Scientific Observations
“A few fortunate astronomers investigate
cosmic rays or the solar system. All other
astronomers must construct stories about
objects with which they can have no direct
contact, things like stars and galaxies that can’t
be manipulated, isolated, or made the subject
of experiment. This sets astronomers apart
from most other scientists, who can thump on,
cut up, and pour chemicals over their objects
of study. In this sense, astronomy is a lot more
like paleontology than it is like physics. Trying to tell the story of a galaxy
is like trying to reconstruct a dinosaur from bits of fossilized bone. We will
never have the galaxy or dinosaur in our laboratory, and must do guesswork
based on flimsy, secondhand evidence.” — ASTRONOMER FREDERICK CHROMEY OF VASSAR
COLLEGE IN HIS 2010 BOOK TO MEASURE THE SKY
SN Online
www.sciencenews.org
BODY & BRAIN
Some people who can’t feel
pain also can’t smell anything. See “Who felt it not,
smelt it not.”
ATOM & COSMOS
Laser beams could save
satellites from debris damage. See “Laser proposed
to deflect space junk.”
EARTH
Severe winds and high
waves have become faster
and taller worldwide. Read
“Global gale warning.”
Science Past | FROM THE ISSUE OF APRIL 22, 1961
RUSSIAN FIRS T MAN IN SPACE — The Russians put the
first man in orbit and returned him safely. A Soviet Air
Force major, father of two, has circled the earth in 89.1
minutes, and come back, the official Russian news agency Tass reported. The
height of the orbit varied from 110 to 188
miles. Maj. Yuri Gagarin, 27, landed at
2:55 EST, April 12, without suffering any
harm.… The Soviet success in orbiting
and recovering a man from space means
that they can get a man on the moon in four or five years,
and probably will. The best the United States can hope
to do is get an American to the moon in 1971, according
to an estimate by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
Science Future
May 6
Eta Aquarid meteor shower
peaks before dawn. Go to
earthsky.org/tonight for info.
May 6
The ;rst female “private space
explorer” speaks at Pittsburgh’s
Carnegie Science Awards. See
www.carnegiesciencecenter.org
May 15
Deadline to submit photos of
“chemistry in our drinks” to the
Colors of Chemistry calendar
competition. Find out more at
colorsofchemistry.org
The (-est)
Astronomers have spotted the brightest example yet of one type of superbright
supernova. The stellar explosion (below), dubbed Supernova 2008am, hit a peak
luminosity nearly 100 billion times as bright as the sun before fading off, making
its glow 100 times that of run-of-the-mill supernovas. Given the explosion’s
characteristics, the most probable explana-
tion for the über-radiance is that the light
comes from a blast wave created as super-
nova ejecta collide with a dense shell of
material thrown off sometime before the
explosion, Emmanouil Chatzopoulos of the
University of Texas at Austin and col-
leagues report in the March 10 Astrophysi-
cal Journal.
LIFE
An Amazonian fish carries
seeds far from home. Read
“Fruit-eating fish does far-flung forestry.”
Earth 255 K
Sun
5,785 K
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: STANLEY GOLDBLATT; ©SCIENCE/AAAS; E. FELICIANO; D. PERLEY & J. BLOOM/W.M. KECK OBSERVATORY
Certain wasps may fling
ants away when vying for
food. See “Wasps airlift
annoying ants.”
Water’s
boiling point
Failed stars called
brown dwarfs are
known to be relatively
cold, but a newly
discovered dwarf glows
at about 370 kelvins,
near the temperature
of boiling water.
Science Stats
CHILLY STARS
Cosmic
temperatures
SOURCE: M.C. LIU E T AL/
ASTROPHYSICAL J. 2011
Temperature in kelvins
Typical brown
dwarf range
600– 1,400 K
New brown
dwarf (CFBDSIR
J1458+1013B)
370 K
