[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh; its moon Charon wasn't discovered until 1978!
In Greek/Roman myth Charon is the ferryman on the river Styx which flows to the land of the dead,
which Pluto (Hades) rules.

Don't pay the ferryman, don't even fix a price
Don't pay the ferryman, 'til he gets you to the other side

Get on the list!

[petuniasevan]

[BradyLS]

In the middle of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy. Reading Paralandra, in fact. Though it has very little to do with asronomy, Lewis' concept in the trilogy that the planets are ruled by various heavenly archons (akin to archangels) is fascinating to read. In the story, Earth's archon is bound to the planet an the other archons are not permitted to enter with range of the moon. In fact, Earth is christened Thulcandra-- The Silent Planet-- by them.

What got me on this jag is the reminder of how the planets are named. In Lewis' story, you get the impression that Christianity and, say, Greek mythology have intriguing points of intersection on the subject of planets, their names, and which spirits watch over them.

If you want to see a fresh perspective on things celestial in the context of a story, check out the series. It's like no science fiction I've ever encountered. Likely, the science is extremely weak, but the story I'm finding very refreshing.

[MeekOneGOP]

[BossyRoofer]

It,s refreshing to think that there,s still alot to learn about our own galaxy! Good job APOD!

[RightWhale]

Odd new fact about Kuiper Belt objects: in the past couple years many such objects have been observed to have satellites. The odd thing is that many of the satellites are as large as their primary.