I love the work Cassini has done around Saturn. Pluto might not be as sexy but there's a whole bunch of stuff in the Kuiper belt worth exploring. Apparently New Horizons has limited maneuverability so they can't explore the whole neighborhood, but with the mission expected to last until 2026 they should have a few interesting encounters.
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To Uranus and Beyond! NewHorizons probe will complete its 9 year trek to Pluto Dec 6
- Thread starter Escape Goat
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And lots and lots of glorious pictures to be seen.
Nice.
Considering that this:
Is currently the best image of Pluto, this is definitely an exciting event.
I've seen it before, but is it a true colour image? If so, I wonder what the surface is composed of to give us those colours (grey like the moon + brown?).
From here:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2010/06/image/a/
Hubble's view isn't sharp enough to see craters or mountains, if they exist on the surface, but Hubble reveals a complex-looking and variegated world with white, dark-orange, and charcoal-black terrain. The overall color is believed to be a result of ultraviolet radiation from the distant Sun breaking up methane that is present on Pluto's surface, leaving behind a dark, molasses-colored, carbon-rich residue.
Considering that this:
Is currently the best image of Pluto, this is definitely an exciting event.
The textures aren't loading for me.
davepoobond
you can't put a price on sparks
Interested in seeing some of those alien skyscrapers
Thanks for that.
Wow, I never thought Pluto would have any kind of surface we would describe as "rich" - I assumed it would just be another dead rock that looks much the same as the majority of moons in the solar system. Very interesting.
I'm quite interested in seeing some high res images from the former planet and the some stuff from the Kuiper Belt. There's a wealth of knowledge out there we have yet to discover as it takes a considerable amount of time to even get to that region and the last craft to head that way just kept on going.
Voyager is probably a bit lonely out there in the vast expanse of space.
I wonder if it has a nougat center.
Voyager is probably a bit lonely out there in the vast expanse of space.
I wonder if it has a nougat center.
It's really small and very far away. The only light coming off of it is whatever little sunlight reaches it.
This diagram shows the apparent angular diameter of various celestial objects as seen from Earth. In other words, if you look up in the sky, this is how much visual space they occupy. So, think about how big the full Moon looks and scale down from there. If the movie Apollo 13 taught me anything, it's that the Moon is about as visually big as your thumb when your arm is fully extended from your body.
Pluto isn't even on that chart. In order to see how big Pluto would appear to us, take the size of the Neptune point and make it 22x smaller.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
Really looking forward to some cleaner images.
Ziltoidia 9
Member
It's really small and very far away. The only light coming off of it is whatever little sunlight reaches it.
This diagram shows the apparent angular diameter of various celestial objects as seen from Earth. In other words, if you look up in the sky, this is how much visual space they occupy. So, think about how big the full Moon looks and scale down from there.
Pluto isn't even on that chart. In order to see how big Pluto would appear to us, take the size of the Neptune point and make it 22x smaller.
Thanks for the chart. I always love how we can still see other planets though. Looking at them at times causes awesomeness.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
About 4ish - 5ish hours. I don't remember the exact light hour figure.
It's really small and it's really far away.
Indeed. Seeing Saturn through a telescope at the age of about 12 was a life changing event for me.
Something about seeing the shadow cast by the rings on the planet just made it so very real to me. That sight coupled with the realization of the immensity of the object that I was looking at had a profound effect on me. I've been hooked ever since.
Oh, that fast? I was expecting much longer.
Dragoon En Regalia
Member
Crazy that we're going to learn so much about the Kuiper belt via New Horizons. Pluto itself's gonna trend on Twitter once the pictures hit...science really is awesome, even dwarf planets.
Ziltoidia 9
Member
Shit now i want a telescope.
I live in a metro area (not down town) but do you think I'd be able to see stuff well with one?
Speaking of seeing the other planets, my flatmate was taking shots of the moon with his new Fuji bridge camera one evening, and when he zoomed in...
I'm still hugely surprised that a bridge camera worth barely €200 can pick up any planet, let alone one as far away as Saturn.
It won't really complete anything tomorrow. It's just being woken up. It won't get to it's closest approach with Pluto until July. And due to the physics involved (couldn't put enough fuel on board + Pluto is tiny) it will not be going into orbit. It will only be flying by.
The New Horizons probe had the highest launch velocity ever. It was essentially launched directly to Pluto. Most other probes sent to the other planets required gravity boosts from the inner planets so they took longer.
