culture and shaped their own specific subcultures
in the 1990’s. Introduction, conclusion, bibliog-
raphy, and index.
Leonard, George J., ed.The Asian Pacific American
Heritage.New York: Garland, 1999. While the
book concentrates on Asian American literature
and the arts, overview sections of the sixty-one
chapters provide valuable insight into Asian
American issues of the 1990’s. Chronology, lexi-
con of Asian American terms, illustrations, refer-
ences, and index.
Min, Pyong Gap, ed.The Second Generation: Ethnic
Identity Among Asian Americans.Walnut Creek, Ca-
lif.: AltaMira Press, 2002. Eight chapters on post-
immigration generation experience of Asian
Americans from a 1990’s perspective. Spotlight
on recent immigrants from the Philippines, Viet-
nam, India, and Korea. Some chapters provide
overviews. Bibliography, tables, index.
Takaki, Ronald.Strangers from a Different Shore: A His-
tor y of Asian Americans.Rev. ed. Boston: Little,
Brown, 1998. Considered the standard work in
English on Asian American experience. Chapter
13 deals with critical issues of the 1990’s such as
the Los Angeles riots, affirmative action, and Asian
American heterogeneity. Photos, notes, index.
R. C. Lutz
See also Ally McBeal; Auto racing; Campaign fi-
nance scandal; China and the United States; Demo-
graphics of the United States; Elections in the
United States, 1992; Elections in the United States,
1996; Employment in the United States; Immigra-
tion to the United States; Income and wages in the
United States; Los Angeles riots; Race relations;
Television; Yamaguchi, Kristi.
Astronomy
Definition Study of celestial objects and
phenomena
A series of new telescopes, orbiting observatories, and space
probes revealed many new aspects of the solar system during
the 1990’s. They also provided the first evidence of
extrasolar planets and new windows into the nature and
formation of stars, galaxies, and the expanding universe.
Throughout the 1990’s, a new generation of giant
telescopes, orbiting observatories, and complex
space probes were placed in service by the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Of
particular note was the Hubble Space Telescope
(HST), launched into Earth orbit on April 24, 1990.
Although its primary mirror turned out to be defec-
tive, other onboard instruments began important
observations. Corrective optics were installed on De-
cember 7, 1993, leading to dramatic results from the
HST. On August 10, 1990, the Magellan orbiter
reached Venus, and the two giant 10-meter Keck
telescopes began operation in Hawaii in 1990 and- On April 7, 1991, NASA launched the Comp-
ton Gamma Ray Observatory into Earth orbit. Two
spacecraft launched in 1989 began to make impor-
tant discoveries in the 1990’s: the Cosmic Back-
ground Explorer (COBE) and the Galileo orbiter
around Jupiter. Other NASA spacecraft that contrib-
uted to planetary astronomy in the 1990’s included
the Clementine lunar observatory, the Mars Global
Surveyor orbiter, the Mars Pathfinder lander, and
the Lunar Prospector.
Solar System Discoveries Study of the solar system
in the 1990’s began with the detailed mapping of
the surface of Venus by the Magellan spacecraft.
Using radar to penetrate the thick cloud cover, the
orbiter had mapped 98 percent of the surface to
near-photographic quality by 1992. During two
more years of service, Magellan observed surface
changes and measured gravity on Venus. Wide-
spread volcanic activity was observed, but few impact
craters, indicating processes that appear to resur-
face Venus over a few hundred million years.
On October 29, 1991, the Galileo spacecraft came
within 1,600 kilometers of the asteroid Gaspra and
obtained the first close asteroid photo. On August
28, 1993, Galileo passed the asteroid Ida and discov-
ered the first asteroid moon, Dactyl, orbiting Ida.
Galileo reached Jupiter on December 7, 1995, and
deployed a probe into Jupiter’s cloud layers, reveal-
ing the structure of Jupiter’s atmosphere. Galileo
continued to orbit Jupiter for the rest of the decade,
providing evidence for an iron core and intense vol-
canic activity on Io, a magnetic field on Ganymede,
and a deep ocean under the ice of Europa.
Repair of the Hubble Space Telescope came just
in time for several important events. On March 24,
1993, Carolyn and Eugene Merle Shoemaker and
David H. Levy discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
(SL-9), apparently fragmented by a close pass by Ju-The Nineties in America Astronomy 61