Gah! I missed another shuttle lift-off! I'd been prepared for the last what seemed like dozens of attempts but today I slept right through the actual lift-off. fooey

Godspeed Atlantis. *cheers*

ahh the words of a wise Jedi Master. So the debate about Pluto, is it a planet or isn’t it? It seems most recently this topic of discussion has become quite popular. I’m not sure what to make of it just yet really, on one hand it’s like I grew up learning that Pluto is the 9th planet in our Solar System and that’s that. On the other hand does it really matter so much if it gets demoted from its status as a planet to a dwarf planet?

One thing that interests me though is wondering why there have been such large gaps in between the discovery of its moons and other trans-Neptunian objects and why there hasn’t been a clear definition for what is a planet until now. I suppose it’s mostly due to the discoveries of other bodies they are finding in recent years but I do wonder why the large stretch in time. I may be off a bit in the time frame here, but Pluto was discovered in 1930, Charon in the late 70’s and then it was just a couple years ago when the other two moons where discovered. It seems like a rather large gap when they were able to identify Pluto all the way back in the 30’s.

I don’t know, it’s probably just best to leave it alone, let Pluto be the one exception to the new rule. I do think the discovery of new stuff in space is cool and I hope the continuing interest in the space program keeps growing. I can’t help it, I want to know what’s up there!

In other totally unrelated events, the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin has died from a Stingray barb to the heart while filming a documentary off the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve always thought the guy has done some dumb things before but still wow. I feel sorry for his wife and kids.

ahh the words of a wise Jedi Master. So the debate about Pluto, is it a planet or isn’t it? It seems most recently this topic of discussion has become quite popular. I’m not sure what to make of it just yet really, on one hand it’s like I grew up learning that Pluto is the 9th planet in our Solar System and that’s that. On the other hand does it really matter so much if it gets demoted from its status as a planet to a dwarf planet?

One thing that interests me though is wondering why there have been such large gaps in between the discovery of its moons and other trans-Neptunian objects and why there hasn’t been a clear definition for what is a planet until now. I suppose it’s mostly due to the discoveries of other bodies they are finding in recent years but I do wonder why the large stretch in time. I may be off a bit in the time frame here, but Pluto was discovered in 1930, Charon in the late 70’s and then it was just a couple years ago when the other two moons where discovered. It seems like a rather large gap when they were able to identify Pluto all the way back in the 30’s.

I don’t know, it’s probably just best to leave it alone, let Pluto be the one exception to the new rule. I do think the discovery of new stuff in space is cool and I hope the continuing interest in the space program keeps growing. I can’t help it, I want to know what’s up there!

In other totally unrelated events, the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin has died from a Stingray barb to the heart while filming a documentary off the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve always thought the guy has done some dumb things before but still wow. I feel sorry for his wife and kids.

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July!





And darn it I missed the Discovery lift-off earlier today. foo