Support NeoGAF

[The_Inquisitor]

Has anyone made an iPhone 6 wallpaper of the previous Pluto photo?

 

[Ithil]

Pluto should be made an honorary planet.

Fuck those NASA eggheads.

It is a planet. A dwarf planet.
Would you say a dwarf human isn't a human?

 

[Fenderputty]

That's why it's surprising. The mountains aren't pure rock and are more icy but it still seems to geologically active enough to not be flattened and covered in craters.

Nobody knows yet. Until a few hours ago, scientists didn't even think such a thing was possible.

This is something they have yet to determine. This is only one small image of a small area of the planet, which has already revealed a lot of new info.

:O

Would be wild if the planet has a warm interior. I thought size played a factor in that though? I know the moons around Jupiter and Saturn have activity because the gravity from the planets pulls the moons and creates friction heat.

Mindblown

 

[Betta Lines]

Sharon looks like a Death Star under construction tbh

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

:O

Would be wild if the planet has a warm interior. I thought size played a factor in that though? I know the moons around Jupiter and Saturn have activity because the gravity from the planets pulls the moons and creates friction heat.

Mindblown

No balloons popping though.

 

[Raticus79]

:O

Would be wild if the planet has a warm interior. I thought size played a factor in that though? I know the moons around Jupiter and Saturn have activity because the gravity from the planets pulls the moons and creates friction heat.

Mindblown

Radioactive decay can keep a planet warm too. Maybe it's full of plutonium (har har).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna#cite_note-Hussman2006-36

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Radioactive decay can keep a planet warm too. Maybe it's full of plutonium (har har).

They did mention that just now in the stream. They think there's enough radiation to provide heat for some processes to occur.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

Pluto |OT| Lotta Juking, No Popping

 

[Fenderputty]

Radioactive decay can keep a planet warm too. Maybe it's full of plutonium (har har).

I chuckled lol

 

[Nostremitus]

Hey.. she pronounced it as Karen.

Yep, that's how you pronounce Charon.
It translates from Greek to Charon and Kharon but always pronounced with the K sound. In Greek mythology he was the ferryman who collected the coins placed on the dead's eyes and carried souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron.

 

[Melon Husk]

How convenient would it be if we could tank up our methane rockets and nuclear reactors at the edge of the solar system - the surface gravity is a petty 0.063 G.

 

[ThePeoplesBureau]

Pluto |OT| Lotta Juking, No Popping

Pluto |OT| MOM and Pop

 

[foxuzamaki]

I feel like we should have went all in and made a craft that could land on pluto.

 

[GK86]

These questions are dumb.

"How awesome is your awesome looking photos?"

 

[jett]

Where are my groovy pictures

I feel like we should have went all in and made a craft that could land on pluto.

It's not really feasible. By that point the spacecraft is moving at speeds too high to stop, and Pluto doesn't have enough gravity to help with that either.

 

[gutshot]

How convenient would it be if we could tank up our methane rockets and nuclear reactors on the edge of the solar system - the surface gravity is a petty 0.063 G.

That would be amazing. Use an EmDrive-propelled ship to get there, fuel up the nuclear rockets on Pluto, then blast off from there crazy fast and use our EmDrives to continually gain speed.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

These questions are dumb.

"How awesome is your awesome looking photos?"

Awesome.

 

[Always-honest]

That was fucking awesome.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

If Pluto is planet then Charon should be too in my opinion, since they act more like a binary system

If Charon gets to be a planet, I want to be a planet as well. Also my chihuahua, my Tervis cup collection and the pile of toenail clippings on the end table I meant to throw away last night.

 

[fanboi]

So now that we have 'conqured' Pluto... will we look for Planet X outside the belt? isn't there a theory that there is a massive planet there, larger then Jupiter?

 

[nny]

This was great, but I'm really feeling some science envy right now; when I'm done writing the paper I'm working on there will be no press conferences or applauses ;P

 

[Orbis Tabula]

God I love space. I'm gonna have to nerd out a bit with some friends later. This is just awesome. Good job NASA. All the way to Pluto. Damn.

