New Horizons

[peadar1987]

Not this butthurt discussion again, please. Rocky/gas/ice is about dominant planetary constitution, not about the main class of the object.

There are solid reasons why Pluto was demoted. It was never a proper planet in the first place and it was just listed because of historical reasons. However that does not make it less exciting.

A bit rich coming from you, when you repeatedly complain in every thread about every planetary body about how NASA are oppressing your eyeballs.

[lajoswinkler]

NASA did not demote Pluto. NASA is one agency that does mainly astronautics, engineering and stuff. This is a matter of planetary astronomy.

Hm OK, I will write a letter. Can't do any harm.

[PakledHostage]

Give some respect, they launched it 10 years ago, waiting for stunning results ! Just the same when one launches HST, no one knew what it'd bring. Or any other probe.

I didn't intend any disrespect. I was only pointing out that the video's script was obviously biased in favor of the "Pluto is a planet" camp. There was no mention of Dawn's mission to two other dwarf planets (Ceres and Vesta) other than as an afterthought in the credits, and it pretty clearly stated that next month's flyby is the end of the first era of planetary exploration. I just thought that was interesting, given that there is still a contingent out there that is upset about the IAU's decision to demote Pluto. I am looking forward to next month's flyby just as much as everyone else, regardless of how Pluto is classified.

Edited June 17, 2015 by PakledHostage

[Camacha]

I didn't intend any disrespect. I was only pointing out that the video's script was obviously biased in favor of the "Pluto is a planet" camp.

It is a lot less obvious to me than it is to you, if I am honest.

[PakledHostage]

It is a lot less obvious to me than it is to you, if I am honest.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree.

[kurja]

Such information should be available under every photo. It's not that big of a deal. One sentence. "This image is a composite of false colored infrared and ultraviolet channels." - there. Done, problem solved. Nanometres optional.

What problem?

[KerikBalm]

Ah, absolute statements. The thing is still argued over by the professionals, so it is safe to say things are disputed. No spare time forum dwelling enthusiast can say much that changes that. Problem is that we simply know too little about planets in general to make effective categories, though that may change in the next 20 years.

I'll take his side on this one.

There were solid reasons to demote it.

Now generally speaking, people advocating for two different courses of action can both have solid reasons.

[justidutch]

It's always amusing to me how people would rather argue over semantics rather than discuss the subjects of the threads in the first place.

I'm right. No, I'm right. No, me, I'm right. No, last word, I'm right. No, I want the last word cuz I'm right.

[Camacha]

I'll take his side on this one.

There were solid reasons to demote it.

The problem is that we have a very small sample group of planets, so making categories is very much a matter of opinion. After that, you can follow a plethora of reasonings, but they tend to be disputed anyway because of the size of the sample group.

It's always amusing to me how people would rather argue over semantics rather than discuss the subjects of the threads in the first place.

I'm right. No, I'm right. No, me, I'm right. No, last word, I'm right. No, I want the last word cuz I'm right.

That's not semantics, though my comment is.

[G'th]

Doesn't really matter if Pluto is considered a proper planet or not. Pluto is still a historically important part of our Solar system, and the only major and publicly known object in our solar system that we have not seen up close.

Pluto the dwarf planet, Pluto the pointless piece of rock, Pluto the planet, whatever. This is like seeing what Jupiter or the Martian surface looks like for the first time.

[smjjames]

Not to be a backseat moderator, but we're starting to go offtopic on 'is pluto a planet or not'.

Besides, we have a MUCH bigger sample these days, so the categorization is less opinion and more scientific categorization. Still, even then, there will be planets that don't fit neatly into one category or another or lie right at the boundary between two categories.

[Camacha]

Besides, we have a MUCH bigger sample these days, so the categorization is less opinion and more scientific categorization. Still, even then, there will be planets that don't fit neatly into one category or another or lie right at the boundary between two categories.

That is the point I am trying to make, even the experts do not seem to have a real shared opinion on what constitutes what. They took a vote, but there hardly seems to be true consensus.

[KerikBalm]

The problem is that we have a very small sample group of planets, so making categories is very much a matter of opinion.

No, the problem is the definitions and categories are arbitrary.

a better statment is just

making categories is very much a matter of opinion.

There are solid reasons to have a temperature scale start at the freezing point of water, and be an easy to wrok with number at the boiling point.

Its arbitrary, but its *useful*.

Utility is a pretty solid reason to adopt a definition.

In the end, it all comes down to what is most useful for the purposes of communication.

You can't draw up an objective category that includes pluto bot not dozens of other objects in the solar system...

A category with so many elements starts to become too bloated to be useful.

So they adopted a more restrictive definition, with solid reasons -> to avoid bloating the category so much as to become meaningless.

"tradition" common public perception, commonly understood meaning, etc, which would all lead to 9 planets with Pluto as one of them, may be solid reasons as well.

Its not about the solidity of any one reason, but the whole picture.

[Kryten]

Animation of first pseudo-true-colour MVIC images;

[smjjames]

How come that's being released now? Lots of postproccessing?

Anyways, looks.... brownish tan.

[Kryten]

How come that's being released now? Lots of postproccessing?

And the download time. Bandwidth isn't easy to come by out there, and these had to share it with the higher-priority LORRI images

[Motokid600]

Dat barycenter.

[Camacha]

That barycentre seems to be inside Pluto in this animation.

How come that's being released now? Lots of postproccessing?

Anyways, looks.... brownish tan.

NASA got fed up with the nagging about colour images

[CptRichardson]

You know, Charon seems oddly elongated...

[rkman]

Dat orbits.

[Frida Space]

My take on LORRI's latest images... probably over half of the features here are artifacts, but I'm going to post it anyways for myself to see how my processing compares to the actual images that will be taken in high-res.

[smjjames]

Which one is Pluto and which one is Charon?

[Mitchz95]

Which one is Pluto and which one is Charon?

The one on the left is probably Charon. Pluto is reddish and thus probably has a higher albedo.

[YNM]

My take on LORRI's latest images... probably over half of the features here are artifacts, but I'm going to post it anyways for myself to see how my processing compares to the actual images that will be taken in high-res.

http://s27.postimg.org/6mk11rhwj/Image_1.png

Is that an enhanced image (that you enhance yourself) ? Or did you get access to the raw data and process it yourself ?

[ChrisSpace]

Wait, we're starting to get proper imagery? OMG HYPE!!!