Marc Buie on May 26, 1996: Pluto and Neptune formed on their own in the solar system. This is pretty simple, the rest of the planets did this too. There may have even been lots and lots of Pluto's a long time ago. Then as the solar system grew and evolved, those other Pluto's got either gobbled up by Neptune or flung out of the solar system. One of those Pluto's might have even been captured by Neptune. That might even be Triton -- which could explain why it orbits Neptune backward. What we now know as Pluto is the only one of these objects out there that survived being swallowed up by Neptune. This is pretty likely since we know the path that Pluto travels NEVER gets close to Neptune.That one is not entirely on the ball, but nicely summarizes the various conventional models for the origin of Pluto.
‘The Hubble is hardly a piece of space junk.’
It’s more than 20 years old. Technology left it behind about 15 years ago. When trying to service it, it was a deathtrap.
We can now get equally as good pictures from Mt Palomar overlooking San Diago as with Hubble, using the upgraded equipment they have there. Mona Kea does better.
Time to launch the next generation of telescopes and let that worn out junk burn up. It has served its purpose. Dump it on the scrap heap and upgrade.