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

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G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Something I didn't know, it takes Pluto 248 years to orbit the Sun.

duderon said:
SjEg8kd.jpg


5.4M km
Click to expand...

Kinda looks like our moon there.

Mengy said:
I'll tell you what, even though it's a game, Kerbal Space Program has given me a whole new perspective on just how amazing and awesome a feat like this is, and more importantly how something like this is even accomplished. There is so much planning, so much preparation, so much work just to get a small probe into such proximity to such a far away planetoid. I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about realistic space travel and orbital mechanics in a fun way to pick KSP up and mess around with it.

It seems like everyone I talk to about New Horizons is so confused as to why the probe can't simply jump into Pluto orbit and stay there, while I know full well what's involved in getting a fast object into orbit around a low gravity planet thanks to KSP. I almost wish schools would use something like KSP to give kids not only an understanding of space exploration but an admiration for the realistic challenge of it.


I'm looking very forward to Tuesday's pictures!
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Really, really hard game, but so rewarding. It was fun experimenting with different things. Trying to get spacecrafts and Kerbals into space.
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Chiaroscuro said:
I know the objects should be in the direction New Horizonts is already in, in its way out of the Solar System, and that Kuiper Belt is sparce and its Main objects are all around it in every possible direction, but those targets are Just large pieces of rock, kind of disapointement.

I wonder of I will see in my lifetime humanity exploring all those strange world out there, like Sedna, Makemake, Eris,Haumea (this one is really interesting), Quauar, among what the hell else is there.
Click to expand...

The Kuiper Belt objects are important to helping scientists get a better understanding of our solar system.

These objects have been undisturbed since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago; an expedition there has been likened to an archeological dig in space. “This is maybe the most primitive material out there in the solar system,” says Weaver. The mission’s scientists are working out the last details before they make the call on which object to visit.
Click to expand...
 
C

Chiaroscuro

Member
GK86 said:
The Kuiper Belt objects are important to helping scientists get a better understanding of our solar system.
Click to expand...

I know, but that is for more scientific data (do not get me wrong, I consider it very important) than astonishing panorama views like we are getting from Pluto (sorry, Star Trek syndrome here).
 
The Cowboy

The Cowboy

Member
AstroNut325 said:
Can't wait. I wish this was getting more attention. This is history in the making!
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Same here, i was speaking with my daughter about this and asked if anything was happening with regards to it in her high school Science class - nope, nothing at all with regards to it.

So sad.
 
L

lightus

Member
Wanna see exactly where New Horizons is from its perspective?

NASA has a cool little app called NASA's Eyes for PC and Mac. Gives you live simulations based upon data from the flight team. I've been messing around with it a bit, seems neat so far. They also have other things to look at as well if you're into that.

NASA's Eyes
 
C

cameron

Member
Guy.brush said:
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150711-2
nh-pluto-7-11-15.jpg


4 million kilometers.
Almost there...almost there.
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From the article, that's the best view of Pluto's spots we are going to get. It will rotate out of view when New Horizons makes its closest approach and will be dimly lit by reflected light from Charon after the flyby. Boourns.

Three billion miles from Earth and just two and a half million miles from Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has taken its best image of four dark spots that continue to captivate.

The spots appear on the side of Pluto that always faces its largest moon, Charon—the face that will be invisible to New Horizons when the spacecraft makes its close flyby the morning of July 14. New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado, describes this image as “the last, best look that anyone will have of Pluto’s far side for decades to come.”
Click to expand...
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
I don't know why more defense money doesn't go to education and NASA anyway. What greater form of national defense is there but an inspired educated electorate?
 
N

Neverender

Member
There's something incredible about seeing pictures of Pluto that I can't really describe. For some reason seeing all those marks and craters on the planet really makes me think about how insignificant humans are. Like, Pluto has just been sitting there for billions of years with all this detail on its surface that we may never have seen. Sometimes when looking at Saturn and Jupiter it's easy to think that they are there for our benefit because if how beautiful they are. But nope, they're just out there in space and don't give a fuck if humans see them or not. I'm just ranting, this doesn't really make sense. Basically Pluto is cool.
 
