Dec 11 1973
From The Space Library
Mariner 10, NASA'S two-planet probe launched Nov. 3 to-ward Venus and Mercury, had discovered that the gas remnants of the exploding star Gamma Velorium in the Gum Nebula were twice as hot as scientists had expected, the Washington Post reported. Instruments aboard the spacecraft had detected ultraviolet radiation from the nebula so intense that it corresponded to temperatures as high as 56 000 K (100 000°F), suggesting that some stars were undergoing even more violent nuclear reactions than expected. Dr. Bruce Murray, California Institute of Technology scientist, was surprised that so old a nebula was still radiating any detectable heat. The discovery might be "the start of a whole new field of astronomy. . . . Never before have we been able to detect interstellar radiation associated with this temperature range." (O'Toole, W Post, 12/11/73, A10)
Radio signals from Comet Kohoutek, racing toward a Dec. 28 pass behind the sun were picked up by scientists using the Kitt Peak, Ariz., radio telescope, NASA reported. It was the first strong evidence of radio emissions-produced by electrically excited molecules of methyl cyanide, a gas previously observed in the region of the Milky Way where new stars were formed-from any comet and the first evidence that methyl cyanide molecules existed in comets. The press quoted a Goddard Space Flight Center spokesman as saying, "Comet Kohoutek appears to be bringing a sample of the distant interstellar matter into the solar system for the first time." (UPI, W Post, 12/12/73, A23)
Appointment of Capt. Clyde T. Lusk, Jr. (USCG), as Acting Director of the newly created Office of Transportation Energy Policy in the Dept. of Transportation was announced by Secretary of Transportation Claude S. Brinegar. Myron Miller would be Acting Deputy Director. (DOT Release 82-73)
A Wall Street Journal editorial commented on Comet Kohoutek: "The mind can only boggle at how little we still really know about the universe where comets like Kohoutek may number in the billions. Reflecting on this may not lead to any change in our conduct here on earth anymore than the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1910 seems to have significantly improved earthly conduct. But the implications of Kohoutek, and of the scientific void into which it will soon return, are reminders of the cosmic scope of man's environment." ( WSJ, 12/11/73)
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