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Spacecraft Will Commit "Grand Theft Pluto"... And No One Will Be Able To Catch It By the time you read this, NASA's New Horizons probe will be swinging by Jupiter, on its way to a rendezvous with the almost-planet Pluto. The space agency says New Horizons will take advantage of its first interplanetary encounter -- gathering photos, data, and an extra 9000 miles per hour, courtesy of the largest planet in our solar system. New Horizons is already the fastest spacecraft ever to leave Earth, but it needs even more speed to catch Pluto, which is receding from the sun....

There is an amusing Quick-Time movie advertising New Horizons's upcoming Jupiter Fly-By. Some cool Jupiter images are included.

A spacecraft is zooming toward a close encounter with Jupiter to study its tempestuous atmosphere, ring system and four of its moons before dashing off to see distant Pluto in 2015, scientists said on Thursday. NASA's New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft ever built by humans, is due to reach Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet and fifth from the sun, after a 13-month journey from Earth, flying almost half a billion miles. Launched on January 19, 2006, it is set to make its closest pass by Jupiter on February 28, flying within 1.4 million miles. NASA scientists said the main...

Luhman and his colleagues used the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph an object, about 10 Jupiter masses, orbiting the star CHXR 73. The orbiting object's mass alone would typically identify it as a heavy planet spawned from a disk that once surrounded this young star. However, the newfound object lies about five times as far from CHXR 73 as Pluto's average distance from the sun. Theory suggests that a gas-and-dust disk isn't likely to contain enough material that far from a star to make a planet... Distinguishing between brown dwarfs and planets is important, says Luhman. A brown dwarf could...

Before the dust even settled after the Great Pluto War at the International Astronomical Union (IAU)'s General Assembly in Prague, one thing became clear: There will never be an accepted scientific definition for the term "planet." Rather than crafting an acceptable definition, the IAU alienated members, put the group's authority in jeopardy and fueled schisms among astronomers on theoretical grounds and even nationality. And the whole affair was scientifically pointless, many astronomers say..."It is a little-known fact that nearly 25 percent of the known extrasolar planets are in binary- or multiple-star systems," said Stephen Kortenkamp , a research associate at...

A month or so ago I would have said that Neal Gabler and I inhabit different planets, but his apparent home of has recently been demoted from planetary status. While I'm off searching for another metaphor, let me pass along the latest comment from the decidedly liberal denizen of Fox News Watch that made me reflect on just how distinct a world view we have. In the course of discussing on this evening's show the controversy that erupted this past week over Rush Limbaugh's comments about Michael Fox, Gabler had this to say: "The media has tread lightly on Rush...

As usual, Pluto calls the shots at the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Why even convene IAU meetings at all? Why not just let it be resolved that Pluto gets whatever it wants and everyone goes home? After two years of deliberation, an IAU committee has proposed a new definition of "planet," one custom-made to ensure the inclusion of the celestial fraud we call Pluto. Indeed, the committee has even created a new class of planets called "plutons" -- Pluto-like objects that conform to Pluto's deviant ways. This means that when the committee's proposal is passed by the IAU general assembly...

Following last month’s decision by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to strip Pluto of its planetary status, the icy rock now has a new, not-so-catchy moniker: Asteroid Number 134340... Even with the name change, the IAU doesn't expect anyone to refer to Pluto differently -- nor do they want them to. “134340” is strictly for the IAU's Minor Planet Center catalog of numbered objects with orbits. As for "Xena" -- the name planet guru Michael Brown offered for his discovery of a distant, icy rock that reignited the Pluto debate -- it, too, has a new name: Eris, from the Greek...

Pluto has been given a new name to reflect its new status as a dwarf planet. On Sept. 7, the former 9th planet was assigned the asteroid number 134340 by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), the official organization responsible for collecting data about asteroids and comets in our solar system. The move reinforces the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) recent decision to strip Pluto of its planethood and places it in the same category as other small solar-system bodies with accurately known orbits. Pluto's companion satellites, Charon, Nix and Hydra are considered part of the same system and will not be...

Last month, Catherine Cesarsky became the president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Cesarsky, the first woman to hold this prestigious position, started her presidency at a time when many scientists are questioning IAU's recent decision to strip Pluto of its planetary status based on a vote of just 424 members at a meeting in Prague. Cesarsky served as the director general of the European Southern Observatory since 1999 and is famed for her research work in central areas of modern astrophysics. She also led the design and construction of the ISOCAM camera onboard the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) of...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- At last, some good news for Pluto. After being drummed out of the planet ranks last month, Pluto got a boost Tuesday night, as the [Madison] City Council approved a tongue-in-cheek resolution proclaiming it "Madison's ninth planet."Alderman Kenneth Golden, who offered the resolution, said Pluto's demotion amounted to "massive discrimination.""It really is offensive in the city of tolerance," he said.His resolution said downgrading Pluto to "dwarf" status due to its small size and elliptical orbit showed a lack of tolerance toward diverse planets and those "pursuing different lifestyles."It passed without a dissenting vote, although several council...

