New Horizons

[Aethon]

There is a Google Hangout with members of the New Horizons team, starting 45 min after this post.

https://plus.google.com/events/clkrqi0mbhltft5ausb00h89bco?authkey=CJD-x-zlhNuN7AE

Participants include:

• Jim Green (NASA Headquarters, Planetary Science Division Director)
  
• Alan Stern (SWRI, Principle Investigator on New Horizons)
  
• Bill McKinnon (Wash U., NH Science Team CO-I)
  
• John Spencer (SWRI, NH Science Team CO-I etc.)
  
• Stuart Robbins (SWRI, NH Science Team etc.)
  
• Kelsi Singer (SWRI, NH Science Team etc.)
  

[Robotengineer]

Don't forget to vote for feature names here.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Robotengineer
Fixed link.

[Frida Space]

Pluto in color photographed by Ralph! Details to follow.

[r4pt0r]

Did somebody order color shots of Pluto and Charon? Order up!

"This is pure exploration," Alan Stern, the mission's principal investigator, said during a Tuesday press conference in which the probe's first color photos of Pluto and its moon Charon were released. "We’re going to turn points of light into a planet and a system of moons before your eyes."

Next month, as New Horizons nears Pluto, it will start taking the most detailed photos we've ever seen of it. The craft will begin sending back atmospheric data on Pluto in May, and data on the dwarf planet's surface composition in June. "By the time we get there in July, we will have returned over a thousand images to the ground," Stern told me in a recent interview.

This is a big deal. Even though Pluto seems very familiar to us, we know far less about it than about any of the planets in our solar system. Two of its moons, Kerberos and Styx, have actually been discovered in the time since New Horizons left Earth in 2006.

^source article here

Edited April 14, 2015 by r4pt0r

[SuperFastJellyfish]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCkWdkeWgAEJzPh.png

Pluto in color photographed by Ralph! Details to follow.

Does this confirm that Pluto and Charon share an atmosphere? It sure looks like they do to me from that image(if that ethereal blue is atmosphere). It's hard to tell perspective without more information though. It might just be that Charon is behind/in front of Pluto and it's just an illusion.

[Kibble]

It means that using Neptune to argue against planethood shouldn't count. So, what about other objects? How do they know their masses?

Could Neptune form a similar resonance with something Earth-, Venus-, or even Mars- or Mercury-sized? I don't actually know, but I bet the answer is no. Pluto is a lot smaller than people seem to think.

[Frida Space]

Does this confirm that Pluto and Charon share an atmosphere? It sure looks like they do to me from that image(if that ethereal blue is atmosphere). It's hard to tell perspective without more information though. It might just be that Charon is behind/in front of Pluto and it's just an illusion.

With the current resolution it's impossibile to tell.

[Dodgey]

Woah. That's awesome. But what's with the blue hue around the two bodies (almost said planet)

[r4pt0r]

Woah. That's awesome. But what's with the blue hue around the two bodies (almost said planet)

google told me this:

When Pluto is closer to the Sun in its orbit, the warmth from the Sun heats up the frozen ices of nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide on Pluto's surface. These ices vaporize and form a temporary atmosphere. When Pluto moves farther from the Sun, the atmosphere freezes and falls back onto Pluto's surface.

But I dont know if I trust that google character. I mean, its not like they've ever been to pluto.

[Deadpangod3]

snip

Pluto in color photographed by Ralph! Details to follow.

it looks like redish orange and black, on both Pluto and Charon, if you look closely.

I think they might be Mars-like, possibly with some ice.

[Scotius]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCkWdkeWgAEJzPh.png

Pluto in color photographed by Ralph! Details to follow.

Do Pluto and Charon look oblate-ish rather than round in this image?

[lajoswinkler]

The blue things are errors. That photo has been heavily manipulated. Don't be fooled into thinking that's atmosphere. There is no way that could be true.

[Kerbart]

The blue things are errors. That photo has been heavily manipulated. Don't be fooled into thinking that's atmosphere. There is no way that could be true.

Yeah, originally the photo was just a big black rectangle. They added the two dots (using large soft brushes in photoshop) later.

[pincushionman]

I remember back before the project was even launched they talked about the temporary atmosphere thing in Popular Science - and the closing window of opportunity to get there while the atmosphere is still present was the entire reason for the whole no-monsense, no-gravity-assist, balls-to-the-wall screaming high-velocity encounter we've got.

I doubt the haze is the atmosphere - it's probably some artifact - but the atmosphere thing is very serious business with regards to this mission.

[Aethon]

Hard to tell at that resolution granted, but I think you're seeing a trick of the light. It looks like the top pole (N?) is in shadow and the spacecraft is coming in slightly above the system. The sun is off to the right and below the plane, so we can't see the full curve because the pole is shadowed.

[Frida Space]

New animation obtained by LORRI from the 12th to the 18th of April, at a distance between 111.18 and 103.76 million kms. For the first time, we can see shades on Pluto!

[Ralathon]

Pluto looks almost potato shaped at times.

[Scotius]

Sweet Keep 'em coming, New Horizons.

[Motokid600]

Wow you can clearly see a barycenter there that's amazing. What's NH looking right down at Pluto's pole?

[Frida Space]

It's a polar ice cap! maybe (source)

Also, NASA has opened a RAW image collection from LORRI! So cool! Here's the link: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/index.php

[lajoswinkler]

It might be that we get the potato looks because there are very dark patches on the surface so it sometimes looks weird.

Pluto is rather large to be anything other than a sphere... unless it was hit by something and it didn't coalesce properly?

[Frida Space]

An interesting comparison between New Horizons' and Hubble's photos.

[Albert VDS]

It's a polar ice cap! maybe (source)

Also, NASA has opened a RAW image collection from LORRI! So cool! Here's the link: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/index.php

An interesting comparison between New Horizons' and Hubble's photos.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDyTAv8UUAQSKbH.jpg

I don't want to rain on anyones parade but those images have a multiple times less detail than Dawn's Ceres images.

It might as well be a light gradient, surface gradient or even a water eruption.

[Frida Space]

I don't want to rain on anyones parade but those images have a multiple times less detail than Dawn's Ceres images.

It might as well be a light gradient, surface gradient or even a water eruption.

Yes, but while Ceres is a the edge of the frost line, we already know Pluto's surface is basically N2, CH4, CO, and C2H6 ices mixed with rock, so a polar ice cap seems rather likely. However, I once more stress the "seem" magic word.

[lajoswinkler]

Yes, but while Ceres is a the edge of the frost line, we already know Pluto's surface is basically N2, CH4, CO, and C2H6 ices mixed with rock, so a polar ice cap seems rather likely. However, I once more stress the "seem" magic word.

Ceres is well within the line for water ice stability so water ice can not survive on its surface. Pluto is a different story.