Word: solarized
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...some astronomers were dubious. "They considered the whole thing to be rather a Rube Goldberg creation," says Spitzer. On top of that, the list of tasks assigned to the astronauts who flew the repair mission--not just installing the new optics, but replacing an outdated camera, two wobbly solar-energy panels and three faulty gyroscopes, among other balky components--seemed too long. "I don't think anyone except the astronauts themselves thought they could complete the mission," says Bahcall...
THAT IMPORTANCE IS IMMENSE, however. Some of the smallest features visible in the photo--delicate, stalklike projections reaching out from the clouds--are actually infant star systems the size of our solar system, just now emerging from the gas and dust that shrouded their birth. The ability to see them in such unprecedented detail has told astronomers an enormous amount about how stars are born and why some are circled by planets and others are not. "People had come up with plausible theories about star birth," says Arizona State University astronomer Jeff Hester, leader of the team that took...
...Hannifin. "Flying over Russia and in range of a Russian control station, the Atlantis crew maneuvered the 100-ton shuttlecraft, with this big docking tunnel sticking 15 feet out of its payload bin, very slowly -- at the rate of an inch per second -- through a forest of antenna and solar arrays. It looks like a big mechanical porcupine with five to ten inches of clearance. The Atlantis crew rams it into the docking port on the Mir. A huge metallic kiss." When the two crews met, Hannifin adds, the Americans presented them with chocolate and "about 900 pounds of potable...
...Flying over Russia and in range of a Russian control station, the Atlantis crew will maneuver the 100-ton shuttlecraft, with this big docking tunnel sticking 15 feet out of its payload bin, very slowly -- at the rate of an inch per second -- through a forest of antenna and solar arrays. It looks like a big mechanical porcupine with five to ten inches of clearance. The Atlantis crew will ram it into the docking port on the Mir. A huge metallic kiss. It's going to require some exquisite spacemanship." If all goes according to plan, says Hannifin, the space...
SUDDENLY A ROAR ISsues from the TV set. On the screen, a giant tongue of flaming gases erupts from the sun, and one bold statement after another is superimposed on the solar surface: "The idea behind it led to the Nobel Prize in Medicine," reads the first, followed by, "It's the most prescribed medication of its kind." As the sun is gradually eclipsed, the boasts continue: "It helps block production of stomach acid." "It's the world's first acid blocker." Then, against the glowing corona of a totally eclipsed sun, "And now it's available without a prescription...