Jun 27 2001
From The Space Library
An international team of astronomers led by Kailash C. Sahu of the Space Telescope Science Institute reported the discovery of what appeared to be planet-like celestial bodies clustered around a group of 10 million stars some 8,500 light-years from Earth. The team had used the HST to make their discovery, which formed the basis of their hypothesis that the strong gravitational force of the dense star cluster might have pulled the quasi-planets away from their parent stars. The researchers’ article in Nature prompted both skepticism and praise. Stephen P. Maran, an American Astronomical Society spokesperson, summarized the reason for the excitement surrounding the find: “If it is confirmed, the finding suggests there is something big here that we don’t understand.” In addition, Sahu’s research team reported that they had observed six microlensing events during their study, thereby focusing the attention of the scientific community on Albert Einstein’s theory of microlensing~ that the gravity of a celestial body can bend the light of a more distant object, thereby acting as a magnifying glass for space exploration. (Kailash C. Sahu et al., “Gravitational Microlensing by Low-Mass Objects in the Globular Cluster M22,” Nature 411, no. 6841 (28 June 2001): 10221024; Kathy Sawyer, “A Dim Discovery in a Bend of Light; Celestial Orbs Detected Through Microlensing May Hold Clues to Stars’ Birth,” Washington Post, 28 June 2001.)
John F. Yardley, who had worked at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, serving as the Launch Operation Manager for the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft and the Technical Director for the Gemini program before joining NASA in 1974, died at the age of 76. NASA had awarded Yardley its Public Service Medal in 1963 and in 1966 for his work on the Mercury and the Gemini. From 1981 to 1989, Yardley had been President of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin called Yardley “as responsible as any individual for getting the Space Shuttle Program off the ground. (NASA, “John F. Yardley, Human Space Flight Pioneer, Dies,” news release 01-130, 27 June 2001; Wolfgang Saxon, “John Yardley, 76, Dies; Had Central Role in Space Flight,” New York Times, 28 June 2001.)
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