New Horizons - Mission to Pluto (1 Viewer)

[MikeIke]

Keep in mind that we won't be getting any pictures tomorrow. The probe is using all its resources for observation and not sending anything back. The first communication we get after flyby will be around 9:02 PM indicating that the probe survived its closest encounter. Wednesday will be the first images we see, and the data will take 16 months to be fully transmitted. This thing's data stream is slower than an old 28-baud modem.

Yup. They said that it would take months to get all of the pictures to us from today's flyby.

It is on its way to the Kuiper Belt at this point.

Is it also carrying Bert Kuiper's ashes?

No, Clyde Tombaugh's. The guy who discovered Pluto.

 

[msommer]

The last picture sent before communications blackout was pretty cool.

Not a very racially diverse crowd in NASA it seems

 

[TheIronSheik]

The last picture sent before communications blackout was pretty cool.

Not a very racially diverse crowd in NASA it seems

A couple look like no good thugs, IMO.

 

[MikeIke]

NASA link

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system -- and may still be in the process of building, says Jeff Moore of New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI). That suggests the close-up region, which covers less than one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today.

Moore and his colleagues base the youthful age estimate on the lack of craters in this scene. Like the rest of Pluto, this region would presumably have been pummeled by space debris for billions of years and would have once been heavily cratered -- unless recent activity had given the region a facelift, erasing those pockmarks.

“This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” says Moore.

There's also a new, large picture of Charon

 

[Yankee23Fan]

NASA link

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system -- and may still be in the process of building, says Jeff Moore of New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI). That suggests the close-up region, which covers less than one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today.

Moore and his colleagues base the youthful age estimate on the lack of craters in this scene. Like the rest of Pluto, this region would presumably have been pummeled by space debris for billions of years and would have once been heavily cratered -- unless recent activity had given the region a facelift, erasing those pockmarks.

“This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” says Moore.

There's also a new, large picture of Charon

Not to give and creedence to the Death Star jokes that were coming here yesterday - and they were funny - but I swear Charon actually looks like the darn thing.

 

[TheIronSheik]

NASA link

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system -- and may still be in the process of building, says Jeff Moore of New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI). That suggests the close-up region, which covers less than one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today.

Moore and his colleagues base the youthful age estimate on the lack of craters in this scene. Like the rest of Pluto, this region would presumably have been pummeled by space debris for billions of years and would have once been heavily cratered -- unless recent activity had given the region a facelift, erasing those pockmarks.

“This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” says Moore.

There's also a new, large picture of Charon

Not to give and creedence to the Death Star jokes that were coming here yesterday - and they were funny - but I swear Charon actually looks like the darn thing.

Not as much as Saturn's moon, Mimas.

 

[Billy Bats]

Are there any good podcasts discussing New Horizons?

 

[Dragons]

 

[joffer]

Special on the Science channel right now

 

[msommer]

NASA link

New close-up images of a region near Pluto’s equator reveal a giant surprise: a range of youthful mountains rising as high as 11,000 feet (3,500 meters) above the surface of the icy body.

The mountains likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters relative to the 4.56-billion-year age of the solar system -- and may still be in the process of building, says Jeff Moore of New Horizons’ Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Team (GGI). That suggests the close-up region, which covers less than one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today.

Moore and his colleagues base the youthful age estimate on the lack of craters in this scene. Like the rest of Pluto, this region would presumably have been pummeled by space debris for billions of years and would have once been heavily cratered -- unless recent activity had given the region a facelift, erasing those pockmarks.

“This is one of the youngest surfaces we’ve ever seen in the solar system,” says Moore.

There's also a new, large picture of Charon

Mountains made of water-ice

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33543383

 

[MikeIke]

A few new color pictures released.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

So cool.

 

[Parrothead]

almost looks like a road system in the one picture

 

[MikeIke]

Honestly, I've been disappointed with the images that have been released so far from the flyby. All we've seen so far is closeup shots of bits and pieces of terrain. I want full color views of everything!

I think I was spoiled by the Voyager missions to Jupiter and Saturn, where I got dozens of incredible color pictures in my National Geographic magazine.

I realize that sending hi-res data billions of miles through space takes time. I just don't want to wait for the good stuff. I guess that's the problem of living in the Internet Age. Everything is expected to be available with the push of a button.

 

[El Floppo]

Honestly, I've been disappointed with the images that have been released so far from the flyby. All we've seen so far is closeup shots of bits and pieces of terrain. I want full color views of everything!

I think I was spoiled by the Voyager missions to Jupiter and Saturn, where I got dozens of incredible color pictures in my National Geographic magazine.

I realize that sending hi-res data billions of miles through space takes time. I just don't want to wait for the good stuff. I guess that's the problem of living in the Internet Age. Everything is expected to be available with the push of a button.

STOOPID MILLENIALS!!!!!

 

[MikeIke]

Here's a really beautiful color picture. That's what I'm looking for!

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-rich-color-variations-of-pluto

 

[MikeIke]

Honestly, I've been disappointed with the images that have been released so far from the flyby. All we've seen so far is closeup shots of bits and pieces of terrain. I want full color views of everything!

I think I was spoiled by the Voyager missions to Jupiter and Saturn, where I got dozens of incredible color pictures in my National Geographic magazine.

I realize that sending hi-res data billions of miles through space takes time. I just don't want to wait for the good stuff. I guess that's the problem of living in the Internet Age. Everything is expected to be available with the push of a button.

STOOPID MILLENIALS!!!!!

I'm 42...

 

[TheIronSheik]

Honestly, I've been disappointed with the images that have been released so far from the flyby. All we've seen so far is closeup shots of bits and pieces of terrain. I want full color views of everything!

I think I was spoiled by the Voyager missions to Jupiter and Saturn, where I got dozens of incredible color pictures in my National Geographic magazine.

I realize that sending hi-res data billions of miles through space takes time. I just don't want to wait for the good stuff. I guess that's the problem of living in the Internet Age. Everything is expected to be available with the push of a button.

STOOPID MILLENIALS!!!!!

I'm 42...

STOOPID old MILLENIALS!!!!

 

[MikeIke]

New hi-res, color picture of Charon. The red splotch at the top has been informally named Mordor.

 

[TheIronSheik]

New hi-res, color picture of Charon. The red splotch at the top has been informally named Mordor.

I heard that one does not simply walk into that crater. Takes a lot of planning to figure out the best way in.

 

[Billy Bats]

New hi-res, color picture of Charon. The red splotch at the top has been informally named Mordor.

Quality good enough for ya from 4 billion miles away yet?!