A Galactic Debut

Calm has been restored to the outer-solar system following a row over what to call a dwarf planet and exactly how it should be characterised.

The red-speckled bright object that hovers near Pluto was initially nicknamed Easterbunny because it was discovered shortly after Easter in 2005.

Galactic unrest erupted in the ranks of the International Astronomical Union over what the official name should be.

And after much debate, the name Makemake has been decided on as a tribute to the Polynesian god of fertility and creator of humanity.

As for its status, the newly-named planet which is coated in red methane is now officially a plutoid.

Pluto, which made headlines last year as it was demoted from its planet status, and Eris are the other two plutoids. A fourth dwarf planet named Ceres has been excluded from the plutoid club because it orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Makemake has a diameter of roughly 1,000 miles and is quite bright given its distance from the Sun.

Despite this, it was not discovered until recently, well after many much fainter objects in its region of the solar system.

Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, who discovered the dwarf planet and suggested its name, discussed the trouble he had naming the planet in his blog.

"Three years is a long time to have only a license plate number instead of a name, so for most of the time, we simply referred to this object as 'Easterbunny' in honor of the fact that it was discovered just a few days past Easter in 2005," he writes.

He discusses the trouble the team had finding a name, until they considered the island Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island, and its mythology.

"I wasn't familiar with the mythology of the island so I had to look it up, and I found Make-make, the chief god, the creator of humanity, and the god of fertility.

"I am partial to fertility gods for things I discovered around that time. Eris, Makemake, and 2003 EL61 were all discovered as my wife was three to six months pregnant with our daughter."

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Cat safe after 300 mile journey in coach engine!

A mechanic described his shock after finding a cat had travelled 300 miles from Scotland to Yorkshire in the engine compartment of a coach.

The young ginger tom, who has been nicknamed Gulliver because of his travels, is believed to have got in the National Holidays coach at Arrochar, north of Glasgow, at the weekend.

He was only found by mechanic Daniel Parnel after the driver returned to his base in Hull on Sunday.

Mr Parnel, 27, said he found Gulliver when he opened a panel to clean the radiator.
The cat was sitting on the radiator itself and the mechanic first thought it was a rat or a squirrel.

Mr Parnel said he decided to take the cat home and keep it after it was checked out by a vet. He has been told there a lot of feral cats in Arrochar.

He told the Hull Daily Mail: 'The most likely thing to have happened is he will have been attracted to the heat of the engine, gone to sleep on the radiator and been driven away.

'He hasn't done badly getting to Hull. It gets really hot in there.'

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Home-made submarine!

A Chinese labourer with only a basic school education has made a submarine at home.

Tao Xiangli made the 1.6 tonnes submarine mostly from metal barrels and improvised parts by hand, reports Zhong'an Online.

"Metal barrels are possibly the best material for me because of their low cost," said Tao, a migrant worker in Beijing.

The 20ft submarine is cramped inside with room for only one person but it features pressure metres, monitoring cameras, a TV set, oxygen supply and headlights.

"Although the equipment is simple, it's enough for a basic submarine, and more importantly, it enables the passenger to see things clearly underwater," said Tao.

It took Tao more than a year of research and experiments, but he says the most difficult challenge he faced was not a lack of knowledge, but of funds.

"The devices for submarines are all expensive, so because I couldn't afford them I found a lot of inexpensive replacements," he said.

Tao said the basic submarine cost him £2,200, the equivalent of a year's pay.

Tao is now in the final phase of debugging the submarine and hopes it will make its maiden voyage within the next week in Beijing. He says it can dive to a maximum depth of 10 meters, and should be quite safe.

Although he has only an elementary school education, Tao owns 17 patents, including a head massager, a washing machine and a shoe polisher.

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Miracle terrier survives for a WEEK wedged in eight-inch underground pipe

A dog survived an incredible seven days trapped inside an eight-inch underground pipe after running away during a walk.

Amazingly, Timmy the Terrier was rescued in almost perfect health from the narrow pipe.

The pet had gone missing after running off to chase rabbits during a walk near his home in Cheshire on 4 July.

Mrs Whittle and her husband Mark frantically searched fields surrounding their home in Whitchurch Road, Combermere, Cheshire, but for seven days there was no sign of Timmy.

After seven days, The couple decided to use their other dog Meg in the search and she led them to a sewerage pipe next to a riverbed.

Mr Whittle said: 'Angie was sure she could hear Timmy inside, so we phoned a friend who is an ex-fireman and he came down with us to try and get him out.

'Along with the farmer whose land it was, we managed to dig down 10ft and found the 8in wide steel pipe.

'It was only when we cut the pipe that we realised the sound had travelled and Timmy was actually about 20m or 30m away from where we thought he was.'

After five hours of trying unsuccessfully to rescue the dog, the couple called in the RSPCA and the Fire and Rescue Service.

RSPCA officer Claire Davis said: 'I assessed the scene and verified there was really an animal in the pipe and soon afterwards a fire crew arrived.

