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

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pluto.gif

I see Donald Duck. :p
 

Mengy

wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
How do we know Sedna exists?

Because we can see it. We don't know very much about it, but we do know it's red, it's small, it exists, and it has a very elongated and long orbital period of like 11,5000 years.
 

LakeEarth

Member
Your talking about Sedna right?, i hope I'm still alive to see good pictures of that planet when it gets to its closet point - which is in 2075/6.

To think, once it gets to its closet point in 2075/6 it won't be there again for 11,400 years - that's one hell of an orbit.

I mean, Pluto's orbit is the purple one on this pic, Sedna's is red - like WOW.

Yeah, it makes you wonder what else is out there with a 10000+ year orbit that's too far out to be noticed. We wouldn't know about Sedna if it wasn't 60 years away from it's closest point of orbit.
 
This makes me a bit upset I never properly understood the significance of Hale-Bopp.

One of the brightest, most visible comets in recorded history and it wont be around again til 4385.

That comet was rad as fuck. There was a period of time - weeks? where it was huge and bright and just sitting there in the sky every evening.
 

NastyBook

Member
Absolutely. How can folks not be excited for the real thing. We are lucky to live in such an age.
It's not a question of excitement. It is exciting. It's just that certain shitposts seem to find their way into these types of threads more often than not (this one is doing pretty good). They add absolutely nothing to the discussion, and act more as a barrier to posting than anything. It's one of the main reasons why I (and maybe others) just lurk and wait for big updates to pop up.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
I unfortunately missed this unfolding live, but still, it's amazing. Love this stuff, although it always makes me sad I won't live to see humanity explore other stars and solar systems (if we ever will).

No Man's Sky will have to satisfy that longing to explore the cosmos for now, at least in its own small (but absolutely massive) way.
 

LakeEarth

Member
I find it so cool that the ashes of the guy who discovered Pluto is on New Horizons. I know I would love for some of my ashes to be on a spacecraft that will leave the fucking solar system.
 
Your talking about Sedna right?, i hope I'm still alive to see good pictures of that planet when it gets to its closet point - which is in 2075/6.

To think, once it gets to its closet point in 2075/6 it won't be there again for 11,400 years - that's one hell of an orbit.

I mean, Pluto's orbit is the purple one on this pic, Sedna's is red - like WOW.
Have you seen the thread about "If the moon were 1 pixel"?

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1079099

It makes Sedna's orbit utterly mind-blowing!
 

Skull_Splosion

Neo Member
This thread has the potential to be great:

-lame-but-funny pun in the title = check
-New scientific information being spread to the public = check
-people actually excited for new information = check

Hmmm needs more bad puns.


Why is Pluto known as the saddest planet?
Because it's a little blue
 
You know it's funny. When I was a kid we went on a field trip to the planetarium. They showed us photos of the planets. When they got to Pluto they showed a photo of Pluto. Later I learned because they did not have a close enough photo. Guess kids today will get to see the real thing.
 
Glad I couldn't sleep tonight. Gotta bust out a Sagan quote.
“Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” -Carl Sagan

Love that quote.

Those new pictures are incredible!
 

Hoodbury

Member
You know it's funny. When I was a kid we went on a field trip to the planetarium. They showed us photos of the planets. When they got to Pluto they showed a photo of Pluto. Later I learned because they did not have a close enough photo. Guess kids today will get to see the real thing.

Is there a typo in there somewhere or am I just not able to figure out what you mean? They showed photos of the planets but when they got to Pluto they showed a photo of it?

What am I missing?
 

Volotaire

Member
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.

It would be slower today due to the position in relation to Jupiter and Saturn. If today's technology was used in the same conditions we would get there no sooner. We would be able to process information faster and maybe have improved imaging.

I see, thanks!
 

Irobot82

Member
Is there a typo in there somewhere or am I just not able to figure out what you mean? They showed photos of the planets but when they got to Pluto they showed a photo of it?

What am I missing?

I assume he meant Pluto the dog was shown instead? Or he meant a painting of it.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
That comet was rad as fuck. There was a period of time - weeks? where it was huge and bright and just sitting there in the sky every evening.
Yup. And it was totally there, but at the time, I just did not understand the significance of it. Makes all the difference.

You know it's funny. When I was a kid we went on a field trip to the planetarium. They showed us photos of the planets. When they got to Pluto they showed a photo of Pluto. Later I learned because they did not have a close enough photo. Guess kids today will get to see the real thing.
That is awesome. Seriously is. We now know what Pluto *really* looks like. This 'dwarf' planet a billion miles from is has been reasonably captured finally. Massive check on the list of mankind's accomplishments so far.
 

rjinaz

Member
I'm watching the nasa tv broadcast and they are playing the Star Trek Enterprise theme. Funny because I have been watching the show on Netflix since all this space talk got me in the mood. At first I thought it coming from my tv.
 

fallout

Member
So... Where are those dark spots from Pluto? They seem to be gone based on the recent photos.
They've moved past the side that faced those spots in their approach:

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/small-bodies/pluto-20150711.html

"New Horizons' last look at Pluto's Charon-facing hemisphere reveals intriguing geologic details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image, taken July 11, 2015, shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes. This image was captured when the spacecraft was 4 million kilometers from Pluto."
 

