ASTRONOMY NEWS & LINKS
© Susanne Weimer
HIGHLIGHTS 1999
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000   1998 1997
 
December 1999
Dec 22 [ESO] 100.000 galaxies in a single picture. New observations with the ESO 'Wide Field Imager'.
Dec 17 [ESO] NGC 6397: First detailed spectra of white dwarf stars in a globular cluster.

[JPL] Galileo observes massive volcanic eruption on Io.

Dec 15 [ESO] VLT: Fourth 8.2-m Zerodur mirror for the Very Large Telescope successfully polished. Best astronomical mirror in the world.
Dec 10 [ESA] Successful launch of European x-ray satellite XMM.
Dec 03 [ESO] VLT: Third 8.2-m mirror successfully coated and installed at MELIPAL.
Dec 01 [STScI] A swarm of glittering stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (Hubble Heritage Project).
 
November 1999
Nov 24 [STScI] Massive gas clouds seed milky way with star stuff.
Nov 23 [spaceViews] STS-103: Launch of Discovery (Hubble Servicing Mission) delayed until Dec. 9.
Nov 22 [STScI] Ultra-luminous infrared galaxies: strong evidence for multiple collisions.
Nov 18 [NASA] International Space Station: New problems with batteries.
Nov 17 [JPL] Jupiter's history may be much older and colder than previously believed.

[ESO] First Images from FORS2 at VLT KUEYEN on Paranal.

[JPL] Deep Space 1 mission status: Safe mode due to star tracker problem.

Nov 16 [Harvard] 3C295: x-ray observation of explosion in core of giant galaxy.
Nov 15 [spaceViews] Failure of 4th gyro - Hubble space telescope in safe mode.
Nov 12 [ESA] Green light for XMM launch on 10 December.
Nov 09 [STScI] The trifid nebula: radiation from massive star disrupts star forming region.
Nov 04 [STScI] NGC 2207: A grazing encounter between two spiral galaxies (Hubble Heritage Program).

[ESA] ISO sees the golden age of galaxy formation.

[JPL] The Prometheus volcano on Io has characteristics remarkably similar to those of the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii.

Nov 03 [NASA] Evidence of the first known planet orbiting a pair of stars.
Nov 02 [spaceViews] STS-99: Shuttle launch delayed to February 11.
 
October 1999
Oct 30 [JPL] Mars Polar Lander spacecraft successfully fired its thrusters to fine-tune its flight path.
Oct 29 [NASA] Swift: NASA selects a mission to rapidly locate gamma-ray burst sources.
Oct 27 [NRAO] Radio observations reveal formation region of giant cosmic jet near the central black hole in M87.

[MPG] Debris from a shattered galaxy discovered in the Sun's Backyard.

Oct 26 [STScI] Hubble identifies extremely hot blue stars as source of ultraviolet light in M32.

[spaceViews] Station maneuvers to avoid space junk.

Oct 25 [Harvard] Cen A: Extended x-ray jet in nearby galaxy reveals energy source.
Oct 24 [NASA] Galileo sees new detail in a lava field on Io.
Oct 22 [NASA] Closest-ever picture of volcanic moon Io released.
Oct 20 [CfA] A dusty ring may be the tell-tale mark of an emerging planetary system.
Oct 19 [STScI] Hubble: The "Rotten Egg" nebula - a planetary nebula in the making.
Oct 15 [Cornell] New infrared camera and adaptive optics (AO) system for the 200-inch Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory.

[NASA] Galileo completes daring Io flyby.

Oct 14 [NASA] The next two missions in NASA's MIDEX program: the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer and the Full-sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer FAME.
Oct 13 [ESO] NGC 3603: Lots of small stars born in starburst region.

[UT Austin] New efforts to find evidence of water on the moon came up dry.

Oct 11 [NASA] Galileo succeeds in historic flyby of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.
Oct 07 [RAS] Puzzle of cometary orbits hints at large undiscovered object.

[ESO] Computer animation of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA).