 

[TyrantII]

Anyone got a gif of the different observations from discovery, to Hubble, to NH?

 

[KarmaCow]

I feel like we should have went all in and made a craft that could land on pluto.

This would made the journey significantly longer because half the trip would have been about slowing down enough to be caught by Pluto's gravity well. It already took close to a decade, it would take more than twice as long to actually land.

Plus one of the biggest weight concerns when it comes to launching off Earth is the fuel. Google a random image of a Saturn rocket or the tanks the space shuttles are attached to on launch. The actual space craft is a small fraction. Now considering that they would have to add significantly more fuel for the slow down process and adding more also adds more weight they need to account for with more fuel.

 

[Nostremitus]

I feel like we should have went all in and made a craft that could land on pluto.

It would have had to slam into Pluto making a crater on its mostly unblemished face, though. Pluto is so far away that in order to get there in any reasonable time they had to expend most of their fuel just to get going. Adding extra fuel in order to try to reverse thrust and slow down enough to land wouldn't have worked. The added weight of that fuel would have slowed their acceleration to the point that most of the extra fuel would also have to be spent to get up to speed negating having it in the first place. This is the same reason New Horizons can't orbit Pluto, its going too fast to stop.

 

[Vyrance]

If Charon gets to be a planet, I want to be a planet as well. Also my chihuahua, my Tervis cup collection and the pile of toenail clippings on the end table I meant to throw away last night.

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. I see your troll tag but I'll bite anyway. Charon is large enough to where its pull on Pluto makes it so that the orbital point is outside of Pluto. The other 4 moons all orbit around this point, which means they orbit both objects. There's a good case for it to be a binary system.

 

[Seanspeed]

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. I see your troll tag but I'll bite anyway.

"I have no sense of humor."

 

[Orbis Tabula]

I'm not sure what you're trying to argue. I see your troll tag but I'll bite anyway. Charon is large enough to where its pull on Pluto makes it so that the orbital point is outside of Pluto. The other 4 moons all orbit around this point, which means they orbit both objects. There's a good case for it to be a binary system.

I've always been against Pluto being a planet, but I think I would be cool with a Pluto-Charon Twin Planet.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Pluto should be made an honorary planet.

Fuck those NASA eggheads.

It wasn't NASA's call.

 

[gutshot]

So now that we have 'conqured' Pluto... will we look for Planet X outside the belt? isn't there a theory that there is a massive planet there, larger then Jupiter?

That theory has been disproven.

As of March 2014, observations with the WISE telescope have ruled out the possibility of a Saturn-sized object out to 10,000 AU, and a Jupiter-sized or larger object out to 26,000 AU.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planets_beyond_Neptune

 

[UFO]

Yep, that's how you pronounce Charon.
It translates from Greek to Charon and Kharon but always pronounced with the K sound. In Greek mythology he was the ferryman who collected the coins placed on the dead's eyes and carried souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron.

I prefer to pronounce it Shar-in, as in "Sharing is caring".

Edit: Wait, that's a terrible sentence to use.

 

[Seanspeed]

I prefer to pronounce it Shar-in, as in "Sharing is caring".

Edit: Wait, that's a terrible sentence to use.

I had no idea people pronounced it 'Sharon'. I've always thought it was 'Kar-on'.

 

[Vyrance]

I prefer to pronounce it Shar-in, as in "Sharing is caring".

Edit: Wait, that's a terrible sentence to use.

I know it's wrong but I can't help saying it as Charr-un. I think it sounds the best.

 

[spekkeh]

Yep, that's how you pronounce Charon.
It translates from Greek to Charon and Kharon but always pronounced with the K sound. In Greek mythology he was the ferryman who collected the coins placed on the dead's eyes and carried souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron.

If its derived from the Greek Chi, shouldn't it be guttural like the Spanish J or Dutch g?

 

[Nostremitus]

I prefer to pronounce it Shar-in, as in "Sharing is caring".

Edit: Wait, that's a terrible sentence to use.

No one's stopping you from constantly mispronouncing words, I used to think macabre was pronounced mak-ah-breh. I felt dumb when I realized how wrong I was.

