Number 139, August 10, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein A STRONTIUM-COPPER-OXIDE COMPOUND becomes superconducting at 100 K. The compound, developed by scientists at Kyoto University and Mie University in Japan, has only two metal ingredients---which makes it much simpler than the other 100 K superconductors---but must be synthesized at pressures of 6 GPa and at temperature of 800-900 C. (Z. Hiroi et al., Nature, 22 July 1993.) URANUS IS NOT A FEATURELESS BALL . Astronomers at the Multiple Mirror Telescope in Arizona took pictures of Uranus at several infrared wavelengths (1.2, 1.6, and 2.2 microns) and saw what the Voyager spacecraft missed (at visible wavelengths) on its 1986 flyby: a faintly dark spot south of the equator, as well as some other features near the pole. (Sky & Telescope, Sept. 1993.) HORIZON 2000 , the ambitious long-term program of the European Space Agency (ESA), has attracted many non-ESA collaborators, particularly American astronomers who are worried about the stability of NASA funding for space science projects. Currently scheduled important missions include SOHO (launch date in 1995), which will measure the solar wind and corona; Cluster (1995), a set of four satellites for monitoring near-Earth plasma; Huygens (1997), a probe which will get a ride to Titan on board NASA's Cassini craft going to Saturn; XMM (1999), an orbiting x-ray observatory; Integral (2001), a gamma-ray observatory, and the first tripartite ESA- Russian-US mission; FIRST (after 2002), a far infrared telescope; and Rosetta (after 2002), which would return samples from a comet nucleus. (Science, 30 Jul. 1993.) 1346 PHYSICS PHD'S WERE AWARDED by U.S. universities in the 1991-92 academic year, the most recent year covered in a new report issued by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). Of these, 149 were women, 12 black, 3 Native American Indians, and 27 Hispanic. During the same time 93 PhD's in astronomy were awarded. A preliminary look at the 1992-93 period shows a total of 13,222 physics graduate students enrolled at 178 doctoral-granting institutions. The fraction of foreign students is 41.9%. (For more information contact Susanne Ellis at AIP, 212-661-9404.) SPACECRAFT UPDATE: The Magellan craft, named for Earth's first circumnavigator, had dramatically altered its circumnavigation of Venus; by using the atmosphere as a brake, Magellan shifted it eccentric orbit (with a high point of 8500 km) to a more circular orbit (no higher than 600 km above the surface), the better to measure gravity in the polar regions (Science News, 24 July). Moving from the planet named for the goddess of love to that named for the god of war, the Mars Observer will reach its destination in August (the month named for Caesar Augustus, another Roman god) and begins mapping the planet's surface in November (Astronomy, Sept. 1993).