Gopal, from the Wall Street Journal, joins us from Kabul.
• Sports Takeout: After allegations of player abuse, Texas Tech head football coach Mike Leach was fired yesterday - Ibrahim Abdul-Matin explains why.
• Astronomy Taketout: Jack Horkheimer is the writer and host of PBS' "StarGazer," as well as the director emeritus of the Miami Planetarium; he joins us to talk about the rare event of seeing a 'blue' moon on New Year's Eve.

Three astronauts on board the International Space Station had a bit of a scare when space debris whizzed by the space station at 21,000 miles per hour. The crew took refuge in the Soyuz capsule, an attached Russian spacecraft. This incident happened a month after two satellites collided in space.

To talk about the space junk orbiting the earth is Ben Baseley-Walker, a legal and policy consultant at the Secure World Foundation.

It's a good thing astronauts are rocket scientists, because President-elect Barack Obama has sent some some very puzzling messages about the future of NASA under his administration. First he was for cutting the space budget, then he was on record supporting NASA. Joining The Takeaway to discuss what NASA may be in for is Phil Plait an astronomer and writer of the blog, Bad Astronomy.

Explore the pages of America's Briefing Book, a set of audio primers from experts on important issues President-elect Barack Obama will face when he takes office in January 2009.