Torrence V. Johnson

FROM THE EDITORSDear Scientific American Subscriber:Once upon a time, say, 2,000 and more years ago. Earth was the only world in the universe and the planets were just wandering lights in the sky. So the Greeks believed, anyway. Our understanding of the universe has expanded just a bit since then....

Bipolar Gas Dets in Star-Forming RegionsJohn Bally, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New JerseyMuch progress has been made recently on the old and fundamental problem of how stars and planets form. Astronomers have suspected for over a century that stars result from the gravitational contraction of...