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New Horizons mission to Pluto

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SantosLHalper Since: Aug, 2009
#1: Jan 16th 2015 at 8:35:32 PM

FINALLY. I am rather bummed that the Pluto Kuiper Express was cancelled...

edited 16th Jan '15 8:35:49 PM by SantosLHalper

BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#2: Jan 18th 2015 at 3:01:21 PM

I originally asked the OP to summarise the link before the thread would be opened but since I see it's been opened by another Mod I might as well quote the key bits of the article in the OP to get the discussion started:

After nine years practically to the day, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft [...] is entering the first of several approach phases, which will culminate on July 14 when the space probe is nearest to Pluto, allowing it to capture some close-up images of the dwarf planet. [...] [On] January 25 it will begin to capture long-range images of the Pluto system that will give scientists a better look at the dynamics of Pluto's moons and help them navigate New Horizons the rest of the way.

...

In addition to Pluto and its many moons, New Horizons will explore some of the rest of the Kuiper Belt... ... [and] if New Horizons is still up and running in the year 2038, New Horizons will be just 100 or so AU (astronomical units) from the sun, and might be able to send data to help us better understand the sun's outer heliosphere.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#3: Jan 18th 2015 at 11:57:33 PM

I would suggest cue some Gustav Holt... but that don't work for Pluto sad.

It will be interesting to see what there is to be seen. Even with a fly-by New Horizons will be so much closer than any terrestrial observation system the extra resolution will be staggeringly higher.

Jaustin89* Since: Sep, 2014
#4: Jan 19th 2015 at 3:36:09 PM

Considering that this, is the best image we have of Pluto; yeah it's going to be really cool to get a decent look at it.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#6: May 20th 2015 at 10:37:45 AM

Just realized - Pluto is wearing the Normandy's Loyalty Outfit from ME2.

Jhimmibhob Since: Dec, 2010
#7: May 21st 2015 at 9:02:38 AM

Before spotting all the moons, the probe also got some long-range footage of Pluto/Charon. For the most part, it's not even as detailed as what we were able to infer from the Hubble photos ... but it shows something that looks a lot like polar ice caps!

amitakartok Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
#8: May 29th 2015 at 10:18:53 AM

New pictures have been made public. The extent of those ice caps seem to vary by latitude, plus Pluto now seems to have a complex surface geology.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#9: May 29th 2015 at 12:48:26 PM

[up]Bumpy and rather folded, no? evil grin

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#10: May 30th 2015 at 9:50:06 AM

It may not be ice caps. See, the timing of New Horizons was to get to Pluto before its atmosphere freezes and covers the surface, obscuring the terrain.

The Year of Pluto.

edited 30th May '15 9:54:49 AM by AnotherGuy

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#11: May 30th 2015 at 2:45:24 PM

Pluto may have huge cliffs thanks to sublimation.

Jhimmibhob Since: Dec, 2010
#13: Jun 4th 2015 at 12:28:22 PM

Fascinating, but it makes sense that there'd be orbital weirdness. Fact is, Pluto isn't so much a planet (or dwarf planet) as Pluto/Charon is a two-planet system. For example, Charon's so big w/r/t to Pluto that it doesn't actually orbit Pluto—rather, both bodies orbit a central point (barycenter) in space between the two of them. Stands to reason that the actual satellites would behave oddly.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#14: Jun 4th 2015 at 1:28:39 PM

Actually, so do the Earth and the Moon. It's just that the common point of orbit is inside the Earth.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
amitakartok Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
#15: Jun 4th 2015 at 4:41:29 PM

So do the Sun and every other planet in the system. Jupiter is actually massive enough that the barycenter falls outside the Sun.

Jhimmibhob Since: Dec, 2010
#16: Jun 5th 2015 at 1:58:56 PM

Interesting! Still, Pluto & Charon are far closer to each other in mass than those other examples, which suggests that Charon's gravity might affect other Plutonian moons far more than Jupiter's (already pretty consequential) effect on the solar system's behavior.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#18: Jun 25th 2015 at 8:24:16 PM

Those rather vague features on both those marbles are intriguing. Can't wait for sharpened images... or, just closer ones. grin

Interesting that they seem so different at first blush, though.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#19: Jun 26th 2015 at 2:31:35 PM

Pic from See Pluto Now.

edited 26th Jun '15 2:34:59 PM by AnotherGuy

Jhimmibhob Since: Dec, 2010
#20: Jun 26th 2015 at 6:30:16 PM

Really hoping there's nothing to the Yuggoth hypothesis. Question: if you're the New Horizons team, and your 7/14 photos reveal terraced, cyclopean cityscapes of nitid black stone, do you release the shots and freak out humanity, or do you announce "Whoopsie, the darned probe malfunctioned at the last sec!"

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#21: Jun 27th 2015 at 2:38:08 PM

We will never know.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#22: Jun 27th 2015 at 5:26:34 PM

[up][up]

Freak out humanity. Potential resemblances to Lovecraft's creations aside, proof of extraterrestrial life is too big a piece of news to hide.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#23: Jun 28th 2015 at 11:05:09 PM

But then some pastors will blame same-sex marriages.

KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#24: Jun 29th 2015 at 12:26:16 AM

[up] Yeah, but they'll blame anything they don't like on the bogey-man du jour.

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]

Total posts: 154
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