Pictures from Galileo are over the moon

Gaze at the awe-inspiring images of the Jupiter moon Ganymede made available by NASA at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo. The site, which gives an ongoing account of Galileo's voyages through space, also brings to light images of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and its spectacular crash into Jupiter.

Next to new pictures of Ganymede appear earlier images of the moon taken in 1979 by the Voyager spacecraft. By comparison, Galileo's clarity and sharpness are striking.

NASA also has made available other images of Jupiter that Galileo generates to fine-tune its trajectory. While in flight, Galileo uses these images - called "optical navigation frames" - to adjust its path through space in order to stay on course.

Also on the site are descriptions of the instruments on Galileo, including gear used to determine that Ganymede has a magnetic field.

Software of the Year

A powerful viewer for visualizing remote-sensing data and a widely used aerodynamic anal-ysis and design system are the co-winners of NASA's 1996 Software of the Year Award. Access Web resources maintained by the winning teams at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codei/codeic.html.

Alert on Java

The debate about the security of Java continues.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Web page at http://www.fws.gov/

pullenl/java.html pulls together some of the most relevant information on Java and security. Along with paraphrasing some of the more hotly debated Java topics, the site also connects users to relevant sites.

The Energy Department's Los Alamos National Laboratory sponsors an electronic mailing list devoted to discussions about Java. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to listmanager@lanl.gov. Leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message type "subscribe java."

Or go straight to the archives of the discussion group and scan past postings at http://www.lanl.gov/Mail/java. Posted subjects range from security to how well Java can perform numerical computations to the availability of new software.

Smithsonian Magazine

Readers of Smithsonian can access glossy on-line versions of the eclectic magazine, which serves up articles on everything from insects to American history. Access the publication at http://204.141.48.254. Featured in the July issue are articles on Washington state's brooding Mt. Rainier, the Statue of Liberty and the U.S. Olympic rowing team.