Monday, November 12, 2007

Oh, well then...never mind

We'll save the hysteria for something more important:

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A supposed asteroid, which it was feared was going to have a near-miss with Earth next week, has been identified as a spacecraft.

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen's University Astrophysics Research Centre told the BBC there is "no longer any need for concern".

"The 'asteroid' has been identified as the European spacecraft Rosetta," he said.

The spacecraft is en route to a comet near Jupiter.

Earlier this year, the unmanned Rosetta craft, which has already flown past Earth once, passed within 250 km (150 miles) of Mars.

In a precise move, the probe used the planet's gravity to change course on its voyage to the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.


(re-edited to make sense of the heading...*sheesh*)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

A supposed asteroid, which it was feared was going to have a near-miss with Earth next week, has been identified as a spacecraft.

After I read just this first paragraph, I was all ready with Klaatu Barada Nikto.

ellroon said...

That's a very young Patricia Neal
saying Klaatu etc.

Ain't the intertubes great?!

Anonymous said...

Okay, earth won't be destroyed now.

mahakal said...

Maybe later, though. I dunno.

Hey, I think I'll drop the whig now.

Steve Bates said...

Let's hear it for theremins! ooooooWEEEEEEEEoooooo...

Steve Bates said...

(Hmm... wonder if I'm related to the author of the short story.)

Welcome to the world of nonpseudonymous blogging, michael. That is, unless "michael" is also a pseudonym. ellroon, are you next?

ellroon said...

What's wrong with my gamer name of ellroon? Huh? Huh? I was a warden in the Dark Age of Camelot game, could run for miles without stopping....

Heya Michael/whig! Glad you identified yourself, it would have taken me a while to realize it was you.. or you were him... or something..

Steve, love the sound. We saw a special feature on one of the MidSommer Murder series about the theremins and how it was invented and then played.

Off to pseudonymously prance about the net...

Steve Bates said...

As a kid, I built a kinda-sorta theremin out of an old radio. It was crude (volume controlled by a knob; frequency controlled by handwaving near a wire antenna), but it worked. What fun!

"ellroon" is a fine name. You even emailed me once using it with what I presume was your gaming family name, which I remember but will not mention. If you'd like to post a picture, even a polite portrait over your pseudonym, that, too, would be an emergence of sorts... and in my opinion it would beat a supermodel on a horse any day of the week. :)

Steve Bates said...

BTW, I found and read the original Harry Bates short story via the wiki; it was very, very cool.

ellroon said...

Pseudonyms are a phase which I'm enjoying for the moment. I assume I'll grow up in a bit, but right now.... Wheeeeee!

I'd tried a gravatar thingie, but have yet to learn how to make it function. On my list of things to do!