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 ...
I don’t get oblivion for a few more hours, but I’m looking forward to it.
Aww, a beautiful dog. And so talented!
Yes, and I’m heading for semi-oblivion shortly. I don’t know why I’m so tired. *yawn*
Maybe it was that unusual housework I did today... :o|
Absolutely!
Hover Dog armed with the Assault Tongue of doom.
To think how much was spend developing the F35, and all they needed to do was spin the Tail....well I’ll be...
:D
Yeah, that’s Tom, too.
Hmm. Dog forgot his snow-boots again, huh?
He needs a tailwind.
Only the lead dog can afford to have that kind of diet.
Maybe we should prevent their meeting.
Ever.. ;-)
While they haven't (yet) been stuck in an ice flow (as happened to the 'climate scientists' who got frozen in place in Antarctica a couple of years ago) they are stuck in Murmansk. It seems there is a minor impediment to their voyage. There's just too much ice..;-)
Global Warming Expedition Stopped In Its Tracks By Arctic Sea Ice
I'm sure I will be deeply concerned. Right after I stop laughing...
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Today, the hills and valleys in northern Colorado echoed with the long-awaited sound of whistles and pistons as Union Pacific’s flagship steam locomotive, 4-8-4 No. 844, made its first public excursion in almost three years.
The locomotive arrived in Denver shortly after noon, paired with UP's Rio Grande heritage unit, and pulling the executive train.
On Saturday, the 844 will pull the Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days train between Denver and Cheyenne, Wyo. The train will be on display for the public on Saturday and in Greeley, Colo., and Cheyenne, and again Sunday when it makes a one-way deadhead move back to its base in Cheyenne. No public events are scheduled for Friday.
2016’s Frontier Days Excursion was greenlighted after the 844 completed a test run on July 12. This weekend’s activities mark the completion of an extensive overhaul of No. 844’s boiler, brakes, and other apparatus. The locomotive debuted with a new coat of paint, and without the red light previously located on the smokebox door.
The 844 was built by Alco and delivered to UP in 1944 as its last bought new steam locomotive. It holds the distinction as the only American steam locomotive never retired from active equipment rosters after railroads switched from steam to diesels in the 1950s and 1960s.
(From Trains Magazine)
Yes, I agree. Unless we have the Global Economic Collapse, because then we won’t have much to lose.
Aww such a shame...
Had him down as at least making Archangel before the Ice grabbed him.
The BBC interviewed him before he went, full of enthusiasm I think we’ll call it.
I checked the WUWTT site for Ice, and laughed.
(You have no idea how much that ice generator is costing to run....)
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