=========================================================================<br /><br /> * * * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - July 19, 2002 * * * *<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />Welcome to S&T's Weekly News Bulletin. Images, the full text of stories<br />abridged here, and other enhancements are available on our Web site,<br />SkyandTelescope.com, at the URLs provided below. Clear skies!<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />A LOCAL SOURCE FOR DIAMOND DUST?<br /><br />Crack open a primitive, carbonaceous meteorite, and you'll likely find<br />countless microscopic flecks of diamond -- sometimes numerous enough to<br />represent 0.1 percent of the meteorite's mass. Ever since their discovery<br />in 1987, these meteoritic diamonds have been thought to be, quite<br />literally, stardust, tiny crystals of high-density carbon forged in the<br />expanding shock waves of supernova explosions....<br /><br />However, a new study suggests that most of these "nanodiamonds" didn't<br />come from the stars after all but instead were cooked up in the nebula<br />that surrounded the infant Sun and its forming planets....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_669_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />ALL EYES ON PLUTO<br /><br />On the evening of July 19th, when Pluto and Charon pass in front of a<br />12th-magnitude star, the track for Pluto itself sweeps directly across<br />South America. However, the exact path is uncertain. Only in 1985 and 1988<br />has Pluto been seen to cover a star, and only in 1980 has Charon done<br />so....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/objects/planets/article_612_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />A RARE LOOK AT A DYING STAR<br /><br />On Thursday European astronomers released an image taken by the Hubble<br />Space Telescope that shows a dying star, 10,000 light-years away,<br />surrounded by one of the most elongated planetary nebulae ever seen.<br />Looking like a tube pinched in the middle, the nebula designated Henize<br />3-401 represents a short-lived phase -- perhaps lasting only a few<br />thousand years -- as the star evolves into a white dwarf.<br /><br />The dark area around the pinch includes a ring or disk of obscuring dust.<br />The whole object is tilted with its left side slightly closer to us,<br />allowing us to see past the near edge of the ring to the central star....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_666_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />NAKED-EYE SUNSPOT<br /><br />A giant sunspot complex is marching across the Sun's face this week, much<br />to the delight of avid skywatchers. The spot group is so large it is<br />visible without magnification -- all you need to see it is a sunny day and<br />a safe solar filter....<br /><br />The spot group, designated active region 10030 by the U.S. National<br />Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is one of the largest of<br />the current solar cycle. It features a complex, twisted magnetic field and<br />has spawned numerous solar flares, including a very energetic ("X-class")<br />flare....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_665_1.asp<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY<br /><br />* Watch the sky for aurora. A good display of northern lights may occur<br />between the 19th and 21st; aurora may be visible for observers in<br />mid-northern latitudes.<br />* Venus is brilliant and low in the western sky at twilight.<br />* Hawaiians can watch the Moon occult a 2.9-magnitude star on July 21st.<br />* Full Moon is on July 23rd.<br /><br />For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/<br /><br />=========================================================================<br /><br />Copyright 2002 Sky Publishing Corp. S&T's Weekly News Bulletin is provided<br />as a free service to the astronomical community by the editors of SKY &<br />TELESCOPE magazine. Widespread electronic distribution is encouraged as<br />long as our copyright notice is included, along with the words "used by<br />permission." But this bulletin may not be published in any other form<br />without written permission from Sky Publishing; send e-mail to<br />permissions@SkyandTelescope.com or call +1 617-864-7360. More astronomy<br />news is available on our Web site at
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/.<br /><br />========================================================================
