Help Lowell Observatory: Bid on Alan Stern’s “Second Fastest Vehicle”

Okay, so my friend Alan Stern has been hinting around all week about something “cool” about to happen. If you’ve heard of him, you know he and his team of scientists and technicians pulled off something REALLY cool a year and a half ago. That’s when their New Horizons spacecraft swept past Pluto. It gave us the best (and so far only) close-up images of that distant planet.

All the while Alan and his team were waiting for New Horizons to get to Pluto, he was driving a red Nissan 350Z. It was the only car he drove. In fact, he bought it in 2006, the year New Horizons lifted off and started on its journey to Pluto and beyond. The car is still in great shape (just like New Horizons), and so Alan is donating it Lowell Observatory, where it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.  It’s Alan’s way of paying tribute to Clyde Tombaugh and Lowell Observatory, the man who searched for Pluto and the place where it was discovered. “New Horizons was, and is, the best aspect of my career so far,” Alan said. “So I wanted to donate this car to Lowell Observatory as a fundraising vehicle to recognize the fact that New Horizons could not have happened without the historic and pioneering work that took place at Lowell Observatory early in the last century.”

Funding Outreach

The proceeds from the auction of Alan’s “other spacecraft” will help fund Lowell’s outreach and scientific research programs. It’s also a unique way to get a very special object. The car sports a bumper sticker that says, “My other vehicle is on its way to Pluto”. If you’re the lucky bidder on this well-cared-for car now at Lowell, you also get to enjoy a dinner with Alan Stern, who is a great guy and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. I’ve done that (without having to buy a car) and it’s a great treat! So, go ahead and give it a whirl. You’ll have fun and be supporting a worthy cause.

Interested in owning Alan’s car (which is in great shape and should run for another 230,000 files?  Check out the auction link here: Own Alan’s Car. You just might get lucky and get Alan’s “second-fastest” vehicle in YOUR driveway! Plus, it’s all for a good cause at Lowell Observatory.

The auction begins December 15 and ends 11:59 p.m. (PST) on December 24. What a heck of a holiday present and I’m sure that Lowell Observatory will love you for it, too!

Exploring Pluto

For my money, the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond is one of the most audacious and exciting missions sent out through the solar system.  I say that as someone who cut her teeth doing science reporting on the Voyager missions! This time last year, we all waited for the spacecraft to arrive at the planet. When it did, on July 14, 2016, it whizzed past at a speed of 49,600 kilometers per hour, and then continued on its way. Hundreds of us — team members, friends, family, and the press were absolutely exhilarated at the dazzling visions of the distant world we were seeing. The data have been streaming back ever since then and each download provides an amazing look at a world that nobody expected. Here’s a “highlights” tour of what we know about Pluto so far.

Revealing Pluto

When the Pluto research papers came out  in late 2015 and spring 2016, they revealed a curious and interesting place. Pluto is a real world, with diverse surface features and active geology. It has really fascinating surface chemistry. There’s a complex layered atmosphere, a somewhat puzzling interaction with the Sun, and a collection of small moons that are fascinating places in their own right.

Mind you, those facts (and the science behind them) are what the Pluto science team know after only a few months of data returned by the spacecraft. The full data load won’t finish relaying back to Earth until late 2016. So, there’s still lots to see — and learn. In the meantime, the mission team racks up awards and recognition by the scientific community for their contributions to planetary science. All of it is well-deserved.

Where’s New Horizons Now?

Right now, New Horizons is outbound from Pluto. It already has another target in sight — a Kuiper Belt object called 2014 MU69. NASA gave the official go-ahead for the extended mission to the next world “out there”. That flyby happens on January 1, 2019. I hope that we’ll all gather again to cheer the spacecraft on as it makes the first-ever close encounter with a KBO beyond Pluto. It’s been an amazing ride, and it’s all thanks to the amazing spacecraft and its Earthbound support team.

Continue reading Pluto Exploration: Lessons from New Horizons →