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New Horizons mission to Pluto

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DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#101: Jul 18th 2015 at 2:11:50 PM

There is no Pluto. It's all being faked by NASA. You can tell by the way the shadows fall in the photos.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#102: Jul 18th 2015 at 6:08:15 PM

Actually, they're naming features after The Lord of the Rings, save Tombaugh Regio (for obvious regions). For one, the huge dark area is called Mordor.

They called the Whale "Cthulhu", so there you go.

edited 18th Jul '15 6:10:02 PM by AnotherGuy

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#104: Jul 25th 2015 at 5:29:28 AM

Flowing ice? Atmospheric haze?

Let's fly over Pluto.

[[youtube:0AbiygSo478]]

edited 25th Jul '15 5:30:16 AM by AnotherGuy

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#105: Jul 25th 2015 at 6:44:25 AM

Such amazing pictures. I feel a sense of triumph and a sense of sadness that human eyes will probably never see those worlds directly.

edited 25th Jul '15 4:54:44 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
KnightofLsama Since: Sep, 2010
#106: Jul 25th 2015 at 4:55:11 PM

Random thought. Should we change the thread title to "New Horizons now leaving Pluto?"

Nohbody "In distress", my ass. from Somewhere in Dixie Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Mu
"In distress", my ass.
#107: Jul 25th 2015 at 5:30:46 PM

^ "New Horizons probe to Pluto" would probably be better, since it did kinda have to get there first before it could be leaving. tongue

All your safe space are belong to Trump
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#109: Jul 27th 2015 at 4:14:04 PM

Scientists Find Something Very Bizarre Behind Pluto: "The path of New Horizons as it flew past Pluto on July 14 took it directly into the dwarf planet's shadow, and while this provided a fascinating opportunity to see its atmosphere lit up by the Sun, it also allowed the spacecraft to see the effects of solar wind on Pluto.

What New Horizons found is that the atmosphere is being stripped away by the solar wind, creating a huge region of cold and dense ionized gas that extends tens of thousands of miles beyond Pluto. This essentially creates a 'hole' or cavity in the surrounding solar wind, which was detected between 77,000 and 109,000 kilometers (48,000 and 68,000 miles) behind Pluto.

It is mostly composed of nitrogen ions, which form a plasma tail, although scientists aren’t yet sure what shape or size this tail is. It resembles the gaseous ion tails of comets, which extend far behind the icy rocks as they travel through the Solar System."

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.
AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#110: Jul 28th 2015 at 2:31:57 PM

We lucked out - the atmosphere on Pluto is condensing and falling to the surface, happening after New Horizons left.

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#112: Jul 28th 2015 at 4:55:39 PM

We have awakened it!

Seriously, now I really want to get a closer look at some other Kuiper belt objects, just to see if Pluto is unique or part of a pattern.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#114: Jul 28th 2015 at 11:35:18 PM

Collapse is such an ominous word. [lol]

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#115: Jul 29th 2015 at 7:23:36 PM

IIRC, Pluto is in that part of it's orbit where it is currently moving away from the Sun. That means it's cooling off. This is probably part of it's cycle: every time it moves inward, it warms up and part of it's surface evaporates, creating the atmosphere. Every time it moves outward, it cools off and the atmosphere re-freezes to the surface. It's atmosphere may be less than 60-70 years old.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#116: Aug 9th 2015 at 5:35:01 AM

As mentioned earlier, there was a race to get New Horizons to Pluto before the atmosphere condensed and obscured all of the pretty landscape.

Best is yet to come.

Informal names are all geek names. Like "Cthulhu Regio", "Balrog Macula", "Vulcan Planum", "Kirk Crater", "Uhura Crater", "Sulu Crater", "Spock Crater", "Clarke Mons", "Kubrick Mons", "Luke Crater", "(Leia) Organa Crater", "Vader Crater", "Ripley Crater".

edited 9th Aug '15 5:39:15 AM by AnotherGuy

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#118: Aug 11th 2015 at 4:34:13 AM

Ceres: 4 mile tall pyramid and lights.

Guess with New Horizons approaching the aliens had to move to their summer place on Ceres.

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#119: Aug 11th 2015 at 4:53:23 AM

Ah yes,the ancient structure that is known in legends as Niatnuomgnikcufa.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#121: Aug 12th 2015 at 9:26:41 AM

That is strange. What could the source of Pluto's geologic activity be? It's small enough that it must have lost most of the heat of its formation by now, and far enough from the Sun that tidal forces would be negligible.

edited 12th Aug '15 9:26:49 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#122: Aug 12th 2015 at 9:34:22 AM

[up]This is why I suspect that current Pluto-Chiron isn't all that old, comparatively.

How long does it take to cool down after an impact-driven, total meltdown reconfigued two bodies?

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#123: Aug 12th 2015 at 11:21:56 AM

Assuming no further impacts,and disregarding the following weather effects,a week year or two is probably enough.

Edit:By total meltdown you mean something Earth vs Thea?

Though that's a random guess on my part.

edited 12th Aug '15 11:24:47 AM by alekos23

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#124: Aug 12th 2015 at 12:19:18 PM

[up]That's what I meant, yes. smile Some crust goes bye-bye and everything else liquifies... and stabalises out in whatever shape works. That one. wink

Although, "Total Thaw: The Seasoning" sounds either like a great game, or somebody trying a little hard to come up with dinner party themes. evil grin

[down]Yeah. That's what I've been saying. *confused* Seriously, two round balls so close to each other with weirdly-shaped bits orbiting around them isn't a hint that something probably Thera'd into proto-Pluto well after the system as we know it pretty much finalised its shape?

And, we have got a local bully in the vicinity who has a knack for messing with the neighbours... <points at Neptune> Setting collision courses over a billion years in the making? Could do. wink

edited 12th Aug '15 2:17:16 PM by Euodiachloris

AnotherGuy Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#125: Aug 12th 2015 at 1:17:52 PM

How about this: Pluto was recently created by two plutinos colliding a few million years ago, and Pluto and Charon are getting ready to collide as well.


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