Oct 06 [STScI] Hubble: Starry central bulges yield secrets to galaxy growth.
Oct 05 [ESO] Successful "First Light" for VLT high-resolution spectrograph UVES.

[ESA] SOHO's new software works perfectly - scientists and engineers overjoyed.

 
September 1999
Sep 30 [JPL] Sulfuric acid found on the frozen surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

[JPL] Mars Climate Orbiter team finds likely cause of loss.

Sep 29 [STScI] Hubble observes the turbulent birthing process of massive stars in the 30 Doradus Nebula.

[Keck] Largest explosions in universe may come from death of massive stars.

Sep 28 [ESA] SOHO gets new, more robust computer software.
Sep 23 [JPL] Mars Climate Orbiter is believed to be lost.
Sep 17 [ESO] Recent VLT progress.
Sep 16 [STScI] Hubble spies giant young star clusters near galactic core.

[NAOJ] Three new images from the SUBARU telescope: ring nebula M57, Subaru Deep Field and a distant radio galaxy.

Sep 10 [RAS] Black Holes may supply up to half the universe's energy output.
Sep 02 [STScI] Hubble: Hickson Compact Group 87 - a minuet of Galaxies (Hubble Heritage Project).
 
August 1999
Aug 30 [RAS] Fine Leonid meteor displays predicted through to 2002.

[Harvard] Second Chandra instrument activated.

Aug 25 [JPL] Mars Polar Lander to arrive on smooth, layered terrain.
Aug 24 [STScI] Hubble: "Southern Crab Nebula" - a symbiotic star blows bubbles into space
Aug 18 [ESO] Faintest methane brown dwarf discovered.

[NASA] Cassini/Huygens successfully completed a highly accurate pass of Earth.

Aug 16 [NASA] NASA's Galileo spacecraft survived an unexpected whopper dose of radiation.
Aug 15 [NASA] NGC 3516: X-rays from iron atoms as direct evidence for accretion into the central black hole.
Aug 13 [ESO] VLT: Wonders of Active Optics.
Aug 12 [STScI] Hubble: Close-orbiting gas giant planets may be swallowed by their parent stars.

[NASA] NEAR engine burn puts spacecraft on target for Eros.

Aug 07 [NASA] Chandra status report: Chandra is now in its planned orbit.
Aug 05 [JPL] Auroral lights on Io reveal secrets of Jovian moon's atmosphere.

[RAS] New instrument (Fast Track Imager) added to UK infrared telescope in Hawaii.

 
July 1999
July 31 [NASA] The Lunar Prospector mission ended on July 31 when the spacecraft slammed into a deep crater near the south pole of the moon.
July 30 [ESO] 1183-262 - Watching the birth of a galaxy cluster?

[Keck] Possible hydrocarbon seas found on Saturn's moon Titan. --- see also: CNN report.

[JPL] Deep Space 1 mission status: problems with camera during asteroid flyby.

July 29 [ESO] Iota Hor - Extrasolar giant planet in Earth-like orbit.

[McMaster] Two new moons around Uranus.

[spaceViews] MIR cosmonauts make final spacewalk.

July 28 [Florida Today] Deep Space 1 set to fly by asteroid 9969 Braille on July 29.
July 27 [Berkeley] Alpha UMa: Star quakes from a nearby cool star.

[spaceViews] Most near-Earth asteroids still undiscovered.

July 26 [NASA] Chandra status report: Three week checkout of Chandra's science equipment begins.

[spaceViews] Deep Space 1 asteroid gets a name: Braille.

[NASA] The partial lunar eclipse on July 28 poses a hazard to Lunar Prospector.

July 23 [spaceViews] MIR cosmonauts complete unsuccessful spacewalk.
July 22 [JPL] 1998 KY26 - a fast-spinning, water-rich asteroid.
July 21 [NASA] Preparations for Lunar Prospector's impact into a permanently shadowed crater in search of water.
July 20 [ESO] The "Vanishing Star" NN Serpentis: a hot white dwarf and a cool red dwarf in a binary star system.
July 19 [NASA] Sudden slowdown of a rapidly spinning neutron star is due to a massive starquake.

