Page 8 May 7, 2015 EL SEGUNDO HERALD Looking Up New Horizons Spacecraft Detects Surface Features on Pluto According to NASA, “This image of Pluto and it largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on April 15, 2015. The image is part of several taken between April 12-18, as the spacecraft’s distance from Pluto decreased from about 69 million miles (111 million kilometers) to 64 million miles (104 million kilometers).” Credits NASA/JHU-APL/SwRI From a NASA press release, provided by Bob Eklund For the first time, images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are revealing bright and dark regions on the surface of faraway Pluto—the primary target of the New Horizons close flyby in mid-July. The images were captured in early to mid- April from within 70 million miles (113 million kilometers), using the telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera on New Horizons. A technique called image deconvolution sharpens the raw, unprocessed images beamed back to Earth. New Horizons scientists interpreted the data to reveal the dwarf planet has broad surface markings—some bright, some dark—including a bright area at one pole that may be a polar cap. “As we approach the Pluto system we are starting to see intriguing features such as a bright region near Pluto’s visible pole, starting the great scientific adventure to understand this enigmatic celestial object,” says John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “As we get closer, the excitement is building in our quest to unravel the mysteries of Pluto using data from New Horizons.” Also captured in the images is Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, rotating in its 6.4-day long orbit. The exposure times used to create this image set—a tenth of a second—were too short for the camera to detect Pluto’s four much smaller and fainter moons. Since it was discovered in 1930, Pluto has remained an enigma. It orbits our Sun more than 3 billion miles (about 5 billion kilometers) from Earth, and researchers have struggled to discern any details about its surface. These latest New Horizons images allow the mission science team to detect clear differences in brightness across Pluto’s surface as it rotates. “After traveling more than nine years through space, it’s stunning to see Pluto, literally a dot of light as seen from Earth, becoming a real place right before our eyes,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “These incredible images are the first in which we can begin to see detail on Pluto, and they are already showing us that Pluto has a complex surface.” The images the spacecraft returns will dramatically improve as New Horizons speeds closer to its July rendezvous with Pluto. “We can only imagine what surprises will be revealed when New Horizons passes approximately 7,800 miles (12,500 kilometers) above Pluto’s surface this summer,” said Hal Weaver, the mission’s project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. • Seniors Caregiving Expert Gives Advice on Advanced Estate Planning By R. Christine Brown “I’m a caregiving expert, with more than 30 years of experience in the field of aging, so you’d think I’d be fully prepared for a loved one’s death, especially when that person is older or has been battling illness. Yet even for me, death caught me by surprise.” There are many things caregiving expert Amy Goyer wished she would have asked before her mom and sister passed away. She says that it’s harder for her to feel that she totally lived up to her responsibilities as executor of their estates. Her recent AARP article, titled “5 Questions I Wish I Had Asked Before They Died,”explains that she is going to ask her other sisters and other loved ones about this type of information now—long before she hopes she’ll ever need it. She has in place the proper advance directives, estate and financial planning, but she says that she’ll also be more thorough with the finer details. To that end, the author recommends asking these questions: Where is important paperwork located? The author of the original article thought she had the most recent valid copies of her sister’s legal documents; however, that wasn’t the case. She had to search through mountains of paper! Your loved ones may know where their financial and legal documents are located—but that’s no help after they’re gone. What are the details of what you want for your memorial service? Obviously with the stress of losing a loved one, any decisions about the service that can be made in advance are most helpful when relatives are deep in shock and grief. Discuss details with them like music, the service location, speakers, flowers, and food. Who should get your personal items? The article urges you to catalog your collectibles, jewelry, and special mementos. Most people fail to list these items in their wills. Who is in that picture? Many folks have stacks of family photographs of people who look familiar, but they’re not sure who they really are. To avoid this, label each photo when discussing it with your loved ones and hang on to that family history. Finally, the original article stresses that you don’t let your hesitancy to talk about death keep you from bringing up these subjects with your family. Start the conversation early and have them often; it will help reduce the awkwardness. Remember, as much as we hate to face it, death is inevitable for all of us. The better