<!--X-Subject: S&T News Bulletin - Mar 10 -->
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<H1>S&T News Bulletin - Mar 10</H1>
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<em>Subject</em>: S&T News Bulletin - Mar 10
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<em>From</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mrastro@aol.com">mrastro@aol.com</A> (Mr Astro)
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<em>Date</em>: 10 Mar 1995 18:02:18 -0500
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<em>Article</em>: 7448 of sci.astro.amateur
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<em>Organization</em>: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
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<em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mrastro@aol.com">mrastro@aol.com</A> (Mr Astro)
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<PRE>
======================================================================
SKY & TELESCOPE'S NEWS BULLETIN -- MARCH 10, 1995
======================================================================
IO ERUPTION CONTINUES
The volcanic outburst that began on Jupiter's moon Io last week was still
faintly visible on March 9th, according to observer John Spencer. When
first spotted on March 2nd with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in
Hawaii, the outburst was probably quite hot, as it shone brightly at 3.5
microns -- a wavelength normally dominated by reflected sunlight.
Astronomer-astronauts aboard *Endeavour* recorded additional details about
the event using Astro 2's ultraviolet telescopes. In particular, spectra
obtained from orbit by the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope should be quite
sensitive to emissions by the oxygen and sulfur present in Io's tenuous
atmosphere. Situated at longitude 95 dg and latitude -45 dg, the eruption
site does not match any of the satellite's known active volcanic centers.
"TOP QUARK" IDENTIFIED
The zoo of subatomic particles gained a new denizen with the detection of
the "top" quark, the sixth -- and presumably last -- member of the quark
family. The two discovery teams used Fermilab's Tevatron particle
accelerator to create head-on collisions of protons and antiprotons at an
energy of some 2 trillion electron volts. Among the millions of recorded
annihilation events, a few dozen gave rise to the secondary particles
expected from a top quark's decay. Investigators were also able to place
limits on its mass. And what a mass! While the "up" and "down" quarks
found in ordinary matter have masses (in energy units) of 5 million and 8
million electron volts respectively, the top quark tips the scales between
176 and 199 *billion* electron volts.
As the last of six quark types required to account for baryonic (normal)
matter, the top's discovery fills in one branch of a complex family tree.
This subatomic heavyweight doesn't play much of a role now, but long ago,
in the first microseconds after the Big Bang, the universe consisted of a
quark plasma. So constraining the top quark's mass may provide further
clues to the cosmos's early character.
SATURN HITS CONJUNCTION
Saturn reaches conjunction, on the far side of the Sun from Earth, on
March 5th. Then it enters the morning sky. Obviously, you won't be able
to observe Saturn now, but in a couple of months -- the night of May 21st
to be exact -- the planet's ring system will be turned edge-on to Earth.
Start planning now for some early-morning observing sessions!
TWO BRIGHT BOLIDES
The Department of Defense announced this week that two of its
early-warning satellites picked up a pair of extremely bright fireballs
last month. The airbursts occurred about 10 hours apart over the Pacific
Ocean on February 16th. Based on the satellite records, the flashes
peaked at magnitudes -18.4 and -19.1, making each a couple hundred times
brighter than the full Moon.
======================================================================
The News Bulletin is provided as a service to the amateur-astronomer
community by Sky & Telescope magazine (for subscription info, email:
skypub@cfa.harvard.edu). Electronic distribution of the News Bulletin is
encouraged; however, this text may not be published without permission of
Sky Publishing Corp. At the present time, the News Bulletin is not
available via electronic mailing list.
======================================================================
*------------------------------------------------------------*
| Stuart Goldman Internet: sgoldman@cfa.harvard.edu |
* Associate Editor mrastro@aol.com *
| Sky & Telescope |
* P. O. Box 9111 Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Belmont, MA 02178 Magazine of Astronomy |
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*--------------------------------------------------------------*
| Stuart Goldman Internet: sgoldman@cfa.harvard.edu |
* Associate Editor mrastro@aol.com *
| Sky & Telescope |
* P. O. Box 9111 Sky & Telescope: The Essential *
| Belmont, MA 02178 Magazine of Astronomy |
*--------------------------------------------------------------*
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