Sky & Telescope's News Bulletin - Feb 6

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* * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - February 6, 2004 * * *

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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. Clear skies!

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Stellar Breakups

It's inevitable; some couples will break up. This is as true for stars as it is
for people. But unlike counselors here on Earth, astronomers can only chronicle
the separations of pairs seen in the heavens, and are limited to simply
tracking the post-relationship lives of the past partners.

One place where binary systems have split violently is the Orion Nebula. New
numerical models demonstrate how two binary systems there came together 2.5
million years ago, exchanged partners, and then parted ways. One of the
binaries broke up permanently: the estranged dancers AE Aurigae and Mu
Columbae. The new pairing goes by the name Iota Orionis. Meanwhile, not far
away, another runaway star known as the Becklin-Neugebauer (BN) object, races
half-hidden through the interstellar medium.

Astronomers have long known that AE Aur and Mu Col are storming away from the
Orion Nebula in nearly opposite directions at speeds greater than 100
kilometers per second. Tracing their motions back in time, one finds the
eccentric binary system Iota Ori recoiling from the same spot....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1171_1.asp

Making Planetary Nebulae

In about 7 billion years, any distant spectators will see the dying Sun
shrouding itself in a planetary nebula, right? It says so in every astronomy
textbook. Well, maybe not. Orsola De Marco (American Museum of Natural History)
says single stars may not be good at producing planetaries. Working with a team
led by Howard E. Bond (Space Telescope Science Institute), De Marco has found
evidence that most if not all central stars of planetary nebulae are
binaries....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1169_1.asp

Opportunity Finds Hematite and Rolls to Martian Surface

A briefing held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on January 31st offered a
double dose of good news. The Mars rover Opportunity has found what it was sent
to look for: a mineral called hematite that often forms in liquid water on
Earth. Engineers also reported the rover's successful rollout onto the red
planet's surface.

The "fingerprint" of hematite shows up clearly in a spectrum taken by
Opportunity's Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES). "We found
hematite; we're in the right place," said Mini-TES lead scientist Phil
Christensen (Arizona State University).

The hematite signature appeared when Mini-TES was aimed toward dark, loose
grains that lie on top of the underlying bedrock....

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1167_1.asp

Spirit Back in Business

NASA engineers reported today that they have solved Spirit's computer problems
and that the rover is ready to resume normal science operations. "Spirit has
made incredible progress over the weekend," says mission manager Jennifer
Trosper (NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory). The rover will spend the next several
days investigating the rock Adirondack, and then it will head toward Bonneville
Crater, about 250 meters (820 feet) to the northeast. On the opposite side of
Mars, Opportunity's health remains excellent as it prepares to analyze soil
samples in its immediate vicinity. "We have two operational rovers on the
surface of Mars," says Trosper.

http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1170_1.asp

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Highlights of This Week's Sky

* Saturn shines high in Gemini in early evening and is highest in the south
around 9 p.m.
* Full Moon on Friday, February 6th.
* Last-quarter Moon on Friday, February 13th.

For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:

http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/

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*-----------------------------------------------------*
| Stuart Goldman |
* Associate Editor *
| Sky & Telescope |
* 49 Bay State Rd. Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Cambridge, MA 02138 Magazine of Astronomy |
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