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Pluto New Horizons |OT| New images. Pluto/Charon still geologically active
- Thread starter GK86
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gutterboy44
Member
That photograph is stunning. Can't wait to see the lossless closest approach ones.
Like the hat?
Banned
Can't wait to see what we get tomorrow
Is it sad that I think that is an achievement?
I think they said most of them there, consider it a planet.
And they are right.
It is a planet... a dwarf planet.
Chmpocalypse
Blizzard
So awesome!
Cool. Whats Deep Dream see....
NUKE IT!
Eyyye lmao
ShadowKingpin
Member
If this were for a movie or TV show, it would be at page 100 by now. It's very sad the lack of interest there is. This is a HUGE achievement in Science.
The Chosen One
Member
Can I start claiming craters now?
I'm going to begin franchising Pluto Inn Express hotels and a gas station. Last stop before deep space. Won't be another gas station till Alpha Centauri.
I'm going to begin franchising Pluto Inn Express hotels and a gas station. Last stop before deep space. Won't be another gas station till Alpha Centauri.
Ah! My mistake, I thought the actual flyby was from further away!
Mengy
wishes it were bannable to say mean things about Marvel
Yeah, with Pluto and Charon actually being a binary system rather than a singular one, the gravity effects on all of the other moons get wild and wooly. Pluto is much more interesting than we ever expected it to be, such a shame we can't put New Horizons into an orbital path. But Pluto's gravity just isn't enough to make a parking orbit feasible, and carrying enough fuel to do so is terribly impractical with liquid fuel.
Can't wait to see the pics as they slowly come in!
Honestly I would expect that given the binary nature of Pluto and Charon constantly tugging on one another, not to mention the crazy orbits of the other moons. There are a lot of gravity changes around the Pluto area.
CATDAFELIX
Member
Nasa Media Briefing, July 14, 2015
Alan Stern:
Alan Stern:
From what I've read here, NASA had to continuously adjust the path of the probe to get it where it is. Why though? Don't we know the orbit and the speed of the orbit of Pluto? Why couldn't it's location have been calculated out at launch? What variable(s) were unknown for such a calculation?
"Why even care? It's not like we haven't seen planets before."
gutterboy44
Member
Wow, 1kbps low, 4kbps peak downlink speed.
Someone can answer this better but it's size is different than what we thought. And it's gravitational pull wasn't well understood although known to be weak. And charon is constantly changing that pull as well.
Dat PSN speed
Alan has been simply superb to listen to tonight. Just a pleasure. Exciting to think what we might get from New Horizons in the next 20 years of its voyage.
It's also quite breathtaking to think about what this little machine is doing with its plutonium-filled RTG engine. Everyone knows something that is ~16km away, to think you could be there in one second, while the sun is barely a (bright!) speck in your eye sight, in the coldest and darkest depths imaginable with your friends all some 32AU away.
Brings a big goofy grin to my face.
Impulsor
Member
SteveMeister
Hang out with Steve.
First thing I thought of when I saw the pic:
Disney was right!
Disney was right!
D
Deleted member 286591
Unconfirmed Member
Crazy times, mang. Crazy times.
ShadowKingpin
Member
Lmao. Beautiful.
It's a matter of precision. We know *roughly* Pluto's size, orbit, gravitational pull, etc. That's enough to make calculations for observations and enough to get us into the neighborhood of Pluto, but not good enough to ensure the closest approach. For that, they had to make adjustments. They also probably had to make adjustments for when they overcorrected its direction. Precision is hard with that kind of communication lag.
David Incorporated Esq.
Member
You also can't one-shot at that kind of distance. If the thrust is even a thousandth of a degree off, after a billion miles that adds up quickly.
Nothing that big, but definitely on to see some other Kuiper Belt Objects. There's a few candidates, but we can only choose one of them. Won't get there till 2019.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/10151024-finally-new-horizons-has-a-kbo.html
There might be further targets after that, but it's not easy to find them. Very very very small and very very very far away.
MrChocolate
Member
So, I read it takes about 18 months to collect all the data.
How many GBs is that?
How many GBs is that?
Thats from 3 billion miles away and I cant get a cell signal in my back bedroom from AT&T da fuck .
E-Cat
Member
And GAF represents the better constituent of society. Think, then, how little the general public cares.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Has the confirmation signal been received yet saying everything went well?
Absolutely. How can folks not be excited for the real thing. We are lucky to live in such an age.
The signal won't be sent until around 4pm this afternoon. We won't receive it until around 9pm.
Sometimes I think about how cool a job this would be. Then I remember I suck at math so I would never be able to do it. Physics is hard man.
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