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Pluto... really...

Hubble telescope has just confirmed that Pluto has 4 moons... Huh! Who knew! (And NO, Pluto is NOT a planet).

Hubble Discovers a New Moon Around Pluto

July 20, 2011: Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a fourth moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto. The tiny, new satellite – temporarily designated P4 -- popped up in a Hubble survey searching for rings around the dwarf planet.

"I find it remarkable that Hubble's cameras enabled us to see such a tiny object so clearly from a distance of more than 3 billion miles (5 billion km)," said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., who led this observing program with Hubble.

The finding is a result of ongoing work to support NASA's New Horizons mission, scheduled to fly through the Pluto system in 2015. The mission is designed to provide new insights about worlds at the edge of our solar system. Hubble's mapping of Pluto's surface and discovery of its satellites have been invaluable to planning for New Horizons' close encounter.

"This is a fantastic discovery," said New Horizons’ principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "Now that we know there's another moon in the Pluto system, we can plan close-up observations of it during our flyby."

The new moon is located between the orbits of Nix and Hydra, which Hubble discovered in 2005. Charon was discovered in 1978 at the U.S. Naval Observatory and first resolved using Hubble in 1990 as a separate body from Pluto.

The dwarf planet’s entire moon system is believed to have formed by a collision between Pluto and another planet-sized body early in the history of the solar system. The smashup flung material that coalesced into the family of satellites observed around Pluto.

An artist's concept of Pluto's satellite system with newly discovered moon P4 highlighted. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) [more]

Lunar rocks returned to Earth from the Apollo missions led to the theory that our moon was the result of a similar collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body 4.4 billion years ago. Scientists believe material blasted off Pluto's moons by micrometeoroid impacts may form rings around the dwarf planet, but the Hubble photographs have not detected any so far.

"This surprising observation is a powerful reminder of Hubble's ability as a general purpose astronomical observatory to make astounding, unintended discoveries," said Jon Morse, astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

P4 was first seen in a photo taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on June 28. It was confirmed in subsequent Hubble pictures taken on July 3 and July 18. The moon was not seen in earlier Hubble images because the exposure times were shorter. There is a chance it appeared as a very faint smudge in 2006 images, but was overlooked because it was obscured.

Loïc and Naomi

Our two grandchildren taken 4 hours after Loïc's birth. I love that photo.

Loïc is born

On June 20th, at 1:11 pm... new life is here. Loïc is our first grandson and second grandchild. Life is beautiful.

Phil
Grandfather

PS - Loïc was 11 days "late", born at 1:11 pm. Cool.

Presenting Naomi

Here is the subject of my desktop from iPhone to Computer screen. What a beauty. I am happy to present to you Naomi our first grand child.

The sunshine of our lives.

If you have FACEBOOK and want to see more photos of our darling, you need to login Face Book and then click on: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150154446082050.290587.564432049

Phil

Pray for Japan from Ottawa

Ck out the links. I am proud to say that the photos on both sites are all taken by Luc, my son. Also, visit his own photo website www.lapart.ca Most of these events included my children as support and organizers, help, etc... I am proud. (I love Japan).

Photos of this video can also be found here




Photos of this video can also be found here

Hello...

Today, I received an email regarding my Blog. It came from someone I don't know and from Europe. That person wrote that my Blog was enjoyed and useful, not only for that person but for others that read it... Wow...

Encouraging indeed.

I will attempt to return somehow. Thank you for the kind words.

P

Medical "time off"

Out of commission at this time. Catch you later. Read the previous stuff for now.

Phil

Have a great year everyone!

Our best wishes from our family and Grand-ma Anita to all of your families and love ones.

Phil

Gone baby gone...

I just lost my mother... and just saw the film "Gone Baby gone" by Ben Affleck. An amazing movie. Worth your time. But what impressed me also was the fact that Ben hired his own brother Casey Affleck to play the leading role.

Now that is family. Well done bros.

Phil

Adieu, Mom...

My mother has just passed away. I knew she was "leaving"... but was surprised how much it hurts when one loses their Mom...

Even if she was 89.

Death hurts.

Phil

Bonne fête Québec

Ceux qui se veulent indépendantistes sont limités. L'essentiel de Québec est son âge et son histoire. Montcalm est mort. Le roi britannique gagne.

Depuis, en comparant le système (histoire) français et anglais, l'Anglais nous donne plus de liberté. Lisez votre histoire .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-Canadian l

Ainsi, vous devenez les nouveaux Américains francophones du Monde.

Philippe Paquette

I had to add this one.

For Father's Day, I got nice presents. This photo is one of them.

Still absent for a while. Read older stuff.

Phil

See you later...

I will be absent for a while. Read the previous blogs. See you soon.

Phil

The Good Samaritan...

As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus.

Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind to unzip her skirt a little,thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg. She tried to take the step, only to discover that she couldn't.

So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her back to unzip her skirt a little more, and for the second time attempted the step. Once again, much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg.

With another little smile to the bus driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to make the step.

About this time a large Newfie, who was standing behind her, picked her up easily by the waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus.

She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled, 'How dare you touch my body! I don't even know who you are!'

The Newfie smiled and said, 'Well ma'am normally I would agree wid ya , but after ya unzipped me fly tree times, I kinda tought we was friends.'

This is my first Royal Flush ever. Very rare. We enjoyed this game.

Happened May 2008

Phil

My mother and sister

This is a photo of my dear mother and dear sister Louise. Mother is 89 and may not be with us for very long. She is getting excellent support from all her children, especially Louise.

Hang in there Mom...

Filipino prisoners

Introducing my friend Robert

This is Robert. He hates tap dancing... but is good at many other things. Robert was the original founder of ME Inc. My personal Christian Website www.okchrist.com is now part of ME Inc. Visit my christian website.

Phil

Introducing André and Gretchen

Now here is one of my best friends as a couple. Here they are on their wedding day... some time ago. I love them both. They hate tap dancing but who cares.