The next MEPCO is coming ... to Bulgaria, in early August, 1999!
For details on this astronomical conference just before the total solar eclipse click here!

Galaxy found with redshift 6.68! A new record has been set for the highest spectroscopically determined redshift of a galaxy - and it is not likely to stand for long. The new STIS instrument of the Hubble Space Telescope is making that possible: In the NIR it is more sensitive than even the Keck telescope (which is otherwise the instrument of choice for spectroscopy of faint sources). To make optimum use of this capability a "STIS Parallel Survey" has been started: Deep STIS observations are obtained in parallel with other observations, and the slitless spectra are then analyzed. The process is two-pronged: On the one hand the spectra are binned and analyzed photometrically: The relative brightnesses in different wavelength intervals are matched to templates and redshift estimates are obtained. This technique had also been applied to the Hubble Deep Field in 1996, and several of the high redshifts 'measured' from images in different colors have since been verified by spectroscopy. But the STIS spectra also allow to look for spectral features directly, in order to confirm the spectrophotometric redshifts. And this is how now a galaxy with z = 6.68 has been tracked down! (Lanzetta & al., Preprint)	The original paper The original HDF analysis The previous record-holder (z=5.64)
First Light for the FORS instrument Following a tight schedule, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) project forges ahead - full operative readiness of the first of the four 8.2-m Unit Telescopes will be reached early next year. On September 15, 1998, another crucial milestone was successfully passed on-time and within budget. Just a few days after having been mounted for the first time at the first 8.2-m VLT Unit Telescope (UT1), the first of a powerful complement of complex scientific instruments, FORS1 (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph), saw First Light. Right from the beginning, it obtained some excellent astronomical images. After careful preparation, the FORS consortium has now started the so-called commissioning of the instrument. FORS1, with its future twin (FORS2), is the product of one of the most thorough and advanced technological studies ever made of a ground-based astronomical instrument. The FORS instruments are "multi-mode instruments" that may be used in several different observation modes. It is, e.g., possible to take images with two different image scales (magnifications) and spectra at different resolutions may be obtained of individual or multiple objects. (Adapted from ESO Press Release #14 of Sept. 23, 1998)	FORS 1st Light Press Release with some images FORS Homepage Other VLT News: The 2nd mirror has arrived in Chile. And the 2nd Magellan mirror has been cast.
Now there are 12: two more extrasolar planets! Deploying the massive Keck telescope in Hawaii in a new planet search, a team of astronomers has detected two planets orbiting Sun-like stars, bringing to 12 the number of distant worlds discovered beyond our solar system. One of the new discoveries, a Jupiter-sized sphere that most likely appears deep blue-violet, barely skims the outer reaches of its yellow star, passing 25 times closer to the star than the Earth's orbit of the Sun, and nine time closer than Mercury's path around the Sun. Its close orbit allows it to circle its star about every three days. In contrast, the other new planet has a more Earth-like orbit. Its average distance from its star is nearly the same as the Earth-Sun distance, the first planet discovered with such a familiar distance. A year on this planet is 437 days. "We had discovered planets that orbit much closer and much farther from their stars than the Earth-Sun distance," said Geoffrey Marcy, University Distinguished Professor of Science at San Francisco State University who, along with Paul Butler of the Anglo-American Observatory, has discovered nine of the dozen planets so far detected. "We wondered if nature rarely puts planets at one Earth-Sun distance," Marcy continued. "Now we know that such planets are not rare." The two discoveries are among 430 candidates in the new planet search using the Keck Observatory. The observations were made over 12 nights during the last nine months. (Adapted from a SFSU News Release of Sept. 24, 1998)	SFSU Press Release about the new discoveries, and related BBC, Science News, CNN and SpaceViews stories. Homepage of the SFSU Extrasolar Planet Search Project Details about HD187123 and HD210277 The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia and the current catalog
A close binary - and both stars have protoplanetary disks! Planets apparently can form in many more binary-star systems than previously thought, according to astronomers who used the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope to image protoplanetary disks around a close pair of stars. The researchers used the VLA to study a stellar nursery - a giant cloud of gas and dust - some 450 light-years distant in the constellation Taurus, where stars the size of the Sun or smaller are being formed. They aimed at one particular object, that, based on previous infrared and radio observations, was believed to be a very young star. The VLA observations showed that the object was not a single young star but a pair of young stars, separated only slightly more than the Sun and Pluto. The VLA images show that each star in the pair is surrounded by an orbiting disk of dust, extending out about as far as the orbit of Saturn. Such dusty disks are believed to be the material from which planets form. Similar disks are seen around single stars, but the newly-discovered disks around the stars in the binary system are about ten times smaller, their size limited by the gravitational effect of the other, nearby star. Their existence indicates, however, that such protoplanetary disks, though truncated in size, still can survive in such a close double-star system. (Adapted from an NRAO Press Release of Sept. 23, 1998)	The NRAO Press Release and related BBC and ABC stories. Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia entry VLA Homepage A related problem: The Long-Term Stability of Planets in Binary Systems
