PLUTO, BITCHES

it's really amazing that after all these years and despite being the same distance as the sun to venus, these are the clearest shots we have of pluto and charon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=navsfeb19vI

perhaps flyby will reveal things look more like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z53Eo-tV4dI

Will be neat to compare Pluto to Triton and Titan (Neptune and Saturn moons respectively). Both have mad hydrocarbon and nitrate cycles going on, including nitrogen geysers on Triton and fuck knows what mad shit on Titan. Pluto should have a very similar overall bulk chemistry to those two. Hopefully Pluto's not an inert lump like our own moon, and has some neat shit happening on its surface

it's all very IDM

Actually tbh that's more Prog Rock than IDM really innit

^^^ don't forget titan is the only moon with an atmosphere and clear surface liquid. i agree it's all very prog rock with a touch of experimental jazz thrown in kinda like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BdsuDeFl3c

aw yiss pluto

My deepest apologies.

Herpderp

i'm super excited for this. i've always been really curious about Pluto ever since i was a kid.

and lets face it - unless some aliens land on the white house lawn or something, this will probably be the last major space discovery in our lifetimes.

...some Europa fishes would be cool, tho.

Almost there...

The NASA's Eyes simulator is pretty nifty. Gives you a good idea of what goes on during the approach.

Aaaaaaaand it's there :D

man that dark side of Pluto was such a tease, already got the last look at that part of it; there really is always more for us to explore and discover

Amazing, so glad im alive to experience this kind of shit, you hear that jev.

awesome to think a man-made probe is flying past Pluto RIGHT NOW

I assume once this is over one of its surface features is gonna be named Tombaugh (after Pluto's discoverer). My money's on that heart-shaped plain that makes a gap in the dark equatorial belt

kinda cute that, when a Pluto mission was originally being discussed in the 90s, NASA actually asked Tombaugh for permission to visit his planet

  On 7/14/2015 at 2:28 PM, Blank said:

Here's a little timeline I found on the BBC website if anyone's interested!

 

I think it's also amazing that it's made such a huge journey! Launched in 2006? Corr...

fixt lol

all mom-jokes aside; damn. this is really impressive. robogliding through space, taking pictures of planets for us to momentarily enjoy, and question and wonder.

i love that it has a heart on it

That thing is moving 14 km/s? Holy shit. That's more than 40 times the speed of sound.

  On 7/14/2015 at 3:30 PM, Tricone RC said:

I assume once this is over one of its surface features is gonna be named Tombaugh (after Pluto's discoverer). My money's on that heart-shaped plain that makes a gap in the dark equatorial belt

 

 

kinda cute that, when a Pluto mission was originally being discussed in the 90s, NASA actually asked Tombaugh for permission to visit his planet

they also included this canister with tombaugh's remains on new horizons. not sure if the plan is to leave it on his planet, or send it off with new horizons into the kaiper belt, needless to say, tombaugh finally gets a bird's eye view of the planet he discovered

  On 7/14/2015 at 6:30 PM, Nebraska said:

 

  On 7/14/2015 at 3:30 PM, Tricone RC said:

I assume once this is over one of its surface features is gonna be named Tombaugh (after Pluto's discoverer). My money's on that heart-shaped plain that makes a gap in the dark equatorial belt

 

 

kinda cute that, when a Pluto mission was originally being discussed in the 90s, NASA actually asked Tombaugh for permission to visit his planet

 

they also included this canister with tombaugh's remains on new horizons. not sure if the plan is to leave it on his planet, or send it off with new horizons into the kaiper belt, needless to say, tombaugh finally gets a bird's eye view of the planet he discovered

 

 

Getting your remains transported to the planet you discovered = Most IDM 2015

So cool! I always believed in you Pluto, I don't care what the astronomers say...

  On 7/14/2015 at 4:23 PM, zkreso said:

That thing is moving 14 km/s? Holy shit. That's more than 40 times the speed of sound.

I believe that's roughly two and a half times the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 340.29 m/s (34.029 km/s).

the scientist on the new horizon mission are doing an AMA on reddit if anyone is interested .. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3d9luh/were_scientists_on_the_nasa_new_horizons_team/?sort=top

this is really cool, wasnt aware there is a mission planned to find if europa's oceans have life/can support life ..

  Quote

 

My question is this: my first daughter is being born in September, and I'm wondering what you think the first mission will be that will give her the same sense of wonder? What's coming down the pipe in the next 15-20 years or so?

 

[–]NewHorizons_PlutoNASA New Horizons[S] 86 points

3 hours ago

What a great question! I remember holding my newborn son as the first Cassini radar data of Titan was downlinked in the middle of the night. The next big mission that can "grow up" with your daughter is the Europa mission. This mission will investigate if Europa and its huge global ocean is habitable. Take her to the launch in the early 2020's when she is ~8 years old, then watch the data come in with her when she is a young teenager. - Curt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqZevdR4wPA

  On 6/25/2015 at 9:14 AM, digit said:

i'm super excited for this. i've always been really curious about Pluto ever since i was a kid.

 

and lets face it - unless some aliens land on the white house lawn or something, this will probably be the last major space discovery in our lifetimes.

 

...some Europa fishes would be cool, tho.

idk man, i think when they put up the high res close ups tomorrow they will be pretty cool, but the juno probe is arriving at jupiter next summer, and its color camera will be getting some insane stuff. the clouds on jupiter alone will be like a new kind of art.

there are sub-surface water oceans on enceladus, ganymede, and europa. nasa or some group will undoubtedly be sending landers to some new bodies, and drilling down through the ice to get to the ocean, then sending data up through a cable and transmitting back to us isn't out of the question.

and the new orion space craft is supposed to be taking a boulder from an asteroid at some point. maybe someone will send something to check out that bright light recently found on ceres? a chunk of diamond the size of a city maybe?

buzz aldrin wants a mission to phobos to check out the "monolith" there

  On 7/14/2015 at 10:37 PM, very honest said:

and the new orion space craft is supposed to be taking a boulder from an asteroid at some point. maybe someone will send something to check out that bright light recently found on ceres? a chunk of diamond the size of a city maybe?

btw: i thought it would take months to download the hi res images, but you're saying it could be as quick as tomorrow? damn- wireless connection has really improved these days if it takes a mere 48hrs to get hi res data from pluto to earth. that's elevates the situation to god like baller levels

  On 7/14/2015 at 10:19 PM, Braintree said:

 

  On 7/14/2015 at 4:23 PM, zkreso said:

That thing is moving 14 km/s? Holy shit. That's more than 40 times the speed of sound.

 

I believe that's roughly two and a half times the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 340.29 m/s (34.029 km/s).

 

no, zkreso is correct. 1 km = 1000 m, so 14000 / 340.29 = 41.1413794

  On 7/14/2015 at 6:44 PM, Goiter Sanchez said:

Getting your remains transported to the planet you discovered = Most IDM 2015

omg pls