This question sort of falls into that “If they can land men on the moon … ” category of queries.

I heard it asked late this week on a CNN newscast: If they can locate galaxies millions of light years from Earth, why can’t they find the wreckage of a jetliner at the bottom of the ocean?

Provocative question, to be sure. It’s also an apples/oranges comparison.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/29/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

The technology used to find those galaxies, black holes, nebula, dwarf planets, asteroid belts and whatever else is out there past our solar system cannot be used to find a jetliner missing since March 8. The jet, of course, is Malaysia Air Flight MH 370, which vanished after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

It’s likely in the bottom of the Indian Ocean, about 1,400 or so miles southwest or Perth, Australia. Why it ended up there — in the opposite direction of its intended destination — remains the No. 1 mystery on the planet at the moment.

Satellites have spotted debris of some sort floating in the ocean, as have manned aircraft. They’ve fetched some of it from the water and are analyzing it to see if it belongs to the Boeing 777 that went missing.

The tediousness of the investigation is maddening. It’s also necessary. The loved ones awaiting word on the 239 individuals on board MH 370 are in shock. They are angry. They are beside themselves. Believe me, I know what they’re going through. I lost my father in 1980 in a boating accident and it took police eight days to find his body after he was thrown into an inlet on the British Columbia coast. The family members’ minds are playing cruel tricks on them as they await definitive word that the plane has crashed and that all aboard were killed.

The authorities are getting closer to finding out the fate of MH 370.

Believe this as well: It’s far more difficult to find the wreckage of a jetliner right under our noses than it is to find a galaxy billions of miles away.