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20061776 Club

IAU names Pluto's two new moons Nix and Hydra

The designations P1 and P2, spotted by Hubble just last year, become names drawn from underworld mythology and chosen with a nod to the New Horizons mission whose initials they share.

By June 2006, Pluto was already losing its grip on planetary status — the IAU vote that would demote it to "dwarf planet" was just weeks away. Against that backdrop, the same IAU convened on June 21 to do something more generous: officially name the two small moons that Max Mutchler and Andrew Steffl had spotted with the Hubble Space Telescope in May 2005. "P1" became Nix, and "P2" became Hydra — both drawn from the mythology of the underworld, and both chosen with a quiet nod to the New Horizons mission whose initials they share…

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More from June 21
1768

Otis stands before the General Court and charges King and Parliament with tyranny

The Boston lawyer who called taxation without representation unlawful delivers his sharpest attack yet; word is already moving toward London.
1788

New Hampshire ratifies; the Constitution crosses the nine-state threshold

Eight states had approved it and it meant nothing; the Granite State's vote today makes the Philadelphia document the law of a real nation.
1942

Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens; Doney orders blackout, holds his guns

Commander Tagami surfaces I-25 at the Columbia River mouth after dark, fires seventeen rounds, and slips away undamaged, leaving cut telephone lines on the Oregon coast.
20041776 Club
SpaceShipOne, built by Burt Rutan for roughly $25 million of Paul Allen's money, breaks a 43-year government monopoly on crewed spaceflight.
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More from Modern America
2015

Supreme Court rules 5-4: every state must license and recognize same-sex marriage

Kennedy's majority finds the Fourteenth Amendment settles the question; the ruling consolidates six cases from four states and reaches all 50 states and U.S. territories.
2024

Biden's debate voice fails him; the 81-year-old leaves his economic record undefended on national television

Speaking in a halting, hoarse voice and repeatedly mixing "billion" with "million," the president leaves Democrats across the country asking what they saw tonight.
2007

Apple's iPhone goes on sale; thousands who camped for days outside stores are first in line

Jobs unveiled the 3.5-inch touchscreen device in January as "an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator" in one, and today the wait ends at Apple and AT&T stores nationwide.
2019

Trump steps across the DMZ line; no sitting president has stood on North Korean soil before today

Kim tells him "I never expected to meet you at this place," and the two go on to talk privately for 53 minutes inside Freedom House, South Korea's Moon kept out at Pyongyang's request.
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