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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 1978)
aiil iil I'ngol, Hirt ival «ion a „j' '' ri ng.T| ( llv ention ’ingori^ ite sinTe a Ifuctioi sti l a majn ^nveniii, "ally pasg targainj, 1 voice m but an{n '(to htoj sed 1^, nployee, liateoni "IlditioDj party sti i' re-el«i Derail ral blad ft, a utiij teed b j ires; I dereji stronger; ii'll haul Hiding fo i wi'tlii mittofC Aase of!! ertyintit rrvation Found a comet? Name the stars United Press International SAN FRANCISCO — Amateur astronomer Don Machholtz 1,700 finally ■ hours of comet hunting has paid off. The 25-year-old Los Gatos, Ctilif., stargazer now has a celestial body bearing his name — the reward of discovering a dim new comet just south of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. 1 was so excited when I found it because I was familiar with that part of the sky, and I knew it shouldn’t have been there,” Machholtz said last week. He immediately telegraphed the comet’s position and direction to the Central Bureau for Astronomical IR ^ an i Telegrams of the International As tronomical Union. The bureau is headquartered at Smithsonian As- trophysical Observatory in Cam bridge, Mass. The observatory — a clearing house for comet discoveries — con firmed the existence of "Machholtz v *. Comet” and is now tracking it. will take a few Machholtz says it days to learn the actual orbit of the new comet. Amateur stargazers discover about half of the dozen or so comets found each year, said James Cornell of the observatory in Cambridge. Some of those, however, are redis coveries of old comets that have not been visible for a number of years. “Comet hunting is the province of amateurs, partly because comets are the only celestial bodies named after the discoverer. The discoverer can name asteroids also, but he usually names them after a friend or rela tive, not after himself,’’ says Cor nell. He cautioned observers not to expect to see "Machholtz’ Comet because “it’s just a very faint point of light. You’d need a very powerful telescope and a knowledge of the sky to see it. It’s too soon to tell whether it will develop a tail.” Machholtz, who began studying astronomy 12 years ago, embarked on his mission to find a new comet in 1974. “At first my goal was to find a comet and have it named after me. But later it was thrilling just to study the sky, and I no longer felt a disap pointment when I didn’t see any thing new,” he says. He spent 307 hours on a moun tain in the San Jose area observing the heavens the first year and disco vered nothing new. For the past three years, he’s been spending an average of 460 hours a year at his telescope. “It took me 1,700 hours before I discovered this comet. I guess that doesn t make me a very successful comet hunter, he says. “But, on the other hand, it made it that much more thrilling when I first saw it and when I later got that confirmation call saying, ‘Congratu lations, you now have a comet named after you. THE BATTALION MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1978 Page 5 First in the history of FBI Agent accused of perjury Hitting the hooks Edie Marshall, a sophomore accounting major, finds the Memorial Student Center a quiet place to catch up on some of her homework. Many students use the couches on the second floor of the MSC for studying while others find them better for more important things - like sleeping. Battalion photo by Ed Cunnius A&M space industrialization club seeks help, members from all fields By PAT DAVIDSON Battalion Reporter Far out! Unbelievable! Out of [sight! These terms do not describe [T-STAR, a new organization for the 1 industrialization of outer space at [Texas A&M University. T-STAR, or Texas A&M Space [Topics And Research Society, is a “serious, science fact organization,” Isays Tom Glass, administrative (chairman of T-STAR. But it is not a technological soci- [ety, he said. “As far as I am concerned,” Glass said, “every discipline (field of study) can relate to our organiza tion.” T-STAR will serve as a forum for idea exchange concerning use of outer space, Glass said. It will pro mote involvement of Texas A&M andits students in space research. It also will promote development of an international center of information, ideas, and studies in the area of space application, he said. I “Right now, the majority of our ™ members are either engineering or science people,” he said. “I don’t like that. I wish we had a broader range of membership. Glass is a senior chemical engineer ing major. “When I’m talking about space industrialization, there are just as many legal problems, marketing problems, economic problems, and business problems as there are technical problems. In fact, I think those are the bigger problems than are the technical ones. Dr. L. D. Webb, professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M and adviser for T-STAR, supports this idea. “The worst possible thing for us, Webb said, “is to be categorized as a technical space research group. “That implies engineering,” he said. “Now the engineering is neces sary, of course, and most of it has already been done. What we need now are humanists, the space law people, the marketing people, the psychologists, and so forth,” he said. Space industrialization, Webb said, is a new technology that uses the special environmental proper ties of outer space like zero-gravity for the social and economic benefit of people on earth. Glass suggested opportunities for different majors. Marketing majors, he said, can research what materials will be a- vailable and what products people