4 - Friday, April 17, 1987 - North Shore News Bob Hunter @ strictly personal ® ALTHOUGH there has been hardly an editorial com- ment about it, the fact is that possibly the biggest single event in the history of science’s attempt to understand the nature of life in the universe took place a little over a month ago — and a Canadian was the guy front and cen- tre, I refer to the observation in Feb- ruary of an exploding star called 1987A. Not that supernovas, as. they are known, are anything new. It is just that astronomer lan Shelton caught one going off under his nose, as it were. Working at an observatory in norvhern Chile, Shelton managed -to catch the awesome event at the moment of its happening on camera, something no one has ever been able to do before. .When I say ‘‘the moment of its happening,’’ I mean, of course, the moment of its light arriving in the vicinity of Earth. The ex- plosion itself actually occurred 170,000 years ago. It took that long to reach here. What it means is that scientists have an opportunity to train all their sophisticated modern in- struments on this particular ex- ploding star and analyze. what it does from now on in detail. Having ‘gone through its apocalyptic metamorphosis (I can use such a phrase without exag- geration in this case) the disintegrated star is now forming a ‘‘photosphere’? ~—_ a sort of shell, not entirely unlike an egg, _in which a newly-born neutron star is taking form. — With radio telescopes, astronomers will be able to probe this new final-stage star in much the same way that infants in their mother’s womb can be examined. in a sense, they will be in the position of cosmic gynecologists. Why is this such a big deal? Simply, this phenomenon is the key to understanding the forma- tion of stars and therefore understanding the basic structure of the universe, and, finally, the nature of life itself, The Earth, you see, is compos- ed of matter filtered down to its surface over a period of billions of years. The basic material from which all life on this planet — or any other — was fashioned, had. its origins out there in space, specifically in the process of a star exploding like J987A. It is all very cute to talk about “Mother Earth,’’ but the world itself is just one of the children of the true mothers, which are the stars. And the moment of turning into a supernova is the instant of birth, so far as the basic elements of the universe are concerned. Stars go through a series of “deaths’’ due to gravitational stress, it turns out. Finally, however, there is an ultimate transmutation, which is this business of going supernova, the ‘end-product of which is .a ‘tremendous residue of higher elements, ranging from helium to uranium. * ' After thus transforming itself ‘ into the stuff of life, the star eventually shrinks to a purely mathematical point. This is an incredibly jong process, by the way, but at the end of its entire gestation, what was once a whole star becomes a sheer abstraction. Somehow or other, it literally “exits” from the universe. Every atom in existence had its origin in just such a literal star- burst. So if you want tc trace your own body’s evolution back to its real point of origin, you have to look into the sky at an object ‘ike 1987A. There is where everything begins. : There is where the primal see emerged. Nothing that we are, nothing that we perceive, no matter how commonplace or ex- alted, would exist but for those explosions of star dust. We are, in the final analysis, | the children of stars, or, if you want to be specific, the great- great-great-etc.-grandchildren of supernovas. In other words, there — on astronomer Shelton’s photographic plate — is one of the exact points in time and space where God went ‘‘Zap!”’ As one ecstatic scientist put it, “there have been smoking guns, but we've never seen the act committed before.”’ To be able to observe the pro- cess from: the beginning through a telescope gives scientists the | first chance they have ever had to begin a legitimate study of how life came to be, following it along { step. by step as it grows and changes. - In that sense, thanks to an ex- ploding star observed by a lonely Canuck, we are just now arriving at the dawn of a whole new ball game in terms of really knowing how, exactly, we came to be. Sheer Savings _ Only Until April 30th YTV EVV VV FY | TV IT I r, Contour lets the sun shine in! 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Guildford Guildford Market Square 584-7121 Royal Ouk & Kingsway "EAS HLONS | North Vancouver Marine Drive & Pemberton ORS -4407 Richmond 43 Road & Cambie IB-AW7 Zalm over Bill 20| NORTH Vancouver School Board is sending a telegram to the premier and the education minister, asking them to consult with parties affected by the proposed labor legisla- tion, including the board, before passing bills 19 and 20. Tr: board passed the motion at its meeting Tuesday after a lengthy presentation on the proposed legis- lation by the superintendent, and , at the request of the North Van- couver Teacher’s Association. “I've never seen such massive changes,'’ board member Dorothy Lynas said. ‘Asking that it be delayed doesn't seem to be asking anything.”’ Requesting more consultation should be reasonable in a demo- cratic society, board chairman Roy Dungey said. Board member Richard Walton, the only trustee to oppose the mo- tion, said he thought the motion was meaningless, and that the INVTA should approach the gov- ernment itself with its proposals. NVTA president Andy Krawezyk told the board that the government has failed to follow common sense and check to see that the proposed legislation is what teachers and trustees want. “I’s a very simple rule we (teachers) have when we teach kids,’’ Krawczyk said. ‘‘Once we ask a kid for a response we usually check to see that we’ve heard the response correctly.”’ . The government should do the same with teachers, Krawczyk said. He said that in Quebec, the only province with similar legislation, schools have been seriously disrupted by the labor-manage- By ROBERT BEYNON ' Contributing Writer ment split between teachers and principals that the new fabor Iegis- lation includes. ° Principals and other ad- ministrators are now members of the B.C, Teachers Federation, but will become ' management after passage of the proposed Icgisla- tion. Decisions which, are now settled amicably over lunch between teachers and administrators, such as class size complaints, might have to be handled through beauracratic and complex griev- ance procedures in a more struc- tured labor-management situation, Krawezyk said. Superintendent Leo Marshall said he doubted problem solving in the school district would become that complicated even if the legislative bills are passed, because the teachers and the board have very good relations, and the board chooses people with good interper- sonal skills to become ad- ministrators. Krawczyk said the teachers have ‘to consider the worst case scenario. “The message I bring to the board,’’ he said, ‘‘is all the king’s horses and all the king’s men won't be able to put this school district back together again after bill 19 and 20.” WAGON SALE BEAT THE HOLIDAY RUSH—SHOP NOW: . 1986 GRAND LE MANS , Family-size compact wagon with smalt ' 1978 MATADOR Fully foaded with air, tilt, cruise, etc. $1888 jj 81 HONDA Only 66,000 km on this “cuter com- muter.” 0 1695 Marine Drive | North Vancouver 1978 PEUGEOT | fi é § Rare 504 model with automatic trans- mission. 1977 BOBCAT | 4 cylinder with automatic and power I steering 1970 VOLKSWAGCN . Ready to be camperized, needs some $1988