Kid Science: Fun with Milk

I have to be honest, I might have more fun with this one than the kids.  It is super simple, but pretty cool.

The supplies you need are:

1.  A plate with some milk poured in
2.  A Q-tip
3.  Food coloring
4.  Dish detergent (Dawn)

The next step is to add just one drop of each color (four colors is best) to the center of the plate of milk.

Add some Dawn (or equivalent) to the end of a Q-tip.  Take the Q-tip and place the soap end right in the center of the of the drop of food coloring. Then just watch the show.  You can move the Q-tip to different parts of the milk and add more soap to continue to show.

So what is going on?  Milk is is mostly water, but it is also contains protein and fat.   The soap molecule has two ends, one is hydrophilic and the other is hydrophobic.  The hydrophobic end does not like water, but it does like the fat.  It will bind to fat, which is why soap is used to clean dirty dishes.  As parts of the soap try to bind to the fat in the milk the binding causes all kinds of disruptions in the milk and the food coloring gets bumped all around.  This bumping causes the display you see.

GMOs: Fear mongering

Human nature is an amazing thing, but sometimes I think you could replace amazing with frustrating.  When humans come across new ideas, new products, new technologies, or new scenarios many of us tend to perceive it as a threat,or at least become skeptical.  I think this how we are programmed and what has kept our civilization alive.  Fear and the fight or flight response still comes naturally to all of us without even having to think about it and that emotion is picked up by any in the area eliciting a response in them as well.  We are no longer running and fighting saber tooth tigers, but we still come across situations where the fear response is strong.  This instinctual reaction comes to all of us at some point in time whether it is on a roller coaster, a situation where we perceive someone threatening, or military deployments.   We still experience fear and need to react.  However our ancestors experienced fear individually or in small communities and it was contained.  In today's world fear can spread more broadly   Fear is now spread through media in the form of TV, social media, radio, etc where thousands of people are exposed to a story.    Humans react off of each other's emotions.  Has someone in your house been grumpy for a day.  Usually everyone is grumpy and in a foul mood because emotion is contagious.   So when media spreads something that causes fear for a few it spreads like wildfire.  We sense fear in others and that innate fight or flight  response kicks in and makes us fearful too.

Let's look at a quick example.  In NC we have had around 8 shark attacks in the summer of 2015.  And it was in the news everywhere. You heard talk about it everywhere and people were scared.   Social media was full of of its usual fun.

The fear spread efficiently and the first response for many was "The is no way I,m going in the water this year."  This was a new scenario and we react with an instinctual fear response.  Once things settle down we start to think more rationally.  Let's think rationally about this one.  We get in our cars everyday.  We are not really fearful of using those multiple times a day, but the probability of dying in car is WAY higher than a shark biting you.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/attacks/relarisklifetime.html

Ebola is another example.  Remember the fear in the United States when the Ebola epidemic hit Africa.  If you vomited, then people were getting away from you.

The point is that when fear is spread it quickly outpaces rational thought.  There is nothing wrong with that; it is what could keep us alive.  However there will be time to stop and apply rational thought.  Once we can sit down and are willing to process that fear we can quickly find that things are not as bad as they might seem. The sad thing is that some people know how to use that natural human fear response to pursue their own agenda.  A new article by Shiva Ayyaadurai says Formaldehyde may be in GMO crops.

The paper

And it does not mater how bad the science is, the anti-GMO groups can use this type of material to spread fear.  We don't think rationally to fear and so when you see this picture you don't go and say "let me read that paper and make a conclusion for myself."  Instead you say "Oh wow, I'm not feeding that to my kids and I need to tell my neighbor the same thing."

