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 ...
Good morning, all.
Is that a Russian blue kitteh?
We have several feral cats around here that look like Russian blues, but I wonder at their heritage.
Charlie took the shuttle yesterday, so he wasn’t at the table for me to give him my mailbox key. I will put it on his door this morning.
Right now, I’m waiting for the bathroom to warm up and then my day starts for real. Ungh. A whole week away from my electric mattress pad...Ungh...A week away from the sun coming in my living room window on most days. Ungh.
If this trip is anything like the previous trips to AR, I won’t see the sun again until I get back home. It has been overcast to the point that I can’t get my bearings when I get there, so I don’t even know what direction my son’s house faces. Ungh.
currently showing split screen, night vision view with spooky flashlight eyes.
Yes, he is a Russian Blue.
The sun is just coming up here. Temperature in the 20s. The cats are annoyed by the cold but will be happy when the Sunbeams hit. My house faces due South.
I don’t think I knew that, either, just that on occasion, the sun would come in the living room window for a split second.
It’s 43 degrees in Cabot AR, with cloudy skies. The son says they will have 60 on Christmas Day. We shall see if the sun shines for me, then. It’s hard for me to live in places that have overcast skies so much of the time.
I’ve had my shower and the first breathing treatment of the day. I doubt that I’ll get the second one before I get to Dallas, but I think that will be OK.
So I’m ready to go. I think. I hope I don’t have to go too far to the gates, because I haven’t been up two hours and I’m feeling tired already. That’s anemia for ya...
Good luck! I take iron every day.
Partied all night and then crashed in the middle of their mess, just like my teenagers.
So do I, but the bleeding ulcers throw a hammerlock on the iron. So I just have to deal.
Ok, kids, I’m going to shut down for now. I’ll be leaving in about 30 minutes, and I want to go through my list once more before I take off.
I should have charged my phone yesterday, but it’s charging now, so it should be good until I get to Little Rock. I’ll let you know when I get there.
Later...
Looks like my pretty kittah!
You’re fortunate to have such a handsome pet!
My house is oriented East-West. On an equinox, I was standing in my shotgun hallway playing with a globe in the morning sunlight, and trying to sort out what I might do with Antarctica.
The duties of the Imperial Weatherman never cease.
I’m grateful every day we have weather. It’s nice when the sun comes up, too.
Tomorrow is Pat’s 15th birthday. I expect something weird will happen in his brain ...
Indeed. The chemoreceptors will open up, the pheromones will begin settling in ...
I feel so sorry for you.
Perhaps you might explain to him that mating rituals in all species have certain procedures and appearances to attract attention.
Although these rituals are meaningless otherwise, there is a certain logic to trying to imitate a desirable mate. One has to maintain a healthful appearance, and pretend to have useful skills and abilities.
The easiest way to do this is to actually develop them.
Maybe there’s a book.
‘Face says she’s arrived safely at her son’s house in Arkansas.
I hope they all have a good time.
“You can’t knock me down in front of all these people!”
Happy Birthday to Pat!! He’s 15? Wow.
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