Hans.Moravec@CMU-RI-ROVER@sri-unix.UUCP (09/15/83)
n537 0304 13 Sep 83
BC-SCIBRIEFS-09-13
(c) 1983 Boston Globe (Independent Press Service)
Astronomers have made three key discoveries this summer on stars and
their companions, in addition to the much-heralded discovery of a
possible solar system around the star Vega, according to a report in
Science News. And the Vega finding was independently confirmed by
University of Texas astronomer Paul M. Harvey, using a telescope
aboard a NASA-operated jet.
Three astronomers from the U.S. Naval Observatory report that they
have made precise measurements showing that two other stars have
relatively small companions orbiting them. The scientists used
measurements of the ''wobble'' in the motion of two dim stars, called
VB8 and VB10, to deduce the existence of companions around those
stars.
And one of the Naval Observatory astronomers, Robert Harrington,
also reported strong evidence that might help resolve a 20-year
controversy about whether a Jupiter-sized giant planet is in orbit
around Barnard's Star. According to Harrington, his data show clearly
that Barnard's Star does not have a giant companion.
---
Six months after a fertilized, previously frozen embryo was
implanted in an Australian woman, her pregnancy ended in miscarriage.
There has not yet been a successful pregnancy involving a frozen
human embryo.
An Australian research team led by Dr. Alan Trolunson reported that
a streptococcal infection led to a stillbirth at 23 weeks. Studies
showed the fetus was a girl, whose tissues all appeared normal,
according to the scientists.
Manipulation of living embryos - including freezing them and
splitting them to obtain twins - is now routine in animals such as
cattle, pigs, and sheep. Frozen embryos can be stored for years.
Scientists expect these techniques will be equally applicable to
human embryos.
---
After being lifted 19 miles high by a balloon, and then dropped, the
Galileo Jupiter Probe successfully passed a test simulating part of
its mission into the atmosphere of the solar system's largest planet.
The test, carried out high above the California desert, essentially
duplicated the spacecraft's entry through the outer fringes of
Jupiter's deep, thick atmosphere, according to officials at NASA's
Ames Research Center.
The probe will be launched in 1986, and will be released in 1988
when the spacecraft carrying it reaches Jupiter.
The main Galileo vehicle will stay in orbit around Jupiter. If all
goes as planned, the craft will use the gravitational pull from
Jupiter's largest moons to visit each in turn, taking close-up photos.
*******************