Infographic release by GMO free after the article

It is hard to get ahead of the curve of fear mongering.  People's emotions are a strong tool for Anti-GMO activists.  The paper is full of holes and lots of them.  For one actual plant samples were never even tested.  The paper is based on on computer models, which by the way can output anything you want them to depending on what you put in the beginning of the model.    An awesome scientist, Kevin Folta has publicly tried to reach out to Ayyaadurai and actually do the test with REAL samples with a very well thought out scientific design.  Guess what that answer has been?  SILENCE.

http://kfolta.blogspot.com/2015/07/gmo-formaldehyde-challenge.html

I don't want to get into more details of why this paper is not very good on a scientific level.  For that take the time to read  the Genetic Literacy Projects response to the paper.   The point is that fear from papers like this are hard to counter.  Once the damage is done you can't retract it even when the data is completely irrational and plain out wrong.  Once one shark is seen then everyone is scared to go in the water.   Our human fear instincts are going to kick in on matters like this.  It is who we are as humans and that is not going to change anytime soon.  It is part of what has made our civilization successful.  That does not mean we should not recognize the power of fear and do own our research. My plea is that once you have a moment in a safe place  then stop and use your rational thought to really investigate if the fear response you had was really warranted.

Astrophotography: German Equatorial Mount

When I first started trying to do astrophotography,I had a simple tripod mount.  These type of mounts are called altazimuth mounts which just means they let your scope move in four simple directions.  They go up, down, left and right.  They are easy to quickly move your scope to a target like the moon, a star, or even a terrestrial target.

These altazimuth mounts have their purpose, but the trouble with astrophotography is that the Earth is spinning.  Just like the sun and moon move through our sky due to the Earth's rotation, the stars are moving too.  If you were to open the camera shutter for a long time and just let the camera expose over time you would see the stars are moving throughout the night.  Polaris, or the North Star is the one constant star in the sky that stays in the same position and the rest of the stars will rotate around it. The pictures below show what the star rotation looks like if you left the camera exposing throughout the night.

https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/970/flashcards/2386970/png/untitled1358612324401.png

http://burro.case.edu/Academics/Astr306/Coords/NMSkies_StarTrails2.jpg

Photographing a moving target is much tougher than a still target.  So some genius people invented another type of mount for telescopes called the German equatorial mount or GEM.   The scope is attached to the mount and can still move, but is much more counter intuitive than with a altazimuth.  In this case the scope moves in directions that are not as simple as up, down, left, and right.  The first movement direction is called the right ascension (RA).  When the scope is pointed towards the North Pole, then the scope moves in the same direction as the stars rotating around the north star.  The other movement direction is called the declination (DEC) which lets the scope move north and south.  This system lets the scope follow the stars through the night.

http://starizona.com/acb/basics/equip_mounts_gem.aspx

The movement of this mount to find a target is much more difficult especially if your are trying to do it manually.  It is not as simple as just moving it up and to the left to get the scope pointing at the moon.  The good news is that most of the mounts have a electronic systems built into the mount called "Go To."  You just tell the mount through an attached handheld controller which object you want to look at and the mount automatically "slews" or goes to your target.  Before you can use the GoTo system you need to calibrate the mount.  The controller will ask you to chose several stars and then slew to them.  It will be a little off and you will use the controller to move the star into the center of the eyepiece.  Each time you slew to a new calibration star, the scope will be a little more exact.  By the time you line up 3-4 stars, the mount will find any target you input and after slewing to the target it be right in the center of your eyepiece.

There are a couple of downfalls to a mount like this.  First, they are heavy.  The mount itself is fairly heavy, which means the tripods are very solid and add more weight. .  The telescope must be balanced through all movements and so there are weights on one end that also add to the weight.  The mount also needs power.  You can plug it in, use a car adapter, or get a battery for it.

If you ever want to do astrophotography then this is the next item to get after a scope.   These mounts come in different sizes and brands.  The bigger the mount the more weight it can carry.  Once you start adding cameras, bigger telescopes, guide scopes, etc to the mount then your weight load goes up and the mount needs to handle that weight.  The scope moves with a motor and you should not exceed the capacity of the motor.  If you do not only do you stress the motor, but the scope will not stay as steady on your target which is a must for astrophotography.    This is always a tough decision when you get these mounts.  They can be expensive, but you don't want to go to little because once you have new and bigger scopes you can quickly outgrow the mount.  On the flip side, the bigger the mount the heavier it gets which makes transport and setup harder.

