New Horizons Mission - Pluto + Charon Encounter


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BetaguyGZT and Draggendrop, thanks for being so passionate about all this, thanks for all the links and info!  :D
 

 

I think it's childish to claim Pluto is a planet, simply because people like it.

if Pluto is a planet, then what about all the other bodies in our system that are similar to Pluto? We're either a solar system of 8 planets, or 13+ planets (And that's ignoring the problem with Charon)

 

Why is a tomato considered to be a vegetable, when it is in fact a fruit? Simple: Tradition.

Traditionally Pluto has always been a planet and nobody had a problem with that until 2006.

 

It all comes down to opinions and we may never agree... Palestine is or isn't a country, Han did or did not shoot first, etc. Cheers!

 

Can't wait for the close up photos of Pluto!  :woot:

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The what about Eris? Or Charon (Or Makemake, or Haumea, or Ceres, etc.) We can't say Pluto is a planet "just because", then reject other similar bodies.

Eris is most likely bigger than Pluto, if there's going to be a 9th planet it'd be that.

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Take that Neal DeGrasse Tyson !!

OK, I admit, I have no idea what Im talking about - just that he was one of the de-plantizing of Pluto


On a side note, I had no idea Ball had an aerospace division, I always thought they were a bottling company blew a certain PET beverage bottle without paying the licensing fees to a certain company that owned the patent :whistle:

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What really needs to happen is a solid planetary classification system being put into place like stars have. Something that everyone can live with.

 

Right now we don't have enough information on the varieties of planets to put that classification system into practice, imho.

 

*shrug*

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A hint of surface features....

 

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An annotated version of an image of Pluto captured July 11 by New Horizons

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General Pluto Info...

 

Pluto's Shadow Capture, 29 June 2015

 

 

We are in SOFIA, a converted Boeing 747SP that is the largest airborne observatory in the world. The re-fitters have clearly been busy: gone are the familiar rows of airline seats and overhead bins, ripped out to make room for a multitude of computer monitors

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New Horizons general data

 

 

 

Due to the operational needs of the spacecraft in the outer reaches of the solar system, scientists and engineers built New Horizons for limited electronic activity during its short time in the inner solar system and designed interior paint and exterior thermal blanket positions to maximize heat retention in the outer solar system.

Furthermore, because of the distances from the Sun at which New Horizons

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The what about Eris? Or Charon (Or Makemake, or Haumea, or Ceres, etc.) We can't say Pluto is a planet "just because", then reject other similar bodies.

Eris is most likely bigger than Pluto, if there's going to be a 9th planet it'd be that.

What is more important - what about Sedna? And Quaoar, Orcus or 2007 OR10?

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ooops....tired and forgot to add RTG data and 2 photo's that I meant to add to above posts....

 

The RTG is shown as the finned black cylindrical protrusion out the side of New Horizons...the power plant...

 

 

A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG, RITEG) is an electrical generator that uses an array of thermocouples to convert the heat released by the decay of a suitable radioactive material into electricity by the Seebeck effect. An RTG has no moving parts.

RTGs have been used as power sources in satellites, space probes, and unmanned remote facilities such as a series of lighthouses built by the former Soviet Union inside the Arctic Circle. RTGs are usually the most desirable power source for unmaintained situations that need a few hundred watts (or less) of power for durations too long for fuel cells, batteries, or generators to provide economically, and in places where solar cells are not practical. Safe use of RTGs requires containment of the radioisotopes long after the productive life of the unit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator#Criteria_for_selection_of_isotopes

Sample RTG from Cassinni

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Seebeck Effect

 

 

The Seebeck effect is the conversion of temperature differences directly into electricity and is named after the Baltic German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck. Seebeck, in 1821, discovered that a compass needle would be deflected by a closed loop formed by two different metals joined in two places, with a temperature difference between the junctions. This was because the metals responded to the temperature difference in different ways, creating a current loop and a magnetic field. Seebeck did not recognize there was an electric current involved, so he called the phenomenon the thermomagnetic effect. Danish physicist Hans Christian

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I can't wait for the coming months when we get the compiled high-res shots. Regardless, the rough pictures from the nav-camera on New Horizons are definitely awesome, in the truest sense of the word.

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All JHU/Pluto Mission Broadcasts (including 12/7/2015 and 13/7/2015) ... worth a watch! :yes:

 

And if you check out the Flyby Track, you'll notice that New Horizons appears to pass below the South Pole of Pluto. Not sure why the graphic appears this way, as the missions planners clearly stated that the craft would pass above the North Pole of Pluto.

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...

...basically blame Eris (and Haumea, Ceres, Makemake and I'm sure others).  They did give a nod to it though by designating dwarf planets outside the orbit of Neptune "Plutoids".

 

If anything, I would like for the IAU to designate Pluto and Charon as a binary plutoid system.

 

...and Pluto really doesn't care.  It is out there just chillin.

Yeah, Pluto and Charon are more interesting than a plain planet and moon, we should recognize it for what it is, not just continue to claim it's a planet.

 

What is more important - what about Sedna? And Quaoar, Orcus or 2007 OR10?

And yep, we need a ruling on those, and the other bodies. We need better measurements for a lot of them though :laugh:

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Couple of new bits of info...

 

Refinement of dimensions...

 

New Horizons' latest views of Pluto have shown the dwarf planet to be 1,473 miles (2,370 kilometers) across, making it the largest body in the icy Kuiper Belt at the edge of the solar system. The observations also confirmed the presence of a polar ice cap on Pluto, and measured three of the dwarf planet's moons.

 

 

As New Horizons closes in, the spacecraft made the most precise measurements to date of Pluto's size using methods similar to those employed by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. The new diameter of the dwarf planet makes it larger than fellow Kuiper Belt denizen Eris, which is 1,445 miles (2,326 km) in diameter.

Previous estimates for the size of Pluto had put its radius at 1,430 miles (2,301 km). But Pluto now stands as the undisputed king of the Kuiper Belt.

"This settles the debate about the largest object in the Kuiper Belt," Stern said.

 

In addition to refining Pluto's size, New Horizons also measured three of the dwarf planet's five known moons. The spacecraft's observations of Charon, the largest, confirm measurements made from Earth of 751 miles (1,208 km). Nix is about 20 miles (35 km) wide, while Hydra turns out to be approximately 30 miles (45 km) in diameter.

http://www.space.com/29924-pluto-larger-than-thought-nasa-flyby.html

 

Few Extra's

 

 

Besides the revised size of Pluto

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Interesting to hear how they transmit data back and the prioritys to each part the compressed data is coming first and the uncompreed amazingly will take up to 16 months to complete.I noted that the data is transmitted back from the probe several times for each data set and that NASA doesnt know if its picked up from part way through until the cycle completes I guess this is all down to ensuring data correction and also not being able to communicate in any significant real time with the craft.

 

Another fact spoken of was the data speed one guest suggested it was a 56kbps connection but the board member replied "I wished it was but that at 10 degees above horizon it is only1000 bps and overhead peaks at around 10,000bps" so all in all a very slow connection if you also allow for data correction and error checking.

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