EVERETT — Planet or dwarf planet, whatever it is exactly, Pluto is creating quite a buzz these days.
“There is a lot of interest in Pluto,” said Mark Folkerts, president of the Everett Astronomical Society. “People relate to it. There is the psychological thing about rooting for the underdog.”
A week ago, Folkerts was talking to his fellow astronomy buffs about what to expect as the New Horizons spacecraft drew closer to the icy orb. On Tuesday, it flew within 7,700 miles of Pluto and sent back crisp and intriguing images of the far-off planet.
It is an exciting time for local amateur astronomers to watch the mission fill in the blanks of one of the last major unexplored landmarks in the solar system, Folkerts said.
It’s remarkable to think about the expedition on many levels, he said.
Pluto is more than 3 billion miles from Earth and the journey to reach it began in 2006. New Horizons, with the fastest launch velocity to ever leave Earth orbit, flew by Pluto at more than 30,000 mph. At such speeds, the spacecraft could have been destroyed if it were to have collided with particles the size of grains of rice.
Scientists were surprised by the lack of craters on Pluto, suggesting that the dwarf planet is less than 100 million years old and younger than once thought.
At his presentation July 11, Folkerts shared historical views of Pluto and the recent rapid series of closer and closer images.
They’re a far cry from the faint dot he has spotted through his telescope over the years. To verify what he’s seen, he’d look at it over three nights and carefully diagram his observations each evening.
“It’s kind of like an Easter egg hunt,” he said. “You know it’s there. The challenge is pinning it down and locating it.”
That sense of discovery is part of his love of astronomy, an interest that began when he was 10 and has grown over nearly a half century.
Now Folkerts and others are eagerly awaiting for NASA to receive and post more images in the weeks and months ahead.
“We are going to have to be patient,” he said.
Patience, too, is relative.
It’s not like his college days when he’d wait for the next edition of “Sky &Telescope” magazine to arrive through the mail each month.
On the day New Horizons made its close pass of Pluto, 35 people, including several children, gathered in the Mukilteo branch of the Sno-Isle Libraries system, to hear from Kevin Manning, an international astronomer and former consultant to NASA.
Manning provided a detailed look at Pluto, using images from the New Horizons spacecraft as he discussed the outskirts of the solar system.
In the audience were Andy and Ruth Nielsen, who are members of the Island County Astronomical Society and Friends of the Coupeville Library. Andy Nielsen said the images shared so far are beautiful and the research findings ahead ought to be fascinating.
“Everyone in the club is following New Horizons,” he said. “It is a really fun time to be interested in that sort of thing after so many years of little pixilated images of Pluto.”
To learn more about the Everett Astronomical Society, go to http://1.usa.gov/1CN5c0B.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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