Scientists enjoy clear skies for Pluto's appearance

Scientists waiting for Pluto to make a brief appearance for the first time in 10 years struck it lucky yesterday with clear skies.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research at Lauder, near Alexandra, was expected to host scientists from all over Europe and the United States to see the dwarf planet Pluto made a 90-second appearance at 4am yesterday.

But predicted bad weather meant the scientists decided to go only as far as Timaru. One scientist who did make it to Lauder, however, was Czech Republic scientist Martin Jelinek, from the Institute of Astrophysics in Andalusia, Spain.

''The weather was predicted to be worse, so we were lucky and had clear sky all night,'' Dr Jelinek said.

What they viewed is called an occultation, similar to an eclipse, where Pluto passed in front of another star, which lit it up.

They observed a ''relatively bright star'' being covered for a brief moment by Pluto, although the event was visible only through powerful telescopes.

''Because Pluto has atmosphere ... the light of the star does not disappear abruptly, as would be the case with no atmosphere, but it disappears gradually,'' Dr Jelinek said.

He was excited by the success of capturing the data and would analyse the findings carefully.

''They [the results] are particularly important as there is a Nasa New Horizons probe nearing the planet now, so the results can be compared.''

Niwa atmospheric scientist Richard Querel said observations went well and Pluto was observed from Lauder, Blenheim, Mt John (Lake Tekapo) and Nasa flying observatory Sofia.

Dr Jelinek carried out the work in conjunction with Prof Bruno Sicardy, of the University of Paris. What did he think about Pluto's classification: planet or dwarf planet?

''In 2004, in Prague, we made it a dwarf planet for a very good reason. There are hundreds of bodies behind Neptune, having similar sizes, orbits and properties as Pluto.''

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