Apr 15 2004
From The Space Library
In a newly released survey, U.S. federal government employees ranked NASA as the best place to work in the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management had collected the data during a 2002 survey of federal employees, and the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation had produced the rankings. According to the survey, in eight out of 10 categories related to employment satisfaction, federal employees had ranked NASA first ~ federal employees had ranked NASA as the best place to work for women, for racial minorities, and for individuals under 40 years of age. (Stephen Barr, “NASA Soars to Top of Satisfaction Ratings Among Various Workers,” Washington Post, 16 April 2004.)
Astronomers announced the first successful use of a new technique to discover a planet outside of the solar system. Astronomer Ian Bond of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and his team of researchers had used a technique called gravitational lensing to identify a star located 17,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The gravitational lensing technique entailed the observation of increases in the brightness of the light of distant stars, caused by the gravitational fields of stars closer to Earth. The astronomers made these observations when a star nearer Earth passed before the lens of a telescope on Earth, between the telescope and a more distant star. When this occurred, the nearer star's gravity caused the light of the more distant star's light to become brighter, so that the distant star became more visible to astronomers on Earth. (“Thomas H. Maugh II, “Distant Planet Spotted Around the Bend,” Los Angeles Times, 16 April 2004.
Sirpa Häkkinen of NASA's GSFC announced that a research team had discovered changes in the North Atlantic Ocean indicating significant changes in the ocean's climate. Using data from several NASA and European satellites, the researchers had found a dramatic weakening in a particular current in the ocean, which circulates water between Ireland and Canada. The change in the current indicated substantial climate variability in high-latitude areas, but the research remained uncertain of whether or not the change related to global warming. However, the scientists emphasized that the North Atlantic Ocean region is key for analyzing climate and that changes in the ocean's current could influence the circulation of the entire Atlantic Ocean system. (NASA, “Satellites Record Weakening North Atlantic Current,” news release 04-130, 15 April 2004; Sirpa Häkkinen and Peter B. Rhines, “Decline of Subpolar North Atlantic Circulation During the 1990s,” Science 304, no. 5670 (23 April 2004): 555-559.
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