========================================================================<br /> * * * SKY & TELESCOPE's WEEKLY NEWS BULLETIN - October 25, 2002 * * *<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 />DARK MATTER GETS A REALITY CHECK<br /><br />Most of the matter in the universe truly is invisible, as astronomers have<br />long been saying, according to a new result from the Chandra X-ray<br />Observatory. Chandra has found evidence of dark matter exerting gravity in<br />a way that cannot be accounted for by any other explanation -- not even by<br />modifying the law of gravity itself, as some physicists have suggested....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_776_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />WHY IS SATURN TIPSY?<br /><br />Ever since Galileo likened Saturn to a round disk with handles,<br />astronomers have benefited from the fact that the ringed giant's spin axis<br />is angled a dramatic 27 degrees with respect to its orbit. But planet<br />building should not naturally lead to such a pronounced tilt --<br />neighboring Jupiter, for example, is tipped merely 3 degrees. Dynamicists<br />don't have a ready explanation. It would have taken an implausibly large<br />impact to tip Saturn over, and even if Saturn's core came together<br />spinning at an angle, the piling on of gas from the solar nebula would<br />have yielded a fairly straight-up rotation.<br /><br />William R. Ward (Southwest Research Institute) and Douglas P. Hamilton<br />(University of Maryland) think they've finally cracked the secret of<br />Saturn's tilt....<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_772_1.asp<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />ASTRO NEWS BRIEFS<br /><br />New Infrared Camera for Palomar 200-Inch Telescope<br /><br />The California Institute of Technology recently attached a new digital<br />infrared camera on its 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory in<br />hopes of detecting galaxies created soon after the Big Bang. The panoramic<br />camera, complete with a $350,000 sensor manufactured by Rockwell<br />Scientific, will operate at 2048 x 2048 pixel resolution. The camera<br />produced a "leap in capability -- a factor of 64 increase in survey speed<br />at a single stroke," for the Hale telescope, says Richard Ellis, director<br />of Caltech optical observatories.<br /><br />The Hale telescope, finished in 1948, is the oldest of its size and<br />continues to make significant contributions to scientific research. With<br />the addition of the new camera, Hale's focus will continue to be on the<br />expanding universe, which causes distant galaxies to speed away from the<br />Earth, shifting their once-visible light to the infrared portion of the<br />spectrum.<br /><br />>
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_768_1.asp<br /><br />========================================================================<br />HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS WEEK'S SKY<br /><br />* Saturn appears below the moon this evening (the 25th). The two will<br />cross the sky together for the rest of the night.<br />* Daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, October 27th. Clocks<br />will "fall back" an hour.<br />* The red long-period variable star W Lyrae should be at its maximum<br />brightness (8th magnitude) later this week.<br />* The last-quarter Moon is very early on Monday, October 28th.<br />* On the weekend of November 2-3, minor planet 431 Nephele passes in<br />front of the magnitude 5.9 star Z.C. 593 in Taurus, the Bull. This is a<br />fine occultation for observers in the northeastern United States.<br /><br />For details, see This Week's Sky at a Glance and Planet Roundup:<br /><br />> http<br />://SkyandTelescope.com/observing/ataglance/<br /><br />========================================================================<br />TIME MARCHES ON (Advertisement)<br /><br />Here are just a few of the calendars now available from Shop at Sky:<br /><br />SKY & TELESCOPE's Celestial Wonders Calendar<br />> http<br />://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=85<br /><br />Year in Space Desk Calendar<br />> http<br />://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=86<br /><br />Astronomical Calendar<br />> http<br />://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=88<br /><br />SKY & TELESCOPE's Skygazer's Almanac<br />> http<br />://SkyandTelescope.com/campaigns.asp?id=87<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<br />@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 />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br /><br />To change your address, unsubscribe from S&T's Weekly News Bulletin, or<br />subscribe to S&T's Skywatcher's Bulletin, which calls attention to<br />noteworthy celestial events, go to this address:<br /><br />>
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