[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 59 (Tuesday, May 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONGRATULATIONS TO ROBERT LITTLE AND NASA'S SSIP COMPETITION

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                     HON. HOWARD P. ``BUCK'' McKEON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 12, 1998

  Mr. McKEON. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize a wonderful 
achievement of a constituent of mine, Robert Little of Saugus, 
California. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to personally meet 
Mr. Little, but felt that I should share his recognition with the rest 
of my colleagues. This week, Mr. Little was honored by NASA as a High 
School National Champion in the 18th Annual Space Science Student 
Involvement Program (SSIP) competition.
  The SSIP competition is an interdisciplinary program designed to 
address the need for greater literacy in the areas of science, critical 
and creative thinking, mathematics and technology. Nearly 10,000 
students from Elementary through High School have competed in five 
categories including mathematics, science, technology, art, and 
creative writing. 29 national winners, along with their teachers, came 
together this week at the National Space Science Symposium to honor 
their achievements to date.
  Robert Little, a student from Saugus High School, was entered in the 
Intergalactic Art Competition of the Symposium. All this week, his art 
work, depicting a scene from intergalactic space, as well as an essay 
describing the picture was displayed in the Ballroom of the Hotel 
Washington. His ability earned him the championship in the High School 
division of this competition.
  I am proud to congratulate Robert as well as his teacher, Ken 
Jeffries, on their hard work in receiving this honor. I know that I 
join my entire community in expressing how proud we are of Robert's 
success. His hard work is an inspiration to us all.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to conclude by adding Robert's essay to the 
record depicting his championship scene for this competition.

                        Sculpture in the Cosmos

                           (By Robert Little)

       Nebulae give our universe beauty. They are the cloudy 
     sculptures of the cosmos. They are really quite simple. 
     Consisting only of gases, debris, and stars, they are 
     enormous star factories. In my illustration, the Eagle Nebula 
     is portrayed with a star cluster nearly formed into a galaxy 
     in the background. The Eagle Nebula has a very dramatic 
     appearance with its three large columns. The column shown on 
     the left of this illustration is three light years in length. 
     My illustration of the Eagle Nebula and its star cluster 
     shows not only the beauty of nebulae, which inspires me, but 
     also the relationship between nebulae and galaxies. Most of 
     the mass in nebulae is made up of the debris from supernovas. 
     A supernova is an exploding star. Stars explode when they are 
     very old. They run out of the fuel needed to resist their 
     gravity. The star collapses, explodes, and debris is 
     scattered in all directions. In many cases, gas will drift 
     until it clusters with other gases, and gravity holds them 
     together. Inside the newly formed nebula there are usually a 
     multitude of stars being produced.
       If nebulae did not exist, we would have a very black empty 
     sky at night. All stars are born from a nebula in a three-
     step process. First, ultraviolet radiation is emitted from a 
     previous generation of stars onto the nebula. In the Eagle 
     Nebula, the periphery of the columns becomes very hot and 
     begins eroding. The gases near this area have been frequently 
     clumping together. These clumps produce more gravity and grow 
     dense. Next, the radiation erodes the gas from around the 
     denser and stronger area. This creates a tadpole shape coming 
     from the edge of the nebula. It is now an EGG (Evaporating 
     Gaseous Globules), and is known as a protostar. Lastly, the 
     protostar is separated from the nebula due to continuous 
     erosion, and drifts into space. . . .
       In the background of my illustration, a star cluster is 
     nearly a galaxy. It lacks the great spiraling motion and 
     contains more stars than gas. The forming of a galaxy is the 
     result of star clustering. The star cluster gains gravity and 
     forms a large spherical heap of stars with enormous gravity. 
     This is a globular cluster. It pulls gas and other matter 
     such as asteroids into the churning disk. Open clusters will 
     not form a large mass but instead will eventually drift 
     apart.
       There is a continuous pattern related with stars and 
     nebulae. Stars explode and the dust forms a nebula. The 
     nebula gives birth to stars. Those stars once again explode 
     and the dust adds to the nebula. It is all a cycle of birth, 
     death, and recycling.

     

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