I chose a Celestron AVX as my mount. It has performed well for me.  However I am at load capacity with my scopes.  If I ever get a bigger scope than an 8 inch SCT then this mount will not be able to handle it.  I am content with the scopes I have for awhile, so I can highly recommend the AVX mount as great starter mount that should meet your needs for a long time.

Celestron AVX at load capacity with my scope and camera

Photography: HDR photos

In an earlier blog post I talked about "bracketing the moon" where if you put your camera in Bracket mode it will take a picture and then also take an over and under exposed picture of that same subject.  It was helpful to quickly find the right exposure setting for a nice picture of the moon.

Bracketing photos provides another tool to produce some beautiful photos called HDR photos.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  One of the easiest ways to make a HDR image it to use the bracketing technique to take 3 or more photos where you have a photo plus the over and under exposed version of the photo.  HDR photos combine these three photos in one.  This combination of over and underexposed lets these photos bring out shadows and highlights that you would not be able to see in just a one shot photo.  The contrast you get with a HDR photo can really bring out details that you may not otherwise see in the normal photos.

Once you have the series of photos then you will need some software.   I use a paid software called Photomatix.  It is pretty straight forward to use.  You just load your bracketed photos into the software and play with the settings until you get the HDR photo you like.

A free way to create HDR photos is to upload your various exposures into the the Google photo auto backup app on your phone or the computer.  Google will automatically spit out a HDR for you.  This can be hit or miss on how it turns out, but sometimes it works very well for a free way to get an HDR photo.

One thing HDRs do not do well with is movement.  If there is too much movement from a blowing tree or a moving person between the shots, then blending the photos together will produce ghosting.  Sometimes you can get rid of it and sometimes it is near impossible.

I find that with landscapes, HDR can always give a photo that looks in my opinion better than the original shots.   Check out some HDR phots I took of my recent visit to some spots in the North Carolina Mountains.  Next time you are out photgraphing, try taking different exposures and see what kind of HDR photos you can get. 

Three exposures of the same waterfall

The HDR photo from those 3 exposures

Other HDR images I recently took.

Chimney Rock, NC

Chimney Rock, NC

Chimney Rock, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC

Board Games: Dead of Winter

Vacation is a great time time to play board games and we played a new one called Dead of Winter by Plaid Hat Games.  Do you like Walking Dead as in the TV series or comic book?  This is about as close to that setting  as you can get without actually turning into a zombie.

I really enjoyed this game.  Setup takes a bit of time and the game itself can last awhile depending on the number of players and the scenario you play.  The game comes with multiple scenarios, each of which describes the overall story objective you as a group of survivors are trying to achieve.  Some scenarios are longer than others, but each one can change the way the game is played each time resulting in some great replayability.  We played a "short" scenario with 5 players (which is the max players for the game) and it took us about 2 hours to finish a play through. We were going a little slower than normal because we were all still trying to learn the game.

The game is a cooperative game with a twist.  All the players a the table are working together in a world where zombies have overtaken the world to solve the chosen scenario.  The one we chose was "We need more samples."  The premise is that the doctor in our camp needed samples from a zombies to try and find a cure.  So over the course of the game we all needed to kill zombies and each killed zombie gave us a potential chance of retrieving a sample.  Each player starts the game controlling 2 survivors, but you can gain new followers or you can also lose survivors if they get bitten by zombies.

