Pluto Day - February 18th

If there is one thing we all have in common, it is that we all live in the solar system, a system of planets that orbit the sun in a year-long rotation, which is about 365.25 days. In addition to Earth, the sun is surrounded by seven other large planets and many other bodies and dwarf planets.

The solar system was created about 4.6 billion years ago and its address is: the local bubble on the Orion arm, the Milky Way galaxy, the universe.

Pluto is a planet discovered on February 18, 1930, and is considered the ninth planet in the solar system for about 76 years, until its definition changed from a full planet to a dwarf planet. It was discovered by an American astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh.

The name Pluto was suggested by an 11-year-old girl named Venetia Burney, after the god of the underworld in Roman mythology. Venetia learned about the solar system and knew that planets are named after gods from mythology and knew that after distant Neptune there is starless darkness, and when her grandfather read her the article about the discovery of the new star, she suggested that because of its dark place, it be named "Pluto".  

The name Pluto also begins with the letters PL which are the acronyms for Percival Lowell, the man who spent the rest of his life and money locating the planet (Clyde Tombaugh worked at his institute) so the offer of the girl Venetia was accepted.

Until August 2006, Pluto was thought to be the ninth and most distant planet on Earth in the solar system. It is considered to be the smallest of the nine planets and its orbit was different from that of the other planets and so there was disagreement over its classification as a planet.

In 2003, the planet Eris, which was valued as larger than Pluto, was discovered, which further undermined Pluto's status as a planet.

On August 24, 2006, a vote was held at the International Astronomical Union conference in Prague, and it was decided to remove Pluto from its status as a planet and define it as a dwarf planet. At least one can take comfort in the fact that of the dwarf planets, it is considered to be the largest.

Like the other dwarf planets and small bodies in the solar system, a number was added to its name and its new name was 134340 Pluto.

Some more interesting facts about the planet Pluto

The width of Pluto is about 1,400 miles (2,380 km) which is about half the width of the United States, or 2/3 of the width of the Moon of the Earth.

Pluto orbits the Sun on an average orbit of about 3.6 billion miles (5.8 billion km), which is 40 times that of Earth, in an area known as the Kuiper Belt. A year on Pluto is 248 years on Earth. A day on Pluto lasts 153 hours, which is about 6 days. Earth.

Pluto's atmosphere is made up of a thin layer of gases, including nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide. The surrounding air looks blue with clear haze.

Pluto has 5 moons. The largest, Charon, is so large that Pluto and Charon orbit each other like a double planet.

Pluto does not have a ring system.

The first and only spacecraft to study Pluto was NASA's New Horizons, which was launched on January 19, 2006 (at the time of launch Pluto was still considered a planet) and passed near Pluto on July 14, 2015.

Disney's cartoon character, Pluto - Mickey Mouse's faithful dog, made his debut in 1930, the same year that Tombo discovered the planet Pluto. There is speculation that Walt Disney named the animated dog after a recently discovered planet to take advantage of its popularity.

Photo of Pluto by the New Horizons lander, July 13, 2015 (public domain)

How to celebrate Pluto Day?

In honor of Pluto Day you can visit the planetarium closest to you and learn more about astronomy. You can also read about the discovery and history of Pluto and why it was defined as a Nancy planet after being considered a full-size planet for 76 years. You can share your thoughts and discoveries on social media with the hashtag #PlutoDay.

February 18 is also Drinking Wine Day, Eat Ice Cream For Breakfast Day and Battery Day

Hollywood Walk of Fame Establishment day - February 8

Today in 1960, the Hollywood Walk of Fame was inaugurated, a sidewalk between Wayne Street and Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, USA, with more than 2,500 stars, with each star the name of a celebrity who has made a significant contribution to the entertainment industry.  

The initiative to dedicate the avenue to people who have contributed to the culture comes from the Hollywood City Council, which hired artist Oliver Weissmuller for this purpose. In 1958 he created it, with 2,500 blank stars. In the first six months, the names of entertainers were stamped on 1,558 stars. The stars were divided into five categories according to achievements in film, theater, radio, television and music and were entertainers whose names were imprinted on several stars.

In recent decades the trend has been to give single stars to cultural figures who have not yet received a star.

The official launch ceremony of the boulevard took place on February 8, 1960 due to legal complications that delayed its inauguration.

Actress Joan Woodward is considered the first to win a star on the avenue, but she may have been among the first and simply the first to be photographed with her star.

Gene Otter, a well-known celebrity in the field of acting, singing, songwriting and rodeo is the only one to receive 5 stars in the five categories.

Every year on May 31, the Avenue of the Stars Council announces the candidates for new stars. In June, celebrities will be selected to receive a star and a star-studded ceremony hosted by the Honorable Mayor of Hollywood, Johnny Grant, open to the general public.

There is complete secrecy regarding the identities of the members of the Avenue of the Stars Council and many attempts by the media to find out who they were unsuccessful.

The youngest celebrities to receive a star are twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who received the star at the age of 17.

Starring fictional characters: Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Snow White, Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Godzilla, Kermit the Frog, Lassie the Bitch, The Simpsons, Phi Wei Herman, Regrets, C-3PO, Shrek, Tinker Bell , Snoopy and more.

The first character from an animated film to receive a star was Mickey Mouse, who received the star in 1978 in honor of his 50th birthday.

If you want to get to the Avenue of the Stars, it stretches from east to west on Hollywood Avenue, from Gower Street to La Rode Avenue and north to south on Wayne Street, between Yuka Street and Sunset Avenue.

Inside each star is the name of the celebrity and under its name a symbol of the category in which he contributed to the entertainment industry: film camera for the film industry, TV for the TV industry, record for the music industry, radio for the radio industry and a pair of tragedy and comedy masks for the theater industry.

February 8 is also Laugh and Get Rich Day and Opera Day

Asteroid Day - June 30th

International Asteroid Day is a day announced at two simultaneous press conferences in London and San Francisco on December 3, 2014, in memory of the Tunguska event that took place in the Eastern Siberian Taiga on June 30, 1908.

As of 2016 the United Nations has now officially recognized it.

An asteroid is a small body in the solar system that is in orbit around the sun.

The Tunguska event was a violent explosion near the Tunguska River, in the heart of the Taiga Forest in Siberia, on the morning of June 30, 1908. The accepted theory is that the explosion was caused by a meteorite (which is part of an asteroid) on Earth. The blast caused enormous damage to nature, but because it happened far from a settlement, no people were injured.

At the center of the explosion, all the trees were found lying in the ground in a circular shape, facing out of the center, within a radius of about 15 to 30 km. All the flora and fauna in that range were destroyed.

Eyewitnesses who watched the event from a distance told of a huge fireball that emerged from the sky accompanied by strong, hot winds that knocked people to the ground. After the explosion, seismic waves were felt that shook the houses similar to an earthquake. The explosion was so powerful that it could be seen from a distance of 800 km.

On February 15, 2013, a meteor exploded, also in Russia. The incident was similar to an explosion in Tunguska, but the meteor exploded in the air and did not hit the earth.

Asteroid Day is designed to raise awareness for asteroids and what can be done to protect the Earth from them.

There are many programs to eradicate the danger from asteroids. In California, USA, for example, there is a non-profit organization called the B612 Foundation, which aims to develop a space mission in which a spacecraft will land on a small asteroid, explore its surface and install a rocket engine that will significantly change its trajectory.

There are other asteroid detection programs that will help monitor each of them and alert them as they approach Earth. 

June 30 is also  Social Media Day and Meteor watch day