[spaceViews] Progress docks with MIR.

[spaceViews] ISS air makes astronauts sick.

July 18 [NASA] Chandra status report: Operations continue on schedule for launch.
July 17 [spaceViews] ABRIXAS satellite declared a failure.
July 16 [NASA] XRayTelescope.com - a new website about Chandra and x-ray astronomy.
July 15 [STScI] Hubble: Cosmic collisions - european HST scientists catch merging galaxies in the act.
July 09 [NASA] Chandra status report: launch date set to July 20.
July 02 [ESO] Unique infrared SOFI images of Barnard 68 probe the very first stages of star formation.
July 01 [STScI] Hubble images a swarm of ancient stars.
 
June 1999
June 30 [STScI] Hubble: A closer encounter with Mars.
June 29 [ESO] Comet Hale-Bopp - still enormous! New images from the New Technology Telescope at La Silla.
June 25 [NOAO] First high-resolution images from the new Gemini North Observatory.

[ESA] Cassini/Huygens successfully completed its second flyby of the planet Venus.

June 24 [RAS] Venus assists Cassini on its space odyssey to Saturn.
June 10 [STScI] Hubble: A butterfly-shaped "Papillon" nebula yields secrets of massive star birth.
June 03 [STScI] Hubble: Magnificent details in a dusty spiral galaxy.
June 02 [STScI] Hubble picture adds to planet-making recipe.

[MPG] Jupiter's moon Ganymede surrounded by an impact-generated dust cloud.

[NASA] Lunar Prospector shall impact near the lunar south pole.

June 01 [STScI] Hubble Snapshot Captures Life Cycle of Stars.

[NRAO] Radio astronomers set new standard for accurate cosmic distance measurement.

 
May 1999
May 25 [STScI] Hubble completes eight-year effort to measure expanding universe.
May 19 [STScI] Hubble: Colossal cyclone swirls near Martian north pole.
May 13 [STScI] Hubble: Natural lenses in space stretch Hubble's view of the universe.
May 07 [AAO] Brown dwarfs may have weather patterns with winds, clouds and storms.
May 06 [STScI] Hubble: Ring around a galaxy.
 
April 1999
Apr 28 [AIP] 20:30 UTC: Launch of ABRIXAS !
Apr 27 [NASA] Further launch delay of Chandra x-ray telescope.
Apr 20 [STScI] Hubble clicks images of Io sweeping across Jupiter.
Apr 16 [STScI] Hubble shoots the Moon.

[spaceViews] Cosmonauts complete MIR spacewalk.

Apr 15 [Berkeley] Upsilon Andromedae - the first "solar system" outside our own. --- see also: [CfA] Multiple planets discovered.
Apr 14 [NASA] Millisecond x-ray variations of Cen X-3 indicate x-ray bubbles on the neutron star surface.

[NASA] Pulsars more complicated than previously thought.

[NASA] ISS status report 99-15: Preparations for Discovery's arrival next month.

Apr 13 [CfA] High-energy x-rays from "quiet" supermassive black holes in the centers of the oldest, largest galaxies.

[NASA] A new class of 'middleweight' black holes of 100 - 10.000 solar masses in spiral galaxies.

Apr 12 [NWU] First observational evidence for "hypernova" explosion.
Apr 08 [NASA] More about the 700-year-old supernova explosion in front of the Vela SNR. --- see also: [MPG] Discovery (November 1998)
Apr 07 [JHU] FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) will test Big Bang theory.

[ESO] VLT: First photos of stars and galaxies with UT2 (KUEYEN). - Astronomical observations with UT1 (ANTU) have started.

Apr 06 [JPL] Seven of the 12 advanced technologies onboard Deep Space 1 completed testing.
Apr 05 [NASA] Eight years after the start of the Compton Gamma Ray observatory: Answer to Gamma Ray Bursts remains elusive.
Apr 04 [Berkeley] The "spiral star" WR 104: Interferometric technique shows a Wolf-Rayet binary star with a spiral dust tail.
Apr 02 [JHU] FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) Status Report: On the way to Cape Canaveral.

