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...last week scientists had already amassed more data than they could immediately analyze, confirming some theoretical predictions and making several observations that for the time being puzzled everyone. Earliest readings showed that the shell of gases expanding around 1987A was initially traveling outward at nearly 10,000 miles per second. Since then the color of the supernova has been changing from blue to red much faster than expected. "That change is five to ten times faster than other supernovas," says Robert Williams, director of the U.S.-financed Cerro Tololo Inter-Observatory in Chile. This phenomenon indicates that the rapid expansion...
...Like today's astrologers, ancient civilizations believed the stars had a direct influence on earthly affairs, and the Chinese, who carefully recorded any changes in the sky, were especially impressed by "guest stars." They regarded such astronomical visitors as omens of important events on earth. What may be the earliest Chinese record of a supernova is an inscription on a bit of bone, dating from about 1300 B.C., that describes a bright star appearing near the star now known as Antares...
While there is some question whether this and several other of the earliest recorded sightings involved actual exploding stars, there is little doubt about the guest star of A.D. 185. "Second year of the Chung-p'ing reign period," reads an ancient Chinese text, "tenth month, day kuei-hai, a guest star appeared within nanmen. It was as large as half a mat; it was multicolored, and it scintillated. It gradually became smaller and disappeared in the sixth month of the year after next." The description, especially concerning the brightness and slow fade of the star, seems to confirm...
Harvard library officials said they have been working on a system similar to the one at MIT, but the earliest the network will be completed is 1989. Aaron said it took MIT slightly more than four years to complete its system, which Harvard officials said is geared toward a library collection much smaller than Harvard...
...Earliest man lived in these landscapes, among such animals, among these splendid trees that have personalities as distinct as those of the animals: the aristocratic flat-topped acacia, the gnarled and magisterial baobab. Possibly scenes from that infancy are lodged in some layer of human memory, in the brilliant but preconscious morning...