by NGC3314 » Thu Feb 14, 2013 1:59 pm
ritwik wrote:APOD Robot wrote: In it, Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System at the left, linking up with gas giant Neptune, at the time
the Solar System's outermost planet, at the far right.
It''s not that bad. Pluto was near perihelion in 1990, and passed Neptune's distance from the Sun outbound almost nine years that date (I see one reference to Feb. 11, 1999). The statement refers to that circumstance rather than planetary definitions.
I had an undergraduate professor who asked the identity of the most distant known planet twice during one term in 1979, with the answer changing between exams. I cite this as evidence that I am not remotely as devious as some students believe me to be. Of course, I'd want them to think so anyway.
[quote="ritwik"][quote="APOD Robot"] In it, Voyager's wide angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System at the left, linking up with gas giant Neptune, at the time [url=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/index.cfm]the Solar System's[/url] outermost planet, at the far right. [/quote] :roll:[/quote]
It''s not that bad. Pluto was near perihelion in 1990, and passed Neptune's distance from the Sun outbound almost nine years that date (I see one reference to Feb. 11, 1999). The statement refers to that circumstance rather than planetary definitions.
I had an undergraduate professor who asked the identity of the most distant known planet twice during one term in 1979, with the answer changing between exams. I cite this as evidence that I am not remotely as devious as some students believe me to be. Of course, I'd want them to think so anyway.