will buy that can be made in space. They can also study the costs neces sary to make these products economically, he said. “It becumes a microcosm of the earth, Webb said. Another feature of T-STAR stres sed by Glass and Webb is its seri ous, fact-oriented nature. “This is a science fact club, not a science fiction club, Glass said. “If you’re interested in science fantasy, Star Wars, Battleship Galactica, Star Trek, or something like that, the place you need to be is Cepheid Variable, because there’s already a club for science fiction. “We re looking for people in terested in reality and not fantasy.” Webb said, “It’s more of a group of pre-professionals, I suppose. “People who understand that you don’t have to have a degree stamped on your forehead to be responsible, and that you don t have to be a graduate to be a professional who can take pride in what you do. The society has long-range goals that include setting up an interna tional space resource center within the Texas A&M system. Glass said it would be comparable to the agricul ture and engineering extension ser vices within the system. Short-range goals include setting th up a space resources exhibit library. Glass said. The group also plans to send delegates to a national conference of the 1 American As- tronautical Society in Houston next month. The next meeting is tonight at 7:30 in Rudder Tower, room 504. THE BATT DOES IT DAILY Monday through Friday United Press International NEW YORK — For the first time in the .54-year history of the FBI, an active agent has been indicted —- accused of lying about taking payoffs from a New York mobster. Special agent, Joseph Stabile, 50, of Commack, N.Y., was charged Friday with two counts of perjury by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn. Stabile, assigned to the FBI’s of fice in the New York City Borough of Queens, is alleged to have ac cepted $10,000 of a $15,000 payoff from John Gaputo, a gambling fi gure involved with the late Joseph Colombo’s mob family, Justice De partment sources in Washington said. The indictment came just before expiration of the five-year statute of limitations. The FBI said Stabile, a 16-year veteran of the bureau, has been “relieved of his duties.” If convicted. Stabile faces up to five years in jail on each count. Officials said a fellow FBI agent — George Moresco — agreed to testify against Stabile long after learning of the payoff . “In 1973, he (Moresco) was under the impression the bureau didn’t want to discover allegations of brib ery” because it would affect its im age, one official said. Sources said when the alleged payoff occurred. Stabile was work ing on an investigation of gambling activities by associates of Colombo, who died last spring seven years after he was shot in a gang war. The sources said Stabile repor tedly had been assigned to convert Gaputo, under indictment in 1973, into an FBI informant. The indictment charges Stabile and a former New York City police sergeant shared a $15,000 payment from Gaputo after falsely represent ing the money would result in dis missal of his indictment. Stabile specifically was charged with lying under oath on Sept. 17, 1973, to a grand jury investigating whether he ever received illegal payments from Gaputo in a corrupt transaction as an FBI agent. The indictment also charges Stabile lied in denying to the grand jury he had described the payoff to Moresco. According to the indictment, Moresco told the grand jury of sev eral conversations with Stabile in which the agent told of accepting $10,000 from Gaputo and said police Sgt. Eugene Statile got another $5,000. Officials said Statile has since left the New York Police Department. The entire episode leading to Stabile’s indictment appeared to be described, with fictional names, in the book “Brick Agent” by former FBI agent, Anthony Villano that was published last year. Whether the book helped authorities break the case open was unclear. In Villano’s book, a character identifiable as Moresco expressed fears that an FBI agent taking bribes from the mob also could “sell out” government informants to organized “None of them would hours, the book said. 24 DOTTIE’S LOSERS CLUB ATTENTION Students Teachers Mothers NO CONTRACTS Exercise to Disco Music 2 times a Week For more information Call: 693-0344 or 846-7692 PAM JOINS "THE PRECISION HAIRCUTTERS 1 ft jflHEAlE Cl Ajfjf 209 E. UNIVERSITY 846-4771 (IN THE GEORGE GREEN BUILDING) 222! ■If --S MANOR EAST MALL Texas at Villa Maria M-F 10-8:30 Sat. 10-6 779-6718 iC -Fri Sat J 11 THE MSC ARTS PRESENTS TOAD THE MIME j j Fri. Sept. 22 8:00 p.m. Rudder Theater *2.00 All Students *3.00 Non-Students Under 6 Years Free EXTRA: Master Mime Class in Room 308 Rudder Tower Thurs., Sept. 21, 6:30 till 10:30. Price: $2.00 All Tickets At Box Office Now there’s aTampax tampon designed to meet every need SUPER PLUS Super Plus Tampax tampons are ideal for heavy flow days because there is no tampon that’s more absorbent or more comfortable. With the extra protection Super Plus tampons provide, you may never again need the help of a pad. When your flow is not as heavy, taper off to Super or Regular Tampax tampons. SUPER Super Tampax tampons are the #1 choice of more women than any other tampon in the world. Like allTampax tampons, they’re designed to conform naturally to your inner contours. You can depend on them to help you avoid menstrual bypass and embarrassing accidents like leakage and Staining. Tennis ClothesAMF/Head sportswear REGULAR Regular Tamp ax tampons are perfect for a lighter flow. They’re easy to insert. 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