davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
i just learned new horizons wasnt going to orbit Pluto, so i wonder what the long-term plan for this thing is now -- its just gonna keep flying out into space like Voyager?
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Pluto New Horizons |OT| New images. Pluto/Charon still geologically active
- Thread starter GK86
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The Sum of Zero
Member
Flyby of Kuiper Belt object next, then out into interstellar space. It's in the OP I believe.
In the OP. Heading towards a Kuiper Belt Object.
gutter_trash
Banned
redeemed!!! I was pissed off when they demoted Pluton
my life is now complete. Pluto.................. planet
Space Monster
Neo Member
There's some stuff already on the ground that they haven't shown yet, like the nice big pic of Charon. Perhaps they'll unveil it during that press conference?
EdwardTivrusky
Member
Yes but along the way they are changing course to flyby one of 2 KBOs and then onwards and outwards. They are travelling too fast to establish an orbit around Pluto and they cannot carry the fuel required to perform the maneuvers anyway. They have just enough fuel left to change course to investigate another object and there was a scramble to find suitable targets. They had 2 but i don't know if they've chosen which one they'll visit yet. They do need to decide soon so they can change course correctly though.
eyeball_kid
Member
It will have enough power to explore another Kuiper Belt object, but its power source will apparently run out sometime before it reaches interstellar space, and will drift off dreaming through the outer heavens.
hellmonkey
Member
WTF, how the hell did I miss out on Hale Bopp? I was a total trekky back then and would have loved this.
Actually, looking at the dates, this is when I got to enjoy a 2nd divorce and was kicked out of the house with my mom and sister, and also when I was graduation high school. My life was a festering pile of shit back then. Damn. I would have loved seeing this. Im always looking at the stars when I take my dog out at night.
Actually, looking at the dates, this is when I got to enjoy a 2nd divorce and was kicked out of the house with my mom and sister, and also when I was graduation high school. My life was a festering pile of shit back then. Damn. I would have loved seeing this. Im always looking at the stars when I take my dog out at night.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
oh! thanks. you added a lot more since i last looked at it.
interesting. hopefully its something neat.
When contemplating the vast emptiness of the Universe I'm always reminded of this stark comparison....
If the Sun were the size the of a basketball....
If the Sun were the size the of a basketball....
- Mercury would be the size of a grain of sand 36 ft away...
- Venus would be the size of a BB 67 ft away...
- Earth would be the size of a BB 93 ft away...
- Mars would be the size of a grain of rice 142 ft away...
- Jupiter would be the size of a golf ball 486 ft away...
- Saturn would be the size of a ping pong ball 891 ft away...
- Uranus would be the size of a marble 1794 ft away...
- Neptune would be the size of a marble 2810 ft away...
- Pluto would be the size of a pinhead 3695 ft away...
Proxima Centauri (next closest star) would be the size of a tennis ball 4300 miles away!
Freeza Under The Shower
Member
It'll be back as New V-Ger eventually.
Somehow it will also sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger while doing its dirty deed. Unicron aka T-10 billion will then throw a jealous hissyfit.
I was told this true story by Science Man before he had to go to an unrelated period in time for no reason.
I actually do remember seeing that one. ^_^
I was also a kid, so it's not like I didn't have the time or anything. Probably would have missed it as an adult.
Why is Pluto pixelated in 1930?
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
i like how you frame that as a plan instead of chance happenings
Pluto having 5 moons is also crazy to me, never really looked into that before.
maquiladora
Member
Too lewd for 1930's tastes. In some countries, Uranus is still pixelated to this day.
sono
Member
While we will wait for that with huge interest, there is another thought of how it is possible to beat this photo of a beautiful sphere with a giant white heart suspended in the blackness of empty space..
Sky Interloper
Member
That image is so beautiful. And Pluto is relatively close, I can't imagine how much time would take for reaching Sedna at its furthest point. That's an unfathomable distance.
I wonder what are we going to find in the Kuiper Belt.
I wonder what are we going to find in the Kuiper Belt.
Hahaha.
I'd love to know what's a BB.
Considering the scales, probably a BB pellet for a gun.
Fine Ham Abounds
Member
I thought a Baseball first but if Jupiter is a golf ball then no way that's right.
very nice list, regardless, it puts things into a perspective I can wrap my head around.
so the colors were added by NASA with the purpose of highlighting Pluto's diversity on its surface?
Lovely Salsa
Banned
the hell?
What are those spots?
BrokenFiction
Member
I am putting NASA.TV on the big screen in my living room at 8:53 tonight. This is gonna be soooo good.
Chiaroscuro
Member
So each half of the heart is made from different compounds?
Chiaroscuro
Member
It is a colored enhanced Picture, not a true to life Picture. It shows Pluto different compositions.
Colors are exaggerated so that different areas could be easily seen.
I really can't unsee it now.
Yeah, the RTG in New Horizons just doesn't have enough plutonium to keep it running for absurdly long timescales. It's a small craft tightly designed for its exploration mission of one or two KPOs, and by the end of the 20s the wattage will likely be too low for it to do much more than hibernate.
Voyager differs in that it's a much larger design that launched with an RTG with twice as much juice and the ability to extend its lifespan extremely far by shutting down the more power-hungry instruments. Voyager's 1 and 2 are both expected to continue gathering data into at least 2025, at limited capacities.
Insane Metal
Member
I'm intrigued as to why there are few craters in there. I imagined it would be covered of them everywhere. Huh.
Lovely Salsa
Banned
so when will we get to see its real colors?
Small target, hard to hit, little gravitational pull.
Rabbi_Vole
Banned
When tested by both a moral and physical quandary will we see Plutos true colours.
Ooooh purdy.
I'm fascinated by all of this.
another thing that blows my mind
space is so vast that our probes will fly for perhaps millions of years and will remain undisturbed, nothing will hit them.
that being said, can they maybe go straight into the direction of another body with enough gravitational pull and then rotate forever around it?
Lovely Salsa
Banned
don't bother, its fake
PjotrStroganov
Member
I think that chances of being hit my meteorites decreases when being farther removed from a large and heavy body like the sun or jupiter. Being closer to the focal point of gravity increases the chance of being hit.
maquiladora
Member
What are we expecting to get during this? Higher resolution images?
Just a check in from the probe. The images will be released 7AM EST tomorrow morning.
How is it fake? It's exaggerated, correct?
According to the AMA over on reddit, the colors from this picture:
are more or less correct.
From this post.
rokkerkory
Member
you win
Lovely Salsa
Banned
yea, thats what makes it less interesting
maquiladora
Member
Ah ok. Still, should be interesting.
Lovely Salsa
Banned
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