Word: progenitor
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...blue supergiant whose position in the Large Magellanic Cloud neatly coincided with the supernova. Though Sanduleak was suspected, some astronomers, like Harvard's Robert Kirshner, at first thought that satellite data on the LMC showed the star still existed after the blast and thus could not have been the progenitor. Later other scientists examining the same evidence failed to locate SK-69 202. Admitted Kirshner last week: "It was that star that blew up -- no matter what you've heard elsewhere . . . from me." His colleagues guffawed...
...wanted a picture of himself below the giant statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the man who started the Cheka, progenitor of the KGB. The statue stands in a circle in front of the building. Helms tried to make his way across the congested street but could not. The policeman refused to halt the rushing traffic. Helms stopped, chuckled and went off -- just as George Smiley would have done...
...speculate that 1987A "may have had an antecedent star that was not that massive, as supernovas go." By comparing the supernova's position with older photographs of the Large Magellanic Cloud, many astronomers at first identified a hot blue supergiant star, called SK-69 202, as the probable progenitor of 1987A. But that conclusion troubled everyone; theory holds that a star with these characteristics is too young to expire in a final explosion. Two weeks ago, as the initial ultraviolet radiation from the blast began to die down, the astronomers breathed a collective sigh of relief: ultraviolet scans indicated that...
...chance that they might finally be able to pinpoint a specific progenitor star, which could finally confirm or recast their theories about how supernovas explode, has astronomers beside themselves with excitement. "It's like Christmas," says Woosley. "We've been waiting for this for 383 years." Agrees Kirshner: "Everyone in the field has been calling each other up, partly for scientific reasons and partly for sheer pleasure. It's like when someone has a baby -- it's a great event, and you just want to talk...
...Bentley's screen debut ("He did well enough") are, to say the least, laconic. Christopher has played supporting roles in a few movies. Bentley is supposed to enroll at USC this fall, but ever since the filming, he has been interviewing for other acting jobs. Does that please his progenitor? Says the top-billed Mitchum: "I'm glad to see he's making an honest living...