Jul 28 1968
From The Space Library
JPL astronomers Dr. Richard M. Goldstein and Dr. Shalhav Zohar had located and mapped three rugged sectors on northwest face of Venus using Goldstone Tracking Station's 210-ft antenna. Beta, most clearly defined, appeared roughly circular with 150-mi dia and 17,000- sq-mi area. Two other irregular features almost as large had appeared on radar map which covered triangular area of estimated 160,000 sq mi, equal to area of northeastern U.S. Dr. Goldstein inclined to theory that prominences were mountains, but he had not yet been able to measure their heights. "We know these features are permanent," he said "because they have appeared on all our tests" for past six years. (JPL Release BB-483)
German scientist Dr. Otto Hahn, who had won 1944 Nobel Prize for chemistry for his 1938 discovery of nuclear fission, died at Goettingen, Germany, of heart failure at age 89. He had been consistent opponent of use of atomic weapons, urging scientists to concentrate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (UPI, W Post, 7/29/68, B4)
July 28-August 3: Australian astronomers using Mills Cross antenna array at Univ. of Sydney had detected first two pulsars to be found in southern sky. They brought to nine total pulsars discovered to date. Pulse rates of once every 0.56 and 1.96 sec were similar to all others, which ranged between 0.25 and 2 sec. Cornell Univ. astronomer, Dr. Yervent Terzian, had observed that two-second pulse rate made it appear unlikely that pulsating neutron stars could account for the signals. Calculations indicated that, if they were quivering, or "ringing" like bell, it should be at much shorter intervals than those observed. Pulse rates were more compatible, he said, with proposal that they emanated from white dwarfs, "cinders" of stars that had consumed their nuclear fuel but were larger and less dense than neutron stars. (Sullivan, NYT, 8/8/68, 30)
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