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Article: Knocking on heaven's door. (orbiting observatories)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- January 27, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 All rights reserved. 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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Ever since Galileo turned the first telescope skyward in 1609, each improvement in astronomical instruments has uncovered phenomena that sparked new questions about the violent forces shaping the universe. Last week was no exception: Scientists at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Atlanta presented more than 80 papers, trying to explain the recent flood of data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's two huge orbiting observatories, the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory and the partly crippled Hubble Space Telescope.
Compton has been flying only since April, but its early results have already touched off a debate about a mysterious cosmic ...