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 ...
Indeed!
I hope to see the moon tonight. It should be right up there when we get done with Cub Scouts about 8:00.
Back from the gym, time to do some Organization until lunchtime.
It sounds like you’re doing a post-incarceration ministry, rather than working with current inmates?
I decided to weed out a file cabinet, and put the contents into boxes, but I got side-tracked and reorganized the file sorter. Now, I still want to put the files into boxes, but I don’t know how much stamina I will have.
Right now, I think I will go have another breathing treatment and see how I feel when I’m done with it. I may get a box filled today, after all!
The ministry has two facets. The in-prison portion includes weekly Bible studies, correspondence courses, and since one of the principals spent his career in corporate finance (he's now retired) he teaches two finance classes 'on the inside' as well. This portion is typically the husband-wife team (Bob and Ellen) that founded the ministry that started at Rahway (NJ) State Prison 34 years ago. Only on rare occasions (mostly due to the mountains of paperwork required to get anyone extra cleared) do they bring anyone else into the prison with them.
One concern that the couple had was that once an attendee of one of their 'inside' Bible studies left the prison they often lost contact with them. That was the impetus to start the correspondence courses. Over twenty years ago they researched the possibility of doing a retreat type event as a trial/proof of concept thing. The 'invitees' would be limited to those who were more or less faithful in their attendance at the 'inside' Bible classes and who had maintained contact after release. The idea was for a weekend type event where the Ministry would cover the costs for the rooms and food and all the attendees needed to do was get there.
It was hard finding a venue that was willing to host an event whose attendees would be largely ex-cons, but a facility run by The Salvation Army agreed and that is where we have been for the past 21 years now. The format has varied little - Bob (that would be Rev. Bob - he's the only one that is ordained.. ;-) chooses the theme and he does all the teaching sessions based that theme (this year was Trust.) And there are some who assist with music.
So far no one has thrown anything at the keyboard player.
The Wolferman’s catalog came today. I drooled over the waffles, the crumpets and the lemon curd. Now I’m hungry.
I hope I feel up to boxing up some files later on, but I suspect I will do it tomorrow. Since I won’t be going to Walmart any time soon, I will have more time in the morning.
I checked the freezer to see if I had anything good in there, but all I found was a roasting hen under some other stuff. Now the question is whether to actually roast it, or to crock it. Wait. I’m out of crock pot liners, so that’s out. Dang.
My cheapo ($2) CD of Irish hymns came today, (complete with cracked case, but the CD is clean) but I will wait until tomorrow to listen to it, while I’m reading some doctrine. I love used stuff!
Now I need to go check the clothes and see how dry they are. I had to wash my Arkansas Razorback jacket again to try and get the elbows clean. I think it’s time to turn it inside out to finish drying.
Wow! I love those things!
When the patent expired, Willamette Iron and Steel Works in Portland, Oregon began manufacturing a clone of the original Shay. The differences between the Lima Shay and the Willamette are slight but noticeable (to ferroequinologists.. ;-) The Willamette variant was used mostly in the logging regions of the Pacific northwest.
Only six Willamettes survive with one operational (Mt. Rainier Scenic RR in Washington.) There are over 100 survivors of the Shay in various states of preservation from operational to stuffed and mounted to piles of parts. The closest operating Shay to you looks to be the one at Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad in Felton, CA...
It sounds like an outstanding ministry. Thanks for the information. There’s a police chaplain in this area who wrote a column for a now-defunct local newspaper about support and reintegration of ex-inmates.
Cute train!
Now I want to go buy all the books I can find on steam engines. And maybe even a diesel or two. But mostly steam!
Thanks for the info. (You know I save all the pics of steam engines you post, right?)
And those geared locomotives look really strange when they run. Not at all like your normal steam engine. ;-)
I’m not sure but I think all of the geared locomotives were narrow gauge. Some bit of ferroequinology that I need to research.
LOL!
Would be fitting. Especially if her security protocols were maintained..
The table was originally square, but the knights kept walking around it with their swords unsheathed.
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