When I was growing up this is what we all learned: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies. It was a way to remember (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). That's right Pluto was a planet and the science books have since been rewritten to classify Pluto as a dwarf planet. I still have a hard time trying to re-write these new facts in my brain when my kids tell me there are only 8 planets.
But that doesn't mean Pluto still doesn't get some love. As technology advanced as we have become, we still have so many thing left to explore in our solar system including Pluto. And it is so far away. The Hubble telescope was a game changer in terms of seeing in deep space and even it had a tough time seeing the tiny Pluto as seen in this image:
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| https://briankoberlein.com/2015/07/02/pluto-rising/ The best Hubble picture of Pluto |
And then 9 and half years ago the New Horizons spacecraft was launched. It took pictures of Pluto as it got closer and it also had a tough time resolving Pluto.
But then after a long journey New Horizons got close enough to really see Pluto for the first time in all its glory.
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| Pluto www.nasa.gov |
So congratulations NASA !! You have boldly gone where no one has gone before.
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