Seanspeed

Banned
I'm watching the nasa tv broadcast and they are playing the Star Trek Enterprise theme. Funny because I have been watching the show on Netflix since all this space talk got me in the mood. At first I thought it coming from my tv.
I've been listening to this pretty much all day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDVtMYqUAyw

I highly recommend if you're in the mood.

They've moved past the side that faced those spots in their approach:

http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/space-images/small-bodies/pluto-20150711.html

"New Horizons' last look at Pluto's Charon-facing hemisphere reveals intriguing geologic details that are of keen interest to mission scientists. This image, taken July 11, 2015, shows newly-resolved linear features above the equatorial region that intersect, suggestive of polygonal shapes. This image was captured when the spacecraft was 4 million kilometers from Pluto."
And that's why we're not going to get any pictures today. They were still highly focused on getting data and imaging from the planet while they were still close.
 
All these daytime news dummies asking "does it support life?" like that's the only thing that would make this news interesting.

We've never seen Pluto before. That in itself is exciting imo.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
I'm watching the nasa tv broadcast and they are playing the Star Trek Enterprise theme. Funny because I have been watching the show on Netflix since all this space talk got me in the mood. At first I thought it coming from my tv.

Why the hell would they play the generic crap that was the Enterprise theme?
 

This made me chuckle, thanks :)


Ain't it just. I can't imagine how excited scientists must be to not only have the images but also data from the other instruments too. There's years of study coming back from this mission from Pluto alone and we're now sending it off to flyby a KBO? Sweet!

Then there's Philae waking up and hopefully giving us some usable data while Rosetta has been beaming back some great data on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Great stuff :)
 
My mind can't grasp how far away this thing is, and it's just barely past our doorstep. Amazing photos. It's hard for me to imagine what is happening on these planetary bodies at this moment. It's difficult to picture such worlds with just nothing on it.
 

davepoobond

you can't put a price on sparks
I'm watching the nasa tv broadcast and they are playing the Star Trek Enterprise theme. Funny because I have been watching the show on Netflix since all this space talk got me in the mood. At first I thought it coming from my tv.

its been a looonngg rooadddd
 

sono

Member
Pluto is the ruling planet of Scorpios if you are interested in Astrology at all.

"Pluto takes 248 years
to complete the cycle of the zodiac.

It is associated with spiritual changes, self development, and political power. A person under the strong influence of this planet will experience many different upsets in their life, such as rebirths (transformations and regenerations of both the spirit and the mind). It exerts tremendous force in bringing about changes and plays a key role in identifying spiritual lessons during a lifetime.


Plutos energies are very intense and when unleashed they can actually change an entire life, for good or evil, so much so that the person seems caught up in a whirlwind until the phase passes and leaves a complete set of new ideas, ideals, or morals instilled in the very core of their being. It also has a purifying energy that allows one to rise to higher levels of awareness. Before this rise can come about one must consciously seek to eliminate anything that would hinder them. Sometimes Plutos energies are perceived as destructive but they are, rather, a reflection of energy being returned to itself; this effect has often been associated with the subversive elements of society and with the underground.

Due to the slow orbital journey it is seen as a generational influence, as with most of the outer planets, its natal house position has a much greater meaning. Its influence is neither mild or subtle, it destroys the old and builds the new. Bold in its actions."
 

fallout

Member
And that's why we're not going to get any pictures today. They were still highly focused on getting data and imaging from the planet while they were still close.
I don't understand what this has to do with my post. The spots aren't there anymore because NH isn't facing that side of Pluto anymore. The fact that we're not getting any pictures today is because they want to maximize data gathering.

First picture download should be around 9PM EST tonight correct? Thinking of just leaving NASA.TV on all night
They'll just be getting an "I'm alive." signal with some basic data on the status of the ship. The good stuff starts coming in around Wednesday at 7 am EDT.

More info here:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/06240556-what-to-expect-new-horizons-pluto.html
 

kamakazi5

Member
I started listening to Astronomycast recently and they brought up New Horizons a couple of times. It's actually one of the few projects they talk about that fully came to fruition. Only a few hundred more episodes until I can hear what they have to say.
 

Space Monster

Neo Member
A person under the strong influence of this planet will experience many different upsets in their life, such as rebirths (transformations and regenerations of both the spirit and the mind).

Pluto is a planet confirmed. Thanks astrology! I knew you were good for something.
 
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