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[Vilam]

Thank you for this.

Also, "this non-planet behaves like a planet".... it IS a planet. Deal with it.

Seriously. I bet people on Jupiter call Earth a dwarf planet... Is that OK? Stop the planet discrimination.

 

[Walshicus]

Also, "this non-planet behaves like a planet".... it IS a planet. Deal with it.

Hasn't cleared it's orbit though, has it? We either have eight planets or we have potentially thousands of planets in this system; either way Pluto is far from special.

 

[Jedi2016]

Hasn't cleared it's orbit though, has it?

No, it's sharing its orbit with some of the Kuiper Belt Objects.

People really need to look up the official definition of a planet, because size has nothing to do with it.. we didn't kick Pluto out of the club just because it's small. The first draft declaration of what a planet was would have still included Pluto (didn't mention clearing the neighborhood), which would have added about a dozen other objects as full-on planets, including Charon, Eris, and Ceres. But you don't see anyone complaining that they should be planets, do you? No one argues for a second that Ceres should be a full planet (it sure as fuck hasn't cleared its neighborhood, it's in the middle of the damn asteroid belt, for crying out loud), and I'd wager 99% of the people you meet on the street don't even know that Eris exists. No, the only reason people bitch about Pluto is because it used to be classified as a planet when we were all kids, before scientists figured out that not every rock floating around the sun should be classified equally.

 

[Branduil]

Cthulhu Regio?

Should have named it Leng.

 

[Insane Metal]

Don't take that post too seriously, guys. Come on.

 

[sphinx]

Charon, Eris, and Ceres

this post made me look for distant Objects.

Sedna's Orbit blows my mind

Sedna will come to perihelion around 2075–2076.[d] This close approach to the Sun provides an opportunity for study that will not occur again for 12,000 years. Although Sedna is listed on NASA's Solar System exploration website,[62] NASA is not known to be considering any type of mission at this time.[63] It was calculated that a flyby mission to Sedna could take 24.48 years using a Jupiter gravity assist, based on launch dates of 6 May 2033 and 23 June 2046. Sedna would be 77.27 or 76.43 AU from the Sun when the spacecraft arrives

I am not gonna be here to see this

 

[Chiaroscuro]

No, it's sharing its orbit with some of the Kuiper Belt Objects.

People really need to look up the official definition of a planet, because size has nothing to do with it.. we didn't kick Pluto out of the club just because it's small. The first draft declaration of what a planet was would have still included Pluto (didn't mention clearing the neighborhood), which would have added about a dozen other objects as full-on planets, including Charon, Eris, and Ceres. But you don't see anyone complaining that they should be planets, do you? No one argues for a second that Ceres should be a full planet (it sure as fuck hasn't cleared its neighborhood, it's in the middle of the damn asteroid belt, for crying out loud), and I'd wager 99% of the people you meet on the street don't even know that Eris exists. No, the only reason people bitch about Pluto is because it used to be classified as a planet when we were all kids, before scientists figured out that not every rock floating around the sun should be classified equally.

Yeah.

Ceres was considered a planet for a whole after its discovery. People Will get used to it.

 

[Log4Girlz]

**not pictured Red Special

He was previously a specialist on Mercury.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Have they talked about any new data they've received lately?

Also bumping. Kind of sad that the thread tapered off like that but with the info coming back so slowly I guess it's to be expected.

 

[Crispy75]

Have they talked about any new data they've received lately?

Also bumping. Kind of sad that the thread tapered off like that but with the info coming back so slowly I guess it's to be expected.

Trnasmission of the low-res "atlas" of imagary starts in September. That will allow them to prioritise the hires downloads which will take >1 year

 

[The Shadow]

Hasn't cleared it's orbit though, has it? We either have eight planets or we have potentially thousands of planets in this system; either way Pluto is far from special.

Neither has Jupiter, if you want to get technical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_trojan

The definition of what a planet is and what a dwarf planet is needs work. It's hugely flawed.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Neither has Jupiter, if you want to get technical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_trojan

The definition of what a planet is and what a dwarf planet is needs work. It's hugely flawed.

As I understand it, that's considered 'cleared' due to them being in a stable orbit with the planet. They cannot degrade into any 'lower' orbit from where they are now, without some outside force or incident. Same way our satellites don't push our planet out of 'planet' rank because they're all in similar positions.

 

[The Shadow]

As I understand it, that's considered 'cleared' due to them being in a stable orbit with the planet. They cannot degrade into any 'lower' orbit from where they are now, without some outside force or incident. Same way our satellites don't push our planet out of 'planet' rank because they're all in similar positions.

To me, the definition is flaky and unclear. It's just really unscientific to me.