The physical size of the Milky Way's 'central engine' Radio astronomers using the Very Long Baseline Array have succeded in directly measuring the diameter of Sgr A* (pronounced "Sag A Star"), the mysterious object in the very center of our Milky Way that many believe to be a medium-sized and largely inactive Black Hole. The mass of Sgr A* had been firmly established from the orbits of nearby stars: 2.6 million solar masses. But the physical nature of the object has remained controversial: Other than a black hole, more exotic and more mundane explanations are not excluded yet. Having as close a look as possible at Sgr A* is thus important, and the new study could be a milestone: Working at 7 mm wavelength the network of radio dishes spanning thousands of kilometers in North America succeded in resolving Sgr A* and measuring its direct size. The object is highly elongated: The long axis measures some 540 million kilometers, the short axis less than 150 million kilometers. If Sgr A* is indeed a black hole, then the long axis corresponds to 72 Schwarzschild radii. (Lo & al., Preprint)	The original paper Previous papers of interest: How the mass of Sgr A* was determined, what else it might be, and what we know about the central engines of other galaxies What the GC News had to say about Sgr A*.
Arecibo survives Hurricane Georges Initial information indicates that the massive reflector dish of Arecibo Observatory apparently sustained minimal damage from Hurricane Georges, which swept across Puerto Rico late Monday night, observatory officials report. In a telephone conversation early Tuesday observatory personnel also indicated that the telescope's newly completed dome apparently escaped without damage. The 15 employees and visitors using the observatory, at the time of the hurricane, are reported safe. A small number of panels on the telescope's 1,000-foot diameter reflector suffered damage from flying debris. Telephone contact with the observatory was lost late Tuesday morning, and full assessment of any damage is not yet available. There were reports of fallen trees and mud slides around the observatory. The surface of the Arecibo reflector dish is made of 38,800 reflective aluminum panels, covering an area about the size of 26 football fields. Only a few panels on the 16,000 square feet of the dish's surface were lost as the hurricane moved through. The dome above the telescope, which was completed last year, survived the hurricane without damage. The 90-ton, 86-foot diameter dome attached to the end of the 304-foot moveable azimuth arm increases the telescope's ability to observe the farthest reaches of the universe. (Adapted from a Cornell Release of Sept. 23rd)	Cornell University Press Release of Sept. 23rd News from current hurricanes in Florida and what science found out thanks to Georges with the CAMEX-3 campaign. Homepage of the Arecibo Observatory
MGS: The Aerobraking continues Mars Global Surveyor successfully completed a 14.8-second propulsive burn of its onboard rocket engine on Sept. 23rd to begin the second phase of aerobraking, which will lower and circularize the spacecraft's orbit for the start of the science mapping mission in April 1999. The effect of the burn iat 11:11 a.m. PDT, which took place during the spacecraft's 573rd orbit around Mars, slowed Surveyor's speed by 11.62 meters per second and dropped its altitude at periapsis, or closest approach to the surface of Mars, from 171.4 to 127 kilometers. The spacecraft's orbit now dips into the upper fringes of the Martian atmosphere: The drag passes will gradually reduce the orbital period from the present 11.6 to just under 2 hrs. (Adapted from Mission Status Sept. 23rd)	Status Reports for Sept. 23 and Sept. 22 "Live from MGS Aerobraking Command Center!" It's springtime on Mars, show the latest MGS images before the camera was turned off for the aerobraking.

In a Nutshell: Is there a mysterious anomaly in the gravitational force? Strange deviations of the trajectories of interplanetary spacecraft could be either that - or overlooked math errors... (This was also covered in The New Scientist and a Physics News Update). / Ever wondered what the 25 greatest astronomical discoveries were? / Even weak resonances can send asteroids on collision courses, shows a new study.

Preparations are underway to alert the astronomical community about the next supernova. / Did life come from Mars to Earth? And what does it take to get it started? / Evidence for an Inca sun-worship ritual has been unearthed in S. America. / Spectacular images of Earth and its ocean colors have been delivered in the past year by the SeaWiFS instrument. / And more ISS delays seem likely, as Fla. Today and CBS report.

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