Posted on 07/12/2016 8:03:24 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Pluto isn't quite as lonely as scientists had thought.
Astronomers have discovered another dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy objects beyond Neptune. But this newfound world, dubbed 2015 RR245, is much more distant than Pluto, orbiting the sun once every 700 Earth years, scientists said. (Pluto completes one lap around the sun every 248 Earth years.)
"The icy worlds beyond Neptune trace how the giant planets formed and then moved out from the sun," discovery team member Michele Bannister, of the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said in a statement. "They let us piece together the history of our solar system."
...
The exact size of 2015 RR245 is not yet known, but the researchers think it's about 435 miles (700 kilometers) wide. Pluto is the largest resident of the Kuiper Belt, with a diameter of 1,474 miles (2,371 km).
The research team first spotted 2015 RR245 in February of this year, while poring over images that the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii took in September 2015 as part of the ongoing Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS).
"There it was on the screen — this dot of light moving so slowly that it had to be at least twice as far as Neptune from the sun," Bannister said.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Well of course the woods are full of spiders.
Where do you think I put them when I throw them out of my house?
The closest I have come is to promise to keep at least fifty percent of my promises. (I am cautious not to admit whether that may be one of them.)
If I had a little horse to give his harness bells a shake, I feel certain that I would waft off into a dream of nubile terpsichorean maidens, and never really answer the horse's inquiry.
I was probably closer to Reading before I left my base in Maryland than I am now.
When it is coldish out, which tends to be a seasonal thing, we loose them in the basement. Else in the warmth (e.g. now) we step out the back door and loose them in the grass.
The basement spiders always seem well fed. Right now I’m sure it’s mosquitoes, which always seem to be prevalent on the lower level mostly because the basement is not particularly water tight. Matter of fact it’s downright wettish. It takes an extended droughtlike condition before the sump is the only puddle remaining.
What they are feasting on when it gets colder I don’t know since the mosquitoes seem to activate an escape plan by then. Maybe other spiders..
I have thought, in my own weird way of thinking, that permitting a spider to weave its web near a lamp that is usually left on seems a good way to accomplish both what the spider wants, and what I want; that the misguided insects which have found their way into my dwelling should be summarily and efficiently dealt with.
My wife seems uncomfortable with this procedure.
Nice colors. Are you aware that I have a fondness for Parrish blue?
..aware that I have a fondness for Parrish blue?
—
No I was not.
Nor was the painter.. ;-)
This being what could be called ‘old farm house’, mostly because that is exactly what it is - some parts being older than others due to the add-on-to feature - it is not necessarily as bug impenetrable as newer construction. Being thus blessed with an endless supply of insectoid life, it just plain makes sense to leave the spiders alone and let them feast in peace.
I know I mentioned some time ago watching an itty bitty spider that had built a webstructure between the external hard drive and the wifi router on my desk slowly and methodically entangling a vastly larger moth, suck it dry over about two days, and then cut it loose to join the other remnants on the shelftop. I was entertained by the itty bitty spider for some time until one day there was no more itty bitty spider. I waited a few days, then cleaned up the remnants and ‘dusted’ out the web. No spider has returned to that spot since.
Mrs. NoC on the other hand does not like them parading across her kitchen counter space and imprisons them in plastic jars which look strangely like empty peanut butter containers. These she leaves lying about in the hopes I see it and rescue the imprisoned arachnid by releasing it to its new home in the great outdoors or if the temperature is lowering, the basement with whatever culinary delights lurk there..
Squeeful kitteh! Floof!
Good morning (or afternoon,) all. Another day has not quite dawned, and I didn’t sleep nearly as well last night as I did the night before.
I’ve decided to vacuum today and if possible, I will get some things ready for the thrift store. I was looking in my kitchen cupboards (pantry) and decided that probably, the most practical way for me to pack the stuff in there is to put it into crates. So my list has grown by four items, as I think that’s all I will need.
If I could pack something like that now, and just use them until the time to leave, I would. But that can’t be done. No room.
And so my day starts!
Hidey HO, Neighbors!
Morning! I’m typing up lyrics for Mass next weekend and will leave for practice at Asuncion’s shortly. Well, as you know, I do everything shortly ...
Good luck with the vacuuming!
Good Morning ,Ladies.
Cute little kitty this morning.
I mean, terrifying future overlord of all humanity. :)
How are things with you? We are still getting some smoke from CA but it isn’t as bad as it was.
More rain is forecast for today, but we have already had over 3” this year and that is our “norm.” So anything more will be gravy, and might help to lessen the effects of the years long drought. Hopefully, the bathtub ring around the Lake won’t be so pronounced.
The sun is finally up, but I have The Slows again, so I don’t know when the vacuum will start up. Maybe if I wait long enough, it will do the floors by itself. *haha*
We have a fine selection of Wind and Rain ,today.
There have been Grey Wagtails picking the insects off the Razor wire this morning.
Vacuum cleaners can be stubborn creatures.
Give it a nudge with your foot from time to time...show it who’s boss. :)
This is strangely reminiscent of the goings-on at my house, except that the scenario begins with a scream of terror when a female resident encounters an itinerant octopod.
Then it becomes my task, using the empty and washed peanut butter jar, to collect the specimen and relocate it.
A word about peanut butter jars and collecting insectoid or arachnid life-forms; most such organisms see, if poorly, by the same kind of light that we use, but their vision is not as well focused. The easy way to entrap them is to slowly bring a transparent container over them to surround them, and then to use a thin bit of cardboard or paper to put a floor under them in their transportation chamber.
Even for those who are squeamish, this is a gentle and effective procedure, (for most captures). It is particularly valuable in dealing with wasps or hornets which have gotten into the wrong place, and whose optical navigation systems do not serve them well in such circumstances.
I’ll try to remember all that when next I encounter a horde of killer wasps, black widow spiders and desert recluse spider, which, by the way, are great jumpers.
And since I have no peanut butter jars (not being a fan of peanut butter) I’m once again left to my own devices. So I spray the little wuzzers with an intense blast of a petroleum-based product to immobilize said creature permanently.
Sorry Ganag, but I have no Manly Man nor empty peanut butter jars to save me. I’m on my own here.
After vacuuming the floors, I’m ravenously hungry. With not much in sight to feed the poor me. Dang.
I might have enough to get a cheeseburger, but these days, that’s too much for me to eat. I will have to start buying kid’s meals.
Or maybe an Arby’s roast beast is in order. With horseradish.
Afternoon, folks. Nice choir practice. Now I need to work on the pages of words some more.
I can identify with this.
Once again, I will have to go outside to warm up. It reminds me that I will be swapping out my summer clothes for winter ones, soon, and will need to buy more thermal shirts and lightweight fleece pants in order to be warm, even indoors.
I miss singing in the choir, but most choir practice takes place around 1600 on Sundays, and that’s just not a doable thing. And since I’m a tenor, most ward choirs need my voice.
The yogurt supply is running low and I don’t understand that! I’m going to check and see if there are any Not Me’s, I Don’t Knows, or I Was Outsides that have been getting into my stash. ;o]
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