On the classifications of planets

[xa na xa]

As I'm that old, I do not laugh at the 'primitive' equipment that 'we'* used back then. I glory in the progress 'we'* have made.

* Collective 'we'.

Click to shrink...

Modesty is obviously but one of your countless qualities.

Edit 1.0: Snow drifts this high, uphill both directions.

Click to shrink...

Walking to Pluto and back is indeed a long walk...

Edit 2.0: The rate of tech change was low by today's standards. The change between 1950's and 1960's tech was impressive at the time. From a 2018 prospective I have trouble remembering the difference. Switching between large glass plates to try and see if any little points of light had moved was high tech at the time.

Click to shrink...

It's interesting that technological development is not constant; a bit like punctuated equilibrium in evolution.

In this particular case, optics were pretty mature.

Mt. Palomar, from 1948, was the best and largest for pretty much the rest of the 20th century with its 200 inch mirror.

CCDs (along w/ computers) became revolutionary in the 80s and 90s, compared to photographic plates.

It's still down to luck or unluck, I can see how it could happen that Pluto wouldn't be discovered until after 2000.

 

[Frogs321]

Modesty is obviously but one of your countless qualities.



Walking to Pluto and back is indeed a long walk...



It's interesting that technological development is not constant; a bit like punctuated equilibrium in evolution.

In this particular case, optics were pretty mature.

Mt. Palomar, from 1948, was the best and largest for pretty much the rest of the 20th century with its 200 inch mirror.

CCDs (along w/ computers) became revolutionary in the 80s and 90s, compared to photographic plates.

It's still down to luck or unluck, I can see how it could happen that Pluto wouldn't be discovered until after 2000.

Click to shrink...

OK, now I'm ROFLMAO.

My first chunk of digital equipment ( it was not really a computer as we know them today ) used vacuum tubes ( Edit 1.0: Vacuum tube - Wikipedia ) to form binary oscillators ( Edit 2.0: :lol I tried to find a diagram of a binary oscillator for you but could not find one. ) to hold 1s and 0s. Yes vacuum tubes and it was so advanced for it's time that it was declared top secret by the military.

Not too long ago I was driving my 90+ year old neighbor to get his macular degeneration checked. They had a non-invasive imaging device that produced detailed 3D images of the inside of his eyes that could be viewed from any angle.

Edit 3.0: On rereading, the above paragraph may have miss the point I was trying to make. The optical science of today is just as advanced as the rest of today's science and technology. Astronomers of today can deal with and study single photons.

The difference between 50s and 60's tech and today's tech is about what we would expect for 50 to 60 years and we are so immersed in it that we just do not always notice it or understand the extreme difference.

Edit 3.1: And in 50 to 60 more years....rofl:rofl: