Support NeoGAF

[besada]

I didn't know there had been a probe actually sent into Jupiter itself.

Yeah, when Galileo was done, we whipped it around Amalthea and fired it into Jupiter's equator at 107,000 miles an hour. Not so much to learn anything, but to make sure it didn't hit a moon and leave terrestrial organisms.

 

[Wellscha]

So Charon didn't turn out to be a relay?

 

[Thequietone]

This thread got me to thinking. I'm guessing that if we ever found life on one of these moons, intelligent or not, we'd still call them moons? I mean, I know moon just means the way they act, but it seems kind of wrong to call it a moon with life on it. Then again, it'd be weird if and when we colonize our moon.

 

[Izuna]

c...cawaii...

 

[GK86]

It looks beautiful.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Holy shit, can't unsee

Now I want pringles

 

[Jombie]

I love the beautiful simplicity of it.

 

[BizzyBum]

I think he means this, idk.

 

[TehOh]

The new pictures, taken 15 minutes after closest approach, reveal a hydrological cycle on Pluto - i.e., condensation, evaporation, and precipitation. Instead of water like on Earth, it's probably nitrogen.

BBC story on the photos

This is another case where the general public will go, "oh....", but for planetary science it is relatively important discovery.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

that's amazing. does having an atmosphere imply life?

 

[Veritigo_X]

that's amazing. does having an atmosphere imply life?

No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere#In_the_Solar_System

 

[BrokenFiction]

https://twitter.com/AggleDetector/status/644544850361253889

.@PlanetDr @IntrplnetSarah From memory, may not be 100% accurate

 

[Orbis Tabula]

Woah. Precipitation? That's incredible.

 

[jmdajr]

That's...pretty fucking neat

 

[TehOh]

that's amazing. does having an atmosphere imply life?

Nope. As far as we know, it's a necessary condition for life, but not sufficient.

Plus, its atmosphere is very different - and much thinner - than Earth.

This is still a really important observation for planetary science. It was previously assumed that a hydrological system was impossible on Pluto. Too cold, too little atmosphere, etc. We've learned a lot from New Horizons already.

 

[Blizzard]

I'm going to make a new thread about this if that's okay, since the latest picture was news to me and some people might not realize how huge the picture is.

 

[unholyrevenger72]

That's not Pluto, they just shopped the moon.

 

[TehOh]

I'm going to make a new thread about this if that's okay, since the latest picture was news to me and some people might not realize how huge the picture is.

Definitely. The more people looking at this, the better. These are just such beautiful pictures.

(Plus, as a former NASA employee, I'm all in favor of public awareness of space - might mean more funding for cool new missions)

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

So it really does have an atmosphere. I was expecting that one to be false due to the ease of measurement error. Not sure if those actually overlap with current facts, and technically the 'it has one' is a somewhat easy guess since most 'planets' in the solar system at least have one, but it's still a really nice find.

Wonder if there are other Kuiper Belt objects with an atmosphere.