Think about it: Charon orbits, right? That's like the boatman who ferried dead souls across the river Styx never landing on the other shore, but just going in circles. People would get impatient. Do you even know where you're going? Or perhaps they'd be pleased: looks like no eternal torment for me! Sweet!
Anyway: congrats to the New Horizons team, which did something astonishing. They aimed a tiny vehicle at Pluto a decade ago, and nailed it.
Here's a nice little graphical round-up of what the New Horizons probe did this morning, besides remind everyone about Pluto's senseless demotion. In related news: the eggheads at the Large Hadron Collider, where they've been smashing Large Hedrons to get smaller, more manageable Hedrons, announced that they've discovered a new class of particles. This doesn't happen every day.
Of course, that's not the end of it. We haven't discovered all the particles, although you can't say for certain we have. I still get the feeling that when it comes to this level of observation, we're still in the van Leeuwenhoek stage.
Also related, inasmuch as the team in Pluto is probably high-fiving themselves for getting a ship in low earth orbit:
UFO sighting leaves experts convinced they have seen an alien craft
That's the headline at the Mirror. First of all, there's no such thing as a UFO expert. Second, I'm not sure that this group is inclined to resist the lure of attractive evidence. That's it! I'm convinced! For years I've believed that UFOs are out there, and I've studied every picture desperate for confirmation of my yearnings, but my stubborn nature has made me reject them all until now!
