Word: solarized
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This property has Bahcall and other physicists speaking in superlatives about S.N.O., because it will allow the device to solve one of the enduring mysteries of astrophysics. Known as the solar neutrino problem, it was discovered back in the 1960s. According to calculations originally made by Bahcall, the nuclear fusion reactions at the sun's core should be generating about 200 trillion trillion trillion electron neutrinos every second. But when physicists set out to find them, they were shocked to see evidence of only about a third that number. Among the possible explanations: perhaps scientists didn't understand nuclear physics...
Patrick S. McIntosh '62, who is now retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Environment Lab and is continuing to do solar physics research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, says he was among those best acquainted with Kaczynski...
...giant cloud of gas and dust that can spread over a million miles. The cloud spews from the comet itself, as the sun's heat turns its dirty, icy surface into dirty water vapor mixed with other gases. If a comet is on its maiden voyage to the inner solar system, though, its surface is encrusted with dust, which prevents much evaporation. The first visit may only loosen the crust, while later trips allow the ice to evaporate freely. That was evidently the problem with Kohoutek...
Hyakutake's status as a return visitor makes it ideal for amateur stargazers but a bit less enticing to scientists. Comets are believed to be leftover material from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Millions are still orbiting lazily in a halo called the Oort cloud, far beyond Pluto, where they are perfectly preserved. It's only occasionally that one changes orbit and plunges into the relative warmth of Earth's neighborhood. And the more often a comet returns to be heated, the more its structure and chemical composition are altered...
Although a truly primordial comet would tell them more about the original chemistry of the solar system, astronomers are still thrilled to see any comet this close. "We can't exactly reach out and touch them," says Green. "We have to wait for them to come...