Spirit Matters: Pay attention to Pluto, you might learn something

This past week, my husband and I watched “Mission Pluto” on the National Geographic channel.

The documentary was filmed as the New Horizons spacecraft was on its way for a flyby of the dwarf planet in 2015 with the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh on board. Tombaugh, a Streator native, discovered Pluto on Feb. 18, 1930. New Horizons was launched Jan. 19, 2006, and flew by Pluto on July 14, 2015. Traveling at a rate up to 52,000 mph, it took New Horizons more than nine years to reach its destination 3 billion miles away.

Streator has long taken pride in Tombaugh’s discovery. When Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, St. Anthony School students famously wrote letters in protest. More recently, murals on downtown buildings celebrate Tombaugh’s discovery.

In 2009, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson filmed a documentary for PBS in Streator about the planet’s demotion and the hometown pride in Tombaugh. I was a reporter for The Times newspaper at the time and had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Tyson.

Despite its demotion, many in Streator and around the world still believe Pluto should be considered a planet, along with the other eight most learned of in school. One of the strongest arguments is that Pluto has five of its own moons – Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx.

Much has happened since the “Mission Pluto” documentary was filmed. Not only has New Horizons accomplished its mission of flying by Pluto and sending back photos and other data to the National Aeronautics Space Administration, but it now is flying through the Kuiper Belt, which is a belt of icy objects, dwarf planets, dust and comets where Pluto is located, and is the reason for Pluto’s demotion.

According to NASA’s website, to be considered a planet, a celestial object (a) is in orbit around the sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Scientists argue that since Pluto has not cleared the Kuiper Belt, it cannot be considered a planet.

In 2024, the New Horizons spacecraft is 5.42 billion miles from Earth. New Horizons is expected to exit the Kuiper Belt in 2028 and continue operating until 2050.

New Horizons has been hurtling through space since 2006, and in 2024, it still is in the Earth’s solar system. The Milky Way galaxy, of which our solar system is a part, is 100,000 light-years in diameter. To put this in perspective, a car traveling at 56 mph would take 12 million years to travel one light-year. Multiply that by 100,000 light-years … and that is how long it would take to get across the Milky Way. Our galaxy is a miniscule part of the ever-expansive universe, so chew on that for a while.

And I won’t even get into trying to comprehend the intelligence of the team that planned, designed and constructed the New Horizons spacecraft and its mission. As we watched the documentary, I turned to my husband and asked, “How do they calculate the trajectory for a mission that has to be so precise?” The slightest thing going wrong would have completely ruined the spacecraft’s journey. But it didn’t. The mission was successful, and now scientists continue to analyze the photos and data sent back to Earth.

These mind-boggling numbers should give us pause and perspective.

We are not as big as our egos would have us think we are.

Given the unfathomable vastness of this universe, how ridiculous are the petty things we argue and get offended about?

Those who have been on missions to outer space often speak of how quiet and calm Earth appears from outside its bounds. They speak of a sense of mystery and wonder and awe.

Meanwhile, back here, we argue, fight and separate ourselves by a comically small-minded allegiance to ideologies and people who themselves are here by the same cosmic grace we are, from a divine intelligence none of us can possibly comprehend and a wisdom with which we can’t compete.

At least the remains of Clyde Tombaugh will continue on their journey for quite a few years to come, where he can continue to explore the boundless depths of a universe, untethered to those millions of little things that tie us down and keep us from fully living in wonder this one life we have to live.

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From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Streator will host its annual Pluto Fest in City Park. Streatscapes, an organization that funds artistic endeavors and maintenance of Streator Walldogs murals, also will host its annual Food Truck Festival in the park. For more information, visit the Streator Food Truck Festival page on Facebook.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.