Images may show new Pluto moons
Baltimore Pluto has three moons, not one, new images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest.
Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978. The new moons, more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter, were spotted by Hubble in May.
While the observations have to be confirmed, members of the team that discovered the satellites said Monday they felt confident about their data.
“Pluto and Charon are not alone, they have two neighbors,” said Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Follow-up observations by the Hubble are planned in February. If they are confirmed, the International Astronomical Union will consider names for the objects.
Judge returns custody of cancer patient
Corpus Christi, Texas A 13-year-old cancer patient who was put into foster care after her parents refused to allow radiation treatment will be reunited with her family, a judge ruled Monday.
Faced with her deteriorating health, state district Judge Jack Hunter said Katie Wernecke would be better off with her family in Corpus Christi than in the custody of the foster parents she was assigned by Child Protective Services.
“CPS and the Werneckes are never, ever going to agree,” Hunter said. “If I leave it up to CPS and the Werneckes … this child is going to die for lack of anything being done.”
Child Protective Services removed Katie from her family after her parents stopped her cancer treatment. Her father, Edward Wernecke, worried that a move to radiation treatment could put his daughter at a heightened risk for breast cancer, stunt her growth and cause learning problems.
Grad students at NYU vote to authorize strike
New York The union representing New York University graduate teaching assistants said Monday it has authorized a strike for Nov. 9 over the university’s refusal to negotiate a second contract.
The university does not have to negotiate with Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers because the National Labor Relations Board ruled last year that graduate students at private universities are not workers and cannot form unions.
NYU spokesman John Beckman said the school, which was the only private university in the country to recognize a union of graduate students, has been engaged in “appropriate planning” for a possible strike.