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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Pluto With a Capital P for Planet

Blame it on the IAU but you're always a planet to me...

Sometime early this morning NASA's New Horizons robotic spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto, once the solar system's ninth planet until it was demoted to planetoid status in 2006. But that doesn't take any of the lustre out of today's accomplishment. The probe's nine-year journey takes it over four billion kilometres away from Earth, and I an in awe of the math and engineering skills responsible for hitting so small a target from such a great distance in all the system's vastness. Kudos to the visionary scientists and engineers who made this happen. It's a good day for humanity. 

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