• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pluto New Horizons |OT| New images. Pluto/Charon still geologically active

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

ChryZ

Member
pluto.gif
 
K

Knoxcore

Member
LOCK said:
Amazing work!

I wonder if enough new data will be obtained to reclassify the planet.
Click to expand...
The classification is up to the IAU. They were the ones who came up with the flawed and convoluted definition of a planet. Frankly, most people I know just say Pluto is a planet.
 
Irobot82

Irobot82

Member
So what's next for New Horizon. I mean aside from the obvious of looking for the mass relay. I know there are other planets out there, are they too far away or in the wrong alignment? Will it just keep going forever?
 
L

Log4Girlz

Member
I wonder what kind of mirror size you would need to resolve Pluto to at least that latest pics resolution in a space telescope. I dream of automation imploding the price of space construction one day...I mean, hubble is just a little over 2 m. Webb telescope is I think 6. We propose in future an 11 meter. Could we build bigger? What about interferometry of twin scopes?

Oh god dammit why can't we double Nasa's budget. Imagine what we could have done with say, a trillion dollars vs. an airplane DAT DON'T EVEN WORK.
 
M

MrChocolate

Member
Log4Girlz said:
I wonder what kind of mirror size you would need to resolve Pluto to at least that latest pics resolution in a space telescope. I dream of automation imploding the price of space construction one day...I mean, hubble is just a little over 2 m. Webb telescope is I think 6. We propose in future an 11 meter. Could we build bigger? What about interferometry of twin scopes?

Oh god dammit why can't we double Nasa's budget. Imagine what we could have done with say, a trillion dollars vs. an airplane DAT DON'T EVEN WORK.
Click to expand...

More does not equal better.

I'm all for giving NASA all the money in the world. But sometimes people work harder on a tight budget.
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
elfinke said:
Alan has been simply superb to listen to tonight. Just a pleasure. Exciting to think what we might get from New Horizons in the next 20 years of its voyage.

It's also quite breathtaking to think about what this little machine is doing with its plutonium-filled RTG engine. Everyone knows something that is ~16km away, to think you could be there in one second, while the sun is barely a (bright!) speck in your eye sight, in the coldest and darkest depths imaginable with your friends all some 32AU away.

Brings a big goofy grin to my face.
Click to expand...
I was talking in another thread about interstellar travel. So seeing talk of how incredibly quick 8.5 miles a second is, is quite depressing for me at the moment. lol

For somebody to travel to the nearest star in a lifetime(40 years), we need to get to 10% the speed of light. Or 18,000 miles per second....

ChryZ said:
pluto.gif
Click to expand...
Holy shit! Hahaha.
 
W

Walshicus

Member
Knoxcore said:
The classification is up to the IAU. They were the ones who came up with the flawed and convoluted definition of a planet. Frankly, most people I know just say Pluto is a planet.
Click to expand...
If Pluto is a planet then so is Ceres, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, Quaoar etc. And those are just the ones we know about. We either have eight planets or hundreds.
 
R

Red

Member
E92 M3 said:
The sheer mathematics and design required to achieve this mission are stunning to me. Really excited to see the new images.
Click to expand...
Philae is still most impressive to me, but the logistics required for any single space mission is dumbfounding.
 
A

Amentallica

Unconfirmed Member
Fine Ham Abounds said:
mememe

All I've been thinking of the last few days is how, in 500 years, there's going to be at least one person who is going to envy me just for being alive during the initial reconnaissance of the solar system.



dead
Click to expand...

But you won't be alive to envy the person actually traveling to these planets, NOW WILL YOU?
 
R

Rabbi_Vole

Banned
Fine Ham Abounds said:
mememe

All I've been thinking of the last few days is how, in 500 years, there's going to be at least one person who is going to envy me just for being alive during the initial reconnaissance of the solar system.



dead
Click to expand...

Do you envy people who lived during the advent of indoor plumbing?

I can see both the dog and staring down at a woman's backside. Both are appropriate given the planets name.
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
Bombasador said:
Do you envy people who lived during the advent of indoor plumbing?

I can see both the dog and staring down at a woman's backside. Both are appropriate given the planets name.
Click to expand...

