Pluto's Planetary Predicament

Now I don't know about you, but when I was in school and we studied our solar system, Pluto was a planet. I'm not sure what Pluto did to have its planetary status revoked, but I would say it was a significant transgression. (must of made fun of Uranus)

Whatever Pluto did, it cost its planetary status and on August, 24th 2006 was downgraded to a "Dwarf Planet". Personally I don't think that is politically correct. I think they should use the term "Little Planet".

Anyway, while its status is still debated to this day, it does have several moons. (I would think this would be a clear indicator that it is a PLANET, but who am I) Five at this point, Charon, Nix, Hydra, and two unnamed bodies discovered in 2011 and 2012.

A recent contest was started to name the two newly discovered moons. William Shatner, Star Trek's Captain Kirk, proposed to name the two moons Vulcan and Romulus. Romulus was kicked out, however, Vulcan was allowed on the ballet. Despite some scientific naysayers, Vulcan came out on top with 174,062 votes. No other recommendation came close or even broke 100,000 votes. Second place went to Cerberus with 99,432 votes.

Now it's not official... Apparently some high and mighty scientist have the final say... But it's my hope they stick with the popular vote. So all you Trekies and Trekkers out there, keep your fingers crossed.

Live long and prosper.

-Red
www.jeffjake.com
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Be sure to check out Jeff's book, Assassin's Retribution.

Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand-grenades

One of my favorite classes back when I was in high school (A LONG TIME AGO) was astronomy. I learned a lot from the class. I went on to also take a college class on the topic. Loved it. While it's not an overwhelming passion of mine, I do like to dabble around and check things out on occasion.

As I was home sick from work today (That's why this is so late) I've been surfing, reading, watching TV... All the things you can do while confined to a recliner. I came across this interesting bit in one of my books. It kinda makes you step back and go... WOW... that would have been bad.

Here is the text:

In 1937 the tiny asteroid Hermes passed uncomfortably close to the Earth, at a distance of less than twice that of the moon. Astronomers later discovered that in 1942 it passed even closer. On March 23, 1989, a thousand-foot-wide asteroid missed impacting the Earth by only 400,000 miles, passing through the exact position the Earth was in six hours before. (Folks, that's too close for comfort) If it had hit the Earth, the resulting explosion would have been the largest in recorded history. And in 2002, another asteroid missed impacting the Earth by only 75,000 miles, or 1/3 the distance to the moon. Astronomers did not even discover the near-impact until three days later.


It kind of makes that big universe... well... feel real small.

-Red

www.jeffjake.com
www.facebook.com/jeffreyrjake
Twitter @MortisG187

Email Jeff at: author@jeffjake.com