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Science 14 June 1996:
Vol. 272. no. 5268, pp. 1582 - 0
DOI: 10.1126/science.272.5268.1582
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News & Comment

Richard Stone

Abastumani, Georgia--the former Soviet Union's first mountaintop observatory--once did pioneering studies of the Crab Nebula and, with an array of telescopes that includes a 40-centimeter refractor and a 70-centimeter meniscus telescope, discovered more than a dozen supernovas. Today, like most scientific institutions in Georgia, it is fighting for survival. During the winter months, with just 4 hours of electricity a day, room temperatures approach freezing and Abastumani's scientists analyze old data in front of gas stoves in their apartments. Telescopes and support equipment are turned on only for maintenance.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)