Science: Cream of the Milky Way

On a hill where Aztec priests once studied the stars, President Manuel Avila Camacho of Mexico dedicated a great modern observatory. Tonanzintla, near Puebla, 70 miles southeast of Mexico City, was the envy of visiting U.S. astronomers because of its latitude. Harvard's Harlow Shapley explained, "All the Milky Way can be seen—not merely the 60% or less which is satisfactorily explored from most northern observatories."

Before returning to their dimmer skies last week, the U.S. stargazers swapped discoveries with their Mexican hosts:

Star Dust into Stars. In great interstellar clouds of dust, new planets and stars are now being formed (Fred L. Whipple...

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