[spaceViews] Soyuz launches Progress cargo ship to MIR.

Apr 01 [STScI] Multiple generations of stars in the Tarantula nebula (Hubble Heritage Project).

[NASA] First science results from the Leonids Sample Return Mission.

 
March 1999
Mar 29 [STScI] Huge spring storms rouse Uranus from winter hibernation.
Mar 26 [NASA] GRB 990123: Analysis of a gamma ray burst.

[spaceViews] Moon around asteroid Eugenia discovered.

Mar 25 [NOAO] Kitt Peak observations of the GRB 990123 afterglow

[JPL] Galileo spacecraft finds hydrogen peroxide on Europa.

Mar 23 [CSIRO] Big Bang theory challenged. Large numbers of stars may be living unseen in the space between the galaxies.
Mar 19 [ESO] Photo of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 4945 with the new 67-million pixel Wide-Field-Imager Camera at La Silla.
Mar 18 [STScI] Hubble's Infrared Galaxy Gallery

[NASA] ISS status report 99-11: Analysis of antenna problem, successful rendezvous system test.

Mar 17 [CalTech] Earth's water probably didn't come from comets
Mar 16 [Berkeley] Challenge to cosmologists: Detailed simulation of the cosmic microwave background as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) will see it.

[NASA] Lunar Prospector data support idea that the Moon formed after a collision of Earth with a Mars sized object.

Mar 11 [STScI] GRB 990123: Hubble images of the rapidly fading visible-light fireball from the most powerful gamma ray burst to date.

[ESA] Go-ahead for the development of instruments for two major ESA space observatories, Planck and FIRST.

Mar 10 [Caltech] Do magnetic holes originate in the corona?

[NASA] NASA plans an early servicing mission to Hubble Space Telescope in October.

Mar 09 [NASA] Forecasting coronal mass ejections, powerful solar explosions, several days in advance may now be possible.
see also: New tool for predicting solar explosions.
Mar 06 [ESO] VLT Unit Telescopes named. - First light for UT2. - Sharpest image with UT1.
Mar 05 [NASA] 20 years ago today, the first magnetar was observed.

[spaceViews] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): Spacecraft in trouble, may be lost.

Mar 04 [STScI] Asteroid streak in Hubble image (Hubble Heritage Project).
Mar 03 [OhioU] The center of the Andromeda galaxy: Elliptical orbits around black hole may be explanation for the double cores.

[NASA] Mining iron on Mars to energize exploration base.

Mar 02 [AAO] The largest map of the universe: so far the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey has pinpointed 30 000 galaxies.

[NASA] Scientists look ahead at a future solar telescope to study solar flares.

[NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): Launch abort on March 01.

 
February 1999
Feb 28 [spaceViews] MIR: Soyuz returns two cosmonauts to Earth.
Feb 27 [ESO] The VLT Opening Symposium in Antofagasta on 1-4 March 1999.
Feb 25 [STScI] Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars provide further evidence for water-bearing minerals on the planet's surface.

[ESO] On Paranal First Light approaches for the VLT UT2 telescope.

Feb 23 [NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): Description of the mission. Launch scheduled for March 1.

[JHU] NEAR entered safe mode on Feb 23, 1999.

Feb 22 [NASA] Chandra: Astronomers plan X-ray measurements of galaxy clusters for a new measurement of the Hubble Constant.

[JPL] Mars Global Surveyor ready to begin full mapping mission within the next two weeks.

[spaceViews] Soyuz TM-29 docked with MIR.

Feb 19 [NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): 10 days until launch. The cryostat is full of hydrogen!
Feb 18 [STScI] NGC 1316: Hubble finds more evidence of galactic cannibalism.

[ESO] The making of the Milky Way Halo. The VLT watches a dissolving stellar cluster.

[MPE] Tests and calibrations of the ABRIXAS flight model finished at MPE's PANTER test facility.