The definition needs to be clear cut. A planet must be at least X mass, and/or have an average radius of X. Below that it's a dwarf. Above that, it's a planet. If it's so many average AU from the sun, it's a plutino or Kuiper belt object. Closer than that limit, it's a planet. Something that could be put into an if/than statement.

Right now that definition is largely built entirely on our own solar system but I guarantee a planet will be discovered that'll easily challenge the current definition, simply because it's so ill-defined.

 

[bistromathics]

this post made me look for distant Objects.

Sedna's Orbit blows my mind

I am not gonna be here to see this

Someone fucked up their kerbal orbit and ran outta fuel.

 

[fallout]

Have they talked about any new data they've received lately?

Also bumping. Kind of sad that the thread tapered off like that but with the info coming back so slowly I guess it's to be expected.

There hasn't been a lot of stuff recently. That said, I'd highly recommend keeping an eye on Emily Lakdawalla's blog:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/

When there's new stuff, she'll post about it and break it down in wonderful detail.

 

[owlbeak]

Yeah, didn't they say the next data dump isn't really going to happen until September?

 

[Crispy75]

Someone fucked up their kerbal orbit and ran outta fuel.

Accidentally hit Z instead of Shift.

 

[gutshot]

Simulated video of New Horizons' Pluto fly-by: https://vimeo.com/136223988

Beautiful.

 

[Squall5042]

this post made me look for distant Objects.

Sedna's Orbit blows my mind





I am not gonna be here to see this

I also found my way to Sedna after reading about Pluto and other distant objects. Really, really awesome and weird planetoid/thing.

 

[cameron]

NASA’s New Horizons Team Selects Potential Kuiper Belt Flyby Target

NASA has selected the potential next destination for the New Horizons mission to visit after its historic July 14 flyby of the Pluto system. The destination is a small Kuiper Belt object (KBO) known as 2014 MU69 that orbits nearly a billion miles beyond Pluto.

This remote KBO was one of two identified as potential destinations and the one recommended to NASA by the New Horizons team. Although NASA has selected 2014 MU69 as the target, as part of its normal review process the agency will conduct a detailed assessment before officially approving the mission extension to conduct additional science.

Early target selection was important; the team needs to direct New Horizons toward the object this year in order to perform any extended mission with healthy fuel margins. New Horizons will perform a series of four maneuvers in late October and early November to set its course toward 2014 MU69 – nicknamed “PT1” (for “Potential Target 1”) – which it expects to reach on January 1, 2019. Any delays from those dates would cost precious fuel and add mission risk.

“2014 MU69 is a great choice because it is just the kind of ancient KBO, formed where it orbits now, that the Decadal Survey desired us to fly by,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. “Moreover, this KBO costs less fuel to reach [than other candidate targets], leaving more fuel for the flyby, for ancillary science, and greater fuel reserves to protect against the unforeseen.”

Path of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft toward its next potential target, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, nicknamed "PT1" (for "Potential Target 1") by the New Horizons team. NASA must approve any New Horizons extended mission to explore a KBO.

More in the link. It was known in advance, but I'm still kinda bummed at the arrival date.

 

[Insane Metal]

Thanks for posting that, cameron. Wow, 4 years to get there... damn

 

[Always-honest]

Thanks for posting that, cameron. Wow, 4 years to get there... damn

Indeed... Fuuuck.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds_OlZnV9qk

The Pluto system as NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft saw it in July 2015. This animation, made with real images taken by New Horizons, begins with Pluto flying in for its close-up on July 14; we then pass behind Pluto and see the atmosphere glow in sunlight before the sun passes behind Charon. The movie ends with New Horizons’ departure, looking back on each body as thin crescents.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds_OlZnV9qk

Those white lines in space are so cool. It's like highways for those little moons.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Those white lines in space are so cool. It's like highways for those little moons.

Just making sure but, you know those lines were added by the video creators (NASA) in order to show the orbit of the moons, right?

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Just making sure but, you know those lines were added by the video creators (NASA) in order to show the orbit of the moons, right?

Yep. Sarcasm detected.

 

[jmdajr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds_OlZnV9qk

woah

 

[kaye]

Wish they sent it to Eris

Planet definition is crap. If Earth was in Pluto's orbit it wouldn't be considered a planet either. Anything over 1,000km radius should be a planet which would make 10 total.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

We would have a lot more than ten planets by that definition.

 

[kaye]

We would have a lot more than ten planets by that definition.

There are only 10 things orbiting the sun with a radius larger than 1,000km.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Yep. Sarcasm detected.

Gotcha. Sorry, my sarcasm meter broke in another thread

 

[Fenderputty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds_OlZnV9qk

That was cool.

