When I set out to experience a Pluto flyby, I did not anticipate that I would be getting involved with hats. In the middle of July, I was hanging around the Kossiakoff Conference and Education Center at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, home of the New Horizons project. I was there to assist a team of educators working on public outreach about the mission. Over a thousand visitors were present. In a corner of the center was a table. Artwork of Pluto, its moon Charon, and NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft decorated a large backdrop behind the table. On the table was a professionally-made one-eighth-scale model of the spacecraft. It was a very nice model. But it wasn’t what drew the attention of visitors. What visitors were looking at was the hats. Large hats. In the shape of the New Horizons spacecraft. … Continue reading →