[meteorite-list] Houston, We Have GEOLOGY!

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2015 18:38:17 -0500
Message-ID: <622356.53017.bm_at_smtp117.sbc.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>

Dear List,
 
"Behold, the First Closeup Pictures
>From the Pluto Flyby Are Here"
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/behold-first-closeup-pictures-p
luto-flyby-are-here-180955934/#RCIFFlhitGcKgUWc.99

Color Intensification images
of Pluto and Charon:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/where-will-new-horizons-probe-g
o-after-pluto-180955929/
 
Pluto as interesting as a billiard
ball, you say? Well, it appears to
have GEOLOGY, mountains 11,000
feel tall, smooth plains with old
submerged craters in them, folded
ridges, and valleys, a rille or two,
in a word, geology, possibly orogeny.
And if orogeny comes to mind, can
tectonics be far behind?
http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/48/bc/48bceaa5-b57a-483d-9518-
6ce07688a73d/nh-plutosurface.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg
 
Charon has a trench or chasm that's
reminiscent of the Valles Marinaris
on Mars, and a dark polar cap that's
already unofficially named... MORDOR.
http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/cb/ff/cbff2e54-0660-44c3-9bf8-
d167d4e88637/nh-charon.jpg
 
All these images are from:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/where-will-new-horizons-probe-g
o-after-pluto-180955929/
 
And, on a humorous note, Neil "Da
Grass" Tyson, a well-known hit-man
for the Eight-Planet Syndicate Mob,
is unimpressed by Pluto. He says it's
because Pluto "crosses" the orbit of
Neptune for 20 years out of its 248
year orbit.

Of course, this is not true, due to
their differences in orbital inclination
--- at no point do they intersect.
Interestingly enough, that is also
not one of those IAU criteria he
promoted the acceptance of. But
it's funny:
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/tyson-colbert-pluto/
 
Because of the differences in their
inclination and the 3:2 resonance
they are in, the actual closest Pluto
and Neptune can possibly approach
is 17.7 AU, or 1,645,317,790 miles
(more or less).
 
The closest Pluto comes to Neptune
is about the same as the closest Earth
ever comes to Uranus. Does that mean
Uranus isn't a planet either?
http://www.quora.com/Will-Neptune-and-Pluto-ever-collide-in-their-orbits

Or that the Earth isn't one?

Puzzling, isn't it?


Sterling Webb
Received on Wed 15 Jul 2015 07:38:17 PM PDT