prepared we all are—in addition to the basic legal documents—the easier it will be when the time comes. • Tech Talk My Internet Connection is Slow. Should I change providers? By Sid Kato, Array Systems, Inc. There are several reasons your internet connection may seem slow. Before you jump to the conclusion the problem is with your Internet Provider you need to do some investigation. First, run a speed check of your Internet Provider. This is actually quite easy to do. A speed test program will test the speed of your computer connecting to the Internet – called the “upload” speed. It will also test the speed of copying data from the website onto your computer - called the “download” speed. There are many speed test programs available. You can search by typing “internet speed test” into your search engine. One I found on Google is http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/. After you run the speed check and have both the upload and download speeds, compare them to the contracted speed of your Internet provider. Most of the time you’ll find the Internet Provider is not the problem. If yours is not, continue the investigation. The most common cause of a slowing computer is a virus or malware. Check your virus protection or malware program status. You may find your computer is infected and needs attention. Follow the steps to clean or quarantine the problem. Another possibility can be a problem with a specific program. If one program seems slow, log in to a completely different program to determine if the problem is widespread or limited. I use Quickbooks to manage my accounting so I’d log in to Quickbooks to see if I still notice a similar response time problem. If the slowness only occurs in one program, you have probably found the culprit. If the slowness affects multiple programs, your computer may be to blame. After investigating all of these without finding any issues, your computer itself may be the source of the problem. You will most likely need help from a local computer expert who can evaluate further. If you live near Torrance, I’d recommend PC Parlor run by Tony Musorafite. Ask for his bench rate, which is very reasonable. Hopefully, these tips will help you find the problem and get your computer back up-tospeed! Dear Readers, this column addresses frequently asked technology questions by small business owners. Please email your questions to pr@heraldpublications.com and we will answer them in future columns. Thank you and enjoy! • Best Day from page 5 Police Reports from page 3 Boulevard. A BBQ grill was taken. One female adult was arrested at 0230 hours from the 100 block of West Imperial Avenue for plain drunk in public. Hit and run occurred at 1357 hours in the intersection of Grand Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard, truck versus light pole. Friday, May 1 Burglary (commercial) occurred between 04/30/15 and 05/01/15 in the 1300 block of East El Segundo Boulevard. Burglary (commercial) occurred between 04/30/15 and 05/01/15 in the 100 block of Lomita Street. Battery occurred at 1308 hours in the 1800 block of East Sycamore Avenue. Shoplifting report was taken at 1916 hours from the 700 block of South Sepulveda Boulevard. Several video games were taken. Saturday, May 2 One female adult was arrested at 0328 hours from Maple Avenue and Washington Street for misdemeanor DUI with a BAC of 0.08% or above. On-line lost property report was taken at 0620 hours from the 500 block of Center Street. A California Driver License was reported missing. On-line petty theft report was taken at 0625 hours from the 500 block of West Imperial Avenue. A wallet was stolen containing an Apple iPhone, California Driver License and credit cards. One male adult was arrested at 1350 hours from the 300 block of Penn Street for domestic violence. One female adult was arrested at 1611 hours from the 600 block of Loma Vista Street for plain drunk in public. One male adult was arrested at 1707 hours from the 400 block of Main Street for plain drunk in public. Sunday, May 3, 2015 One female adult was arrested at 1331 hours from the 400 block of Main Street for misdemeanor DUI and possession of a controlled substance. Vandalism report was taken at 1555 hours from the 200 block of Sierra Street. Unknown suspect(s) shot BB’s at an apartment complex.• before the Belmont Stakes, the 140th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore will take place on Saturday, May 16. Follow American Pharoah on his journey to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. To round out the day in sports, the New York Rangers edged out the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Madison Square Garden, the Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-2, and if you’re a soccer enthusiast, Chelsea won the Premier League title. Another day like this one may not ever be seen again in the history of sports watching. A day where a fight with so much anticipation and build-up takes place on the same day as an NBA Game 7 playoff, the NHL hockey playoffs, the Kentucky Derby and even the NFL Draft is a sports lover’s dream vacation. Sports will, of course, go on and there will be many more interesting events to take place, many of which will be in the wake of this one great day. Last Saturday, May the 2nd, however, was one of the best to be seen in a very, very long time. •
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