Dwarf PLanet ahoy!

[kinnison]

Dwarf Planet Ahoy! Spacecraft Spies Pluto and Charon

The New Horizons space craft at 550 million miles distance and 2 years away has spotted Charon and Pluto.

Pixal art is awsome!

[Funnyjunk225]

You wanna see the good old pictures of Sedna if pixelated is your thing

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Sedna-NASA.JPG

[Moon Goddess]

Yeah but it gets fun from here, cuz it only gets better and better....

6 months from now that will look like a something instead of pixels, a year from now, that will beat the pictures we got from hubble. From there it's gravy, we get to see a world we've looked at for years and not been able to see.

[tek_604]

2015 is gonna be a great year!

Rosetta will be in full swing around 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (or as its known in house, "our favourite comet"), Dawn will also be starting Ceres operations early in the year, and New Horizons too.

[Kilmeister]

we get to see a world we've looked at for years and not been able to see.

Interesting way of putting it.

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was this Encyclopedia Britannica giant bonus hardcover about our solar system. I was fascinated with all the pictures of the other planets and their moons with loads of interesting facts; but always more so disappointed that all they had were mere artists drawings of Pluto and just a few blurbs about it. Will be exciting to finally see what it really looks like.

[Scotius]

Dark. It will be really dark. Sun seen from Pluto is just brightest star in the sky.

[Moon Goddess]

Interesting way of putting it.

One of my favorite books when I was a kid was this Encyclopedia Britannica giant bonus hardcover about our solar system. I was fascinated with all the pictures of the other planets and their moons with loads of interesting facts; but always more so disappointed that all they had were mere artists drawings of Pluto and just a few blurbs about it. Will be exciting to finally see what it really looks like.

I tried for a long long time to figure out how to word what I wanted to say there.... I wasn't please with it and still think it sounds stupid so I'm happy you approve.

[Nikolai]

Dark. It will be really dark. Sun seen from Pluto is just brightest star in the sky.

Sun's the brightest star as seen from Earth, too.

Yes, there will be less light from the Sun at Pluto than at Earth -- but the Sun is still nearly 500 times brighter at Pluto than the full Moon as seen from Earth. It's not "just" the brightest star in Pluto's sky.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Nikolai
made clearer brightness references

[Nuke]

you just need to use a more sensitive ccd.

[sidahrta]

[lajoswinkler]

you just need to use a more sensitive ccd.

Increasing sensitivity doesn't play a role here. Sensors already pick up single photons. What we lack is sensors with high enough resolution. That's a tough cookie.

[Tommygun]

Has there been any official or semi official statements on what objects New Horizons will try to reach after Pluto?

[rodion]

This is really great to see, and visually the system is surprisingly well differentiated already considering the distance. Just a couple more years, now.

[lajoswinkler]

Given the fact that scientific breakthrough is getting more and more often (our total knowledge increases at an exponential rate), I can imagine the future will be a really sucky time to die, compared to today.

Dropping dead 70 years ago contained a lot less regret because the world was a slower place. Most of us here will die some time around the 60's (wow, that sounds creepy), in the time when the world will be even more faster. Imagine how much stuff you'll miss.

Internet made us think we're the most important beings ever. Everyone can get famous, everyone's word can be heard. But in the end, you die and you're forgotten. Luckily for us, we have the technology to preserve our thoughts, photos and videos better and in more massive amounts than people before us, but still, you'll eventually be completely forgotten, as you've never existed.

Memento mori.

[Scotius]

Wow, Lajos - you are in contemplative mood today Well, i'm almost forty and my family has history of heart problems - so i don't really expect to see my hundredth birthday. But i've seen many amazing things in my life already, and there will be more, much more. I live in a world that was strictly territory of sci-fi books and movies during my childhood. What it will be like in next 30 years? I can't wait to see

[szputnyik]

Don't be sad, maybe future technology will allow us to live until at least our 120th birthday.

I've read somewhere that it's already possible that people born around 2010 in first-world-countries are likely to live until they are 100, unless a major war or some other disaster happens that will dramatically lower the quality of life.

[Warhorse]

100 is seriously pessimistic. Given the accelerating pace of technological progress, it's a good bet that the first generation of immortals has already been born. (Assuming that we don't go and blow ourselves up or something equally stupid, of course ...)

[szputnyik]

If given a chance, I would like to be immortal.

[Sylandro]

Ho hi ho, let's see if we can find Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos.

[Omicron314]

I've heard the average 20 year old male has an expected lifespan of 100 years, and the first person to live to 150 has already been born. I'm currently 13, so I'm expecting (read: desperately hoping) to live a little while into the 22nd century. This will be the most exciting time to be alive, as it will be the time in which humanity is tested. I have a decent chance of knowing whether humanity will destroy itself or not by the time I die. That thought is both frightening and exhilarating.

I must say, I wont truly be content, though, until we detect signs of an alien civilization. Puts a little less moral responsibility on our (relatively) rather barbaric, primitive species.

[szputnyik]

It would be interesting to be still alive in 2102 and remember watching early 21st century future-prediction movies like The Matrix. Thenagain, it's already entertaining to remember the 2015 predicted by Back to the Future now that that year is so close.

[xxfallacyxx]

I must say, I wont truly be content, though, until we detect signs of an alien civilization. Puts a little less moral responsibility on our (relatively) rather barbaric, primitive species.

I'd imagine morality is subjective to whichever culture any alien civilization may have. Rather, I'm sure it would be, much in the same way that morality differs here on Earth depending on culture and upbringing. That being said, moral responsibility I consider to be an internal force based on the need to fit in with a group. Would it be possible for us humans to take the strides necessary to achieve social and cultural unity prior to the time of meeting any possible new sentient species in the universe? I won't speculate that.

Towards the original topic at hand however, I've always felt at this point in time while we live in a technological society in which knowledge is abundant, our sphere of influence within the universe has not expanded to match. I've found myself with insatiable bouts of wanderlust, feeling the only thing which would satisfy the curiosity would be to set foot on Mars.