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[GK86]

Interesting NYT article on the journey of NH and how it almost didn't happen.

If you get hit with the pay wall, just google "The Long Strange Trip to Pluto and How NASA Nearly Missed it."

 

[Insane Metal]

Interesting NYT article on the journey of NH and how it almost didn't happen.

If you get hit with the pay wall, just google "The Long Strange Trip to Pluto and How NASA Nearly Missed it."

Someone posted a similar link a few days ago. I was so scared when they said the craft was operating in safe mode and autopilot

Thankfully, NASA are GOAT in what they do and figured their shit out.

 

[Hidden One]

So..Are they gonna land the damn thing on Pluto are what?

 

[maquiladora]

So..Are they gonna land the damn thing on Pluto are what?

Nope.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Pluto's gravity is too weak for New Horizons to enter orbit at its speed. They could have had the satellite enter orbit, but it would have taken another ten or so years for it to travel on a path that would allow it to slow down enough by the time it got to Pluto.

 

[Hidden One]

Nope.

Welp I'm out.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

NASA appears to be following the gaming companies with their announcement for announcement PR. I believe they announced today that they'll release another picture tomorrow.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Welp I'm out.

Sadly I heard a similar opinion from someone I know while discussing New Horizons with them.

The fact that it's not landing seems to automatically make them not care about it at all, which is really sad. There's a goldmine of information we'll be getting from just a flyby alone.

 

[Insane Metal]

Sadly I heard a similar opinion from someone I know while discussing New Horizons with them.

The fact that it's not landing seems to automatically make them not care about it at all, which is really sad. There's a goldmine of information we'll be getting from just a flyby alone.

Yeah. I mean, The Voyagers were just a waste of time, why even care about getting decent pictures of Uranus, Neptune, their moons, etc if they weren't even going to land on these places?

smfh

 

[GK86]

Welp I'm out.

Out of what exactly?

 

[Space Monster]

Welp I'm out.

See ya. Don't let the gift of knowledge hit you in the ass on the way out.

 

[Mengy]

So..Are they gonna land the damn thing on Pluto are what?

Nope.

Welp I'm out.

What an odd and narrow attitude.

 

[fallout]

What an odd and narrow attitude.

My reaction to that exchange was a weird mix of laughter and sadness.

 

[jmdajr]

any new pics?

 

[slit]

Welp I'm out.

Where are you going? The land of ignorance?

 

[owlbeak]

any new pics?

Next batch of images is set to be released at the media briefing on Friday. Basically, downlink is so slow they are just doing once a week releases apparently.

 

[HTupolev]

any new pics?

Yes.

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-captures-two-of-plutos-smaller-moons

 

[jmdajr]

Next batch of images is set to be released at the media briefing on Friday. Basically, downlink is so slow they are just doing once a week releases apparently.

Sweet!

Yes.

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-captures-two-of-plutos-smaller-moons

Sweet!

 

[cameron]

Yes.

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-captures-two-of-plutos-smaller-moons

The red bit on Nix looks super cool.

Although the overall surface color of Nix is neutral grey in the image, the newfound region has a distinct red tint. Hints of a bull’s-eye pattern lead scientists to speculate that the reddish region is a crater. “Additional compositional data has already been taken of Nix, but is not yet downlinked. It will tell us why this region is redder than its surroundings,” said mission scientist Carly Howett, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. She added, “This observation is so tantalizing, I’m finding it hard to be patient for more Nix data to be downlinked.”

 

[VariantX]

thats pretty nuts to think we are finally getting to see Pluto with that much detail after we discovered its existance in the 30's. I wonder If I'll even be alive if they somehow land something there

 

[DieH@rd]

thats pretty nuts to think we are finally getting to see Pluto with that much detail after we discovered its existance in the 30's. I wonder If I'll even be alive if they somehow land something there

Hopefully development of EM Drive will enable us to preform new missions on outer solar system objects more easily.

 

[Chiaroscuro]

Hopefully development of EM Drive will enable us to preform new missions on outer solar system objects more easily.

Pluto reached its closest point to the Sun in late 80s. Now it is going further and further away from the planeta axis. Even with better drives I do not think it will be a priority to reach it again. Sadly, probably we will visit Pluto again on like 200 years.

 

[cameron]

Another image released today.

A newly discovered mountain range lies near the southwestern margin of Pluto’s Tombaugh Regio (Tombaugh Region), situated between bright, icy plains and dark, heavily-cratered terrain. This image was acquired by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 48,000 miles (77,000 kilometers) and received on Earth on July 20. Features as small as a half-mile (1 kilometer) across are visible.

