We seem to be a little short on fodder, so I decided to make another non-word-related post; the autumnal equinox and the demise of the Galileo spacecraft seem noteworthy, at least to me.

I was curious about what the coloring book the Galileo site offered would look like; thought I'd post the link, as it gives a summary of accomplishments.
http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/coloringbook.html

Oh, I can't resist; from Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: equi·nox
Pronunciation: 'E-kw&-"näks, 'e-kw&-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French equinoxe, from Medieval Latin equinoxium, alteration of Latin aequinoctium, from aequi- equi- + noct-, nox night

thanks for the link, Jackie!

Bye bye Galileo. We'll miss you.

From launch to impact, the stalwart spacecraft has travelled 4,631,778,000 kilometers (2,878,053,500 miles) on 925 kilograms of propellant (246 gallons), not counting the fuel for the shuttle. In all that time, and across all those miles, Galileo has returned over 30 gigabytes of data, including 14,000 pictures.

One chapter of the volumes of scientific data produced by Galileo over the years includes the discovery of likely sub-surface water oceans on the icy satellite Europa. This has fueled speculation about the possibility of life existing in that environment, and is prompting plans for future spacecraft to return to Europa to search for life. Since the Galileo spacecraft was never designed to specifically search for life, it was never subjected to the rigorous sterilization procedures such as those mandated for craft going to Mars. To prevent any possible future biological contamination of Europa, the decision was made to provide a final resting place for the Galileo Orbiter that guarantees the spacecraft will never collide with any of the Jovian moons. That resting place is Jupiter itself.

http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/thiswk/today030921.html

And another view of Galileo's end run ...

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/galileo_finale_030921.html

[copycat mode] Thanks for the link, CK! [/copycat mode]
the nuclear-powered spacecraft was put to rest in a 21st century form of techno-euthansia.
Is techno-euthansia a new word? Is it on somebody's list somewhere? I looked on Buzzwhack
http://www.buzzwhack.com/ , but it wasn't there. (Thank you again to Sparteye for originally posting about this site; it lets a head-in-the-sand-er like me check on things without always having to embarrass myself.)