Jan 8 1998
From The Space Library
Astronomers announced that pictures from a new camera on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) supported the theory that a new planet was forming around Beta Pictoris. Images focusing on the disc (the halo of dust and gas rotating around the star) revealed that, instead of a smooth flow, one quadrant has a large bulge, indicating the orbital path of a planet that could be many times larger than Jupiter. No actual planet was visible in the images, only the effects of its gravitational pull. Nevertheless, this was the strongest evidence to date in visible light, of the presence of a possible planet. Beta Pictoris is younger (20 million to 100 million years old compared to the Sun's 4.5 to 5 billion years) and about eight times brighter than the Sun. The formation of planets around a young star suggested that planets form very early in the life of a solar system.
NASA named current Director of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Joseph H. Rothenberg to head its Office of Space Flight, which oversees the Human Exploration and Development of Space Enterprise, which includes the Shuttle program and the planned International Space Station (ISS). Rothenberg replaced Wilbur C. Trafton, who had announced his resignation in November 1997. The Office of Space Flight accounted for about 40 percent of NASA's US$13.6 billion annual budget. Rothenberg was the first Director of the Office of Space Flight who had no experience in military aviation, the astronaut corps, the Space Shuttle, or management of the space station program. However, he had a strong background in engineering and astronomy. Rothenberg was closely involved in planning and using the HST and had worked as a space engineer at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). NASA named Alphonso V. Diaz to succeed Rothenberg at GSFC.
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