Love the sea? This new cemetery gives sea lovers the chance to spend their afterlife underwater. It kinda gives a new meaning to the phrase "sleeping with the fishes." More in the full article.

A research team at the Geneva University in Switzerland have just discovered what is believed to be the smallest transiting planet detected to date. What makes this discovery all the more interesting is that the researchers believe this planet is composed mostly of "an exotic form of water."

The liquid vapor maintains ice form even at the planet's estimated surface temperature of 300° C, due to high pressure within the atmosphere that compresses the liquid particles closer together.

"Water has more than a dozen solid states, only one of which is our familiar ice," said research team member Frederic Pont. He further explained that much like carbon and diamonds, water can convert into a solid state denser than ice when exposed to extremely high pressures. This was the case found for planet GJ 436, whose external hydrogen-based atmosphere kept its water super-compressed.

GJ 436 was originally discovered back in 2004 using the radial velocity method, where scientists observed the planet's reactions to gravity from its home star. New details were revealed after the researchers used the transit method, where the planet was observed from Earth via telescope as it passes in front of its home star.

The planet is estimated to be about 50,000 kilometres wide - four times the width of Earth - and similar in sized to Neptune, another planet composed mostly of ice. "If you bring Neptune nearer to the Sun and it's heated outside to 300° C, that's exactly what you get," Mr. Pont further noted regarding the two planet's similarities.

Unlike Neptune, the eighth furthest planet from the Sun, GJ 436's orbit around its home star is distance of 13 times closer than Mercury is to our Sun. The research team speculates that the ice and the planet formed farther out from the star long ago and was eventually drawn into its current orbit.

Aside from this discovery of "hot ice", planet experts like Sara Seager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology state that the discovery is "tremendously exciting" because this was the very first time a planet smaller than a gas giant has been detected using the transit observation method. "It's opening a door to identifying habitable planets in the near future," she commented.

Last month, Pluto was tossed out of the family of planets by the International Astronomical Union - but perhaps its not all bad, because even as Pluto has lost one family, it seems to have gained another.

Today, the "hot new thing" in planetary science is the Kuiper Belt - a ring of icy debris that orbits outside the Solar System proper. Many of these "Kuiper objects" - of which Pluto is now considered a part - is the "attic of the solar system," a veritable archaeological treasure house of artifacts dating from its earliest days.

Astronomers have identified some 1,100 Kuiper Belt objects , and there may be has many as half a million more. Many of these bodies are larger than 20 miles wide. One appears to be mostly rock with a coating of ice. Some are big snowballs. Some are less dense than ice, indicating a Swiss-cheese-like structure. A lot of them have moons. "The more we learn, the weirder it looks," says Harold Levinson of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

Many Kuiper Belt objects have orbits similar to Pluto’s, and have been dubbed the "Plutinos."

Like Pluto, these have orbits, often at a sharp angle to the rest of the solar system. At least one of these -  nicknamed "Xena" -  is larger than Pluto.

Less than twenty years ago, the Kuiper Belt was not even on  maps of the solar system. Pluto (actually Neptune at that time, since Pluto had slipped inside Neptunian orbit) marked the outer limit. An astronomer during the 1950's, Gerard Kuiper (for whom the belt is named) theorized that such a region of small objects had existed at one point, but that Pluto (at the time believed to be much larger than it is) had pushed them out of our region of space.

The existence of Pluto - being a "rocky" planet that is half ice, with its tilted and irregular orbit - provided the first clues to astronomers that there was something else out there beyond the known solar system. Considering was these objects are teaching scientists about the formation of the solar system, this would seem to more than compensate Pluto for its elimination from the planetary roll.

For many people it was inevitable, but we still didn't think it would have happened...now it has. 2,500 astronomers who met in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly have demoted Pluto's planet status. Who would have thought that in your science lessons that in the future our solar system would have less planets?

Rather than vote that our solar system contained 12 planets (including the discovery of 2003 UB313 by Professor Mike Brown), the IAU voted that Pluto should be demoted and that our solar system contains 8 planets. "The eight planets are Mercury, Earth, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune," said the IAU resolution, which was passed following a week of intense debate.

Pluto has been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930 by the American Clyde Tombaugh, but now it appears that Pluto will have to be ripped out from school textbooks after the IAU resolution. In remembrance of the planet Pluto, here are a few facts that BBC News put together:

• Named after the underworld god
• Average Sun distance: 5.9bn km
• Orbits Sun every 248 years
• Has at least three moons
• Rotates every 6.8 days
• Gravity about 6% of Earth's
• Surface temperature -233C
• NASA probe visits in 2015

The ongoing debate as to what exactly constitutes a "planet" has aroused some ire among astronomers at the meeting of the International Astronomical Union in Prague. The planet definition committee offered three new definitions in an attempt to mollify the scientists that had rejected the first proposal. However, most of the scientists in attendance rejected these as well.

The latest proposal continues to define planets as round objects that orbit the Sun, but adds the following: "In our solar system, we distinguish between the eight 'classical' planets as the dominant objects in their local population zones, and 'dwarf' planets, which are not." This is an attempt to find common ground with the astronomers who had come up their own definition last week.

