NASA Daily News Summary
For Release: Jan. 13, 2000
Media Advisory m00-009


SUMMARY:


LONE BLACK HOLES DISCOVERED ADRIFT IN THE GALAXY

CHANDRA RESOLVES X-RAY GLOW INTO MILLIONS OF OBJECTS

Video File for Jan. 13, 2000

Live television: PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS FOR EARTH-MAPPING SHUTTLE MISSION SET FOR
JAN. 21



****************************


LONE BLACK HOLES DISCOVERED ADRIFT IN THE GALAXY

     Two international teams of astronomers using NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope and ground-based     telescopes in Australia and Chile
have discovered the first examples of isolated stellar-mass black
holes adrift among the stars in our galaxy.

Full text: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-004.txt


NASA Headquarters contact: Donald Savage (Phone:  202/358-1547)

Space Telescope Science Institute contact: Ray Villard (Phone:  410/338-4514)

------

CHANDRA RESOLVES X-RAY GLOW INTO MILLIONS OF OBJECTS

     While taking a giant leap toward solving one of the greatest
mysteries of astronomy, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory also may
have revealed the most distant objects ever seen in the Universe
and discovered two puzzling new types of cosmic objects. Chandra has resolved
most of the X-ray background, a pervasive glow of X-rays throughout the
Universe, which was first discovered in the early days of space exploration.
Before now, scientists have not been able to discern the origin of the hard,
or high-energy, X-ray background, because until Chandra no telescope has had the
technology to resolve it.

Full text: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-010.txt

NASA Headquarters contact: Donald Savage (Phone:  202/358-1547)

Goddard Space Flight Center contact: Bill Steigerwald (Phone:  301/286-5017)

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics contact: Dr. Wallace Tucker (Phone:
617/496-7998)

---------

Video File for Jan. 13, 2000


Video File for Jan. 13, 2000


Item 1 - Black Hole Passes in front of Star

Item 2 - An Expanding Bubble in Space

Item 3 - Chandra Observations Explain X-Ray Glow

Item 4 - STS-99 TCDT Pad Q&A (replay at 3 pm)

Item 5- First images from FUSE satellite (GSFC) (replay)

Item 6 - TRMM - Improving Tropical Rainfall Forecasts (GSFC) (replay)

Item 7 - New Shuttle Stamp - KSC (replay)

 **********************************************************************

Item 1 - Black Hole Passes in front of Star

Item 1a - Black Hole
Two teams, using ground-based    telescopes and HST, discovered the first
examples of isolated stellar mass black holes in our galaxy. The black holes
were detected indirectly by the way their gravity bends, or lenses, the light of
a more distant star behind them. Hubble image taken on 6/15/99, right panel,
pinpointed the lensed star from another star in the field. in the left panel are
the ground-based observations.
TRT - :20
Video Courtesy NASA

Item 1b - Adrift in a sea of stars
Lone black holes were discovered adrift in the galaxy. The following images
show these discoveries.
TRT - :20
Video Courtesy NASA

Contacts: Don Savage and Ray Villard



Item 2 - An Expanding Bubble in Space
Astronomers, using a camera on the HST, now understand the complex
geometry and dynamics of the Bubble Nebula, NGC7635 System. The
spherical bubble is the boundary between an intense wind of particles from
the star and the quieter interior of the nebula.  Hubble captured the images in
October and November 1997 and April 1999.
TRT - :19
Video Courtesy NASA
Contacts: Don Savage and Ray Villard



Item 3 - Chandra Observations Explain X-Ray Glow
Synopsis: While taking a giant leap towards solving the greatest
mystery of X-ray astronomy, NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory also may
have
revealed the most distant objects ever seen in the Universe and discovered
two puzzling new types of cosmic objects.
TRT - 8:25

ITEM 3a THE 37-YEAR MYSTERY OF THE X-RAY GLOW - ANIMATION

Scientists have known about the X-ray glow, called the X-ray background,
since the dawn of X-ray astronomy in the early 1960s.  For the first time,
scientists have been able to unravel a key mystery of whether the X-ray
background came from distinct objects or was diffuse radiation from hot,
intergalactic gas.  The spaceborne Chandra X-ray telescope has resolved
that the glow is made up of millions of discrete sources stretched across
the sky.


ITEM 3b TWO NEW TYPES OF OBJECTS DISCOVERED - ANIMATION

Observations showed that nearly one third of the sources are galaxies whose
cores are very bright in X rays yet emit virtually no optical light from
the core. The observation suggests that these "veiled galactic nuclei"
galaxies may number in the tens of millions over the whole sky. They almost
certainly harbor a massive black hole at their core that produces X rays as
the gas is pulled toward it at nearly the speed of light.


ITEM 3c FARTHEST OBJECTS EVER OBSERVED? (HST DEEP FIELD)

A second new class of objects, comprising approximately one-third of the
background, is assumed to be "ultra-faint" galaxies. These sources may emit
little or no optical light, either because the dust around the galaxy
blocks the light totally or because the optical light is eventually
absorbed during its long journey across the Universe.  In the latter
scenario, these sources would be well over 14 billion light years away and
thus the earliest, most distant objects ever identified.    The sources
would even farther away than the galaxies captured in this "Deep Field"
sequence by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.


