Bryson QQC Two

Quote:

"One nice touch about Christy's discovery was that it happened in Flagstaff, for it was there in 1930 that Pluto had been found in the first place."

Question:

Is there something about Flagstaff that is particularly appealing to astronomers?

Comment:

I was curious about this line because I found it ironic that even though we have been looking to the stars for thousands of years, no one could tell that Pluto had a moon. The fact that Flagstaff was where we not only discovered the moon, but the planet itself, makes me wonder if there is something about Flagstaff that is good for astronomy. Does it have a higher altitude than most other places? Is the air quality cleaner, thus giving it clearer skies? I'm honestly curious now about why this happened twice in Flagstaff and what other planets etc. have been found from there.

Bryson QQC

Quote:

"The average species on Earth lasts for only about four million years, so if you wish to be around for billions of years, you must be as fickle as the atoms that made you."

Question:

How long ago did the first true human being come into existence and what will humans look like millions of years from now if we are even around?

Comment:

I had never thought about a species as having an average life-span, though it makes sense now that I think about it. Many species have gone extinct just in my lifetime, so how many millions of species have gone extinct that we might not even know about? Also, I am curious about if human beings will be around for millions of years, or will we too be gone not long from now. If we do make it, I wonder what we will look like, how we will have changed to fit our new environment and what technology we will have in the future.