The main objective is just one of the things you are trying to accomplish.  The reason the game is a coop game with a twist is because besides the overall game objective that everyone is trying to work together to accomplish each play has a secret objective as well.   Only you know your secret objective in the form of a card at the beginning of the game.  For most of these are you need to complete the main objective and do a second task.  The second task could be you need to have a certain number of cards in you hand at the end of the game.  To win the game you must complete all the objectives on your card.  So some players could win, all could win, or none could win when the game ends.  In every game, there is a chance one player could get a secret objective that is a "Betrayer."  In this case your objective is to work against the other players and meet your secret objective while not letting them find you out.  In our game, luck was with us and none of us drew a betrayer card as a secret objective.  However I can see where this twist could really make it much more difficult in some of the situations that come up in the game.

So you have game objective outlined in the scenario chosen at the game start and a secret player objective to achieve as you go through the game.  The last thing going on is that in each round the colony is also experiencing a "Crisis"  The crisis card is on the table and each player has a chance to help in contributing to overcoming the crisis before the card is resolved.  The crisis cards are all based on the colony being short of some supply like fuel, food, or medicine.  The players place the supply cards from their hands on the board face down if they want to contribute to a crisis.  After every player has taken a turn the supply cards are shuffled and if the correct number of cards, say medicine are in the stack the crisis is resolved for that round.  The cards are placed face down and shuffled because a betrayer could have contributed the wrong supply card to the mix which means it cancels out one right supply card for every wrong card turned over.  This is where a betrayer can really screw the rest of the players.  If the crisis is not resolved something bad happens like more zombies show up or you lose morale.  Once morale of the colony hits 0, the games is over and everyone loses, except possibly the betrayer if there is one. The good news is that if you can figure out who the betrayer is, the colony can chose to vote him out of the colony Survivor style.  They keep playing the game, but they are not part of the colony and cannot contribute to helping resolve the crisis each round.  They will have there own set of problems to worry about.

So all this sounds complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it flows smoothly.  The crisis and even the main story resolves around two things, killing zombies so they down't overrun your colony and going to locations and searching for more item cards which you need to resolve the crisis each round, meet secret objectives, feed the colony, or fix a wounded teammate.  The game board has 5 locations you can move to and search for those item cards.  You can also attack a zombie at the locations.  These actions are done with dice.  I won't go into all the specifics but each player has a pool of dice that are used to perform actions like attacking.  And the other important thing in the game is that anytime you move to a new location or attack a zombie you need to roll the red exposure die.  Either nothing happens, your survivor gets wounded (3 wounds and they die), or they are infected and auto die.  If they are infected they can spread the infection to other survivors if any share your location.  Anytime a survivor dies the group loses a morale.  So you don't want to lose too many.  On the flip-side there are some cards you can find at the locations that will give you new survivors to control.

The game board and locations are shown in the picture below to gives a little more idea on how the game looks when set up.

The last thing I will talk about is one other thing the game throws at you as if you don't already have enough to think about.  The game tries to immerse you in the world of survival.  As each player takes a turn, the player on their right draws a Crossroad card.  This card has a trigger that only the player on the right reads.  If the player taking a turn triggers the card, then the card is read out loud and the player taking a turn will have to make a decision.   A card trigger may be the player taking a turn moves their survivor to a new location.  If they do move a survivor to a new location then they trigger the crossroads card.  The card may describe a blizzard where they player can either not move at all or roll the exposure die 2 extra times instead of just once because they can't see as well in the blizzard. 

There are a lot of other small details I didn't go into, but the game is really fun and does a great job of setting up a serious and believable setting.  Give this one a try.  The only negatives I heard during out playthouggh is that with 5 people there is some downtime between turns.  There is so much each person can do that it can take a bit of time for a player to finish their turn.  It is a coop game though so there is plenty of discussion and talk among players to help make the best decisions that helps with downtime and the crossroads card help keep one other player more involved as well.  The other negative was length.  We started late and did not finish until 1 AM, so with 5 people the game can last awhile even with a "short" scenario.    In the end we managed to get all the "samples," but only 3 out of five of us also completed our secret objective.   Overall I still highly recommend this game!

