Keller High School - Chief Yearbook (Keller, TX)

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'Gnly a dirty ice ball . .' Mr. Halley's comet makes rare appearance BARRY RYAN if 1' staffwriter The visitor moved swiftly and silently through the black vacuum of space. Cut- ting through the silence on a predestined path leaving nothing but dust in its wake, it flew. This is not the first time it has been through this section of the solar system on its trek sunward. In fact, it takes this route quite regularly, every 77 years or so. The visitor begins to gain velocity as the powerful gravity of the sun pulls it nearer and nearer to its fiery realm. Believe it or not, the mysterious visitor is only a dirty ice ball called Halley's comet. Halley's comet is named for the English astronomer Edmund Halley. Before Halley made his investigations in- to the origin of comets, most people believed that comets appeared by chance and traveled through space in no set path. But Halley believed that comets belonged to the solar system and took definite paths around the sun at regular intervals. He found that the paths taken by certain comets in 1456, 1531 and 1607 were identical with the path of a comet ob- served in 1682. He decided that the same comet made all these paths. He correctly predicted that it would appear again in 1759, and at regular intervals thereafter. Historical records show that Halley's comet was seen as long ago as 240 B.C. It reappears every 77 years but the intervals can be two years longer or shorter. But Halley still didn't know where comets came from and a probable theory wouldn't be produced. for another three centuries. Astronomer jan Oort of the 40 Renaissance '86 Netherlands holds that comets were formed 4.6 billion years into the past when the entire solar system was a primordial soup of dust and gases. When the sun cooled, it blew particles away from the inner planets. Geological time changed the Earth and the planets closest to the sun. The outer planets remained as dust and gas with solid cores. The smaller particles continued to drift outward until they finally found a home in a huge shell surrounding the solar system. This shell is called the Oort Cloud after the astronomer who proposed the idea. Oort says there may be as many as 100 billion comets in the cloud. However, this theory still didn't ex- plain completely just how comets reentered the solar system. Oort was forced to revise and he explained his theory. Oort then theorized the existence of a star, called Nemesis, whose orbital path swings it into the shell at a rate of about five per year. Another astronomer, Richard Muller, proposed that it may have been a few of these comets that built the earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Muller says that the earth is probably pelted with comets every 30 million years. These same comets that destroyed the dinosaurs may have been reponsible for providing the necessary ingredients for life in its boiling gases. Comets are made up of fusing a light spectrumh water, methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and fifty percent dust. As the comet moved silently through space and back outward to where it had originated, the masses of earth sat and watched in hopeful anticipation of some point in time 377 years or so from now.

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Besl Friends - Juniors Julie Vermillion and Amanda Sherrer talk about their friendship to one another. High school friendships examined SHANNON WEBB staff writer One minute, they're fighting. The next minute they're hugging, 'cause that's what friends are for. Everyone has friends, but a best friend is something special. To me, a best friend is someone special that I can always count on and confide in, someone who accepts me and understands me, junior Amanda Sherrer said when talking about her best friend julie Vermillion. Best friends share good times, bad times and even some embarrassing moments. We were caught by my dad scaring people in the mens' room at the Boswell football game by turning off the lights and yelling as loud as we could, and it scared everyone to death, explained Mack Zimmerman when talking about his most embarrassing moment with his best friend Tim Casey. Best friends make embarrassing moments bearable, bad moments tolerable and good moments wonderful. Fashion inspired by trends of yesterday and today LOREE VARDAS staff writer The trends of today may not always continue, but some trends are everlasting. Vlhile some fads are transient, other fads such as the wearing of jeans and belts have stuck around for many years. I feel that the 'roper' look has always been here. Recently it has become more popular and more students have been wearing boots and jeans, said senior Kel- ly Higginson. While some styles are always present, other styles seem to repeat themselves about every 20 to 30 years. O Such items as paisley shirts, gaudy jewelry and black outfits were worn in the 60's and they have been the hottest items to some of the students of the 80's. I've gotten a lot of my jewelry from my grandmother and mother. It's weird that the style I like now my mother was wearing 20 years ago, said freshman Tracy Wright. While some students like to get their clothes and jewelry from parents and grandparents, other students go to the Good Will and Army! Navy stores. Other styles are brought in with hot new singing stars. Often society gets clothing ideas from singers like Madonna, Cyndy Lauper and Bruce 'The Boss' Spr- ingsteen and bands like Motly Crue, U2 and General Public. The fashion trend on the local scene is a very complex one. There is not one 'look' that's 'in'g in fact there are several styles that are 'in.' It's nice to see the students expressing their personalities through the clothing styles. It's nice to know that the students have minds of their own and different personalities, said teacher Mrs. Pepper Cruson. Renaissance '86 39

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-sf Ns? T'5fx9N i .N 1' Having fun? - Senior Barry Ryan doesn't seem to Gnd giving blood a very painful experience. Students give life Council sponsors blood drive, raises 154 pints Traffic fatalities claimed more than a few students' lives this year. Although not much can be done to alleviate the pain felt by the families of the victims or help those who died in the wrecks, students were able to help the survivors by giving not only support and encouragement, but also the invaluable gift of their blood. I feel like this is something small I can do to help the kids in the car wrecks. You feel so helpless because there's not much else you can do for them, said Student Council sponsor Mrs. Lisa Baker. The Student Council sponsored a blood drive on April ll in cooperation with the Carter Blood Center, There was a good turnout and 154 pints of blood were given to help the students in the wreck. Some students had to be turned away because they were either underweight or too young. Some of the students that were old enough to give were a little apprehensive. I was a little scared of the needle, said senior Amy Beck, but I felt that it was important to help the people. This apprehension also extended to a few of the teachers. It took Coach Beth Hobensack an hour and a half with her first period class pressuring her to give blood, but she gave because I felt that it was a worthwhile cause. junior Paul Brawer seemed to sum up the feeling of most of the students when he said, We've had so many accidents at the school lately and I feel I should do my part to help the students who need blood. -ALEX CHRISTIE Food anyone? - Student Council provided refreshments for the students who gave blood. Interesting? - juniorjill Cassillo reads some information on AIDS and what it has to do with giving blood during the blood drive. Blood Drive 41