Earlier this year, the BBC interviewed Mrs Venetia (Burney) Phair, the only living person to have named a planet... The IAU decision was political. Scientists voted to demote Pluto to the status of "dwarf planet." ...In California, of course, the real politicians found a reason for action in Pluto's demotion. While there are many more serious problems--over crowded schools and universities, decayed freeways, and the health care crisis, just to name a few—fifty-four of our esteemed elected officials found the time and energy for a Resolution that supports Pluto's status as a full-fledged planet. They call the IAU "mean-spirited" for...

by Mark Finkelstein September 2, 2006 - 19:20 I don't know about you, but by the end of the Bush-bashing festival that was the MSM's coverage of the one-year Katrina anniversary, I was about ready to climb up on my roof with a bedsheet message begging to be evacuated by helicopter. Neal Gabler also had a complaint about the Katrina anniversary coverage: there wasn't enough of it. On this evening's Fox News Watch, Gabler made his comment in the context of the panel's discussion of the John Mark Karr fiasco. Griped Gabler: "The embarrassment isn't that he wasn't guilty, the...

Despite being only 0.9 arcsecond apart, the "dwarf planet" Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, appear well separated in this Hubble Space Telescope image snapped in 1994. R. Albrecht (ESA/ESTEC) and NASA. It's not over yet. In the past week a small but growing group of scientists made their first formal attack against the International Astronomical Union's August 24th resolution that left the solar system with eight planets and downgraded Pluto to a new class of objects known as "dwarf planets." On Thursday two heavy hitters in the planetary-science community — Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute,...

Astronomers voted for a sweeping reclassification of the solar system. Pluto was demoted to the status of a “dwarf planet.” In the new solar system as defined by the International Astronomical Union, there are eight planets instead of nine. The demotion of Pluto was seized on by the Democratic National Committee as another Bush Administration failure. “Not since the days of Herbert Hoover has our solar system had only eight planets,” said Howard Dean, DNC Chairman. “Bush has wrecked the economy, mismanaged the war on terror and, now, he’s lost an entire planet. Is there no end to the bungling...

Pluto has been demoted. The ninth planet of our solar system has been officially stripped of its planetary status. A committee from the International Astronomical Union has formally amended the defining qualifications of planethood, thus reducing small, nonconformist Pluto to the ranks of "dwarf planet." The change is being deemed a victory of science over sentiment. But the sentimental among us are not accepting defeat. Some are taking the news almost personally. T-shirts have already appeared for sale on the internet proclaiming defiantly, "Pluto IS a planet." One natural history museum curator has noted what essentially amounts to hate mail...

Pluto's Demotion as Cautionary Tale BY JAMES LILEKS More stories by James Lileks We all took the demotion of Pluto poorly, it seems. Pluto was the scrappy little planet-that-could, the latecomer, the last stop on the way out. Why couldn't they have demoted Mars? Everyone hates Mars; we keep sending probes just to make sure it's not filled with vile intelligent beings intent on invasion.Jupiter is impressive and reasonable; it doesn't throw its weight around, and that persistent red spot -- a storm that has raged for 400 years -- is handy whenever your teen complains about a pimple that...

The IAU chose not to take that route, at least this time around, leaving us with the mess we have today, the result of the collision of scientific discoveries about our solar system with the expectation from popular culture about the number of planets the solar system "should" have. Abandoning the generic term "planet" for several more specific classes might not seem very simple or elegant, but has the advantage of offering a better description of the nature of our solar system, and potentially other solar systems as well. Winning the general public over to such a system might be...

Pluto got its walking papers yesterday. Throw away the place mats. Redraw the classroom charts. Take a pair of scissors to the solar system mobile. After years of wrangling and a week of debate, astronomers voted for a sweeping reclassification of the solar system. In what many of them described as a triumph of science over sentiment, Pluto was demoted to the status of a “dwarf planet.” In the new solar system as defined by the International Astronomical Union, meeting in Prague, there are eight planets instead of nine, at least three dwarf planets and tens of thousands of so-called...

Pluto can still be in our gang: Seven Dwarfs 25 minutes ago LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Pluto may have been cast out to the darkest reaches of the Solar System but will always be a friend to the Seven Dwarfs. The Walt Disney Co. characters have issued a hard-hitting statement after the world's top astrononomical body decided on Thursday to relegate Pluto to the lowly status of a "dwarf planet". School textbooks will have to be rewritten -- and Mickey Mouse's faithful companion is said by Disney insiders to be anguished over the fate of his planetary namesake. But the...