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NASA's New Horizons To Arrive At Pluto With Clyde Tombaugh's Ashes
hypnosec writes NASA's New Horizons is bringing with it the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – its discoverer – as it cruises towards the now dwarf-planet or 'plutoid'. The probe will be close enough on January 15 to start observing Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ice and rock-laden Pluto in 1930 and one of his final requests was that his ashes be sent into space. Tombaugh died on January 17, 1997. Fulfilling that wish NASA has fitted the upper deck of New Horizons probe with a small container containing Tombaugh's ashes alongside a total of 7 scientific instruments. "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system's 'third zone'", reads the inscription on the container.
Just a small portion of his ashes. Postage to the Kupier belt is still pretty expensive.
Clyde Tombaugh will really be interred in interstellar space, as New Horizons has no means of scattering his ashes on Pluto.
Lunar Prospector carried Gene Shoemaker's ashes to the Moon, and was "deliberately targeted to impact in a permanently shadowed area of the Shoemaker crater near the lunar south pole." Now, they did that for science reasons, but it was still a very fitting end (they could have chosen another crater, of course).
he clearly discovered New Horizon by that first sentence, work on your reading comprehension. Hopefully whomever built it is not offended by NASA's comandeering of it for a Pluto mission
Makes me wonder if any other astronomers or other scientists to discover celestial objects will have their ashes sent in homage...
It's a romantic notion, but strikes me as not really in the spirit of science. If I knew someone was going to explore this awesome thing I discovered, I would much rather have them use every bit of available weight to further that discovery.
New Horizons will start imaging (and optical navigation) this month, but it won't be better than Hubble until mid-May. That's when the fun will really start.
Imagine what aliens would think if they found the probe. They put what in there? Seriously? Ashes from some dead guy? Instead of an extra instrument, or a bigger battery? What for?
Humans are weird creatures.
I did not know that -- it's very sweet; good for them.
Now, I do have an off-topic question: When God finally arrives and brings back everyone from the dead:
a) Does that also include cremations? (Probably so -- just add water.) Dismemberment? (Super Glue.)
b) Will He do it more than once? I can just see Gene waking up in the shadow of the moon, and then immediately expiring because of the non-existent atmosphere and cold. So is this a one-time thing, or does God hit Ctrl-Alt-Del repeatedly until it finally works?
c) God brings back to Earth all of the travelers that have managed to escape Earths' gravity. (Sounds kinda like a shepherd -- "That's not your yard, get back over here. Stupid sheep.")
d) God doesn't bother. "You really want to leave? Have at it." (Wonder if any lawyers will take it up with Him since their potential clients are missing out.)
e) Does that also include video-game characters? NetHack, Mario, Gordon Freeman, etc? (What about PacMan and GLaDOS?) And what about Sweetie?
Enquiring minds want to know
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
for the Plutoidite remake of "The Gods Must be Crazy".
... It's as scientific as taking another picture of the bottom of the ocean.
"Yup, it's sand."
Who cares?
Says the AC who does not know the Abyssal Plain is covered with clay not sand! Your knowledge of the ocean evidently begins and ends with a day at the beach.
You make a good Exhibit A why scientific study of the Universe is necessary.
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
And would they have sent his ashes if Pluto had been demoted already?
You are confused. Pluto was not "demoted". It in its old (inaccurate) classification it was the smallest and last planet to be discovered, a Johnny-Come-Lately.
What Tombaugh really did was discover the first of a whole new class of objects - the Kuiper Belt Objects that extend far past the planets. And Pluto is its king - it is the largest and most prominent of all the KBOs (Eris, is queen, having the exact same diameter as far as we can tell, but is more distant and dimmer).
Discovering a whole new class of objects beats discovering yet another planet.
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
Do we have to wait for them to die of natural reasons?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
NH is whizzing by Pluto pretty quickly. I doubt a small mechanical device would be enough to fling a small canister to crash land on Pluto.
Unless, perhaps the flinging is done several weeks before the Pluto encounter such that the canister splits off from NH's trajectory and simply smashes into Pluto face on. But its velocity would have to be spot-on because Pluto's gravity isn't going to make the target much bigger at the probe's encounter speed (which would be similar to the canister's). Adjustment propellants and a guidance system would probably be in order.
Table-ized A.I.
not quite... Eris is slightly larger (by 30-40km) and 27% more massive than Pluto. (citation: W. M. Keck Observatory)
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel