From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Mon Oct 20 2003 - 17:10:11 PDT
----- Original Message -----
From: buletins_at_SkyandTelescope.com
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2003 7:34 PM
To: ljk4_at_msn.com
Subject: S&T's Weekly News Bulletin for October 20
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* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - October 20, 2003 * * *
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Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full text of stories
abridged here, and other enhancements are available on our Web site,
SkyandTelescope.com, at the URLs provided below. (If the links don't work,
just manually type the URLs into your Web browser.) Clear skies!
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COSMOLOGY MEETING EXPLORES THE OUTER LIMITS
Seventy cosmologists gathered in Cleveland in early October to discuss the
latest observations and theories about the universe as a whole, and to
speculate on what the next 25 years will bring. The first Kavali-CERCA
Conference on the Future of Cosmology took place at Case Western Reserve
University. It drew such luminaries as Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate and
author of The First Three Minutes, and Stephen Hawking of Cambridge
University, author of A Brief History of Time.
Speaker after speaker agreed that we're in a "golden age" of cosmological
discovery, with many fundamental parameters of the universe -- including
its age, density, geometry, history, and overall composition -- finally
getting pinned down. Much of the best data in this regard came just this
year from the spectacularly successful Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe, WMAP, which continues to map the cosmic microwave background
radiation -- the sky-filling "echo" of the Big Bang -- better than has
ever been done before.
But many mysteries remain....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1079_1.asp
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HERMES IS FOUND
After eluding astronomers for 66 years, the long-lost asteroid Hermes has
finally been retrieved. This most famous of the "lost asteroids" was
originally discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg, Germany, on October
28, 1937, and tracked for only five days. Despite numerous attempts, the
object that came to be known as Hermes was not seen again -- until now....
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1081_1.asp
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ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS
China Launches First Astronaut
The People's Republic of China became just the third nation to send a
human into space. China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, spent 21 hours
orbiting the Earth in the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft, launched aboard a Chang
Zheng 2F ("Long March") rocket. The name Shenzhou has been translated as
"Divine Vessel," but "Spaceship" may be equally accurate. The Shenzhou has
three sections -- engine, descent, and orbital modules -- and is similar
to the Russian Soyuz in overall appearance. Indeed, the descent module was
developed after China bought several used Soyuzes from Russia. The orbital
module, however, is an advanced, all-Chinese design with its own
solar-cell panels; it will remain in orbit and continue to carry out
experiments for several months. Liwei emerged from the capsule after the
descent module landed in northern China less than 5 kilometers from its
intended target. Xie Mingbao, director of China's piloted space effort,
explains that the next Shenzhou will be launched in a year or two.
Contour Mission Failure Report Released
This week, 14 months after NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) spacecraft
disintegrated following a course-correcting rocket burn, the team charged
with investigating the mishap released its final report. The panel
concluded that the most likely reason was that the solid-rocket motor
firing on August 15, 2002, overheated the spacecraft, causing it to tear
apart. The possibilities deemed less probable were a collision with space
debris, the solid rocket exploding, and a thruster misfiring that spun
spacecraft out of control.
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1082_1.asp
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY
* A naked-eye spot is visible on the Sun's face.
* Saturn is magnitude 0.0 in Gemini and rises in the east around 10:30
p.m. daylight saving time.
* Mars is still unusually close to Earth, though less so every week. The
yellowish planet shines at a bright magnitude -1.5 in Aquarius, high in
the south during evening. It sets in the west around 2:30 a.m. daylight
saving time.
For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/
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> http://SkyandTelescope.com/SkyFullOfStars
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> http://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=375
The Monthly Sky Guide
by Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion
> http://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=376
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Copyright 2003 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided
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