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"New Horizons" to arrive at Pluto in 3 weeks


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New Horizons entered directly into an Earth and Sun escape trajectory after launching on 19 January 2006 at a velocity of 58,536 km/h (36,373 mph), making it the fastest spacecraft to ever leave Earth orbit,100 times faster than a jetliner.

Since then it has accelerated to 84000 km/h, thanks to gravitational assistance from Jupiter.

Here is what astronomers were able to construct a few weeks ago, from about 50 million kilometers distant:

You can see how they drag each other around, and Pluto appears to have a distinct color.

The resolution isn't great, but the problem is that Pluto's angular diameter is so insignificant.

Angular diameter is why we can see distant objects like the Andromeda Galaxy in great detail, and it is why we have never been able to get a good view of Pluto from Earth, despite the increasing power of our own telescopes.

This means that even at a distance of 50 million km from Pluto, the diameter of the Andromeda Galaxy would still appear to be about 500 times larger then Pluto's.

What will it look like upon New Horizon's arrival? Apparently it is going to be incredible, as the craft will pass within 10000 km of Pluto, which is less then the diameter of Earth:

This is a more recent video, a compilation of images taken by the LORRI (Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) instrument on board New Horizons. The latest was taken on June 18th:

That was pretty cool. It almost looks like Pluto is deformed or has suffered some kind of violent impact. We will get to the bottom of all of this very soon.

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That's not a planet! It's a space station.

No, it's too big to be a space station.....

This is really cool....

"NASA’s New Horizons has spotted a dark, “anti-polar” cap on Pluto’s moon Charon, as the craft draws nearer to its rendezvous with the dwarf planet.

The far-flung probe is still three weeks away from its closest pass to Pluto and its five moons, but the mission team is making new discoveries every day from its reports.

Using its telescopic Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI), New Horizons has been able to spot light and dark terrain and what looks like a polar ice cap on Pluto, and now a dark anti-polar cap on Charon.

“This system is just amazing,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator, from the Southwest Research Institute, in a statement. “The science team is just ecstatic with what we see on Pluto’s close approach hemisphere: Every terrain type we see on the planet – including both the brightest and darkest surface areas – are represented there, it’s a wonderland!

“And about Charon – wow – I don’t think anyone expected Charon to reveal a mystery like dark terrains at its pole,” he continued. “Who ordered that?”"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2015/06/23/new-horizons-sees-mysterious-dark-patch-on-plutos-moon/

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I still can't get dwarf planet through my head, yet Mercury is a planet, but Pluto which has a few moons orbiting it, is not a planet.

Very cool though.

On 13 September 2006, the IAU included Pluto and Eris and its moon Dysnomia in their Minor Planet Catalogue, giving them the official minor-planet designations "(134340) Pluto", "(136199) Eris", and "(136199) Eris I Dysnomia".[63] If Pluto had been given one upon its discovery, the number would have been about 1,164 instead of 134,340.

There has been some resistance within the astronomical community toward the reclassification.[64][65][66]Alan Stern, principal investigator with NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto, publicly derided the IAU resolution, stating that "the definition stinks, for technical reasons".[67] Stern's contention was that by the terms of the new definition Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune, all of which share their orbits with asteroids, would be excluded.[68] His other claim was that because less than five percent of astronomers voted for it, the decision was not representative of the entire astronomical community.[68]Marc W. Buie, then at Lowell Observatory, voiced his opinion on the new definition on his website and petitioned against the definition.[69] Others have supported the IAU. Mike Brown, the astronomer who discovered Eris, said "through this whole crazy circus-like procedure, somehow the right answer was stumbled on. It's been a long time coming. Science is self-correcting eventually, even when strong emotions are involved."[70]

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  • 2 weeks later...
A few days ago I found and interesting site, it is the only place I have found where new (and unprocessed, no color) images are being posted on a regular basis, although for whatever reason I haven't seen any new ones for a couple days.
I recommend downloading them individually and then zooming in to get a decent look:
On July 1st, Pluto was about 30 pixels in diameter while Charon was somewhere between 15-20.
On July 7, Pluto will increase to 55, and Charon will increase to 27.
On the 8th, it will be 61 and 32
On the 9th, it will be 75 and 38
On the 10th, it will be 89 and 44
On the 11th, it will be 120 and 60
On the 12th, it will increase from 157 and 78---> to 189 and 94.
Apparently the best image of Pluto will be something like one pixel per 0.4 km, which will make the diameter about 5000 pixels in total.
Also, an update about the color and appearance of Pluto:
Pluto seems to have some very interesting physical features, and hopefully clouds.
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Take a moment to think. If we can make a camera that goes 84000km in space, can we not solve these small insignificant issues on earth? By small i mean not humanity sized, like finding alternative planets is. So much effort on earth is waste making literal garbage while a very select few attempt to push humanity forward. Its a shame.

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Take a moment to think. If we can make a camera that goes 84000km in space, can we not solve these small insignificant issues on earth? By small i mean not humanity sized, like finding alternative planets is. So much effort on earth is waste making literal garbage while a very select few attempt to push humanity forward. Its a shame.

Agreed, too many people say "it's human nature " to explore but it should be human nature to explore healing the sick, feeding the poor,sheltering the homeless.

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