 

[sphinx]

Wish they sent it to Eris
.

yeah, I am disaappointed, this was our only chance in life of getting near that thing. I guess the long trip there wasn't as exciting for the team

 

[RankoSD]

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Begins Intensive Data Downlink Phase

Seven weeks after New Horizons sped past the Pluto system to study Pluto and its moons – previously unexplored worlds – the mission team will begin intensive downlinking of the tens of gigabits of data the spacecraft collected and stored on its digital recorders. The process moves into high gear on Saturday, Sept. 5, with the entire downlink taking about one year to complete.

During the data downlink phase, the spacecraft transmits science and operations data to NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) of antenna stations, which also provide services to other missions, like Voyager. The spacecraft’s distance from Earth slows communication rates, especially compared to rates offered by today’s high-speed Internet providers. With New Horizons past Pluto, the typical downlink rate is approximately 1-4 kilobits per second, depending on how the data is sent and which DSN antenna is receiving it.

 

[Crispy75]

NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft Begins Intensive Data Downlink Phase

This is one of my favorite "real time" web pages

https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html : What NASA is listening and saying to our robots in space.

Right now the Goldstone antenna in California is listening to Voyager 1's puny 3.72 x 10-22 kW signal at a rate of 159b/s

 

[cameron]

New image set: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Multimedia/Science-Photos/view.php?gallery_id=2

Pluto's Haze

Two different versions of an image of Pluto's haze layers, taken by New Horizons as it looked back at Pluto's dark side nearly 16 hours after close approach, from a distance of 480,000 miles (770,000 kilometers), at a phase angle of 166 degrees. Pluto's north is at the top, and the sun illuminates Pluto from the upper right. These images are much higher quality than the digitally compressed images of Pluto's haze downlinked and released shortly after the July 14 encounter, and allow many new details to be seen. The left version has had only minor processing, while the right version has been specially processed to reveal a large number of discrete haze layers in the atmosphere. In the left version, faint surface details on the narrow sunlit crescent are seen through the haze in the upper right of Pluto's disk, and subtle parallel streaks in the haze may be crepuscular rays- shadows cast on the haze by topography such as mountain ranges on Pluto, similar to the rays sometimes seen in the sky after the sun sets behind mountains on Earth.

Pluto in Twilight

This image of Pluto from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, processed in two different ways, shows how Pluto's bright, high-altitude atmospheric haze produces a twilight that softly illuminates the surface before sunrise and after sunset, allowing the sensitive cameras on New Horizons to see details in nighttime regions that would otherwise be invisible. The right-hand version of the image has been greatly brightened to bring out faint details of rugged haze-lit topography beyond Pluto’s terminator, which is the line separating day and night. The image was taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers).

Charon's Complexity

This image of Pluto's largest moon Charon, taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft 10 hours before its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015 from a distance of 290,000 miles (470,000 kilometers), is a recently downlinked, much higher quality version of a Charon image released on July 15. Charon, which is 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) in diameter, displays a surprisingly complex geological history, including tectonic fracturing; relatively smooth, fractured plains in the lower right; several enigmatic mountains surrounded by sunken terrain features on the right side; and heavily cratered regions in the center and upper left portion of the disk. There are also complex reflectivity patterns on Charon’s surface, including bright and dark crater rays, and the conspicuous dark north polar region at the top of the image. The smallest visible features are 2.9 miles 4.6 kilometers) in size

Dark Areas

This 220-mile (350-kilometer) wide view of Pluto from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft illustrates the incredible diversity of surface reflectivities and geological landforms on the dwarf planet. The image includes dark, ancient heavily cratered terrain; bright, smooth geologically young terrain; assembled masses of mountains; and an enigmatic field of dark, aligned ridges that resemble dunes; its origin is under debate. The smallest visible features are 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) in size. This image was taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers).

Chaos Region

In the center of this 300-mile (470-kilometer) wide image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is a large region of jumbled, broken terrain on the northwestern edge of the vast, icy plain informally called Sputnik Planum, to the right. The smallest visible features are 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) in size. This image was taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers).

Surface Variety

Mosaic of high-resolution images of Pluto, transmitted by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft from Sept. 5 to 7, 2015. The image is dominated by the informally-named icy plain Sputnik Planum, the smooth, bright region across the center. This image also features a tremendous variety of other landscapes surrounding Sputnik. The smallest visible features are 0.5 miles (0.8 kilometers) in size, and the mosaic covers a region roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) wide. The image was taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers). The two white rectangles show the locations of the two closeup views by New Horizons, released separately.

