Ben Mayer

Gamma-Ray Astronomy Comes of AgeGiovanni F. Bignami, Institute of Cosmic Physics. Milan, ItalyWHY should astronomers bother to observe gamma rays when they already have their hands full at other wavelengths? The first reasons came in the 1950's from particle physics, following the discovery that...

Next Februarys Total Solar EclipseJUST one year minus 10 days after western North America enjoyed a widely observed total eclipse of the sun, it becomes the turn of Africa and India, on February 16. 1980. As the large map shows, the moon's shadow first touches Earth at sunrise in the South Atlantic...

Disappearances of Saturn's Rings, 1600-2100Richard E. Schmidt, U. S. Naval ObservatoryFOR THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, the rings of Saturn have appeared increasingly foreshortened until finally, on October 27th, they were turned edgewise to the earth. On this date, the earth passed through the plane of...