The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 1

WEEKEND SCENE nails up a winner an i W( il tA -Jttudl Metro FINAL tr 1 987 The Sacramento Bee Volume 261 Friday March 1 3 1 987 Founded 1857 Old new surprise: It may be biggest in universe By Lee Dye Los Angeles Times A huge galaxy with swirling gases that appear to undulate has been identified as possibly the largest galaxy in the universe scientists said Thursday For at least 20 years astronomers thought the galaxy was average in size probably no bigger than the Milky Way but when they examined it recently with a huge radio tele is 300 million light years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Andromeda It is a member of a class of galaxies known for their high level of energy The discovery of its actual size reported in edition of the journal Science makes it the largest known galaxy in the universe but the astronomers who made the finding said there may be others at least as large that have not been subjected to the same level of scrutiny scope in New Mexico they learned it was actually 13 times larger than the Milky Way Its true size had been concealed by gasses that could not be seen with optical telescopes The galaxy was measured at 13 million light years in diameter A light year is the distance light travels in a year or about 6 trillion miles The Milky Way of which the Earth is a part is only about 100000 light years across The galaxy called Markarian 348 know how many other galaxies are this said Susan Simkin an astronomer at Michigan State University and the lead author of the Science report Of perhaps greater importance than the size however is that the radio telescope was able to confirm that a great cloud of hydrogen that surrounds the galaxy is swirling and undulating because of gravitational forces similar to the tides of the oceans which are caused by the gravitational tug of the moon gravitational effects have been credited with both fostering nuclear activity in galaxies and driving the course of galaxy evolution yet there is very little direct observational evidence for either of these effects" said the report That finding is important because it suggests that the swirling gases pull other intergalactic materials into the galaxy as it grows even larger have had a suspicion for a1 long time that these galaxies are fed by material induced into the1 Simkin said in a telephone interview The gravitational field that seems to be pulling material into Markarian 348 is a smaller nearby galaxy she said That has created a galaxy that appears to have at least one and possi- See GALAXY back page A28 to ftminniplft) Light opening act garners rave reviews All aboard for a day of fun and adventure Page A18 By Dale Vargas Bee Staff Writer Except for a banner that break quite right and a little rain the grand opening of Sacramento light rail went without a hitch Thursday Several hundred spectators were on hand at RT Metro stations to greet the three-car inaugural train that carried about 300 people most of them civic leaders and others who have been involved in the project that was a dozen years in the making Proclaiming the day perfect Regional Transit spokesman Michael Wiley said the carefully orchestrated celebration went smoothly all along the nine-mile light-rail segment believe the he said of the prompt arrivals and departures at scheduled stops on the line that runs from Interstate 80 and Watt Avenue through downtown At the stopwere programs including music speeches and smaller ieremonies ranging from the proclamation of longtime resident Virgil Chapman as honorary mayor of North Sacramento to confetti-scattering by a radio See LIGHT RAIL back page A26 Exchange of monitors with USSR proposed: LA Times AP UPI Reports WASHINGTON The Reagan administration submitted proposals to the Soviet Union on Thursday for on-site inspection and other highly stringent verification measures to police the medium-range nuclear missile treaty now being negotiated State Department spokesman Charles Redman an- nouncing the submission to Soviet negotiators in Geneva disclosed the comprehensive proposal in unusual detail including its call for a presence" of US ofd-cials in the Soviet Union and Soviet officials in the United States to monitor adherence to the treaty The verification package probably the most sweeping ever submitted in arms negotiations also provides for inspectors of one side to visit a suspect facility of the other side on short notice and with no right of rejection of that demand an administration official told the Los Angeles Times In principle the Soviets could demand to visit such sensitive sites as the Central Intelligence Agency but if they did the United States would then demand to visit KGB headquarters the official said Redman refused to say whether the monitoring would be done by remote-control instruments or individuals but administration officials said privately that the "presence" would consist of about 200 individuals on each side at between six and 14 facilities where the missiles are produced assembled stored maintained and deployed Inspectors also would be present when missiles were dismantled or destroyed The six basic elements of the package are: Non-interference with the listening and other monitoring devices of the other side and particularly no more encoding of telemetry data from missile flights! Specification of areas and facilities that are involved in all aspects from production to deployment of mis- See ARMS back page A26 Sweden to ban Africa trade By Cecilia Lonneil STOCKHOLM Sweden (AP) Sweden on Thursday ordered an end to all trade with South Africa in one of the harshest acts of reprisal by an industrialized nation against apartheid Foreign Minister Sten Andersson said the Swedish government hopes the decision will influence the United Nations to recommend binding sanctions He said that when Sweden banned new investments in South Africa in 1979 said that would make no difference have no effect but in fact many countries followed time for a peaceful solution of apartheid is about to run out The violence is Andersson said at -a news conference after the Cabinet endorsed the ban The ban takes effect July 1 and imposes a deadline of -Oct 1 for Swedish companies to end all trade with South Africa Foreign Trade Minister Anita Gradin reported It bans all trading of goods including those passing -through third countries The measure calls for a parliamentary committee to study disinvestment and a paral- lei ban on services BeeLeilam Hu Included among riders were Mayor Anne Rudin and Kurt Bredehorst of Duewag the West German firm that made light-rail car bodies Pride runneth over in city the By Bill Walker Bee Staff Writer Talk about big time: RT Metro is only a day old and already its glamour and romance are celebrated in song The ballad a little number called Rail" was the gift of a local lounge crooner to the opening ceremonies i for new transit system 1 After the politicians and civic boosters and Metro 1 chiefs finished their speeches Thursday morning Becky Jo Benson stepped to the stage at Del Paso Boulevard and Arden Way straightened her sequins and told the crowd she was by-gosh proud of her city Francisco may have cable cars but Sacramento has light she said And in her best Las Vegas-meets-Nashville style she sang: Light rail an easy way to get there On track you can go downtown and get back Let's go get on track with light rail See PRIDE back page A26 See SANCTIONS back page A26 Judge rejects suits to halt investigation INSIDE Jazz slip past Kings 11 3-1 09 Sports page Cl Today: high 61 low 43 Yesterday: high 61 low 51 Weather: B2 finds that challenge to the constitutionality of the independent counsel machinery is not ripe for adjudication and that his complaints should be Parker said the nation needs expeditious and complete disclosure of our government's in- volvement in the Iran-Contra and said that independent counsel Lawrence Walsh pur- suing the investigation energetically and The judge Implicitly criticized legal at- 1 See NORTH back page A28 Bee News Services WASHINGTON A federal judge declaring Thursday that the nation needs and complete of the Iran-Contra affair dismissed lawsuits by Lt Col Oliver North that sought to stop an independent investigation of his central role In a similar legal challenge involving the independent counsel law a federal appeals court temporarily blocked independent counsel Whitney North Seymour Jr from seeking a grand jury indictment against lobbyist and former presidential aide Michael Deaver US District Judge Barrington Parker said North was premature in seeking a ruling that the office of independent counsel was unconstitutional have almost never found that an ongoing criminal investigation imposes a sufficient hardship to the person investigated to warrant judicial review prior to his or her Parker said in his order plaintiff has not suffered an injury of sufficient keenness to warrant the Parker said that reason the court A.