September 2006 Top Stories
»» Pluto-Bound Camera Sees 'First Light'
[Friday, September 1, 2006] The highest-resolution camera on NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft is seeing stars, and mission scientists and engineers couldn't be more excited.
»» Pluto supporters to IAU: The debate's not over
[Tuesday, September 5, 2006] Friends and colleagues of the late Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto, had this to say Friday about the International Astronomical Union's decision to reclassify Pluto as a "dwarf planet": Don't rewrite the textbooks yet.
»» Unabashedly Onward to the Ninth Planet
[Wednesday, September 6, 2006] New Horizons continues on course and in good health. In a couple of weeks, I'll update you on a wide range of mission news items. But I want to devote this "PI Perspective" to a different topic: Pluto's planethood.
»» California Assembly Bill HR 36 Relative to Pluto's planetary status
[Wednesday, September 6, 2006] WHEREAS, Recent astronomical discoveries, including Pluto's oblong orbit and the sighting of a slightly larger Kuiper Belt object, have led astronomers to question the planetary status of Pluto; and ...
»» IAU Numbers Pluto as an Asteroid, Renames Xena and Gabrielle
[Wednesday, September 13, 2006] Following the Aug. 24 resolution by the IAU to the effect that the solar system contains eight planets the Minor Planet Center included Pluto and 2003 UB313 in the standard catalogue of numbered objects with well-determined orbits.
»» IAU names dwarf planet Eris
[Thursday, September 14, 2006] The dwarf planet formerly known as 2003 UB313 received the official designation (136199) Eris, or Eris in short, from the International Astronomical Union on 13th September 2006.
»» Does Pluto's Atmosphere Go Through the Fast-Freeze?
[Thursday, September 21, 2006] A study of Pluto's bright frosts suggests that the way the planet cools down is rapid and disorganised. The results were presented at the European Planetary Science Congress in Berlin.
»» NASA New Horizons: The PI's Perspective: Changing Seasons on the Road Trip to Planet 9
[Thursday, September 21, 2006] As both summer and September end, the weather in Colorado is noticeably changing. And so is the pace and character of mission operations on New Horizons.
»» Jupiter Ahoy! NASA New Horizons Sends Back Image of Jupiter
[Wednesday, September 27, 2006] Blazing along its path to Pluto, NASA's New Horizons has come within hailing distance of Jupiter. The first picture of the giant planet from the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), taken Sept. 4, 2006.
