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* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - December 12, 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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NEW BINARY NEUTRON STAR WILL TEST EINSTEIN
An international team of astronomers has discovered the sixth known binary
consisting of two neutron stars -- collapsed stellar cores that cram about 1.4
solar masses into spheres about the size of a city. The two stars of the newly
discovered binary orbit each other more closely than the previously known
systems, so they provide astronomers with a golden opportunity to test
Einstein's general theory of relativity to high levels of precision....
Astronomers and physicists are licking their chops at the prospect of studying
this system. Neutron stars have large masses but small sizes, so they provide
very clean testbeds for studying key predictions of general relativity,
Einstein's theory that equates gravity with the curvature of space-time....
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1124_1.asp
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A CAULDRON OF STARBIRTH
Like a billowing firestorm, the giant nebula NGC 604 in our neighboring galaxy
M33 burns with the young energy of massive star formation. A swarm of immense
blue-white stars with up to 120 solar masses, and surface temperatures up to
40,000 degrees Kelvin, emit copious ultraviolet radiation that stimulates the
surrounding gas to fluoresce. Meanwhile, radiation pressure and stellar winds
from the stars are sculpting the gas and blowing a large central cavity....
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1123_1.asp
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OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!
The Cassini spacecraft is currently speeding toward Saturn with a scheduled
arrival date of July 1, 2004. And like any traveler set to complete a long
journey, the spacecraft is looking ahead to its goal....
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1119_1.asp
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ASTRO NEWS BRIEF
Hope Lost for Nozomi
The name of Japan's interplanetary spacecraft Nozomi means "hope," but flight
controllers have given up their hope of using it to explore Mars. Despite
valiant efforts to keep the mission on track after malfunctions and damage from
solar storms (see the January 2004 issue of SKY & TELESCOPE, page 48),
engineers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) were unable to
regain contact with the Nozomi yesterday. They have therefore called off their
attempts to place the troubled spacecraft into orbit around the red planet. The
probe will instead slip past Mars on December 13th.
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1121_1.asp
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY
* The Geminid meteor shower peaks on night of December 13th.
* Last-quarter Moon on December 16th.
* Saturn rises during late twilight. An hour or two later it's well up in the
east, between Orion to its right and Castor and Pollux closer to its left or
lower left.
For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/
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Copyright 2003 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided as a
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*-----------------------------------------------------*
| Stuart Goldman
|
* Associate Editor *
| Sky & Telescope |
* 49 Bay State Rd. Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Cambridge, MA 02138 Magazine of Astronomy |
*-----------------------------------------------------*