question: An American probe launched eight years ago to explore Pluto has awoken from hibernation in deep space as it nears the dwarf planet and its moons. New Horizons came out of hibernation this evening and has transmitted a message back to mission control on Earth showing that all of its systems are fully working. Alice Bowman, a physicist from Johns Hopkins University, said: 'New Horizons is healthy and cruising quietly through deep space, nearly three billion miles from home, but its rest is over.' The New Horizons probe has successfully awoke from its last period of hibernation 3billion miles from Earth as it prepares to make the first detailed observations of Pluto and its atmosphere (artist's impression) The craft is currently three billion miles from this planet meaning radio messages beamed back take nearly four and a half hours to arrive. New Horizons was launched in January 2006 and drifted through space in hibernation for 1,873 days, about two thirds of its journey, while it travelled to the edge of our solar system. During its trip, NASA engineers briefly woke the craft every few months to check if its systems were still functioning. The craft's computer has also been sending a weekly message to Earth, making 267 messages since it launched. During its journey, New Horizons passed three to four times closer to Jupiter than the previous probe, using the planet's gravity to increase its speed and reduce journey times to Pluto by three years. While the probe has now awoken from its last hibernation phase, it will still take seven months to reach its closet point from Pluto, passing within 7,767miles of the planet's surface in July 2015. As it flies past, it will beam images of Pluto and its largest moon Charon back to Earth, which will be the most detailed pictures ever taken of the bodies. While there it will also examine several small, icy bodies in the Kupier Belt, the most densely populated part of our solar system which begins around 2.5billion miles from Earth. As Pluto has an elliptical, or oval-shaped orbit, it strays into this region on its 247.7-year orbit around the sun. The object there are leftover debris from the birth of our solar system 4.6billion years ago. Scientists have identified three possible objects that New Horizons could collect data from, which sit about 1.5billion miles further on from Pluto. New Horizons begins its exploration of Pluto in January at a distance of about 160million miles. This image of Jupiter and its moon Io was taken by New Horizons as it passed close to the planet in 2007, using its gravitational field to boost its speed and reduce the journey time to Pluto by three years. During its mission, New Horizons will collect data on Pluto and Charon's surfaces, giving astronomers an up-close look at the dim surfaces that are difficult to see from Earth. The craft carries onboard seven instruments including infrared and ultraviolet spectrometers - which measure UV and infra-red waves, a multicolor camera, a high-resolution telescopic camera and a space dust detector. All of the instruments aboard New Horizons draw power from a radioisotope thermoelectric generator - a type of nuclear motor - which provides less power than a pair of 100-watt light bulbs. Pluto is about 2,300 kilometers in diameter, smaller than Earth's moon, and has a mass about 500 times less than Earth. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union withdrew Pluto's status as a planet, reclassifying it as a dwarf planet and leaving the solar system with eight planets. The news that New Horizons has successfully awoken is just the latest development in what has been an exciting few weeks for space travel. On November 12 the European Space Agency made a momentous achievement in the history of space travel by successfully landing the first space probe, Rosetta, on a comet. Though the probe's harpoons failed to launch, meaning it ultimately landed in a cave with its main solar panels blocked, it managed to use all of its instruments before running out of battery. And two days ago NASA launched the first test flight of its Orion space-craft, hailed as the start of the Mars-era, it has the potential to carry astronauts to an asteroid and the red planet.

answer: New Horizons probe has woken from hibernation 3billion miles from Earth. Signal saying all systems working took four hours to reach mission control. Observing Pluto before passing close to dwarf planet in July next year. It will then take the most detailed pictures of its surface ever seen. Will then observe objects in Kupier Belt - another 1.5billion miles away.


question: A college student was the victim of an alleged hate crime where he was beaten unconscious and had his mouth stapled while his attackers made anti-Semitic taunts. Zach Tennen, 19, was at a party close to  Michigan State University campus in the early hours of Sunday when he was set upon by two men who he said asked if he was Jewish. The attackers, who claimed to be Ku Klux Klan, then raised their arms in a Nazi salute, saying 'Heil Hitler' and began hitting the teenager. Vicious assault: Zach Tennen, 19, was recovering at home near Detroit, after he was beaten by two men in an apparent anti-Semitic attack. However East Lansing police said in a statement on Tuesday that the assault was 'not likely a hate crime'. Investigators said a potential suspect has been identified. Police did not return calls asking for more details on the attack. Zach told Local 4 that while he was passed out, the attackers managed to staple through his gums. He said: 'It was coming up in my two bottom teeth and it started in my gum, so, somehow they managed to staple it.' His mother told the Detroit Free Press that around 20 people at the party watched the attack but no one helped her son. He was then thrown out of the party. The teenager, of Franklin, Michigan, also has a broken jaw below his bottom teeth which will require being set with wire. His family contacted the Anti-Defamation League, an organization which fights anti-Semitism, on account of the assault. In a statement to MailOnline, ADL Detroit Regional Director Betsy Kellman said: 'We are horrified by this violent assault and allegations that the student may have been viciously attacked because he was Jewish. Violent: Zach indicates where he woke up to find he had a staple in his mouth after being attacked on Sunday. Place of learning: Zach was beaten up close to the East Lansing campus of Michigan State University, pictured. 'We are confident that the East Lansing. Police will thoroughly investigate this deeply troubling case and, given. the allegations, treat it as a possible hate crime. We hope the. perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice.' Zach, who graduated from Birmingham Groves High School last year and studies journalism at MSU, said he had drank alcohol at the party but only a small amount. After his attackers fled, he called a cab to take him to Lansing Sparrow Hospital. The hospital did not call the police but said that it was standard policy to alert authorities if someone reported being a victim of assault. Zach later had surgery at a Detroit hospital to have his jaw wired shut. Brutal: Zach Tennen said the men who assaulted him asked if he was Jewish and then made Nazi signs. Injuries: The 19-year-old took a cab to Lansing Sparrow Hospital, pictured, after being beaten unconscious. Michigan State's Student Affairs and Services released this statement: 'Michigan State University's Student Affairs and Services office has reached out to the family of the student assaulted in East Lansing to provide the academic and other support the student needs. 'MSU will work with the student and his professors to ensure he can fulfill his academic requirements, as we would with any student in need. 'As the incident occurred off campus in East Lansing, all questions about the police investigation need to go the East Lansing Police Department.'

answer:
Zach Tennen, 19, beaten unconscious at party close to Michigan State University. Teenager said attackers told him they were in the KKK. Zach had surgery to have his jaw wired after vicious assault. Police said assault was 'not likely a hate crime' but refused to elaborate.