SCIENCE WATCH : The Big Blackout

Earth to Washington. We want to see those images from Jupiter.

Just as some of the mysteries of the solar system’s largest planet were to be unveiled to the public, Washington pulled the plug, canceling a Dec. 19 press conference that would have given the world the first pictures from Jupiter. It was a matter of money, not science.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was forced to call off the event because under the federal budget impasse there were no funds for governmental “nonessentials” such as television lights, satellite hookups, press kits and public relations personnel. So another glitch after 20 years of ups and downs in the $1.3-billion Galileo mission. Earlier this month, a Galileo probe successfully made a fiery swan dive into Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere, and the mother craft achieved orbit around the enormous planet.

Galileo is providing the first comprehensive look at Jupiter. Until the budget stalemate is resolved, there is a blackout on the probe’s “57 minutes of unique, glorious data,” as it was described by one official at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Though other federal operations are being hit hard by the partial shutdown, the stalemate does not interfere with scientific elements of the mission, and when the government is fully operational again the press conference will be rescheduled.

With no pictures from space, the only overheated atmosphere we can see exists in Washington. Hardly fascinating. Give us Jupiter instead any time.