Feb 12 [Caltech] ACE: The Solar Wind Ion Mass Spectrometer (SWIMS) measured the isotopic composition of sulfur in the solar wind.

[MPE] The last days of ROSAT.

[NASA] Final tests for the Chandra x-ray telescope.

[ESO] New wide-angle photos of the VLT UT1 on Paranal.

Feb 11 [NASA] GRB 990123 - one of the most powerful cosmic explosions: Hubble photograph of the fading optical counterpart.

[NASA] NASA's High Resolution X-ray Spectrometer (XRS) delivered to Japan for installation into Astro-E.

Feb 10 [CfA] FAME (Full-Sky Astrometric Mapping Explorer) will map stars and search for hidden companions.
Feb 09 [NASA] FiberGLAST - Tests prove new gamma-ray telescope design.

[STScI] Vast stellar disks set stage for planet birth. -- see also: [NASA] Stellar nurseries for baby planets.

Feb 08 [JHU] NEAR spacecraft reveals major features of Eros.
Feb 07 [JPL] Stardust successfully launched!
Feb 06 [JPL] Stardust launch rescheduled for February 7, 1999 21:04 UT
Feb 05 [H.B.] What are the numerical values of the Cosmological Parameters?

[spaceViews] MIR: Znamya space mirror experiment fails.

Feb 04 [STScI] SN1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud (Hubble Heritage Project)

[JPL] Galileo spacecraft finds thin atmosphere on Callisto.

[NASA] Chandra X-ray observatory arrives at Kennedy Space Center. - and - [Business Wire] TRW ships NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory to Kennedy Space Center.

[ESO] Third 8.2-m VLT mirror arrives safely at Paranal.

[JPL] Mars Global Surveyor successfully completes aerobraking and will soon begin its mapping mission.

[spaceViews] MIR: Znamya test delayed by deployment problems.

Feb 03 [ESA] SOHO finds source of high-speed "wind" blowing from the Sun . - see also: Release of the Max Planck Society

[IAU] The status of Pluto: a clarification. Pluto is no minor planet.

[JHU] FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) Status Report: The satellite moved from vacuum chamber to cleanroom at Goddard.

[ESA] For the second time in six months, engineers have revitalised ESA's "Orbiting Solar Observatory" SOHO.

[JPL] Stardust mission set to bring back a piece of comet Wild-2.

[RAS] Astronomers voice concerns about space mirrors.

Feb 02 [ESO] Discovery of a Lithium rich giant star in a 2 billion year old stellar cluster.
Feb 01 [AP] MIR: Huge mirror will reflect a beam of sunlight over Earth. - see also: "Znamya" unique experiments open new perspective in space.
 
January 1999
Jan 30 [spaceViews] Speculation about MIR's future continues.
Jan 29 [JPL] Stardust scheduled for launch on Delta rocket Feb. 6

[NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): 29 days until launch. The spacecraft is on the Pegasus rocket!

Jan 28 [MPG] New radio map of galaxy NGC 1097. Magnetic fields visualize the gas streams into the central black hole.

[NASA] Lower Lunar Prospector orbit to provide unprecedented close-up views of Moon's features.

Jan 27 [Stanford] Inflationary universe: Did the universe begin as a fractal instead of a big bang?

[NASA] GRB 990123: Robotic telescope captures visible light from Gamma Ray Burst during the explosion.
see also: This week's gamma-ray blast is the latest in a 30-year tale of cosmic discovery.

[NASA] Chandra: Problems with PC boards of command and telemetry unit. Testing extended by one week.

Jan 26 [ESO] Video Clip about ISAAC at the VLT.
Jan 22 [JPL] Stardust Status Report

[spaceViews] Russian government extends life of MIR.

Jan 21 [NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer): 36 days until launch.
Jan 20 [NASA] ISS status report 99-03: No problems.

[NASA] Delay in shipment of Chandra observatory.

[JHU] FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) Status Report: Optical testing completed.

