Word: supernova
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...gorgeous red object against the silver gray of the Large Magellanic Cloud," said Robert Garrison of the University of Toronto. Ever since it burst into view in the southern hemisphere on Feb. 23, Supernova 1987A, the brightest exploding star in 383 years, has fascinated astronomers and astrophysicists. Its surprising behavior has prompted them to rethink how massive stars evolve and what forces rage within them. "This is how science is done," said an exultant Garrison. "There is discovery, then wild speculation, then a settling of accounts...
Last week, as 700 members of the American Astronomical Society met in Vancouver to compare notes, they were still racing to keep up with a blizzard of new data and developments on the supernova. Among them...
...star that exploded to create Supernova 1987A has been identified as Sanduleak-69 202, a 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...
...super year for physics. The advance that will undoubtedly have the greatest technological impact is the discovery of high-temperature superconductors ((SCIENCE, May 11)). But scientists are also very excited about continuing development of the superstring theory, which seeks to describe the fundamental unity of the forces of nature, Supernova 1987A, and the superconducting supercollider that President Reagan endorsed in January...
...University of California at Santa Barbara, recent developments are something like the breaking of the four- minute mile. Beforehand, it had been considered nearly impossible; afterward, "you could go to any track meet and some guy was breaking it." The activity, says Cava, "is more exciting than a supernova. Astrophysicists can watch it, but when it happens, it happens and it's gone. In superconductivity, the events are still going on, and the physics is just beginning to pour...