The world is being asked to look up on Friday and smile in the direction of the ringed planet, Saturn.
The Cassini probe, in orbit around the gas giant, is going to take a picture of Earth, and the imaging team wants everyone to wave and smile.
Because of the great distance to Saturn, our home will appear as a mere pixel in the final photo.
But Cassini scientist Carolyn Porco says it is a moment to "celebrate life on the Pale Blue Dot".
"Waving time" - the period when the spacecraft's cameras will be operating - starts at 21:27 GMT and ends at 21:42 GMT (22:27-22:42 BST).
These timings include the 80 minutes it will take reflected light from the surface of the Earth to travel the nearly 1.5 billion km (900 million miles) to reach the outer Solar System.
Dr Porco's Ciclops imaging team will be producing a large mosaic of Saturn and its ring system on Friday.
Earth will appear as small speck in the lower-right of the final picture.
It is likely to be several days before the first images are processed and released.
The probe snapped a similar mosaic in 2006. On that occasion, Earth was positioned in the upper-left of the frame.
But Dr Porco says the set-up six years ago was not ideal. For the re-shoot, she plans to use Cassini's highest resolution camera, and the most appropriate filters to capture Earth in natural colour.
More than that, however, she says, people on Earth will know this time they are on camera, and that offers everyone the opportunity to participate.
Dr Porco hopes the picture will be reminiscent of the famous "Pale Blue Dot" image captured by the Voyager-1 probe in 1990.
That was a picture she helped organise with the astronomer and popular science writer Carl Sagan.
He memorably described the Earth as looking like a "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam", such was its apparent insignificance in the vastness of space.
Inspired in part by the Cassini team's plans, scientists working on the Messenger probe at Mercury will also be picturing Earth on Friday and Saturday.
Messenger will see Earth as it scans the skies for any previously unrecognised objects that might be circling the innermost world.
Timings for these pictures are 11:49, 12:38, and 13:41 (all GMT) on both Friday and Saturday.
Parts of the Earth not illuminated in the Cassini images, including all of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, will appear illuminated in the Messenger pictures.
More details on the Saturn project can be found at The Day The Earth Smiled website.
The 8-and-under Rome Red Sox are hoping to bring home a title at the Dizzy Dean World Series.
The team opened play Wednesday night in Douglasville with a 13-1 win over Sandy Springs. The Red Sox, the tourney?s No. 3 seed, will face Eastside tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Head coach Kelly Fountain said he was ?very proud? of his team, and said their journey so far has been extraordinary.
And now, he said, the Red Sox are ready to seize it all and bring home a championship.
?The kids are absolutely excited about playing in the World Series,? said Fountain. ?These boys are a great group of kids and are very special to me,? he added.
The team is geared up for what they hope will be a deep run.
?We should have been called the Crimson Tide because we are going to win it all ? just like Alabama,? said Fountain.
17 July 2013Last updated at 08:33 ET Continue reading the main story
Heathrow Airport has unveiled three options for a new runway, saying each one would be "quicker and cheaper" than plans for a rival hub airport.
The airport's submission to the Davies Commission, which is looking at raising airport capacity, outlined a runway to the north, north-west or south-west of the existing airport.
It said a new runway could be in place by 2029, allowing 260,000 more flights.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said such an expansion would be "disastrous".
'Global hub status'
According to Heathrow's submission, building a new runway would deliver extra capacity at the airport by 2025-29 and would allow it to operate 740,000 flights a year - up from the current limit of 480,000.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
I've just been looking back through my notes from last year, when I talked to government officials about the prospect of building a third runway at Heathrow.
They told me it was "dead and buried" and said they'd look at "all ideas bar a third runway". Back then we also had a Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, who lived under the flight path and had campaigned against the plan.
What a difference to today, when a third runway at the UK's biggest and busiest airport is very much back on the table.
This is a big week for airports. By Friday, we'll know all the different suggestions on how they could expand.
But don't let all this apparent momentum fool you. This is one of the thorniest issues in politics, and there are plenty in the industry who think that 20 years from now, nothing will have actually been done.
The plans would "maintain the UK's global hub status for the foreseeable future" and "protect the thriving businesses and plentiful jobs that surround Heathrow", it said.
Heathrow's preferred option would be to place a new runway to the north-west or the south-west of the airport.
This would "deliver a full-length third runway while minimising the impact on the local community".
The submission also detailed how a new westerly runway would help reduce noise pollution because planes would not have to fly so low over London.