ITEM 3d CHANDRA X-RAY DATA

Stretched across the entire sky, this would account for approximately 70
million sources, most of which would be identified with galaxies. Their
analysis confirms that a significant fraction of the X-ray background
cannot be due to diffuse radiation from hot, intergalactic gas.


ITEM 3e THE HUNT FOR OPTICAL SOURCES (B-ROLL AND
ANIMATION)

Scientists are searching for the optical counterparts to the newly
discovered X-ray sources with the powerful Keck telescope atop Mauna Kea,
Hawaii, and the Hubble Space Telescope in hopes of determining their
distance.


ITEM 3f CHANDRA ANIMATION

Animation of the spaceborne Chandra X-ray Telescope.


ITEM 3g INTERVIEW EXCERPTS

Richard Mushotzky
Astronomer
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD

Item 4 - STS-99 TCDT Pad Q&A (replay at 3 pm)

HQ Contact:  Dwayne Brown 202/358-1726

Center Contact:  Joel Wells 321/867-2468


ITEM 5 - First Images From The FUSE Satellite (GSFC)  TRT 10:00

The FUSE spacecraft is observing the intestellar lifeblood of galaxies.
The extended halo of half-million-degree gas that surrounds the Milky Way
was generated by thousands of exploding stars, or supernovae, as our galaxy
evolved, according to new observations by NASA's Far Ultraviolet
Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft.

Since stars destined to explode don't live long, compared to stars  like
our Sun, star explosions are actually a record of star formation.  By
comparing supernova generated halos among galaxies, researchers hope to be
able to compare their star formation histories.

Video shows the extended halo of gas created by these explosions.

HQ Contact:  Don Savage 202/358-1727

Center Contact:  Wade Sisler 310/286-6256


ITEM 6 - TRMM - Improving Tropical Rainfall Forecasts (GSFC)  TRT 2:00

New research shows that the accuracy of tropical three-day rainfall
forecasts can be improved as much as 100% by combining existing forecast
models with satellite rainfall data.  The research could be particularly
valuable in the prediction of hurricane behavior and rain accumulation.

Video shows, Hurricanes Floyd and Irene (September 1999) and TRM animation.
Using the new "super-ensemble" forecasting techniques, the following
visualizations compare September's collected one-day forecasts to the
collected daily observations of actual rainfall.  This new forecasting
technique is a major improvement over earlier methods.  The tropics are
notoriously hard for daily precipitation predictions; in this
representation the overall forecasting trend through time is more
significant than precise matching of the rainfall areas depicted by the
color map shown.

HQ Contact:  Dave Steitz  202/358-1730

Center Contact:  Wade Sisler 310/286-6256


ITEM 7 - New Shuttle Stamp - KSC   TRT TBD

Video of the new stamp which the Post Office and NASA unveiled at the
Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center, FL at 11 a.m. eastern time on 1/1/00.

HQ Contact:  Kirsten Williams 202/358-0243

Center Contact:  Lisa Malone 321/867-2468



****************************

Live Television:


PREFLIGHT BRIEFINGS FOR EARTH-MAPPING SHUTTLE MISSION SET FOR JAN. 21

     A series of background briefings on the upcoming Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission, designed to map up to 80% of the Earth's
populated surface in 11 days, will be held on Friday, Jan. 21, at
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX. The mission, designated STS-99, also
is designed to produce unrivaled three-dimensional images of the world.

Full text: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/2000/n00-001.txt

Headquarters contact: Kirsten Williams  (Phone:  202/358-0243)

Johnson Space Center contact: Eileen Hawley (Phone:  281/483-5111)

****************************

Unless otherwise noted, ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN.

ANY CHANGES TO THE LINE-UP WILL APPEAR ON THE NASA VIDEO FILE
ADVISORY ON
THE WEB AT ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/tv-advisory/nasa-tv.txt
WE UPDATE THE ADVISORY THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

The NASA Video File normally airs at noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m.
and midnight Eastern Time.

NASA Television is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85 degrees
West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency is on 3880.0
megahertz, with audio on 6.8 megahertz.

Refer general questions about the video file to NASA Headquarters,
Washington, DC: Ray Castillo, 202/358-4555, or Elvia Thompson,
202/358-1696, elvia.thompson@hq.nasa.gov

During Space Shuttle missions, the full NASA TV schedule will
continue to be posted at:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html

For general information about NASA TV see:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/


*****************************


Contract Awards

Contract awards are posted to the NASA Acquisition information
Service Web site: http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/award.html


*****************************


The NASA Daily News Summary is issued each business day at
approximately 2 p.m. Eastern time. Members of the media who wish
to subscribe or unsubscribe from this list, please send e-mail
message to:

Brian.Dunbar@hq.nasa.gov


*****************************

end of daily news summary