'They started work at 10.15pm and Timmy was finally pulled out unhurt by one of the firefighters at about 1.30am.'

Timmy was immediately treated by an emergency vet for a slight eye infection, but was otherwise unharmed by his ordeal.

Mr Whittle added: 'It was my birthday on Friday July 11 - the day we got him out of the tunnel - and getting Timmy back was the best birthday present I could hope for.'

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Incredible pictures of Mars - and they look surprisingly like some parts of Earth

Ever since Victorian astronomers pointed their telescopes towards Mars and wrongly believed they had discovered canals, mankind has been obsessed by the red planet.

Now these astonishing new images - captured by a European spacecraft in orbit around Mars - are helping to fuel that fascination.

They show in astonishing detail a network of giant valleys, vast plains and towering waterfalls carved into the surface of our neighbouring planet, millions of miles away.

And while Mars today appears lifeless and parched, they are a reminder of how its surface was shaped by fast flowing streams, rivers and oceans.

The pictures were captured by the European Space Agency's Mars Express Probe - a spacecraft the size of a large fridge-freezer that has been circling Mars since Christmas 2003.

Mars Express infamously gave Britain's ill-fated Beagle 2 probe a lift to Mars. While that mission ended in disaster, the Mars Express has been a fantastic success.

Over the last five years its stereo, high resolution camera has taken thousands of images of the surface, revealing the planet's awe inspiring beauty in unprecedented detail.

The latest images show the Echus Chasma, a vast valley just north of Mars equator around 62 miles long and six miles wide. The feature is cut into a high plateau and its steep-sided cliffs - some 12,000 feet high - bear a striking resemblance to the canyons of North America.

Thunderous waterfalls may have once plunged over these cliffs, from the high Lunea Planum plateau that surrounds the Echus Chasma, on to the valley floor below.

Some of the images show a five mile wide impact crater formed when asteroids - lumps of floating rock in space - smashed into Mars. Others show a 15 mile long dyke formed when molten rock, evidence of Mars's volcanic past.

At the edges of the main valley lie smaller light-coloured tributary valleys or "sapping canyons" - around six miles long and 1800 feet deep.

The Echus Chasma - described by Nasa as one of the largest water sources on the planet - is connected to a much bigger valley system called the Kasei Valles which extends thousands of miles to the north.

Both valleys are impressive - but are dwarfed by an even larger canyon which lies to the south. The Valles Marineris is four miles deep in places, around 120 miles wide and 2,500 miles long.

The images were created by combining pictures taken from different orbits. The images can be viewed from different angles in three dimensions

Mars Express launched in June 2003. The craft is a cube around 5ft by 6ft by 5ft with two 60ft long radar antennae. It is photographing the entire surface of Mars in high resolution, producing a detailed colour map of the minerals on the surface, mapping the atmosphere and probing beneath the surface using radar.

Interest in Mars is at an all time high. Nasa and ESA have announced plans to bring back rocks and soil samples from Mars, while Nasa has three probes on the planet - two rovers and its Phoenix polar lander, which arrived in May.

The Phoenix has scraped ice from beneath the surface of Mars and is analysing samples in its laboratory to see if the planet has the right chemicals needed for life.

In 2013, ESA is planning to launch ExoMars - a robotic rover than will explore the planet's surface. If successful, it will be Europe's first mission to the Martian surface.

Scientists unveiled plans on Monday to bring back rocks from the Red Planet as a preliminary step to putting a man on Mars.

Professor Monica Grady, at the Open University, co-chaired the expert panel that wrote the mission proposal.

She said it was a vital next step before considering a crewed mission.

'If you can't bring a rock back you are not going to be able to bring people back,' she said.

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Men on a mission - Mormons Exposed!

The 2008 Men on a Mission calendar features twelve handsome returned Mormon missionaries from across the United States who, for the first time ever, have dared to pose bare-chested in a steamy national calendar.

Usually seen riding their bicycles and preaching door-to-door, these hunky young men of faith explode with sexuality on each calendar page. Hand-selected for their striking appearances and powerful spiritual commitment, the "devout dozen" are stepping away from the Mormon traditions of modest dress, and "baring their testimony" to demonstrate that they can have strong faith and be proud of who they are, both with a sense of individualism and a sense of humor.

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Koala dragged 9 miles after car crash & survives!

A koala survived with barely a scratch after being dragged for almost nine miles with its head stuck in the grille of a car.

Named "Lucky Grilles" after his narrow escape, the eight-year-old is now recovering from his ordeal at a wildlife refuge.

"An examination showed that he was in good health and had no serious injuries," spokeswoman Caroline Beaton of the Australian Animal Hospital said.

"It is quite miraculous."

The lucky creature was found with his bottom sticking out of the grille of a woman's car after she pulled up at a petrol station on the outskirts of Brisbane.

Earlier, the driver had noticed a koala in the road but drove on when she failed to see anything in her rear view mirror.

It was only when she stopped that the koala was spotted.

The koala is being kept for treatment for an infection he was found to have, but other than shock suffered no harm from the ride.

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