"They have presented practically the same resolution as before," says Julio Fernandez of the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. Fernandez was one of the authors of last week's  proposal.  He added, "Most of the people here think it makes no sense."

It seems like hair-splitting. Everyone agrees that objects in Solar orbit fall into one of three categories: – the big planets from Mercury to Neptune; a number of "dwarf" planets (i.e. Pluto, Ceres, et.al.); and asteroids.  What subject of just what constitutes a "dwarf planet" seem to be the problem. Fernandez says they aren't planets at all, while the Committee says they are.  It's a small thing until you have to answer the question of exactly how many "official" planets actually orbit the Sun. 

A lunchtime meeting turned hostile when Fernandez tried to read his alternative definition.  He was cut off by Ron Ekers, the IAU president.  "I think it was disgraceful treatment," says Brian Marsden, formerly head of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As more questions were prevented, one astronomer cried out: "If there is democracy, listen to the questions. Let the people speak!" More of the scientists became angered when a  member of planet committee, MIT's Richard Binzel, said: "You can vote based on physics, or maybe you have some preconceived idea of what a planet should be."

Irish astronomer Mike Bailey said "With the present state of knowledge, it's impossible to draw the line between dwarf planets and asteroids." A final resolution declaring that a planetary companion can be a full-fledged planet  if its center of gravity of the system is out in space was rejected by most of those in attendance. That resolution would have made Charon a planet, leaving other planetary companions as moons.

Now there is an attempt to reconcile the warring parties' views in preparation of a vote on the subject coming up this Thursday.

The planet Pluto is facing a serious demotion.

Soon, school kids may have to get used to saying that the solar system is consists of eight planets, not nine. At an International Astronomical Union (IAU) conference to be held later this month at Prague, a resolution that defines a planet is scheduled to be heard and considered. Pluto has always been different from the other planets - too small, erratic orbit, not enough of a rocky center etc. And this conference might decide if Pluto is indeed the ninth planet of the Solar System or just one of thousands of small, icy objects in the decidedly less glamorous Kuiper Belt, just beyond Neptune.

The IAU faces a dilemma here, if they decide that Pluto is a planet, then they should also consider Pluto-like masses as planets. If they decide that it isn't one, then a major change in Science will take place, starting with the Science textbooks. Some speculations say that it is unlikely for Pluto to be demoted because "egos" have gotten in the way, specifically US pride. Pluto is the only planet discovered by an American - Clyde W. Tombaugh. Whatever the International Astronomical Union decides on, we will surely keep you posted.

Back in April, much excitement was created within the astronomy community after scientists have found 45 previously unknown bodies of rock orbiting beyond Neptune, each of which ranged from 50 to 500 kilometers wide.

This excitement has been rekindled this month as dozens of small icy objects which are similar to last April's samples have been found in the far areas of our solar system. Based on this new discovery, scientists are led to believe that these objects are far more abundant than they have previously thought.

The real importance of these discoveries, however, is that it aids in the measuring of the distribution of objects in space, which will then test various theories of how our outer solar system evolved. And now, because of their latest findings, scientists now speculate that there are a quadrillion (one million billion) of these objects in the areas beyond Neptune.

These objects are known as the smallest of their kind which are referred to as TNOs, or trans-Neptunian objects. Most TNOs are hundreds of kilometers across and are believed to be similar to comets in the sense that they are also composed of mostly dust, rock and ice.

Data sent back by Cassini is shedding light on the origins of some of Saturn's rings by dissecting it's most enigmatic features.

According to the pool of scientists and astronomers who are analyzing Cassini's data, they have seen a bright arc of material looping around the edge of the G-ring. They believe that this is a long-lived feature of the ring held in place by resonant interactions with the moon Mimas.

It has long been known that Saturn has Uranus- and Jupiter-like rings, but with this development, it is most likely that the ringed planet may also have Neptunian type rings, as well. This is so since the G-ring's predicament is very much the same as that of Neptune.

The team had suspected that the bright arc had formed through a series of collisions between small icy bodies orbiting in the plane of the G-ring. Now, they suspect the arc is actually the source of the G-ring, as particles break away from the arc and drift outwards.

Aside from the developments about the G-ring, the researchers now have a full grasp about the origins of the E-ring. They are now quite sure that this double banded ring is formed from ice errupting from geysers at the south pole of the moon Enceladus. But still, more data and research are needed to be dead sure how the double banded structure of the E-ring came about.

Although the existence of the "Asteroid Belt" between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter is well known, they are not the only asteroids orbiting the sun. A number of rogues are known, and now it seems Neptune may be sharing its orbit with a number of them as well. Not only that, but these "Trojan" asteroids may outnumber those in the belt just beyond Mars.

The asteroid whose odd orbit suggests the presence of many others was discovered by Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution and Chad Trujillo of Hawaii's Gemini Observatory. It is one of four asteroids that orbit in lockstep with Neptune, some five billion kilometers (approximately three billion miles) ahead of the planet itself.

Because of the unusual tilt of the orbit - 25 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system - these types of asteroids are difficult to pinpoint and observe. This rare sighting, according to scientists, are a good indication that there are many more out in that part of space.