The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 29, 1993- 3
Astronauts
to correct
nearsi ed
e telescope
WASHINGTON (AP) - When
tests in the summer of 1990 showed
that the $1.5 billion Hubble Space
Telescope had a flaw that left it seri-
ously nearsighted, despair swept
through the astronomy community.
"It was crushing," recalled Sandra
Faber, an astronomer at the Lick Ob-
servatory at the University of Califor-
nia who had spent years planning to
use the Hubble. "Our whole hopes
and plans-scientifically, financially,
personally and otherwise - were
completely demolished."
Some astronomers became like
shellshocked survivors of a war, she
said. But others sought solutions.
Tod Lauer of the National Optical
Astronomical Observatory provided
the first hope. Days after the discov-
ery of the problem, he demonstrated a
way ofusing a computer to correct for
the flaws created by the Hubble mir-
ror.
Others developed similar com-
puter enhancement techniques, and
within six months of finding the flaw,
astronomers began to realize that
*something important might be sal-
Unidentified man
bares all at Bursley;
hazing suspected
By SCOT WOODS
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
How do you explain a streaker
wearing only sunglasses, a hat, two
socks and a liberal application of shav-
ing cream?
Two North Campus students were
asking the same question the morning
of Thursday, Nov. 18 after seeing a
man meeting just that description.
Perhaps term paper season is get-
ting to the students in Bursley Resi-
dence Hall.
Maybe the bus rides to Central
Campus are creating too much stress
in the lives of normal people.
Or maybe a mid-week party ani-
mal lost control.
But Seth Vruggnik and Tim
Bisson, both LSA first-year students
living in Bursley, said they think haz-
ing is a much better explanation.
"It's not something some normal
guy would decide to do," Bisson said.
Bisson said he did not smell alco-
hol or see the streaker stumble.
But although there were no signs
of force, Bisson said the streaker did
not seem to be enjoying his littlejaunt.
"I don't think this was something he
wanted to do."
Vruggnik said they tried to iden-
tify the man, but the shaving cream
was especially think around the
intruder's face.
The men said they were socializ-
ing when the lubricated exhibitionist
appeared at the end of their hall. He
sprinted past the group and out a door.
The two men followed the streaker
through several halls, where they
heard him shouting. But they soon
lost track of him.
"We were in shock," Vruggnik
said. "That's definitely the wierdest
thing we've seen (at the University)
so far."
If the incident is indeed hazing,
and if the offending person is caught,
he could face serious charges under
the University's Statement of Student
Rights and Responsibilities.
Members of the group responsible
for hazing the man would also be
subject to judicial action.
The case would be handled through
the office of Mary Lou Antieau, judi-
cial advisor of the policy. She was not
available for comment due to the
Thanksgiving holiday.
Reports released by Antieau's of-
fice reveal that hazing accounts for
the single largest number of charges
brought under the statement since its
implementation in January 1993.
Fifteen of the 49 charges were
related to hazing, according to the
report.
The Hubble Space Telescope drifts away from the Discovery's cargo bay. NASA will go after the nearsighted
telescope this week in an attempt to fix Hubble's blurry vision. A record five spacewalks are scheduled for the flight.
vaged from even a bleary-eyed
Hubble.
Since then, photos taken by the
orbiting telescope have reshaped some
of the fundamental understandings
about the universe. Even in its de-
graded condition, Hubble has probed
to the previously unseen heart of dis-
tant galaxies, and photographed the
individual pieces of a speeding aster-
oid. Hubble has taken astronomy to
the brink of locating and proving the
existence of black holes, the mysteri-
ous, theoretical objects that are so
dense even light cannot escape their
gravity.
"We have done better than I
thought we would at working around
the problem," said Peter Stockman,
deputy director of the Space Tele-
scope Science Institute in Baltimore.
"There are many areas where the
Hubble findings are unique. There
are discoveries that could not have
been made in any other way."
With image enhancement tech-
niques, "we got back about half of the
capabilities that we had expected,"
said Alan Dressler of the Carnegie
Institution of Washington. "The im-
ages were good enough to see the
basic features of what galaxies look
like at 4 (billion) to 5 billion light
years away.,,
A light year is the distance light
travels in one year, or about 6 trillion
miles. It is also a measure of time
since the light carries an image of
what existed when it was created.
