Planck's Constant

THE first space mission to Pluto contains an unusual piece of cargo: ashes from the cremated remains of Clyde Tombaugh, the astronomer who discovered the outermost planet in 1930.

Tombaugh, the only American to find a planet in the solar system, died in 1997, when scientists were still working to win approval and funding for a Pluto mission. His widow, Patricia Tombaugh, 93, and other relatives were present at the launch. Rest of Story ... smh.com.au/news/world

Pluto

I am certain there are whiners out there doubtful of the payoff for this enterprise but I have an answer for them. Things exist in this world where one plants seeds this year and hopes and prays that next year there will be something to eat. It is what we as a species do. Spend energy and time now so that in the future we will be better off. For you grasshoppers out there, start thinking more than two minutes ahead.

Pluto is the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft. In addition, its orbital inclination is much higher than the other planets' and, as I note below, its orbit is highly eccentric. At times it is closer to the Sun than Neptune. One could call this planet an anomaly.

Put all these unusual items together with the fact that the probe is powered by 24 pounds of the eponymous plutonium and I would like to coin the word "eponomaly" to describe this series of unlikely occurrences. It would be like sending a probe powered by Neptunium to Neptune, or by Uranium to Uranus, or if the Mercury Spacecraft crash landed on a Ford Mercury. [To find more words I made up click here]

When I was a child Pluto was the 9th planet in distance from the Sun. Then on January 21, 1979 Neptune became the farthest out until February 11, 1999 when the two switched places. The past few years have been serene and peaceful for me, astronomically speaking, as all is well with the Universe and my cherished beliefs from childhood are once again all in alignment.

If they find a Wal-Mart on Pluto, I will be so mad. There's no stopping these plunderers.

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