NASA Plans Media Briefing About New Galaxies

Astronomers will announce their discovery of unexpected galaxies at a listen-and-log on news briefing Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 10 a.m. Pacific time (1 p.m. Eastern time). The findings, from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission, are reshaping theories of galaxy formation, and may help explain how our own Milky Way formed.

Reporters should call Gay Yee Hill at the Media Relations Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., at (818) 354- 0344, for participation information. Images and graphics supporting the briefing will be posted online at the start of the briefing at www.jpl.nasa.gov/media/galex-122104 .

Briefing participants:

-- Dr. Zlatan Tsvetanov, program scientist, Galaxy Evolution Explorer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

-- Dr. Tim Heckman, astronomer, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

-- Dr. Chris Martin, principal investigator, Galaxy Evolution Explorer, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Dr. Alice Shapley, astronomer, University of California, Berkeley

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer was launched April 28, 2003. Its mission is to study the shape, brightness, size and distance of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. The 50- centimeter-diameter (19.7-inch) telescope on board sweeps the skies in search of ultraviolet light sources.