 

[GK86]

Wow. That looks crazy. I wonder what they are going to name it.

 

[Hoodbury]

Another image released today.

Have we seen any of the images from when the flyby was the closest yet? That image says it was from 44k miles, but wasn't it suppose to fly within 7k miles? Or are those images still zooming through space towards us?

 

[DarkLegion]

Pluto reached its closest point to the Sun in late 80s. Now it is going further and further away from the planeta axis. Even with better drives I do not think it will be a priority to reach it again. Sadly, probably we will visit Pluto again on like 200 years.

Sounds sad, glad to have seen this much then

 

[sphinx]

Another image released today.

is there some sort of liquid there?? sorry for the stupid question, at those low temperatures, answer has to be "no" right?

 

[DieH@rd]

is there some sort of liquid there?? sorry for the stupid question, at those low temperatures, answer has to be "no" right?

Many elements and substances that are solid/gasseous in our normal temperatures can become liquids in extreme cold. Surface of Titan is at around -180C and it has rivers and lakes [which evaporate into clouds, who then later rain or snow down to the ground].
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon)#Surface_features
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_1t3JjDz3o

There is even proposed mission of landing a submarine into one of the methane lakes of Titan or dropping a balloon into atmosphere that could remain airborne in the clouds for months/years.

 

[Chittagong]

It just blows my mind that we were able to detect an object this small back in the 1930s, let alone navigate to it. Given how absolutely insane the distance is it must be like detecting a single bacteria in Tokyo while standing in New York.

 

[DieH@rd]

It just blows my mind that we were able to detect an object this small back in the 1930s, let alone navigate to it. Given how absolutely insane the distance is it must be like detecting a single bacteria in Tokyo while standing in New York.

Well, we know where to look since math showed us that some object is impacting the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. All that was needed to find it is to film lots of pictures of the very specific part of the sky.

 

[fallout]

Well, we know where to look since math showed us that some object is impacting the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. All that was needed to find it is to film lots of pictures of the very specific part of the sky.

Except that the orbit of Neptune was not being affected by a Planet X. The Pluto/Charon system is far too small to have an impact on the orbits of a gas giant. The actual cause of the wobble in the orbit was just observational error in the orbit and the uncertainty of the mass of many of the outer planets.

Pluto's discovery was actually the result of an incredibly detailed sky survey mixed with quite a bit of luck.

 

[BorkBork]

That new image is crazy! No idea what is going on there.

 

[cameron]

Have we seen any of the images from when the flyby was the closest yet? That image says it was from 44k miles, but wasn't it suppose to fly within 7k miles? Or are those images still zooming through space towards us?

Not yet. The closest approach dataset may still be waiting in the pipe for transmission.

is there some sort of liquid there?? sorry for the stupid question, at those low temperatures, answer has to be "no" right?

That would be correct. They've reported that the surface is composed of various types of ice. Methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water are all frozen. But maybe under the surface, a liquid form exists.

Giant icy mountains in Pluto’s southern hemisphere tower more than 3,500 metres high in the first high-resolution images that New Horizons sent back. The peaks’ sheer height signals that they are made of water ice, the only material that could buttress such huge ridges at Pluto’s frigid temperatures of less than −223 °C, just 50 °C above absolute zero. Bright rims near the tops of the peaks — named after Nepalese explorer Tenzing Norgay — could represent a fresh coat of frozen nitrogen or other types of ice.

Nearly every feature coming into view is shaped by ice in some fashion. Planetary scientists already knew from ground-based observations that Pluto had nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide ice on its surface. The images are now beginning to reveal just where those frosts lie, and how they behave.

A bright, heart-shaped feature, informally dubbed Tombaugh Regio after Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh, displays a concentration of carbon monoxide ice.

Pluto itself may have a buried ocean even today, kept liquid by the warmth of radio-active elements trapped inside the dwarf planet’s core. Other icy bodies in the outer Solar System — such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus, which sports active geysers — are warmed by the tidal pull of a nearby gas-giant planet. Pluto — measured by New Horizons to be 2,370 kilometres across — has no such neighbour. It is warmed only by its own internal heat.

http://www.nature.com/news/vibrant-pluto-stuns-scientists-1.18022

 

[cameron]

Science update and media briefing today at 14:00 ET (in about an hour).



Composite false colour image:

New Horizons scientists use enhanced color images to detect differences in the composition and texture of Pluto’s surface. When close-up images are combined with color data from the Ralph instrument, it paints a new and surprising portrait of the dwarf planet. The “heart of the heart,” Sputnik Planum, is suggestive of a source region of ices. The two bluish-white “lobes” that extend to the southwest and northeast of the “heart” may represent exotic ices being transported away from Sputnik Planum.

