Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,606
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    ArlyDude
    Newest Member
    ArlyDude
    Joined

July Banter


mackerel_sky

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 498
  • Created
  • Last Reply

What a historic day in planetary/solar system exploration. After 3462 days, new horizons made it's closest approach to pluto this morning. It almost seem surreal it finally made it after following the launch 9.5 years ago. I can't imagine how those who have dedicated their lives to this mission must feel. Some have been on it since it was first dreamed up in 1989! What's also important to note is that if they had not built the craft so quickly, start to finish about 4.5 years which is actually pretty fast for such a craft, and missed the jupiter gravity assist, it would not have arrived to pluto for another 4 years.

 

 

 

We won't get the truly HD shots at closest approach for a while longer since the craft is busy taking observations and won't phone home until this evening. Also,  Besides the obvious 4 plus hour one way light/radio time it will take some time to download full pics/data sets..data rate is about 1kb/sec.  Overall it will take 16 months to receive all the data they have collected.

 

In the meantime, here is the last pic they received before the planned cutoff. It was taken yesterday at a range of about 476,000 miles. Again at closest approach, horizons was at 7,750 miles. Which was within just a few miles of the expected exact target. It's an incredible achievement in and of itself..as it's like shooting a rifle and hitting  a bullseye 130 miles away...or a golfer in new york hitting a hole in one in Los Angeles.

 

20150714_pluto-nh-ehealth1_f840.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a historic day in planetary/solar system exploration. After 3462 days, new horizons made it's closest approach to pluto this morning. It almost seem surreal it finally made it after following the launch 9.5 years ago. I can't imagine how those who have dedicated their lives to this mission must feel. Some have been on it since it was first dreamed up in 1989! What's also important to note is that if they had not built the craft so quickly, start to finish about 4.5 years which is actually pretty fast for such a craft, and missed the jupiter gravity assist, it would not have arrived to pluto for another 4 years.

 

...

 

Fantastic photo there, Lookout.  Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with the Pluto information.  Please post more pics as they become available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic photo there, Lookout.  Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with the Pluto information.  Please post more pics as they become available.

No problem. Pluto  looks unlike any other object we have seen in the solar system thus far. The varying terrain is absolutely stunning with all kinds of speculation about what we are seeing. Some were even suggesting yesterday that the side of pluto opposite of the closest approach could have even had liquid oxygen or neon on the surface due to the very sharp edges around the darker areas..which looked a lot like methane lakes on titan. Seems unlikely  though  since it's expected the lack of atmospheric pressure would prevent liquid on the surface. Doesn't mean it's not right below the surface though.  Unfortunately, we have already seen the best shots we will ever see of that side as it will only be illuminated by charon shine as horizons departs.

 

That said, some thought it would look like triton, neptune's largest moon,  which is thought to be a captured kuiper belt object too.....but there are some obvious differences. The lack of craters on pluto is interesting to say the least. Although impact craters are not actually expected to be nearly as frequent where pluto is at, there are still so few that there could be some type of geological processes ongoing now or in the recent past (geologically speaking). Triton is also currently geologically active, mostly due to heat from radioactive decay. In the past it was active due to tidal heating and it's interaction with neptune. Whether or not it's  happening now or in the recent past thanks to pluto's interaction with charon is up for debate right now.

 

 

Below is a comparison between pluto and triton...along with an enhanced pic of pluto that helps bring out the topography better, along with  a surface map made from the recent images.

Finally, let's not forget about charon..which looks like a distant cousin of pluto rather than a brother. Hopefully we will get some close ups of pluto's other moons soon, which up till now have only been tiny specks in the pics

 

 

charon_annotated.jpg

post-12-0-93352300-1436894494_thumb.jpg

post-12-0-46830600-1436895309_thumb.jpg

post-12-0-12656300-1436895647_thumb.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certainly a far cry from when it was discovered as well. 

 

btw. horizons did phone home and for those wondering

 

The next downlink we are expecting is First Look A. It begins at

09:32 UT | 05:32 ET | 02:32 PT

and ends at

10:59 UT | 06:59 ET | 03:59 PT

Apparently some of these will be released at the 1500 PDT/2200 GMT 15 Jul media event.

Pluto_discovery_plates.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Certainly a far cry from when it was discovered as well. 

 

btw. horizons did phone home and for those wondering

 

The next downlink we are expecting is First Look A. It begins at

09:32 UT | 05:32 ET | 02:32 PT

and ends at

10:59 UT | 06:59 ET | 03:59 PT

Apparently some of these will be released at the 1500 PDT/2200 GMT 15 Jul media event.

Pluto_discovery_plates.png

Its amazing he found it with such primitive technology.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...