Fun fact, maybe(found on Reddit), Charon was pronounced with the soft CH for a short time after it was discovered. The guy who found it named it after his wife Charlene. The scientific community was going to officially name the moon Persephone, the wife of Pluto. But since the Greek ferryman was spelled the same way as the discoverer's pet name for his wife they went with that instead. So the official name is of Greek origin instead of Roman because of an astronomer's wife's pet name.

If its derived from the Greek Chi, shouldn't it be guttural like the Spanish J or Dutch g?

The Greek X produces the K sound but is translated to English as chi. The CH makes the same sound as in Christy or Chronos. Not to be confused with the Greek Kappa, but that's a different story.

 

[Seanspeed]

No one's stopping you from constantly mispronouncing words, I used to think macabre was pronounced mak-ah-breh. I felt dumb when I realized how wrong I was.

I used to live on a street called Hecate Dr.

For a good month or two, I was constantly calling it 'heh-kah-tay' like a fucking moron.

 

[Crispy75]

I made it well into my teens before realising Penelope didn't rhyme with jackalope.

 

[maquiladora]

No one's stopping you from constantly mispronouncing words, I used to think macabre was pronounced mak-ah-breh. I felt dumb when I realized how wrong I was.

I used to think hyperbole was pronounced "hyper-bowl".

 

[Seanspeed]

The best mispronunciation ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st3jCUMO2no

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

I'll just throw in some colloquial New Orleans pronunciations for streets so you guys don't feel bad:

Melpomene is pronounced Melp-o-meen
Caliope is pronounced Cally-ope
Euterpe is pronounced You-terp
Terpsichore is pronounced Terp-sa-core

 

[Megasoum]

Charron is a common french last name in Québec and it's pronounced sha-ron

 

[Schrade]

Yep, that's how you pronounce Charon.
It translates from Greek to Charon and Kharon but always pronounced with the K sound. In Greek mythology he was the ferryman who collected the coins placed on the dead's eyes and carried souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron.

I know how it's pronounced. I just found it funny that she was the only one pronouncing it correctly while everyone else was saying Sharon...

 

[Seanspeed]

Charron is a common french last name in Québec and it's pronounced sha-ron

I'm pretty sure the river styx ferry of the underworld isn't French.

 

[Orbis Tabula]

No one's stopping you from constantly mispronouncing words, I used to think macabre was pronounced mak-ah-breh. I felt dumb when I realized how wrong I was.

Fun fact, maybe(found on Reddit), Charon was pronounced with the soft CH for a short time after it was discovered. The guy who found it named it after his wife Charlene. The scientific community was going to officially name the moon Persephone, the wife of Pluto. But since the Greek ferryman was spelled the same way as the discoverer's pet name for his wife they went with that instead. So the official name is of Greek origin instead of Roman because of an astronomer's wife's pet name.

The Greek X produces the K sound but is translated to English as chi. The CH makes the same sound as in Christy or Chronos. Not to be confused with the Greek Kappa, but that's a different story.

Now why does Uranus have a Greek name? That bugs me.

 

[Tawpgun]

So I saw that Pluto has very little craters which indicates its extremely young. like 100 million years.

Isn't that kinda big news?

 

[HTupolev]

So I saw that Pluto has very little craters which indicates its extremely young. like 100 million years.

Isn't that kinda big news?

The surface features are young, not Pluto overall. But yes it's big news, as it suggests geologic activity.

 

[gregor7777]

To be clear: the surface is young because it is an active world. The planet itself is 4+ billion years old, like earth.

Big news regardless.

 

[BorkBork]

Are the gravitational forces with Charon sufficient to generate the geology? Or is it maintained by sheer radioactivity?

So many questions!!

 

[gregor7777]

Are the gravitational forces with Charon sufficient to generate the geology? Or is it maintained by sheer radioactivity?

So many questions!!

They are tidally locked so I wouldn't think so. Very strange.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

I'm really surprised me don't have a satellite orbiting every planet in our Solar System. Forgot the rover, let's just collect basic information.