Word: pluto
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...There was never much doubt that planets other than the known nine (or the known eight, now that Pluto has been demoted) existed, but it wasn't until 1995 that the first of these so-called exoplanets was discovered. The vast distance between stars makes a comparatively small body like a planet invisible to even the sharpest-eyed telescopes. Instead, astronomers had to rely on a less-direct method, looking for tiny wobbles in the star itself. A star that couldn't stand still was almost certainly being tugged on by something, and that something was likely...
...Bardot was again convicted - this time for comments in her book Pluto's Square, whose chapter "Open Letter to My Lost France" grieved for "...my country, France, my homeland, my land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims." And in 2004, another Bardot book, A Cry In the Silence, again took up the question of immigration and Islam - ultimately running afoul of anti-racism laws by generally associating Islam with the 9/11 terror attacks, and denouncing the "Islamization of France" by people she described as "invaders...
...golden age. The U.S. currently has no fewer than 11 interplanetary probes scattered about the solar system; five are orbiting, roving or approaching Mars alone, and the others are targeting Mercury, the sun, Saturn and numerous comets or asteroids. One probe is heading for a never before rendezvous with Pluto, a destination it won't reach until...
...their first product, a slingshot. The pair (above, with Knerr at right) produced such iconic American toys turned fads as Silly String, the SuperBall, the hula hoop (25 million sold in four months) and the Frisbee. They created the last after they spotted an Air Force pilot flying his "Pluto Platter" on the beach and bought the rights. In 1982 they sold the company for $12 million. Knerr...
Learning your planets used to be a lot easier. There were only nine of them, and they all circled our own sun. With Pluto kicked out of the club for failing to make weight, the local census has dwindled even further. But the sun we know is hardly the only one around, and elsewhere in the cosmos, planets are popping up everywhere...