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Article: Astronomy: Look, Ma, No Telescope: The Cosmos in a Box.(creation of database of astronomy photographs aids research)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- December 31, 2001
- Author:
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Byline: Sharon Begley
Gerhard Hahn didn't have time for telescopes this summer. He wanted to calculate the orbit and then the size of an icy little space rock just beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, the solar system's maternity ward for comets. But 2001 KX76, as the hunk was affectionately named, had been discovered only in May. The subsequent few months' worth of telescope images didn't give Hahn nearly enough data to calculate what he needed. His obvious option was discouraging: taking new images would put off any eureka moments by years. So Hahn, an astronomer at the German Aerospace Center, got virtual. Running a computer program called Astrovirtel that scans ...