Murder is leading workplace killer in five states, D.C.
WASHINGTON (AP)- Murder
was the leading cause of workplace
death in five states and the District of
Columbia during the 1980s, accord-
ing to the first federal study to pin-
point workplace fatalities by state.
Of the 7,603 Americans slain on
thejob in the last decade, 985 workers
were murdered in Alabama, Connecti-
cut, Maryland, Michigan, South Caro-
lina and Washington, D.C
New York doesn't tabulate on-
the-job homicide, but the National
Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) estimated its toll at
867. If accurate, that would make
New York the capital of workplace
murder.
"We need to realize that these fa-
tal injuries are not acts of God," said
Lynn Jenkins, author of the NIOSH
study. "They are preventable and we
must take steps to find out what the
risks are and how to prevent them."
The study noted that some progress
has been made. Workplace deaths
overall declined by more than 1,600
between 1980 and 1989.
NIOSH first warned about work-
place homicide last month, when an
early analysis of this study showed
murder to be the biggest killer of
working women.
The full study, released today, of-
fers the first state-by-state look at the
problem. NIOSH wants state govern-
ments to find ways to prevent the
biggest killers of their workers,
Jenkins said.
Nationwide, 62,289 civilians died
on thejob from 1980through 1989-
about 17 workers aday. Another 1,300
soldiers perished.
Overall, murder was the third-lead-
ing killer of civilians, following mo-
tor vehicle crashes and machine inju-
ries.
Texas, California, Florida, Illinois
and Pennsylvania had the highest
number of workplace fatalities.
But a better measure of risk is the
rate of fatalities per 100,000 workers.
Using that, the workers most at risk
were in Alaska, with 34.8 deaths per
100,000 workers, followed by Wyo-
ming, 29;Montana, 20.9; Idaho, 16.7;
and West Virginia, 15.7.
The safest workers were in Con-
necticut, with a fatality rate of 1.8;
Massachusetts, 2.3; and New York,
2.6 - even though Connecticut and
New York had 50 and 867 workplace
murders respectively.
Other murder tolls include 211
victims in Alabama, 70 in Washing-
ton, D.C., 180 in Maryland, 313 in
Michigan and 161 in South Carolina.
Water-related accidents were the
top killer of Alaskan workers, and air
transportation accidents led in Ha-
waii and Nevada. Car crashes were
the biggest killers in the remaining
states.
Construction and transportation-
utility workers accounted for the most
fatalities, 18 percent each.
But the riskiest occupation was
mining. Almost 32 of every 100,000
workers in the mining industry died,
followed by 25.6 construction work-
ers.
% Most likely to be murdered at work
were taxi drivers, police officers and
retail workers. At highest risk were
people working with money or valu-
ables, or working alone and at night,
Jenkins said.
She said most of the homicide
probably occurred during robberies,
as opposed to disgruntled employees
Consumers kick off holiday
season with gusto-over weekend
Y::.:
* ASSOCIATED PRESS
Consumers who spent erratically
for much of this year regained their
zest for shopping during the Thanks-
giving weekend, giving the nation's
retailers an encouraging start to the
Christmas season.
Several big storeowners said yes-
terday that consumers, while budget-
conscious, were buying more frills
and luxury items.
"It's a healthy sign that people are
buying in the categories that show
they have some liquidity," said Myron
Ullman, chair of R.H. Macy & Co.
Inc.
Ullman said Macy did better than
expected over the weekend. Sears,
Roebuck and Co. also reported it ex-
ceeded its sales plan.
Retailers in the Midwest and on
the East Coast lost some business to
foul weather. But since the rain, sleet
and snow came so early in the season,
most expect to make up the sales
before Christmas.
"It's just one day and it evens out
most of the time," said
Bloomingdale's Chair Michael
Gould.