Amazing Plants: Pitcher Plant

I have always been amazed since I was a kid of carnivorous plants.  I remember getting a Venus Fly Trap for one of my birthdays and have had a couple more since then.  I never have the greatest luck keeping them for long, but putting a fly in the trap and watching it close is the craziest thing to me.

I am on vacation this week and stumbled across another carnivorous plant in a random store in the North Carolina mountains.  My love of plants wouldn't let me leave without picking it up.  It is a pitcher plant and I couldn't pass it up not only because it is a carnivorous plant, but because it is also a very beautiful plant.

There are different types of pitcher plants, with the two most common called Nepenthaceae ("Old World" pitcher plants) and Sarraceniaceae ("New World" pitcher plants).  Many New World pitcher Plants are found in North America and are ground dwelling.   Usually one leaf forms the pitcher which is different than the Old World Pitcher plants where the pitcher is an extension of the leaf.  These Old World plants are often climbers and many are found in Asia.

The one I picked up is a type of Nepenthaceae.  The amazing part is this pant has "pitchers" that insect can fall into.  The sides of the pitcher is wax coated so that the insect cannot crawl out.  In some cases there is also liquid at the bottom that helps capture and drown insects, especially winged insects.  The liquid can be syrupy and is made by the plant.  The pitchers are colorful and different species have different smells that attract different types of insects. Some will also produce a sugary nectar to attract insects.  Once an insect is in the bottom of the pitcher, the plant has glands to absorb nutrients from the insect.

These plants are crazy; they eat insects!  But what makes these plants even more amazing is some of the larger species of pitcher plants have been recorded as capturing and digesting rats, mice, and lizards.

It's not every day you see a plant with an appetite for bugs.

GMO Labeling

One vote down and one to go.  In my opinion, the government took a positive step when the House voted 275-150 to pass the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act.  The bill, H.R. 1599 will give a federal mandate on how to label foods instead of each state trying to enact its own labeling rules. It is a much more consistent way of labeling, while still using some logical thinking.

A summary of the bill is below, but essentially the FDA must allow but will not require the food to be labeled as GMO.   Study after study has shown the safety of GMOs so why is a label needed?  Some consumers want a GMO label on foods that are already safe, but I don't see them getting upset about not having labels for aflatoxins, a toxin found in fugal infested grain, which actually can be harmful. Or how about how many roach parts or rat droppings are in our food.  A certain amount is allowed, but I don't see that on the label.

Check out what is allowed in your food at http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/SanitationTransportation/ucm056174.htm

Most people love rodent hairs with your peanut butter right?  I just always wonder why the consumer gets gets so stuck on GMOs when there are other things that are not questioned.   Hopefully we will see the Senate follow through on getting this bill one step closer to law.

Peanut Butter	Insect filth (AOAC 968.35)	Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
	Rodent filth (AOAC 968.35)	Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams
	Grit (AOAC 968.35)	Gritty taste and water insoluble inorganic residue is more than 25 mg per 100 grams
	DEFECT SOURCE:  Insect fragments - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Rodent hair - post harvest and/or processing contamination with animal hair or excreta, Grit - harvest contamination Significance: Aesthetic

The H.R. 1599 bill

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

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3/25/2015--Introduced.

Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015

This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the developer of a bioengineered organism intended as food to submit a premarket biotechnology notification to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A “bioengineered organism” (commonly called a “genetically modified organism” or “GMO”) is a plant or part of a plant that has been modified through recombinant DNA techniques in a way that could not be obtained using conventional breeding techniques.

The premarket notification must include the developer’s determination that food from, containing, or consisting of the GMO (GMO food) is as safe as a comparable non-GMO food. For the GMO to be sold as food, the FDA must not object to the developer’s determination. If the FDA determines that there is a material difference between a GMO food and a comparable non-GMO food, the FDA can specify labeling that informs consumers of the difference.

A food label can only claim that a food is non-GMO if the ingredients are subject to certain supply chain process controls. No food label can suggest that non-GMO foods are safer than GMO foods. A food can be labeled as non-GMO even if it is produced with a GMO processing aid or enzyme or derived from animals fed GMO feed or given GMO drugs.

