Word: woosley
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Other astronomers are cautious about the find, since it is based on only a single unconfirmed observation. But if it holds up, says theorist Stan Woosley of the University of California at Santa Cruz, "it will be a whole new laboratory for doing physics. It will be marvelous...
...from supernovas is expected to peak quickly and then decline. But 1987A's brightness rose, then leveled off, then increased again, peaking around May 22, when it was easily visible to the naked eye. Since then it has been gradually dimming. One possible explanation was proposed by Astronomer Stan Woosley of the University of California at Santa Cruz. He suggests that the decay of radioactive elements within 1987A's cloud of debris is now generating the light. If he is right, gamma-ray emissions from decaying cobalt 56 should start showing up this summer. Concedes Woosley...
...appearance. Two teams of astronomers, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and London's Imperial College, both using a technique known as optical speckle interferometry (quickly dubbed "that speckled thing"), fed data from telescopic observations into computers. What emerged was a composite picture that confounded everyone. Said Woosley: "It's easier to say what it isn't than what it is. It wasn't there before the supernova. It's not a star. It's not a second supernova. I would quit astronomy and go live on a mountain as a hermit if two supernovas went...
...multiple layers cool and become transparent, Supernova 1987A continues to tantalize scientists. What will be revealed? "Eventually," said Woosley, "we should see the monster that lives at the center." Predicted McCray: "The best is yet to come...
What does it all mean? "There will be as many notions of what's going on as there are astronomers," says Woosley. "It's what you might call organized scientific chaos. When it's all over, we'll have a better idea of what causes a supernova, but the one rule now is that you shouldn't trust the theoreticians. Expect the unexpected...