It predicted that, even with a third runway, there would be 10-20% fewer people affected by noise under its new plans.
The option of building north of the airport would be the quickest and cheapest, the airport acknowledged - but it would also be the noisiest and have the biggest impact on residential property.
Each of the options would mean the compulsory purchase of some properties and some property demolitions, as well as potentially major work on the M25.
The submission also outlined the need for a sixth terminal at Heathrow as part of the plans - which would enable the airport to handle 130m passengers a year, rather than the current figure of 70m.
'Flying pigs'
Heathrow chief executive Colin Matthews said: "After half a century of vigorous debate but little action, it is clear the UK desperately needs a single hub airport with the capacity to provide the links to emerging economies which can boost UK jobs, GDP and trade.
Heathrow Chief Executive Colin Matthews: "Uncertainty, that's the message I hear from people, they want to know"
"It is clear that the best solution for taxpayers, passengers and business is to build on the strength we already have at Heathrow."
He continued: "Today we are showing how that vision can be achieved while keeping the impact on local residents to an absolute minimum."
Mr Matthews said he had not ruled out a fourth runway at Heathrow, but said this would not be needed until at least 2040.
However, Mr Johnson said the proposals for a new runway at Heathrow "were politically, environmentally and socially unacceptable".
"There will be more pigs flying than aircraft if we are to believe the claim that three runways at Heathrow will make less noise than two," he said.
Mr Johnson added the move "would be a disastrous outcome for Londoners, nor would it solve our aviation capacity crisis as a fourth runway would need to be in the planning process before a third was even open".
On Monday, the mayor published proposals for three possible replacement hubs - an artificial island in the Thames Estuary dubbed "Boris Island", a major expansion at Stansted, or an airport at the Isle of Grain in north Kent.
'Reheated and rehashed'
All airports must submit their plans to the commission by 19 July.
Heathrow residents' group Hacan said they would fight any proposal for a new runway "tooth and nail" and Greenpeace accused the airport of presenting a "reheated and rehashed" plan with the same "flawed arguments that failed so categorically last time around".
But business groups backed the plans, including the trade body which represents Britain's airlines.
The Board of Airline Representatives said no other proposal so far on airport capacity could "deliver the UK's hub airport capacity quicker, at the right cost, or in the right place for airlines and their passengers".
The Institute of Directors said expanding Heathrow was "the best way to solve Britain's airport capacity conundrum".
The Davies Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, was set up last year to examine "the need for additional UK airport capacity and recommend to government how this can be met in the short, medium and long term".
It is expected to recommend options by the end of this year, but will not submit its final report until summer 2015 - after the next general election.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Congratulations to the 5 winners of the e-book version of Tania's ?Special Educational Needs, Getting Started with Statements.? Emails with single use codes to download your book from Smashwords ebook hub will be ...
They had landed in the morning and had officially arrived with a 5-1 opening night win over the California A's.
Now, Team Canada is set to push for gold at the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship ? a medal that has alluded them in previous years.
The Canadian women are coming off a won over Japan in last week's World Cup of Softball, an accomplishment that has them elevated for this week but also realistic about the long game ? Japan did end up winning the World Cup, with a 7-4 victory of Team USA in the final.
"I think we'll fare pretty well, we've been playing well over the past week," said utility player Joey Lye, from Scarborough, Ont. "We have a lot of new players on the squad this year and it's been awesome.
"We've been going through all the details and really meshing as a team... doing lots of reps of team play in the field, just to make sure that we're all on the same page and it's been really good for us.
"I expected for us to ?push to be in that championship game this week."
This year's Canadian team features a host of local girls ? including White Rock Renegades stalwarts like Sara Groenewegen and Sara Hopwood, both of whom are in their first year with Team Canada ? and a sprinkling of vets like Ontario's Lye and Megan Timph.
"Putting on the jersey, obviously, is a big honour," said Groenewegen, who also made her national debut with the Junior team this year. "In front of my home crowd, it's a pretty special feeling obviously ? get some friends and family out to watch me play."
"It's definitely surreal," said Hopwood. "I wasn't sure if I was ever going to put the uniform on. For me to do it this year... it's what I wanted my whole life playing softball."
Canada plays Team Australia tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. on Softball City's Diamond 1. The Canucks lost to the Aussies in the bronze medal game at last year's Canadian Open, and they come in one spot behind them in the ISF world rankings, too.
For those seeking the border battle, Canada plays Team USA on Friday, at 6:30 p.m.
