I know I’m not the only one who was bummed when Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet in 2007.  That’s just insulting.  Pluto was always there for me.  No matter how much I botched the order of those other planets I knew Pluto was 9th.

Pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope: Clockwise from the upper left, the "Tadpole" galaxy, the "Cone Nebula," two colliding spiral galaxies dubbed "The Mice," and stellar birth in the Omega Nebula. (Images from NASA)

You know who was happy about Pluto getting the galactic smackdown?  Neptune which became the new planetary caboose.  Now everyone will remember the swirly blue body named for the Roman god of water and sea.  But Neptune comes with controversy all its own, and that brings us to December 28, 1612 and this week’s Wikipedia Wednesday.  On that day, Galileo discovered the 8th planet whether he knew it or not.  That’s the disputed part.

Fast forward a few centuries to December 30, 1924.  That’s when Edwin Hubble announced the existence of other galaxies and forever changed our understanding of the universe.  Named in his honor, the Hubble Telescope has been capturing the greatest images in history for the past couple of decades.

Speaking of space traveling objects, Maurice “The Rocket” Richard made history on December 28, 1944 when he became the first player in National Hockey League history to score 8 points in one game.  The Montreal Canadian legend was also the first player to score 50 goals in 50 games, unheard of and mostly unreachable unless you’re one of the all-time greats.  By the way, Sidney Crosby is flirting with that very milestone right now.

While we’re mentioning athletes, now’s a great time to say happy birthday (tomorrow) to one of my favorite baseball players of forever.  Sandy Koufax–greatest left-handed pitcher of all-time–was born with a cannon on his arm in 1935.

Bill Shatner's passionate about Wiki Wednesday

I suppose we could also recognize the birth of Woodrow Wilson, who managed to overcome the name Woodrow to become president of the U.S., in 1856.  I’d rather talk about a man who died at this time in 1999.  I know very little about Clayton Moore other than the fact that he was The Lone Ranger and I was named after him.  Guess mom was a big fan.

Mostly though, today is about frontiers which makes this a great time to mention how Iowa was admitted as the 29th state in 1846.  Over time our expanding frontier revealed fruited plains and purple mountain majesty that would galvanize environmentalists into the 20th century.  The Endangered Species Act was eventually passed by the U.S. Congress in 1973 under President Nixon.  That statute helped out many beautiful creatures and even protected some slithering reptiles.  Oh, that reminds me, Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006.

Part of that fruited plain is in Illinois, a great state to bring us home.  I mentioned earlier that others were unhappy with Pluto’s demotion.  Some of those folks were from Illinois, birthplace of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto who got robbed.  The state government passed a law pooh-poohing the scientific community.  New Mexico reps (where Tombaugh lived much of his life) did the same and even declared a Pluto Planet Day once a year!  They said Pluto will always be considered a planet when it appears over the New Mexico sky.

Stan Lee w/ Kevin Smith and more

Also coming out of Illinois is Nichelle Nichols, born on December 28 in 1932.  She played Uhura in the original Star Trek cast which I know way more about than you would ever believe.  Yes, I like the new movie too.

For a brief time after the late 1970s, Marvel Comics held the license for Star Trek.  All of you should now that the godfather of Marvel is Mr. Stan Lee who turned 88 yesterday.  What a legend.  All he did was create (along with Jack Kirby) such characters as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil (my fave as a kid), the Incredible Hulk, Ironman, and so many others.

Another creation of Stan “The Man” Lee is the Silver Surfer, an intergalactic traveler who certainly breezed past Pluto and Neptune more than once, and whose conceptual journeys wouldn’t have been possible had the infinity of the universe not been discovered by folks like Tombaugh, Hubble, and Galileo.

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On Wikipedia Wednesday I take the Wiki’s word for it about what happened on this date in history (give or take a day) and vamp up the rest to connect the events.  It’s okay.  I’m a trained historian. You won’t get history like this anywhere else.

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