Jan 19 [NASA] WIRE (Wide-Field Infrared Explorer) is at the launch site.
Jan 17 [spaceViews] Lunar Prospector extended mission in 30 km orbit delayed.
Jan 15 [NASA] Supernova and gamma-ray burst most likely not related.

[ESO] La Silla: First Light with a 67-Million-Pixel Camera

[JPL] Cassini status report: Back from safe mode. Checkout of onboard instruments

Jan 14 [Business Wire] Chandra X-ray observatory (AXAF) completed.

[NASA] Capillary X-ray optics will expand the window on the high-energy universe

[ESO] New Photographs from the Paranal Observatory

Jan 13 [RAS] X-ray observations of galaxy groups and clusters show that galaxies must have formed before clusters.
Jan 12 [spaceViews] Nozomi Mars arrival delayed until December 2003.
Jan 11 [AAO] Puzzling quasar with a giant starburst.
Jan 09 [UW] Extrasolar planets favor stars with overabundance of heavy elements.

[spaceViews] Two more extrasolar planets: HD 195019 and HD 217107.

[NRAO] VLA observation of a cosmic jet collision with nearby material.

[CfA] Type Ia Supernova SN 1998bu in M96: Expansion rate of the universe estimated to be 64 km/s/Mpc.

[CfA] NStars - The Nearby Stars Project will map all stars within 65 lightyears.

Jan 08 [LSU] Strange nebula around variable star UW Centauri changes its shape faster than should be possible.

[NRAO] Rotating disk around young, massive star.

[STScI] New evidence for planets around other stars

[NRAO] VLBA observations of SiO show details of gas motions in the outer atmosphere of the variable star TX Cam.

[NASA] Gamma ray bursts show distinctive patterns in color-color diagram.

[STScI] DRAO radio images show mushroom-shaped cloud of atomic hydrogen bursting over 1000 light-years out of the disk of the Milky Way.

[CfA] First results from SWAS: large amounts of water in the interstellar medium.

[ESO] Catherine Cesarsky - ESO's next director general.

[Cornell] NEAR: How a computer fix at Cornell enabled a troubled spacecraft to take images of an asteroid.

Jan 07 [U.Maine] Aquarius Supercluster, a dense filament of clusters, hints to new class of superclusters that may be under gravitational collapse.

[STScI] Combined deep view of infrared and visible light galaxies.

[NASA] "Bursting Pulsar" GRO J1744-28 provides clues to pulsing mechanism.

[CU] "Missing" pulsars within supernova remnants may be magnetars, slowly spinning neutron stars.

[NRAO] VLA observation of "bubbles" in M87 may influence theory of x-ray emission in galaxy clusters.

[Berkeley] High redshift supernovae: Stretching of the light curves provide direct evidence for an expanding universe.

[Hawaii] NEP Supercluster much larger than anticipated. X-ray observations reveal additional clusters.

[CfA] Low-mass white dwarfs? Possible new class of stars seen in center of a globular cluster.

Jan 06 [STScI] Ring Nebula M57 (Hubble Heritage Project).

[Hawaii] Ghost Galaxies: galaxies made almost entirely of dark matter may outnumber luminous galaxies.

[Yale] Superflares on sun-like stars.

[Berkeley] Dark matter: Faint dark halo around nearby galaxy (NGC 5907) contains "weird" population of dwarf stars.

[Berkeley] New infrared interferometer techniques yield unprecedented detail of dust envelopes around stars both young and old. -- see also: Keck release

[ISU] Galactic collisions more common than previously thought.

[NOAO] New galaxy discovered in the Local Group.

[NASA] ISS status report 99-01: No major activities.

[AP] Russian cosmonaut to stay aboard Mir for extra stint.

Jan 05 [Berkeley] Mars Microphone on the way to the Red Planet.
Jan 03 [JPL] Mars Polar Lander successfully launched on Jan. 03.

[JHU] NEAR: Major engine burn completed.
see also: NASA's Space Science News


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© Susanne Weimer (info at astrophys.net) - Last update: February 02, 2000