Pluto

Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh could not have known how fitting it was to call his new planet Pluto, after the Roman god of the underworld. In the 76 years since Tombaugh discovered the solar system's ninth planet, Pluto has remained an enigma -- a shrouded phantom lurking in the dark recesses of the solar system. Three billion miles from Earth, the diminutive ice world is so distant that even the Hubble Space Telescope can produce only a hazy image of an object resembling a chewed-on tennis ball.

After two days of delays, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft executed a picture-perfect liftoff Thursday from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a nine-year journey to Pluto, the last unexplored planet in the solar system. The spacecraft, which would be the first American probe to visit a new planet since 1977, launched at 11 a.m. Pacific time. "The spacecraft is where it needs to be, going at the right speed, in the right direction," launch director Omar Baez said.

Pluto's two newly discovered moons have been named Nix and Hydra, scientists said Thursday. The official designations for the second and third moons around the distant planet were approved by the International Astronomical Union. Nix and Hydra were discovered in May 2005 by a team of researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope. Nix gets its name from Nyx, the Greek goddess of darkness and night.

Fans of Pluto, beware. The diminutive world on the outer edges of the solar system may yet have its membership in the planetary club revoked. It looked as if Pluto had been saved when the International Astronomical Union put forth a new planetary definition last week that set the bar so low even Pluto could clear it: The requirements said a planet must be round and orbit the sun.

Like the Edsel, the Flying Wing, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the ninth planet became a relic of history Thursday when international astronomers meeting in the Czech Republic decided Pluto was too small to remain a full member of the planetary club. Members of the International Astronomical Union overwhelmingly voted to demote Pluto to a "dwarf planet." Though still retaining the term planet, it was clear that Pluto had been exiled. "Pluto's out," said Michael E.

A public demotion is rarely the best thing for one's bank account. But enough about Tom Cruise. For Pluto, the object formerly known as a planet, bad news might be good for earthbound purveyors of products bearing its image or name. Its takedown last week could provide a heavenly boost to textbook publishers, celestial cartographers, astronomical groups and even an eponymous group of eateries.

Far beyond the moon and stars, Twenty light-years south of Mars, Spins the gentle Bunny Planet, And the Bunny Queen is Janet. -- Voyage to the Bunny Planet by Rosemary Wells Kids love the Bunny Planet books by Rosemary Wells. Maybe you failed a test, or ate a bad hot dog, or got in trouble for making rude noises on the school bus. No problem! Janet the Bunny Queen will make you feel better. If only the Bunny Planet were real -- it almost was. A few years ago, astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech discovered a small planet.

I want to start an e-mail/write-in campaign to any sports program or newspaper that shows a picture of or mentions the name of Terrell Owens when purportedly covering pro football. Do I have any takers? Aren't there any other players on any other teams, for crying out loud? Enough already! Enough! CAROL MARSHALL \o7Anaheim \f7 With sprinter Justin Gatlin's world record disqualified, Floyd Landis possibly being stripped of the Tour de France title, and Pluto losing its planet status, it was satisfying, finally, to read something that didn't shock or confuse me. Terrell Owens' being fined for missing a team meeting (he overslept)

"Science has become much less cool," journalist Chris Mooney writes in "Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future" (July 2009, Basic Books). Mooney, author of the 2005 bestseller "The Republican War on Science," and his coauthor, Sheril Kirshenbaum, a marine scientist at Duke University, seek to explain how Americans have come to minimize science when, they say, we need it most -- as global warming, advances in genetics and the possibility of climate engineering lie in our future.