MrGreencastle

MrGreencastle

Member
Neverender said:
There's something incredible about seeing pictures of Pluto that I can't really describe. For some reason seeing all those marks and craters on the planet really makes me think about how insignificant humans are. Like, Pluto has just been sitting there for billions of years with all this detail on its surface that we may never have seen. Sometimes when looking at Saturn and Jupiter it's easy to think that they are there for our benefit because if how beautiful they are. But nope, they're just out there in space and don't give a fuck if humans see them or not. I'm just ranting, this doesn't really make sense. Basically Pluto is cool.
Click to expand...

It's hard not to be stupefied by space when you take a step back from it all and really think about it.
 
J

Jedi2016

Member
That NASA Eyes thing is awesome. I watched the "preview" of the flyby, and I had no idea the probe was moving around that much, spinning every which way to get its pictures of Pluto and all the moons, then reorienting to Earth to transmit. I assume that's all automated. Makes me wonder how much propellant is used for all that maneuvering, and how much will be left once it's done.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Jedi2016 said:
That NASA Eyes thing is awesome. I watched the "preview" of the flyby, and I had no idea the probe was moving around that much, spinning every which way to get its pictures of Pluto and all the moons, then reorienting to Earth to transmit. I assume that's all automated. Makes me wonder how much propellant is used for all that maneuvering, and how much will be left once it's done.
Click to expand...

It still blows my mind that we can even get things to turn in complete vaccuum, with no surfaces to push off from except its own, no air, no gravity.
 
C

Cub3h

Banned
Can't wait, I've been waiting for this one since it was called "Pluto express". I remember watching the launch and thinking how incredibly far off 2015 sounded, and now we're here and seeing the first great photos trickle in.
 
T

TheMAK

Banned
lightus said:
Wanna see exactly where New Horizons is from its perspective?

NASA has a cool little app called NASA's Eyes for PC and Mac. Gives you live simulations based upon data from the flight team. I've been messing around with it a bit, seems neat so far. They also have other things to look at as well if you're into that.

NASA's Eyes
Click to expand...

FFffffuuuccckkkk. This app is AWESOME!!! Thanks for the heads up mate!
 
N

NateDog

Member
That's some saddening news if true. Will we at least get some better definition shots of it before it passes even if they won't be closer?
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Chittagong said:
It still blows my mind that we can even get things to turn in complete vaccuum, with no surfaces to push off from except its own, no air, no gravity.
Click to expand...


It's not pushing against nothing, it's pushing against spacetime and all mass has its own gravity. To every a action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
 
R

raindoc

Member
Chittagong said:
It still blows my mind that we can even get things to turn in complete vaccuum, with no surfaces to push off from except its own, no air, no gravity.
Click to expand...
Stinkles said:
It's not pushing against nothing, it's pushing against spacetime and all mass has its own gravity. To every a action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Click to expand...

it's pushing against the "ship" in every direction except the one where there's the hole/exhaust. all forces cancel each other out, but the one opposite of the exhaust's direction remains, pushing the vessels into that direction.
 
S

Sky Interloper

Member
Markster said:
I've taken the available images (and animations in a few cases) from the New Horizons site and put them together in an animation, showing 45 days of approach to Pluto:
Click to expand...

Lovely. Seeing the increase of detail is mesmerizing, I'm looking forward to the data we'll get from the flyby.
 
Thaedolus

Thaedolus

Member
Markster said:
I've taken the available images (and animations in a few cases) from the New Horizons site and put them together in an animation, showing 45 days of approach to Pluto:
Click to expand...

Now make dickbutt appear in the final frame...

This is all super exciting. Can't even fathom everything involved in this mission and the distances involved
 
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