Plutopalooza!

In celebration of New Horizon's successful fly-by of Pluto, the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (a partner with NASA in sending the ship out) hosted a Plutopalooza. We visited in the morning and had a great time.

Ready to travel!

Celebratory sign with unfortunate flash flare

They had plenty of crafts and other fun activities for kids, including making a ultraviolet light-detecting bracelet and a spectrometer.

L sad to show her passport rather than her bracelet

Working on spectrometers

Almost done!

The hall was brimming with activity. We managed to get a postcard-perfect shot at the photo op spot.

Part of the hall

J ready to be a tourist

L not so much

We found one of several models of the New Horizons spacecraft and admired its shiny goldenness.

New Horizon at 1:25 ratio

In another the kids had their faces painted. Choosing the design and colors was part of the fun. J and L both picked out the space craft but different views (and color schemes).

Face Painting!

J gets drawn on

Side view of the craft

L's turn

Top view of craft

To show even more love for Pluto, J colored in a necklace to imitate the heart-shaped features on the new, more accurate photo of Pluto.

J works from a picture of the planet

A ball area represented the various sizes of various objects in the Kuiper Belt, the area of our solar system beyond Uranus and Neptune full of rocky and icy objects, much like the asteroid belt.

Objects in the belt

Objects in motion

We went to an hour-long presentation by some of the scientists who worked on New Horizon, including a graduate student who designed the dust collector. J was interested but L was not. The biggest surprise for me was the appearance of Brian May. He's a guitarist for the rock band Queen and an astrophysicist! He wrote that We Will Rock You song which has a whole new meaning considering he studies non-terrestrial stones.

Presentation

Rocker who is into space rocks

My other surprise from the presentations was the insistence that Pluto is a planet and not a dwarf planet. They asked how many planets are in the solar system, and their correct answer was "hundreds." So the issue is still controversial!

L was worn out after the presentation, so we went off to lunch at Chick-fil-A, a happy end to a fun and informative morning.

Jubilee at Church and Lunch

Even the Catholic Church in England is celebrating the Queen's Jubilee! At Mass this Sunday, the first reading was replaced by a reading from chapter three of the first book of Kings:

11 So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life."

Also, we had a post-communion prayer for the Queen that was, like the substitute reading, approved by the Bishops' Conference in England and Wales:

V. O Lord, save Elizabeth, our Queen.

R. And hear us on the day we call upon you.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come before you.

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with your spirit.

Almighty God, we pray, that your servant Elizabeth, our Queen, who, by your providence has received the governance of this realm, may continue to grow in every virtue, that, imbued with your heavenly grace, she may be preserved from all that is harmful and evil and, being blessed with your favour may, with her consort and the royal family, come at last in to your presence, through Christ who is the way, the truth and the life and who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

It was a nice prayer. We ended with a Marian hymn with a queenly theme (I forget which hymn), which was a nice touch, I thought.

Sunday was also the day of the Big Jubilee Lunch, where neighbors have a get together and share an afternoon meal. The weather was (you guessed it) rainy, so I'm not sure how many lunches went off. We went to a friend's home for a playdate and had lunch with them in a semi-English style. We had tea and sandwich triangles and chips and strawberries. It was quite convivial. Our own street didn't have anything going on except for the rainfall.

Queen of England is Awesome!!

A couple from Manchester, UK, saw that Queen Elizabeth II would be in town the day of their wedding. On a lark they sent her an invitation. Turns out she was the surprise guest at the wedding last Friday! I guess she forgot to R.S.V.P. I'd forgive her for that.

Check out the story here, which quotes the bride: "Basically it was a wedding gift for us," Frances Canning told CNN affiliate ITN.

Let that be a lesson to the rest of us. If you invite someone and they don't reply, don't be surprised if they still show up!

h/t The SciFi Catholic, who had the much better blog title "...Because the Queen Rules"