I apologize in advance for a gratuitous post on something that I find absolutely fascinating and that has nothing to do with Rome but for the fact that 3 billion miles from earth an object – formerly a planet – carries the name of the Roman god of the underworld.

PLUTO!

This morning at around 7:30AM EST, the New Horizons spacecraft, launched by NASA on January 19, 2006 approached within 8,000 miles of the surface of Jupiter and has already begun to send back the first close-up pictures of the mysterious dwarf in the Kuiper belt in our history.  Tonight at 8:30pm when the first pictures of today’s flyby reach planet earth we will know much more.

This is a human triumph.

Following is a picture of Pluto’s “heart”, a fascinating anomaly on the planet surface.

Click here for more from NASA.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html

And again, apologies for the diversion, I will revert to the standard fare hereafter 🙂