Date: 1-31-01
EXPLORATIONS#1937 - Space Digest
By Jill Moss, Paul ThompsonVOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about how the Hubble Telescope is being used to answer questions about distant galaxies. We tell about Russian plans to bring the Mir Space station back to Earth. And we tell about what may be the largest object ever discovered in the universe.
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VOICE ONE:
Scientists in the United States have discovered two more planetary systems in the universe. They reported their discovery at the meeting this month of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, California.
Scientists Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley, and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington made the discovery. They used the Keck telescope in Hawaii and the Lick Observatory in California. They describe the new planetary systems as both historic and a little frightening.
VOICE TWO:
The closest of the new systems is fifteen light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels over one year �about nine-and-one-half million-million kilometers.
That means this new planetary system is about one-hundred-forty-million-million kilometers from Earth. In this system, two planets are locked in an orbit around a small star. However, scientists say the planets' orbits are not normal.
It takes one planet sixty-one days to orbit the star. The other planet can circle the star in just thirty days. Scientists say the inner planet goes around the star two times faster than the outer planet. The scientists say the planets are helping each other keep in their orbits.
VOICE ONE:
The other planetary system is one-hundred-twenty-three light years away from Earth. One planet orbiting a star has more than seven times the mass of Jupiter. The two scientists say another object orbiting the same star has at least seventeen times the mass of Jupiter. Jupiter has more than three-hundred times the mass of Earth.
Mr. Marcy says the huge size of this object is greater than what is usually considered a planet. Yet, the object is orbiting its star just as a normal planet would.
Mr. Marcy says scientists thought they understood the sizes of planets that orbit stars. He said they thought they understood planets. Now, he says they are not so sure.
Mr. Marcy says if this object is really a planet, it is the biggest one ever discovered. He suspects, however, that it could be a weak, failed star known as brown dwarf. Or, it could be a type of space object that has never been observed before.
VOICE TWO:
Even huge planets are too small to be seen directly. So to discover new planets, scientists have to study stars in suspected planetary systems. The scientists must measure how much change there is in the path of a star. This shaking movement usually is caused by the gravitational pull of planets.
Discovering the amount a star shakes can help scientists find the size of its planets. This was how Mr. Marcy and Mr. Butler were able to make their discovery. Since Nineteen-Ninety-Five, the two scientists have discovered thirty-eight of the fifty-three planets found around stars in the universe.
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VOICE ONE:
Russian space officials say an unmanned transport ship successfully docked with the Russian space station Mir on Saturday. The transport ship will help the space station leave its orbit. Mir has been in space for fifteen years. Officials say it is time for it to return to Earth. The target date now is March Sixth.
The fuel on the transport ship will be used to fire small rockets to push the Russian space station out of its orbit. Mir then will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. During its re-entry, Mir is expected to break into thousands of small pieces and burn up.
Russian officials have promised to carefully control the Mir's fall. The spacecraft weighs more than one-hundred-twenty tons and is likely to drop more than three-hundred-twenty kilometers from space. Russian engineers expect parts of the space station to land in the Pacific Ocean far from any land area.
Russian space officials control Mir from a center in Korolev. They plan to use computers to direct Mir back to Earth. The officials are also considering a plan that would send cosmonauts into space to help guide the Mir back to Earth.
VOICE TWO:
The launch of Mir in Nineteen-Eighty-Six was considered a historic event. After the Soviet Union ended in Nineteen-Ninety-One, however, many problems developed with the space station. The most serious incident happened in Nineteen-Ninety-Seven. A supply ship crashed into Mir's science laboratory. The accident opened at least two holes in the station. The crew had to cut Mir's power in half to repair the space station.
Russian officials announced in November that they would bring Mir down. They said the cost to keep it in space was too high. The officials also said the development of the International Space Station was more important.
Mir has set a number of space records. Even today the Russian people are loyal to the spacecraft. A recent study found that more than sixty percent of people questioned believe Mir should remain in orbit. But, Russian space experts have made their decision. Nothing, they say, can last forever.
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VOICE ONE:
The Hubble Space Telescope is being used to help answer a question about distant galaxies. Astronomers want to know why the galaxies have extremely unusual shapes. Galaxies that are much closer to Earth appear round or egg shaped.
The astronomers say the main question is�do these distant galaxies really have unusual shapes or do they just look unusual? The galaxies may look unusual because astronomers can only see their brightest parts. An incomplete picture of these distant galaxies may be reaching Earth.
VOICE TWO:
Experts say another problem may be the distance that light must travel to reach telescopes here. Light from the far away galaxies travels millions and millions of light years to reach Earth. Researchers say that the light is stretched during this trip because space is expanding. As a result, some of the light can no longer be seen clearly. The light becomes infrared. Scientific instruments are less able to record this infrared light. Researchers say that studying these distant galaxies is like trying to put together an object with some of the pieces missing.
VOICE ONE:
Scientists have studied thirty-seven galaxies that are closer to Earth. They want to see what the galaxies look like. They will compare the shapes of these galaxies with ones that are thousands of millions of light years away. Cameras on the Hubble Space Telescope are gathering information for the study.
Early results of the study already show that researchers are only seeing a small part of the very distant galaxies. These findings were presented at the meeting this monthof the American Astronomical Society.
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VOICE TWO:
The question of safety has delayed the planned January Nineteenth launch of the Space shuttle Atlantis.
Space agency officials delayed the launch because of concerns about some of the shuttle's electrical equipment. The huge shuttle was taken from the launching area back to the building where repair work is done.
The work was completed Thursday. Early Friday morning the space shuttle began the slow trip back to the launching area. Workers in the launch area immediately began preparing Atlantis for a space flight on February Seventh.
Atlantis is to be launched from Cape Kennedy for a trip to the International Space Station.
VOICE ONE:
Atlantis will carry the United States Destiny Laboratory into orbit. The crew of the Atlantis will then link the Destiny Laboratory with the International Space Station.
The Destiny Laboratory is more than eight meters long and more than four meters around. Destiny also has a more than fifty centimeter round window.
This special window has been placed on one side of Destiny, near the center. It will permit Space Station crewmembers to see and photograph Earth and space.
Destiny has been designed to provide astronauts in the future with materials for their different scientific experiments. The laboratory will be carrying material for five experiments. Others will be taken to the laboratory later.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Jill Moss and Paul Thompson, and produced by Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Holly Capehart. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/