Science News of the Year: 1998
Back to Science News of 1998
Astronomy
- Rather than slowing down, the universe appears to be expanding at an
ever-increasing rate (Jan. 3, vol. 153: p. 4*; March 21,
vol. 153: p. 185; May 30, vol. 153: p. 344; Oct. 31, vol. 154: p. 277). The landmark
finding ties together elements of a cosmic portrait that has emerged over the past decade
(Dec. 19 & 26, vol. 154: p. 392*).
- A torrent of gamma rays from a nearby star pointed to the existence
of magnetars, the most highly magnetized stars postulated in the universe (Sept. 12, vol. 154: p. 164*).
- Staring down a corridor 12 billion light-years long, the Hubble Space
Telescope dramatically increased the number of galaxies that scientists can study (Nov.
28, vol. 154: p. 343).
- Astronomers detected several of the most distant galaxies known (May
2, vol. 153: p. 280; Oct. 10, vol. 154: p. 228*; Nov.
7, vol. 154: p. 296). They also discovered some 15 distant galaxies whose images are
greatly magnified by gravitational lenses (Dec. 19 & 26, vol. 154: p. 389).
- After finding several hundred distant galaxies, astronomers began to
identify patterns in the distribution of visible matter in the early universe (Feb. 7,
vol. 153: p. 92).
- Astronomers discovered several planets belonging to nearby, sunlike
stars, bringing to 16 the known number of such orbiting bodies (June 27, vol 153: p. 405*; July 11, vol. 154: p. 22;
Sept. 26, vol. 154: p. 197*; Dec. 5, vol. 154: p. 362).
Theorists puzzled over the formation and evolution of these planets (Aug. 8, vol. 154: p. 88*).
- Radio and infrared images suggested that three nearby stars may be in
the throes of forming a solar system (April 25, vol. 153: p.
260*). The thinning, hollowed-out disk of dust surrounding the star Epsilon Eridani
bears the most striking resemblance to the early solar system (Aug. 8, vol. 154: p. 91). A
close stellar partnership may hasten the birth of planets (Oct. 10, vol. 154: p. 239).
- Simulations indicated that half the ordinary matter in the cosmos
remains hidden because it radiates at hard-to-detect wavelengths (June 20, vol. 153: p.
390).
- The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which will encompass 1 million galaxies
in the nearby universe, got under way (June 13, vol. 153: p. 375).
- Astronomers made progress in understanding the origin of gamma-ray
bursts and the energy they unleash (Feb. 21, vol. 153: p. 118; May 9, vol. 153: p. 292*; May 23, vol. 153: p. 326).
- Observations of a newly discovered supernova remnant indicated that
the explosion from which it arose was the nearest one to Earth during the past 1,500 years
(Nov. 14, vol. 154: p. 309).
- Eleven years after astronomers witnessed supernova 1987A, a shock
wave from that cataclysm began ramming into a surrounding ring of gas (Feb. 14, vol. 153:
p. 100).
- Planetary scientists added to the evidence that water once flowed
freely on Mars (Feb. 7, vol. 153: p. 84).
- NASA began making plans to carry to Earth bits of Martian rock and
soil by 2008 (April 25, vol. 153: p. 265*). Geophysical
energy on the Red Planet may have powered the evolution of a modest population of
microorganisms, perhaps too small for any remains to be detectable now (Aug. 29, vol. 154:
p. 135). Two studies chipped away at the likelihood that an Antarctic meteorite contains
fossils of ancient Martian life (Jan. 24, vol. 153: p. 54).
- Astronomers discovered circularly polarized light in a nearby
star-forming region, which could explain why life on Earth uses only left-handed amino
acids and right-handed sugars (Aug. 1, vol. 154: p. 68).
- New findings lent support to the notion that Jupiter's moon Europa
had, and might still harbor, an underground ocean (Jan. 3, vol. 153: p. 11; March 7, vol.
153: p. 149). Callisto, the outermost of Jupiter's four large moons, may also possess an
ocean beneath its icy surface (Nov. 7, vol. 154: p. 296).
- A spacecraft gathered the best evidence so far of frost deep within
craters at the moon's north and south poles (March 14, vol. 153: p. 166; Oct. 10, vol.
154: p. 239).
- Two giant storms on Jupiter merged (Sept. 5, vol. 154: p. 150).
- Planetary scientists constructed the first accurate,
three-dimensional map of the north polar region of Mars (Dec.
12, vol. 154: p. 373*).
- For the first time, cosmologists harnessed enough computing power to
simulate the action of gravity on matter over a huge volume of space, beginning 1 billion
years after the Big Bang (July 4, vol. 154: p. 11).
- Spacecraft observations homed in on activity at the surface of
neutron stars, testing a key prediction of Einstein's general theory of relativity (July
4, vol. 154: p. 11; Nov. 14, vol. 154: p. 318).
- Astronomers found stronger evidence that the Milky Way's core
contains a black hole as massive as 2.6 million suns (Jan. 24, vol. 153: p. 59).
- Voyager 1 became the most distant spacecraft in the solar system
(March 7, vol. 153: p. 152).
- The orbiting X-ray observatory ROSAT ended its mission (Dec. 12, vol.
154: p. 379).
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