Jan 9 2003
From The Space Library
U.S. Representative William L. Jenkins (R-TN) announced that NASA had awarded East Tennessee State University a grant valued at US$363,310 to study light patterns of stars located hundreds of light-years away. The award would grant researchers of the university's physics and astronomy department access over the next five years to data from COBE~ the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite. The scientists would use the COBE data to study the infrared variability of asymptotic giant branch stars, “older stars with shells of gas and dust around them.” During its mission in 1989 and 1990, the COBE satellite had surveyed the sky on 10 infrared wavelengths, observing the cosmic backlight of the universe, as well as asymptotic giant branch stars. Although astronomers in the field had conducted significant research on the backlight data, they had done little with COBE's infrared data on the stars. (Sam Watson, “NASA Grant To Fund ETSU Study of Stars,” Johnson City Press (TN), 9 January 2003.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
