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Space NASA News

NASA Compared Pluto's Moon Charon To 'The Incredible Hulk' (nasa.gov) 28

MarkWhittington writes: NASA's New Horizon spacecraft has shown Pluto to be an active world that is far more interesting to scientists than anyone imagined when the probe was launched about ten years ago. Pluto's moon Charon has also proven to be a world of interest, not the least because of how it formed and then expanded billions of years ago.

The surface of Charon is covered with ridges, scarps, and valleys. One of the latter is, at least, four miles deep. Scientists suggest that in the distant past Charon expanded, pulling about much like the comic book character Bruce Banner bursting through his clothes as he changes into the Incredible Hulk.

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NASA Compared Pluto's Moon Charon To 'The Incredible Hulk'

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  • Better a Marvel analogy than a car analogy.
    Went off like an airbag doesn't have the same ring.
    • by k6mfw ( 1182893 )
      You really don't want Bruce to get mad. Don't make Charon mad by removing its Moon status like Pluto lost its Planet status?
      • Wow, what are you, some sort of nazi?

        Is a dwarf human a human? OK, so is a dwarf planet a planet?

        Pluto didn't "lose status," dwarf planets have the same rights as other planets. They are simply not in the same sub-group on every trait. It doesn't mean they're not planets.

        • by Anonymous Coward

          Wow, what are you, some sort of nazi?

          Is a dwarf human a human? OK, so is a dwarf planet a planet?

          Pluto didn't "lose status," dwarf planets have the same rights as other planets. They are simply not in the same sub-group on every trait. It doesn't mean they're not planets.

          So, they are separate but equal, is that what you're saying?

  • it seems news about science generally, and astronomy in particular, require lots of eye and mind candy, with absurd metaphors and artist renderings.
    do such polarizations serve any purpose?
    those who are really interested probably can do without the sugra, and those who are only superficially interested probably get confused idea about the concepts, not to mention bad sugary substance inside their brain.

    • oops "popularizations

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Some of the PR people think over the top analogies are needed to get people's attention, and they can end up being like gate keepers of what news comes out of some institutes and conferences. Our group has submitted things after major progress points and papers, buy they have been consistently rejected because involving giant lasers isn't enough to get people's attention according to the PR office. Another group, who do good work, but often get minor papers publicized because they ham up their suggestions a

    • Feynman called it Baubleology or something like that, holding up baubles (pretty pictures at a different scale than humans normally see) and pretending that it is part of science. The purpose mainly seems to be to provide entertainment that gives the viewer the illusion of participating in science, but without having to participate in anything or learn anything. All you have to do is see the beauty in the picture, and gush, "isn't science awesome?!"

      That said, all I cared about was the actual depth of the fe

  • by Anonymous Coward

    It doesn't even link to a reputable source like forbes.Instead it links to some shady 'nasa' site. Please get your act together.

    • Link's updated to primary source now
      • by Alomex ( 148003 )

        Thanks guys. One of the reasons Slashdot is faltering is because it didn't listen to the complaints from its users. Linking to better sources and unicode support are two well known ones. Thanks for working on those

        May I suggest a third one? Edit post button.

        I'm aware there is room for abuse to such functionality (mostly spamming by replacing original highly ranked content), but this can easily be obviated with simple rules such as: 20min window from first posting to make a change, only small diffs allowed.

        • Thanks for the feedback. Yeah editing posts with a small-ish window is on our list of things to build, as well as unicode support and https (soon)
    • I always go to Forbes for my science news. It's good I know AGW is false!

  • How Hulk's pants stay on while every other article of clothing is ripped asunder.

    • by BeauHD ( 4450103 ) Works for Slashdot
      I've always been amazed by this as well. He's all upper body with pencil legs.
    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      How Hulk's pants stay on while every other article of clothing is ripped asunder.

      Because selling drawings of nude men to minors is not legal.

      Hmmm, I wonder if his yanker gets bigger also? Maybe it gets smaller, and that's why his pants stay on. See, maybe Bruce Banner has a huge package, but it DEcreases when he's angry, counter-compensating for muscle gain. Solved! Where's my Nobel.

  • Charon hulked-out because everyone keeps misspelling her name. It's spelled SHARON, you idiots!

Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man -- who has no gills. -- Ambrose Bierce

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