New pictures of Pluto taken by the Hubble space telescope show that the dwarf planet became significantly redder between 2000 and 2002. The images are the most detailed pictures taken of Pluto and are made up from a suite of images taken in 2002 and 2003. Comparing these images with those from 1994 reveals that Pluto’s northern hemisphere has brightened and its southern hemisphere has darkened.

Quirin Schiermeier

Indian Premier Manmohan Singh has backed the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, who has come under fire for his dealing with a recently discovered error and a number of other alleged inaccuracies in the last IPCC report.

The IPCC had mistakenly stated in its 2007 report that all Himalayan glaciers are likely to melt away by 2035 as a result of global warming. The error, and allegations of conflict of interest against Pachauri, who also acts as director of The Energy Research Institute (TERI) in Delhi, have resulted in calls for Pachauri to resign as chairman of the IPCC.

Addressing a TERI-hosted meeting in Delhi on sustainable development Singh acknowledged that “some aspects of science reflected in the work of the IPCC have faced criticism”.

But he said that “India has full confidence in the IPCC process and its leadership and will support it in every way.”

Pachauri conceded last month that the IPCC’s Himalayan estimates were wrong, but asserts that he was not personally responsible for the error.