May your 2015 year be what you wish, with a barn full. Thanks Don for another great year!
Ah! 2015. This is the year that New Horizons (launched by NASA in 2006) will finally reach Pluto--formerly known as a planet. Between the time New Horizons was launched and today, the number of known moons orbiting Pluto has increased from two to possibly 10. Who knew?
The plutonium electrical system of New Horizons provides enough power to run one large Crock Pot (~200 watts).
Bob
I hope the pilot packed a lunch. How many light minutes is Pluto from earth?
At its closest encounter with Pluto, New Horizons will be traveling ~30,000 mph relative to Pluto. So, if we assume a 5.4 hour delay in communication (each way), that's 11 hours between the New Horizons detecting that it's about to collide with a newly discovered moon, and when it finally receives the command from Earth to please not do that. During that interval, it will have traveled 5.4 x 30,000 = 162,000 miles (which is about 2/3 the distance between the Earth and our Moon)....5.5 hours from sun to Pluto minus 8 would equal roughly 5.4 hours from earth to Pluto. if we are in opposition, we'd have to add 16 minutes then.