PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet DIGEST, 15 March 1999
---------------------------
(1) ROSETTA LANDER UNVEILED
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(2) OUR LITTLE RELATIVES ARE LOST IN SPACE
The Sydney Herald, 13/03/99
(3) SOME STILL DON'T GET IT: THE DUMBING DOWN OF US SCIENCE
REPORTING
The Washington Post, 10 March 1999
(4) HEINRICH LAYERS AND ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE
S.R. Hemming et al., LAMONT DOHERTY EARTH
OBSERVATORY
(5) NEW RESEARCH ON EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANICS
M.P. Bernstein et al., NASA, AMES RES CTR
================
(1) ROSETTA LANDER UNVEILED
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
ESA Science News
http://sci.esa.int
11 Mar 1999
Rosetta Lander unveiled
A full size model of the Rosetta lander was presented to the
public for
the first time today. The unveiling ceremony took place at the
Institute for Space Simulation in Cologne-Porz, a facility
operated by
the German Aerospace Research Centre (Deutschen Zentrums f=FCr
Luft-
und Raumfahrt or DLR).
Dignitaries present at the press conference included the German
Parliamentary State Secretary, Wolf-Michael Catenhusen, and DLR
Chairman, Professor Walter Kroell.
Also available to answer questions from the press were ESA
Project
Scientist Gerhard Schwehm, DLR lander project manager Stephan
Ulamec,
and lander lead scientist Helmut Rosenbauer from the
Max-Planck-Institut
fuer Aeronomie.
"The Rosetta lander will play a key role in our
investigation of Comet
Wirtanen," said Dr. Schwehm. "It will provide ground
truth about the
nucleus which will complement the orbiter's measurements of the
comet's composition, surface and subsurface conditions."
The box-shaped Rosetta lander measures approximately 1 metre
across
and 80 cm in height. The flight version will be attached to the
side of
the Rosetta orbiter during the journey to Comet Wirtanen, then
soft land
on the surface of the icy nucleus. Data from the lander will be
relayed
back to Earth via the orbiter.
The structural and thermal model of the lander presented at the
meeting
will be used for vibration and thermal tests. These are needed to
ensure
that the probe will survive the hazards of shaking during launch
and
extreme temperature variations during its 9-year-long voyage to
the
comet.
USEFUL LINKS FOR THIS STORY
More about Rosetta
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta
DLR website
http://www.dlr.de/
Rosetta lander website
http://roland.mpae.gwdg.de/
Rosetta lander instruments
http://www.estec.esa.nl/spdwww/rosetta/html/science.html
================
(2) OUR LITTLE RELATIVES ARE LOST IN SPACE
The Sydney Herald, 13/03/99
http://www.smh.com.au:80/news/9903/13/text/national15.html
By RICHARD MACEY
Almost 70 years after the discovery of Pluto, Australian
astronomers
have started hunting for new planets lurking on the outer limits
of our
solar system.
"It is conceivable we could find an object similar to Pluto
in size and
even further from the Sun," said Dr Michael Ashley, of the
University
of NSW's School of Physics.
The sun's ninth and last known planet, Pluto, was discovered in
1930 by
an American astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh.
The new search, led by Professor Dave Jewitt, of the University
of
Hawaii, and supported by scientists from the universities of NSW
and
Melbourne, is using the relatively small automated patrol
telescope at
Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran.
FULL STORY at
http://www.smh.com.au:80/news/9903/13/text/national15.html
==============
(3) SOME STILL DON'T GET IT: THE DUMBING DOWN OF US SCIENCE
REPORTING
From The Washington Post, 10 March 1999
http://www.washingtonpost.com:80/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/10/165l-031099-idx.html
Pluto: What It Is
By Stephen P. Maran
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, March 10, 1999; Page H05
"What is Pluto anyway?" a perplexed person asked me
recently. "Is it a
planet or not?" Her confusion was only natural, given the
recent spate
of news items, editorial cartoons and statements by scientists
and
their organizations.
The controversy began in January when Brian G. Marsden, head of
the
Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union
(IAU),
proposed designating Pluto as "minor planet" (or
asteroid) No. 10,000.
In his view, it fits that definition best (sic). But others felt
this
designation would by implication remove Pluto from the
traditional
planetary Big Nine.
Stephen P. Maran is assistant director of space sciences for
information and outreach at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt. Opinions expressed are his own.
FULL STORY at
http://www.washingtonpost.com:80/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/10/165l-031099-idx.html
==================
(4) HEINRICH LAYERS AND ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE
S.R. Hemming*), W.S. Broecker, W.D. Sharp, G.C. Bond, R.H.
Gwiazda,
J.F. McManus, M. Klas, I. Hajdas: Provenance of Heinrich layers
in core
V28-82, northeastern Atlantic: Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of ice-rafted
hornblende, Pb isotopes in feldspar grains, and Nd-Sr-Pb isotopes
in
the fine sediment fraction. EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS,
1998,
Vol.164, No.1-2, pp.317-333
*) LAMONT DOHERTY EARTH OBSERV,RT 9W,PALISADES,NY,10964
Several correlatable layers of sediment, rich in ice rafted
grains,
have been documented in the North Atlantic. The most notable
within the
last glacial cycle are the Heinrich layers, layers extremely rich
in
ice rafted detritus and generally barren of foraminifera within
the
North Atlantic ice rafted detritus (IRD) belt. The view of these
layers
is that they represent events where great armadas of icebergs
were
launched into the North Atlantic. The importance of the Heinrich
layers
lies in their connection with abrupt climate change in the North
Atlantic, and perhaps globally. There is a growing number of
published
provenance studies of the Heinrich layers in the North Atlantic,
based
on a variety of methods. However, there is little overlap of
methods
applied to the same samples. In this contribution, we present a
multi-component provenance study of Heinrich layers H1, H2, H4
and H5
from core V28-82 in the eastern North Atlantic. Our results
indicate
that virtually the entire inventory of terrigenous elastic
detritus in
Heinrich layers H2, H4 and H5 came from ancient continental
sources
surrounding the Labrador Sea. Although Heinrich layer H1 is
similar in
many respects, it appears to have some significant differences
relative
to the other three. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
==================
(5) NEW RESEARCH ON EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORGANICS
M.P. Bernstein*), S.A. Sandford, L.J. Allamandola, J.S. Gillette,
S.J.
Clemett, R.N. Zare: UV irradiation of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons
in ices: Production of alcohols, quinones, and ethers. SCIENCE,
1999,
Vol.283, No.5405, pp.1135-1138
*) NASA,AMES RES CTR,MAIL STOP 245-6,MOFFETT FIELD,CA,94035
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water ice were exposed
to
ultraviolet (UV) radiation under astrophysical conditions, and
the
products were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy and mass
spectrometry.
Peripheral carbon atoms were oxidized, producing aromatic
alcohols,
ketones; and ethers, and reduced, producing partially
hydrogenated
aromatic hydrocarbons, molecules that account for the
interstellar 3.4-
micrometer emission feature. These classes of compounds are all
present
in carbonaceous meteorites. Hydrogen and deuterium atoms exchange
readily between the PAHs and the ice, which may explain the
deuterium
enrichments found in certain meteoritic molecules. This work has
important implications for extraterrestrial organics in
biogenesis.
Copyright 1999, Institute for Scientific Information Inc.
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