Bloomingdale's had a strong
Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth is directly between the
sun and the moon, approximately every six months. The
moon gradually darkens as it
passes into the Earth's shadow, SUN EARTH
sometimes appearing to changeSUE4T M
color.
weekend, with sales at stores open
- at least a year-the industry standard
for measuring how strong business is
-rising nearly 11 percent on Wednes-
day, Friday and Saturday from the
same period a year ago.
Retailers had a pleasant surprise
in California, where the recession
has lingered. Dayton Hudson Corp.,
which' has two-thirds of its Target
and Mervyn's stores in that state,
was finally able to keep pace with
the rest of the country, spokesper-
son Ann Barkelew said.
Macy also reported good busi-
ness over the weekend in its Orange
County, Calif., stores and posted
surprisingly strong sales in New
York City.
The prospect of a good Christ-
mas season was heartening to retail-
ers who last year had their first de-
cent holiday season in four years.
But with business having been
bumpy for much of the year,
storeowners who depend on the holi-
days for half their annual profits
can't let down their guard.
"The only thing that's been con-
sistent is its inconsistency," Gould
said of retail sales.
Foul weather clouds
view of lunar eclipse
orbit
North American skywatchers had the
best view of last night's eclipse, the
first one since Dec. 9, 1992. Here's
what the eclipse may have looked like
and approximate times for each stage
of the event.'
u c 3
J Farth's
shadow
By JAMES CHO
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Missed last night's lunar eclipse?
Don't worry, the next one is only six
months away assured astronomy Prof.
Richard Sears.
Overcast skies and flurries prevented
Ann Arbor residents from watching the
moon hide behind Earth's shadow early
this morning. The lunar eclipse, visible
to observers throughout North America,
lasted more than three hours.
"Lunar eclipses occur during the
time of full moon when the sun, Earth
and moon all line up with the moon
behind Earth, hidden within the shadow
cast by our planet," said astronomy
Prof. Richard Teske in a press release.
During a solar eclipse, however, the
moon blocks the light from the sun in its
journey to the Earth.
As a lunar eclipse progresses, the
moon changes color. The moon takes
on a coppery color transforming the
satellite into a blood-stained orb.
"The shadow's rim has a reddish
tint, an effect caused when sunlight
grazing Earth's edges passes through
the surrounding atmosphere. All colors
of sunlight-except reds are filtered out
by the air. This is the same effect that
dyestherising or setting sun red,"Teske
added.
The Earth's curved shadow cov-
ered the moon as it entered the shadow
at a speed of 2,300 miles an hour twenty
minutes before midnight yesterday.
Mid-eclipse occurred at 1:20 a.m. The
moon exited Earth's shadow at 3 a.m.
Lunar eclipses no longer have im-
portant scientific value and are not in-
tensively observed by astronomers be-
cause of the long history of lunar inves-
tigation.
"The space age has transformed the
moon from a distant astronomical body
into a nearby, well-understood object.
Astronauts have walked its surface and
brought back moon rocks. American
spacecraft have crashed into it, landed
on it, circled it and photographed more
than 99 percent of it," Teske added.
Sources: Astronomy Magazine and World Book Encyclopedia
Student groups
" Asian Pacific Lesbian-Gay-Bi-
sexual support group, weekly
meeting, Michigan Union,
Room 3116, noon
O Comedy Company Writer's
Meeting, sponsored by UAC,
Michigan Union, Room 2105,
7 p.m.
" ENACT-UM, meeting, Dana
Building, Room 1046,7 p.m.
0 Ninjutsu Club, regular meeting,
IM Building, Wrestling Room,
7:30 p.m.
O Rowing Team, novice practice,
Boat House, Men 3, 4, and 5
p.m., Women 3:30, 4:30, and
5:30 p.m.
O Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do Club,
beginners welcome, CCRB,
Room 2275, 8:30 p.m.
O Tae Kwon Do Club, training
epcinnDDr run i.... ??74 '7
U New Group 14 Metal Thiolates
and Alkoxides: Deceptive
Dutch Influences on Molecu-
lar Geometry, inorganic semi-
nar, Prof. Joanne Stewart,
Chemistry Building, Room
1640, 4 p.m.
Student services
U Psychology Academic Peer
A Aviena r ennnrA A by.,th. nev
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