The USSR did some really cool stuff with Venus. The conditions are absolutely hellish, yet they managed to land several probes and get them to survive. NASA just installed a test apparatus that mimics the atmosphere at the surface of Venus at their facility in Cleveland. So they might be contemplating a Venus mission in the future.
The New Horizons probe had the highest launch velocity ever. It was essentially launched directly to Pluto. Most other probes sent to the other planets required gravity boosts from the inner planets so they took longer.
Kinda OT but I've always found the images from the Soviet Venus lander on Venus fascinating simply because it's the closest planet to us and you rarely hear news about it anymore.
The USSR did some really cool stuff with Venus. The conditions are absolutely hellish, yet they managed to land several probes and get them to survive. NASA just installed a test apparatus that mimics the atmosphere at the surface of Venus at their facility in Cleveland. So they might be contemplating a Venus mission in the future.
I'd love to see more of Venus, but considering the difficulty of having to design a system that can stand the immense heat as well as the limited potential scientific discoveries (at least compared to what else is out there, many of which are easier to get to) it's not at all surprising it hasn't really been visited in a while.
WeAreStarStuff
Member
186,000 miles/sec is pretty good I guess.
To see anything that isn't the Moon or other planets, you really need to get out of the light pollution. I normally recommend an 8-inch Dobsonian as a great starter telescope, if you're really willing to dive in. They usually run about $500. If you just wanted to see something like the rings of Saturn, a pair of binoculars would likely work.
I thought they launched it to Jupiter to get a slingshot from its gravity...no?
EDIT maybe it was just near Jupiter instead of using its gravity. I don't remember. But I do remember the images it got of Jupiter when it went by in 2007:
http://www.universetoday.com/116855...on-jupiter-pics-from-new-horizons-spacecraft/
Melon Husk
Member
They could send balloons to Venus that just take pictures in a spectrum that's not blocked by clouds. Also, Venus Express, the only active mission right now that was launched back in 2006 has it's funding cut off 31 December this year. It could be extended for another year for an aerobraking experiment. Interestingly VEX and Rosetta spacecraft share the same design, yet the latter arrived at its destination 9 years later.
Designing a lasting rover would be immensely expensive.
Designing a lasting rover would be immensely expensive.
So it should be awake now...though confirmation signals of that are still a little over an hour away
Edit - I think I'm wrong. ..confirmation signal is at 9:30 pm EST. Wakes up at 3:00 pm EST. I thought it was all this morning instead of tonight
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20141113.php
Edit - I think I'm wrong. ..confirmation signal is at 9:30 pm EST. Wakes up at 3:00 pm EST. I thought it was all this morning instead of tonight
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20141113.php
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Is this thing going faster than they expected? I thought it was not expected to start any science missions until next month when it's going to observe a Kuiper Belt object, and not start looking at Pluto until February.
It won't be entering orbit. Pluto has too little gravity, and New Horizon's is going WAY to fast.
Well, they say planets (plural). I guess they aren't counting missions sent to a single planet. We still have a lot of stuff going on at Mars. Cassini is going strong at Saturn. And in 2016, Juno will finally arrive at Jupiter to begin study.
It won't be entering orbit. Pluto has too little gravity, and New Horizon's is going WAY to fast.
Well, they say planets (plural). I guess they aren't counting missions sent to a single planet. We still have a lot of stuff going on at Mars. Cassini is going strong at Saturn. And in 2016, Juno will finally arrive at Jupiter to begin study.
abstract alien
Member
WowConsidering that this:
Is currently the best image of Pluto, this is definitely an exciting event.
Lovely Salsa
Banned
so how big of a chance we encounter aliens there?
Entering this thread just for this was worth it, 10/10.
Escape Goat
Member
.0000000001% chance we meet aliens
Even popular mechanics mentions aliens
http://www.popularmechanics.com/_mo...uto-probe-what-you-need-to-know?src=soc_fcbks
So I'm gonna put the probability of aliens at 94%
yeah...not really
Escape Goat
Member
I ran my calculations by a group of cheerleaders and it checks out.
The Purple Pill
Member
It hasn't emerged from hibernation yet, from the article it says Sunday morning, right?
I hope it wakes up, ESA said themselves, that the turning their probe, Rosetta, online after it's hibernation, was the most intense moment.
I hope it wakes up, ESA said themselves, that the turning their probe, Rosetta, online after it's hibernation, was the most intense moment.
ReplacementPelican
Member
They didn't. Wink wink.
Abstruse Moose
Member
I wonder what the world reaction to finding a clearly constructed building on Pluto would be like.
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