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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Photo: Pluto a Planet Again -- On Friday the 13th, in Illinois


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In March 2009 the Illinois state senate voted to re-establish Pluto (seen center with its three moons) as a planet to honor Illinois native Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the icy body on March 13, 1930.

The ruling inadvertently flared up an ongoing discussion over Pluto's status in the solar system.

Images courtesy NASA; ESA; H. Weaver (JHU/APL); A. Stern (SwRI); and the HST Pluto Companion Search Team