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New Mexico to Restore Status of Pluto as a Planet
For many years, Pluto was thought of as the farthest known planet from the Sun. It has a very unusual orbit. Since the year 2000, astronomers realized that Pluto was not like the other eight planets but very much like a new group of objects found in the outer solar system. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) re-classified Pluto to be a dwarf planet. Now New Mexico is restoring Pluto's status as a planet.
New Horizons Slingshots Past Jupiter on its Way to Pluto
In a couple of hours from the time of this posting, NASA's New Horizons will make its closest pass to Jupiter (at 05:45 Universal Time on Feb. 28, 2007), just thirteen months after it was dispatched on the first mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Already the fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons will pick up even more speed as it slingshots past Jupiter on its trip to Pluto and eventually out of the Solar System.
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