WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
KU researchers lead effort to develop new telescope
Kelly Hutsell/KANSAN
Rick Hale, associate professor of aerospace engineering, adjusts the lightest telescope of its size before vibration tests resume. The engineering school helped develop the telescope and will continue testing for about two more months before its permanent installation in California.
By TV BEAVER
beaver@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITE
The University of Kansas School of Engineering and the department of physics and astronomy are making the stars more accessible to students.
Researchers, led by University faculty, unveiled an ultra-lightweight, 16-inch telescope prototype at the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society, held Jan. 9-13.
KU researchers and those with San Diego State University, Dartmouth College and Composite Mirror Applications have worked since May of 2003 to develop a one-meter telescope that weighs one-tenth its normal weight. Dual grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Aerospace Agency are funding the project's
goal to use lightweight materials instead of the traditional glass and steel support structure.
"We've spent half our contract just trying to figure out what to do," Richard Hale, associate professor of aerospace engineering, said. "There's no guidebook or manual for this."
Barbara Anthony-Twarog, professor of physics and astronomy, said the project's final telescope will give astronomy students a better opportunity to do research. Anthony-Twarog is in charge of developing the software that will operate the telescope. The software will aim to operate the observatory remotely and robotically. Instead of traveling to observatories, a computer with an Internet connection is all a researcher needs.
The program would allow researchers to enter coordinates and have the telescope take pic
tures and send them electronically to the user.
"Travel to an observatory just isn't feasible," Anthony-Twarog said. "It's too much time, too much money."
"What if you have a telescope for seven nights and six of those seven are cloudy?" Swift said.
Hannah Swift, Olathe junior and president of Astronomical Associates of Lawrence, said telescope time is one of the limiting factors of astronomical research.
The telescope is scheduled for completion in January 2006. It will be installed at SDSU's Mount Laguna Observatory.
Hale and Anthony-Twarog said that the price of ultra-lightweight telescopes would be more expensive than conventional models, but that could change.
Edited by Kim Sweet Rubenstein
Rice receives mixed reviews
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — One Senate Democrat called Condoleezza Rice a liar yesterday, and others said she was an apologist for Bush administration failures in Iraq, but she remained on track for confirmation as secretary of state.
Rice, who has been President Bush's White House national security adviser for four years, was one of the loudest voices urging war, Democrats said. She repeatedly deceived members of Congress and Americans at large about justifications for the war, said Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn.
"I don't like impugning anyone's integrity, but I really don't like being lied to," Dayton said. "Repeatedly, flagrantly, intentionally."
Rice is expected to win confirmation on Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted that Rice would
have "an overwhelming majority" of votes.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., cautioned against "inflammatory rhetoric that is designed merely to create partisan advantage or to settle partisan scores."
Rice would succeed Colin Powell, who often found himself on the outside looking in with Bush's close circle of war and national security advisers.
"My vote against this nominee is my statement that this administration's lies must stop now," Dayton said in opposing Rice's nomination on the Senate floor.
By contrast, Rice is a trusted Bush loyalist. As a principal architect of the Iraq invasion and the administration's war on terrorism, she shares blame for overstating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, Democrats said.
Politicians rarely use the word "lie," preferring some of the milder terms other Democrats
used yesterday.
"There was no reason to go to war in Iraq when we did, the way we did and for the false reasons we were given," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
"Dr. Rice is responsible for some of the most overblown rhetoric that the administration used to scare the American people," Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. said.
Rice is not directly responsible for intelligence failures prior to the Iraq war that overestimated Saddam's nuclear capability, said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "But she is responsible for her own distortions and exaggerations of the intelligence which was provided to her," Levin said.
The Senate set aside most of the day yesterday to debate the Rice nomination after Democrats revolted against a plan to confirm Rice last week, on the same day that Bush took his oath for a second term.
'Aviator' gets most nominations
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Martin Scorsese may finally be positioned for Academy Awards glory, but his Howard Hughes epic "The Aviator" will have to duke it out with Clint Eastwood's boxing drama.
The other best-picture contenders were "Finding Neverland," a whimsical portrait of the creation of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan"; "Ray," a fiery film biography of Ray Charles; and "Sideways," a quirky romance about the misadventures of two buddies on a wine-tasting road trip.
The best-picture and director honors are shaping up as a two-film race between Scorsese's and Eastwood's flicks, with "The Aviator" having the inside track as front-runner by leading the pack with 11 nominations yesterday.
OSCAR NOMINATIONS
List of the 77th annual Oscar nominations announced yesterday in Beverly Hills, Calif., by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
■ Picture: "The Aviator," "Finding Neverland," "Million Dollar Baby," "Ray," "Sideways."
Director: Martin Scorsese,
"The Aviator"; Clint
Eastwood, "Million Dollar
Baby"; Taylor, Hackford,
"Ray"; Alexander Payne,
"Sideways"; Mike Leigh,
"Vera Drake."
Actor: Don Cheadle, "Hote Rwanda"; Johnny Depy, "Finding Neverland"; Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"; Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby"; Jamie Foxx, "Ray."
Actress: Annette Bening,
"Being Julia"; Catalina Sandino Moreno; "Maria Full of Grace"; Imelda Staunton; "Vera Drake"; Hilary Swank; "Million Dollar Baby"; Kate Winslet, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
Supporting Actor: Alan Alda, "The Aviator";
Thomas Haden Church,
"Sideways"; Jamie Foxx,
"Collateral"; Morgan
Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby"; Clive Owen,
"Closer."
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator"; Laura Linney, "Kinsey"; Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"; Sophie Okonado, "Hotel Rwanda"; Natalie Portman, "Closer."
Source: The Associated Press
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