Astronomer-author Carl Sagan was one of 139 protesters arrested Tuesday as a thermonuclear warhead was detonated beneath the Nevada desert.

The nonviolent demonstrators arrested by security guards at the Nevada Test Site were bound with plastic handcuffs and herded onto waiting government buses. They were charged with trespassing.

Sagan and 121 others signed trespass citations and were released until a court hearing Oct. 23 or 29. Eighteen others were taken to jail in nearby Beatty, Nev.

About 400 protesters congregated near the test site gates shortly before the detonation.