NASA Daily News Summary
For Release:  April 26, 2000
Media Advisory m00-83


SUMMARY


NEWS RELEASES:

COSMOLOGISTS REVEAL FIRST DETAILED IMAGES OF EARLY UNIVERSE



VIDEO

No Video File today due to launch of Space Shuttle Mission STS-101
at 3:27 pm

During the Space Shuttle Mission, see
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/nasatv/schedule.html
for the latest television schedule


LIVE TELEVISION EVENT



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NEWS RELEASES


COSMOLOGISTS REVEAL FIRST DETAILED IMAGES OF EARLY UNIVERSE

     An international team of cosmologists has released the first
detailed images of the universe in its infancy.  The images reveal
the structure that existed in the universe when it was a tiny
fraction of its current age and 1,000 times smaller and hotter
than it is today.  Detailed analysis of the images is already
shedding light on some of cosmology's outstanding mysteries -- the
nature of the matter and energy that dominate intergalactic space
and whether space is "curved" or "flat."  The project, dubbed
BOOMERANG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic
Radiation and Geophysics), obtained the images using an extremely
sensitive telescope suspended from a balloon that circumnavigated
the Antarctic in late 1998.  The balloon carried the telescope at
an altitude of almost 120,000 feet (37 kilometers) for 10 1/2
days. The results will be published in the April 27 issue of
Nature.

More information on and images of BOOMERANG can be found at:
http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/~boomerang/

More information on the NASA Scientific Balloon Program can be
found at:
http://www.wff.nasa.gov/pages/scientificballoons.html

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Dolores Beasley
(Phone: 202/358-1753).
Contact at National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA:  Amber
Jones (Phone: 703/306-1070).

For full text, see:
ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2000/00-067.txt



----------------------------


If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will e-
mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 2000 NASA News Releases:
http://www.nasa.gov/releases/2000/index.html

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:
http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html



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


VIDEO


LIVE TELEVISION LIVE TELEVISION EVENT


BOOMERANG NEWS BRIEFING: SATELLITE CHANGE

     Due to the launch delay of STS 101, the BOOMERANG science
briefing, scheduled for 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 26 will not be
carried live on NASA Television.  Instead the briefing will be
broadcast live on the KU-band GE3 satellite, transponder 17,
horizontal polarization, frequency 12040 MHz, audio 6.2 and 6.8
MHz.

     Images from the briefing will be on the satellite at 1:55
p.m. EDT and immediately following the news briefing.

     Media who wish to listen to the briefing on the telephone can
call toll-free: 800/369-1775; passcode: Boomerang.  The phone
lines will open at 1:45 p.m. EDT and will be open through the
duration of the news briefing.  A live webcast of the briefing
will be available on:

                   
Home Page


     Reporters may attend the briefing at the James E. Webb
Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St., SW, Washington, DC.
There will not be question-and-answer capability from NASA
Centers.

     BOOMERANG (Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic
Radiation and Geophysics) obtained the first detailed images of
the early universe using an extremely sensitive telescope
suspended from a balloon that circumnavigated the Antarctic for 10
1/2 days during December 1998 and January 1999.

     The BOOMERANG project is supported by NASA, the National
Science Foundation and the Department of Energy in the United
States; by the Italian Space Agency, the Italian Antarctic
Research Programme and the University of Rome La Sapienza in
Italy; and by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
in the United Kingdom.  The 36 team members come from 16
universities and organizations in the United States, Italy, United
Kingdom and Canada.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC:  Dolores Beasley
(Phone: 202/358-1753).
Contact at National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA:  Amber