Four images from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with color data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced color global view. The images, taken when the spacecraft was 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away, show features as small as 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers).

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Beat while getting my post ready, haha.

Can't wait to see new pictures.

EDIT: Got a live stream link?

 

[cameron]

Sorry.

Youtube, NASA TV Educational, and NASA TV.

Some other stream links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyMOYHiatos
http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
http://www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-tv-on-ustream/#.VbJwx9DZWw8

 

[cameron]

Pluto sends a breathtaking farewell to New Horizons. Backlit by the sun, Pluto’s atmosphere rings its silhouette like a luminous halo in this image taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft around midnight EDT on July 15. This global portrait of the atmosphere was captured when the spacecraft was about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) from Pluto and shows structures as small as 12 miles across. The image, delivered to Earth on July 23, is displayed with north at the top of the frame.

Edit:

The new close-up images show fascinating detail within the Texas-sized plain (informally named Sputnik Planum) that lies within the western half of Pluto’s heart-shaped region, known as Tombaugh Regio. There, a sheet of ice clearly appears to have flowed—and may still be flowing—in a manner similar to glaciers on Earth.

Additionally, new compositional data from New Horizons’ Ralph instrument indicate that the center of Sputnik Planum is rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices. “At Pluto’s temperatures of minus-390 degrees Fahrenheit, these ices can flow like a glacier,” said Bill McKinnon, of Washington University in St. Louis, deputy leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team. In the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain (informally named “Cthulhu Regio”) has been invaded by much newer icy deposits.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Really cool stuff. Sounds like so far this has been a slam dunk scientifically for these guys.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Sounds amazing how the Sun can still illuminate Pluto from that far.

 

[Ray Wonder]

Edit:

yooooo these shots are amazing.

 

[Seanspeed]

Sounds amazing how the Sun can still illuminate Pluto from that far.

Stars are fucking *bright*. If they weren't, the night sky wouldn't be nearly what it is and we'd have a tiny fraction of the astronomical knowledge that we have right now. We can see stars from other fucking galaxies, millions of light years away.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Really gorgeous, fascinating stuff. I can't wait for the highest res true color shots. I don't even care if it takes till next year or whatever.

 

[orientalNoodle]

Cthulhu Regio?

 

[asa]

Cthulhu Regio?

For a second here I though someone had photoshopped the image, then I read the "informally named" and had one of those sensible chuckles. Nice humour on the Nasa team

 

[cameron]

Some other stuff mentioned in the stream and Q&A.

-Only 4-5% data downloaded so far. None from closest approach.
-No atmosphere (or very little) on Charon. Alice graph.
-Pluto's atmospheric pressure decreased by a factor of 2 in 2 years. Maybe recently frozen on surface.
-Hydrocarbon hazes in the atmosphere. “Creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto’s surface its reddish hue,”
-Glacial ice flow on Sputnik Planum appears to be geologically recent.
-This non-planet looks and behaves like a planet. Weird.

 

[HellBlazer]

None from closest approach.

I still don't understand their strategy here. You would think the highest resolution pictures would be the most interesting ones, and among the first things sent back to Earth...?

 

[maquiladora]

I still don't understand their strategy here. You would think the highest resolution pictures would be the most interesting ones, and among the first things sent back to Earth...?

1 kilobit per second transfer rate means high resolution stuff is not going to be high priority because it takes much longer to receive.

 

[Insane Metal]

Some other stuff mentioned in the stream and Q&A.

-Only 4-5% data downloaded so far. None from closest approach.
-No atmosphere (or very little) on Charon. Alice graph.
-Pluto's atmospheric pressure decreased by a factor of 2 in 2 years. Maybe recently frozen on surface.
-Hydrocarbon hazes in the atmosphere. “Creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto’s surface its reddish hue,”
-Glacial ice flow on Sputnik Planum appears to be geologically recent.
-This non-planet looks and behaves like a planet. Weird.

Thank you for this.

Also, "this non-planet behaves like a planet".... it IS a planet. Deal with it.

 

[Mario]

1 kilobit per second transfer rate means high resolution stuff is not going to be high priority because it takes much longer to receive.

Isn't it all going to be the same resolution though? Or did the camera switch into some different high res mode at the closest point?

 

[DieH@rd]

Isn't it all going to be the same resolution though? Or did the camera switch into some different high res mode at the closest point?

NASA so far pulled down only "mission critical" highly compressed images, so that they at least have something if probe goes dark suddenly. Highres uncompressed images from the closest approach [so far we only got images from away] will start starting coming down after September.