No, but I envy people who first set foot in primeval lands that are now spoiled and forgotten. Can't say I see the connection between planetary discovery and using the toilet, although I guess both started out as pretty expensive endeavors. But I guess I get your point :p
 
Pagusas

Pagusas

Elden Member
exciting watches this :)

Something I'm curious about, Pluto is so far away I doubt much light reaches it from the sun illuminate it. So I imagine what ever camera is on the probe is pretty good at low light pickup. If thats the case why are there no stars in the photos? It makes sense that the other planets would be giving off so much light that any cameras dynamic range would be completely given to the planet and kill any visible stars, but pluto doesnt seem like it would be that bright an object.


Come to think of it, have we ever seen a great star scape photo from any of the probes? I cant recall any. You'd think we'd get some beautiful shots with them.
 
W

Walshicus

Member
Pagusas said:
exciting watches this :)

Something I'm curious about, Pluto is so far away I doubt much light reaches it from the sun illuminate it. So I imagine what ever camera is on the probe is pretty good at low light pickup. If thats the case why are there no stars in the photos? It makes sense that the other planets would be giving off so much light that any cameras dynamic range would be completely given to the planet and kill any visible stars, but pluto doesnt seem like it would be that bright an object.
Click to expand...

Did you not see all the stuff on social media about "pluto time"? It's super far away but it still gets enough light you'd be able to see by.
 
H

hellmonkey

Member
This is pretty cool. Im one of those people that is super bummed that we are effectively stuck on this rock and will not get to explore the awesomeness that is space. Grats to the guys at NASA, this is some crazy ass math and planning.
 
G

Ganzlinger

Member
Sir Fragula said:
If Pluto is a planet then so is Ceres, Makemake, Haumea, Sedna, Quaoar etc. And those are just the ones we know about. We either have eight planets or hundreds.
Click to expand...

We should give Pluto "planet status" for historical reasons. It will always be my favorite planet after Earth.
 
C

Crispy75

Member
Log4Girlz said:
What about interferometry of twin scopes?
Click to expand...

Interferometry only works if you know (and can maintain) the distance between the two scopes at an accuracy comparable to the wavelength of the incoming light. You also have to either record the phase information of the light, or physically combine the multiple beams to perform the interference.

It's easy for radio waves, because the wavelengths are so long (measured in metres) but very challenging for visible light (~200 nanometres). Optical synthetic aperture telescopes have been done on the ground, but it would be very hard to do in space.
 
V

Volotaire

Member
I'm a layman when it comes to Planetary science and Cosmology. The Explorer was launched in January 2006, presumingly with an outdated architecture, academic knowledge and research and components. If a probe was released today, in what time could it reach Pluto again by? Timeline wise?
 
J

JetForceGemini

Banned
You guys seem like you know your stuff about light years and space..

You know how we get a image of a planet and they say it's 15 million light years away does that mean we're looking at an image of a planet and how it looked 15 million years ago?
 
S

Seanspeed

Banned
Volotaire said:
I'm a layman when it comes to Planetary science and Cosmology. The Explorer was launched in January 2006, presumingly with an outdated architecture, academic knowledge and research and components. If a probe was released today, in what time could it reach Pluto again by? Timeline wise?
Click to expand...
Considering that Voyager 1 flew past Pluto's orbit at an even higher speed, we probably couldn't get there much faster than New Horizon did. Would be dependent a lot on timing and whether we were prioritising getting to Pluto as quick as possible or just raw speed when arriving at Pluto or if the mission had other 'stops' on the way, etc.

NH was meant to specifically get to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt very quickly. I don't think long-range propulsion technology has improved to any significant degree since then.

What I'm sure bugs the hell out of people who do this for a living are the onboard computing sources, sensors, cameras and whatnot that will all be outdated quite a bit by now.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

New Horizons spacecraft is now 50 AU from the Sun
34
2K
TheMan replied
PS Blog |OT| Your full guide to the all-new PlayStation Plus
|OT| Hype 2 3 4
155
16K
Nitty_Grimes replied
Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft 'phones home' after flyby of Ultima Thule
37
3K
iconmaster replied
  • Locked
NASA details New Horizons' flyby of Kuiper Belt object on Jan. 1, 2019
3
1K
RCSI replied
  • Locked
New pictures of Pluto from NASA
2 3
118
16K
Freeza Under The Shower replied
Top Bottom