Lincoln
Hills Astronomy Group
Poems by Jim Fulcomer
Pluto
After nine long years of travel, we lifted Pluto’s
veil.
A hyper-cruise was all it took without a solar sail.
New Horizons gently woke up from her sleepy trip
to clarify for NASA what was just a fuzzy blip.
For many years all we had were pixels from the Hubble.
Now we have a close-up, but it took a lot of trouble.
While Pluto and Charon did their odd binary dance -
four other moons attended, but they barely got a glance.
Now this distant canine has his many secrets bared.
From a very brief encounter and by distance so impaired.
Photos seem to indicate that Pluto really has a heart!
Yet not a single crater, which sets him quite apart
from other rocky planetoids without an atmosphere -
an unexpected finding, peculiar and queer.
But as our brave explorer, left Pluto, cold and pale
she also discovered that Pluto has a tail.
A stream of Nitro-ions ripped by the Solar Wind
from Pluto’s icy surface, which he cannot rescind.
So off into the Kuiper Belt, Horizon travels on.
Assignment now completed, she ever will be gone.
But data still is streaming back and will constantly be noted.
Poor Pluto, gaining status, but still and all, demoted.