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Article: THE SEARCH FOR VULCAN NASA HOPES TO FINISH SOMETHING STARTED IN MADISON IN THE 19TH CENTURY.(DAYBREAK)
- Article from:
- The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)
- Article date:
- November 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Capital Newspapers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: JAY RATH FOR THE STATE JOURNAL
In 1878, UW-Madison's first director of astronomy found the planet Vulcan. Then he lost it.
In March, NASA will set out to see if he was right.
This is the 125th anniversary of the UW's Washburn Observatory (see sidebar). In its many decades of service, it pioneered photoelectric astronomy, measured unseen dust between stars, proved that the Milky Way was half the size as once thought, and that the Andromeda Galaxy was twice as large as believed. But in its first years, the primary mission was to find Vulcan.
This is not the Vulcan of Mr. Spock and "Star Trek," but in 1915, Albert Einstein proved ...