Looking over Pluto

This synthetic perspective view of Pluto, based on the latest high-resolution images to be downlinked from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, shows what you would see if you were approximately 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) above Pluto’s equatorial area, looking northeast over the dark, cratered, informally named Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth, expanse of icy plains informally called Sputnik Planum. The entire expanse of terrain seen in this image is 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) across. The images were taken as New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometers).

Edit: Press Release. New Pluto Images from NASA’s New Horizons: It’s Complicated

“Pluto is showing us a diversity of landforms and complexity of processes that rival anything we’ve seen in the solar system,” said New Horizons Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado. “If an artist had painted this Pluto before our flyby, I probably would have called it over the top — but that’s what is actually there.”

The New Horizons spacecraft is now more than 3 billion miles (about 5 billion kilometers) from Earth, and more than 43 million miles (69 million kilometers) beyond Pluto. The spacecraft is healthy and all systems are operating normally.

 

[KurtFehl]

^^^ very fascinating.


So if New Horizon is functiong properly, are they still going to capture images for as long as NASA can?

 

[LakeEarth]

^^^ very fascinating.


So if New Horizon is functiong properly, are they still going to capture images for as long as NASA can?

New Horizon's has passed Pluto, and isn't taking any new pictures. The high-res pictures we are getting now were taken during the flyby, downloading very slowly from million miles away (it'll take months to get it all). However, New Horizon's will be passing by some interesting stuff in the Kuiper belt in 2019 so ... you know, mark your calendars.

 

[KurtFehl]

New Horizon's has passed Pluto, and isn't taking any new pictures. The high-res pictures we are getting now were taken during the flyby, downloading very slowly from million miles away (it'll take months to get it all). However, New Horizon's will be passing by some interesting stuff in the Kuiper belt in 2019 so ... you know, mark your calendars.

So it is taking new pictures in 2019 correct?

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Those close-up shots are amazing.

 

[fallout]

So it is taking new pictures in 2019 correct?

Yes, but of a different, much smaller Kuiper Belt object:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_MU69

 

[Insane Metal]

GOD DAMN.

Gorgeous images.

 

[sphinx]

awesome pics thanks for the update

Yes, but of a different, much smaller Kuiper Belt object:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_MU69

I hate it when they call them "objects"

why not a more exciting word like planet, galaxy, star or asteroid?? ;(

 

[injurai]

Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh, at the Lowell Observatory.

Dude looks like Jude Law.

We need a biopic now.

 

[cameron]

Raw LORRI image of Nix:

Combined and cleaned up by The Planetary Society:

:3

 

[sphinx]

Nix looks like a cookie

 

[maquiladora]

Dude looks like Jude Law.

We need a biopic now.

In August 1992, JPL scientist Robert Staehle called Tombaugh, requesting permission to visit his planet. "I told him he was welcome to it," Tombaugh later remembered, "though he's got to go one long, cold trip."
The call eventually led to the launch of the New Horizons space probe to Pluto in 2006.

.

 

[cameron]

Q&A with the NH team. Weekly Space Hangout - Sept 11, 2015: New Horizons Pluto-Palooza!

Highlights taken from Emily Lakdawalla's twitter @elakdawalla.

Alan Stern: All of SWAP and PEPSSI data from the New Horizons flyby is on the ground now, as is SDC.

Viewer question: Could you send an orbiter to Pluto and would it be worth it?
Bowman: That's an easy one. Yes we could and yes it would.

Stern: We don't yet know how close we can get to 2014 MU69, but we are looking at going substantially closer than we got to Pluto.

Stern: But we'll look at 10-30 KBOs from a distance, which will add a lot to our understanding of Kuiper belt.

Q: Can New Horizons do a "Pale Blue Dot" image like Voyager did?
Stern: Yes. For spacecraft safety, will probably do it after KBO flyby.

Stern: Nix is very reflective, "pushing 50%." "That's a puzzle." Has a crater with red material surrounding it.

Stern: "Whether that's an impact crater or something else is TBD." Also a puzzle that there's no other visible craters on the surface.

I asked why there are duplicate images. Stern: Group 1 (highest priority) are taken with some redundancy to be very sure we meet objectives.

Stern: As downlink continues and we get to lower priority data, you'll see more variety and less repetition.

Stern: Data are organized into priority bins based upon how they address mission goals: Group 1, 2, and 3. Group 1 gets sent down first.

Stern: We're sending all the data to the ground, even images that look blank, in the hopes of finding new moons.

 

[MiketheBSG]

When are we going to get photos of Kerberos and Styx?

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Those Nix photos

I'm hyped all over again. Can't wait for the rest of the data to come through and get looked at.