The FDA must allow, but not require, GMO food to be labeled as GMO.

The FDA must regulate the use of “natural” on food labels.

This bill amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the Agricultural Marketing Service to establish a program to certify non-GMO food.

This bill preempts state and local restrictions on GMOs or GMO food and labeling requirements for GMOs, GMO food, non-GMO food, or “natural” food.

Confirmation Bias in Science

This post draws heavily on a New York Times article I stumbled across.  If you have a few minutes take the time to solve the problem presented and read the article.  I will post the rest of my thoughts farther down to not give any surprises.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html?_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1

Scroll down once you have solved the problem to continue reading. 

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This article brings up a very powerful term:  Confirmation Bias.    It is simply the fact that we love to hear the word "yes."   If i Google the definition I see:  

1. In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.

The article has some pretty staggering facts to show confirmation bias is real.

   Remarkably, 78 percent of people who have played this game so far have guessed the answer without first hearing a single no. A mere 9 percent heard at least three nos — even though there is no penalty or cost for being told no, save the small disappointment that every human being feels when hearing “no.”

 The article's focus is on how confirmation bias comes into play in politics or corporate America.  However I also see it come into play in the field of science.  The fundamental use of science is based on finding evidence to accept or reject an idea.   Science never truly proves anything since new evidence may be found as new experiments or technologies come online.  But scientists are humans too and confirmation bias is rampant.  Many times we only hear about the positive results of a study or an idea and not the failures.    Just look at a science publication and see how many papers talk about a negative result where an idea is rejected.  These "failures" happen all the time, but they are not the ones that get the spotlight.   Most talk is about the positive results only even though negative results can bring just as much value to a person or organization.  It goes back to the notion we like to hear yes and the negative results are not celebrated with an equal weight.  I really liked this article since it is a good reminder that yes is not always the best answer.   

My results are below.  While I may have looked for negative results in this simple example I realize I need to keep a handle on confirmation bias especially in the field of science.   We all want that breakthrough in science, not the "failure" of an experiment.  But it may be that failure that gives you the right answer.

If your interested in this topic, here is some other thoughts on this puzzle:

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/a-quick-logic-lesson/

Amazing Plants: Cattails

Most people have seen cattails, but they are actually an amazing plant because you can do so many things with them.  They are considered one of the Fantastic 4; in other words one you want to know about if you were lost in the woods.

Cattails can provide several things:

1.)  Food,
2.)  Kindling for fire
3.)  First aid for cuts/burns
4.)  Utility for building

I went down to one of the ponds on my dads farm to pull up some cattails.  There are lots of parts on the cattail that are edible.  One part is the lower stalk.  If you pull a cattail up, and peel the leaves back, the stalk at the base of the cattail can be eaten raw or steamed.   If you pull the entire cattail up and get the roots, then the white parts (rhizomes) of the roots can be eaten as well, although these are best cooked.  When I went down to the pond, most of the cattails were mature, but if you catch them when the "tail" is just coming up and is immature it can also be eaten raw or steamed like a an ear of corn complete with butter. And as the "tail" matures it will produce pollen and turn yellow.  That pollen can be used in cooking and to make flour.  It is amazing the amount of food you could get from a stand of cattails.

As you peel back the leaves of a cattail you see a gel in between the leaves and on the stalk.  This gel can be applied as a first aid ointment to small cuts and minor burns.

As the "tail matures it will get fluffy.  The fluff is easy to dry and provides great kindling.  It will burn super fast, so be sure to have other small sticks for the fire to catch on to.

And the leaves and the stalk are quite strong.  They could be used to help build a temporary shelter, either to weave into the frame for walls or a roof.  If you ever need help for the wild, remember to find some cattails.

PLUTO!!

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet as a shout out to NASA.

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:

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.

Pluto   www.nasa.gov

So congratulations NASA !!  You have boldly gone where no one has gone before.