News in Brief

news in brief

‘Planet’ more likely to its parent star in the constellation Taurus (see area of 10,000 square metres. Construction of Nature 393,397, 406; 1998). the telescope, which will be located at the Hat be stellar mirage But follow-up spectroscopic observations Creek Observatory in northern California, is Washington What looked two years ago like with the Keck Telescope, along with due to start in 2003 and be completed in 2005. the first planet photographed around another temperature modelling of the object, known star is more probably an optical illusion, says as TMR-1C, suggest that it is too hot to be a Hennessy named as the object’s discoverer. Susan Terebey, an planet, and is more likely to be a dim astronomer at Extrasolar Research Corpora- background star. While the case is not closed, Stanford president tion in Pasadena, California, announced at a says Terebey, “at this time there is no strong San Diego The new president of Stanford controversial press conference held by the US evidence that TMR-1C itself is a protoplanet”. University is John Hennessy, a computer space agency NASA that the Hubble Space Her conclusion will be published in the May scientist, entrepreneur and the university’s Telescope had photographed (see below) issue of Astronomical Journal. current provost. Hennessy, who taught at what appeared to be a planet flung away from Stanford for 23 years, will succeed Gerhard Foundations laid for radio Casper at the end of August. Hennessy is perhaps best known for telescopes of the future starting a project at Stanford in 1981 that Boston The SETI Institute and the Radio developed the computer language RISC Astronomy Laboratory at the University of (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), which S.TEREBEY/NASA California, Berkeley, will next week inaugu- had a dramatic impact on the computer rate a prototype for the One Hectare Telescope industry. In 1984, he co-founded MIPS (1hT), which, among other things, will be Computer Systems, now known as MIPS used in the search for extraterrestrial Technologies, which makes microprocessors. intelligence (SETI). The prototype, located at Berkeley’s Leuschner Observatory, consists of a seven-telescope array that will begin Correction operating on 19 April to test the hardware and In our article ‘Japan squares up to software needed for 1hT. conservationists over grey whale’s status’ in “This is what we believe radio telescopes last week’s issue (see Nature 404, 531–532; of the future will look like,” says Tom Pierson, 2000), the Japanese representative of the Mistaken identity: heralded as the first planet executive director of the SETI Institute. The International Fund for Animal Welfare around another star, TMR-1C may be an illusion. 1hT will combine signals from 500 to 1,000 should have been named as Naoko Funahashi, linked satellite dishes with a total collecting and not Naoko Nakamae as printed.