Count It

From the beasts that brought you Pluto, jeremiad-free news--Lowell found us a new planet called TrES-4. Remarks from the Republic:

"It is kind of an arduous process, in a sense, to go through discovery, confirmation and further observation," he said. "It takes a lot of collaborators, a lot of time and effort and telescopes."

Lowell's telescope that made the discovery is housed on the top of Anderson Mesa, about 15 miles southwest of Flagstaff. Scientists send the robotic telescope an e-mail every day, telling it where to look in the sky.

Lowell is world-famous for the discovery of Pluto in 1930. Other big discoveries over the years include the first detection of water in a planet outside our solar system's atmosphere and a means of determining the age of a star.

Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, is located in the great state of Arizona. Believe it, por favor.