[DISCUSSION THREAD] [Updates] Space probe reaches Pluto!

[arus2001]

I got a chuckle out of this image that popped up in my Twitter feed:

[BaneTheBrawler]

It's the Pluto Plateau, of Pluto!

[Outlaw]

People should know those pictures were from when the spacecraft was still far away. I don't remember how many thousands of miles right now. They will release the higher resolution ones from the flyby tomorrow. And I don't know why my [strike] command didn't work in the title change.

[Jaxzer]

I wonder who will go as Pluto for Halloween.

[Vaspinne]

People should know those pictures were from when the spacecraft was still far away. I don't remember how many thousands of miles right now. They will release the higher resolution ones from the flyby tomorrow. And I don't know why my [strike] command didn't work in the title change.

They released the first higher resolution image

Spoiler: show

[TummieGaruda]

Press conference at 12pm PDT today to reveal images. There will be a live webcast here: http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-tele...-space-tv.html

[TsingTao]

Thanks for the link. I shall post a sign on my cube that says "GO AWAY, LOOKING AT PLUTO!" in a vain attempt to see it live.

[TummieGaruda]

Going through all the planet portraits now.

[TummieGaruda]

Pluto's Moon Charon



Higher res image found here

150 Mile image of the southern area of Pluto



Higher res image found here

They will be stitching together the full mosaic and release a full image later.

[TsingTao]

It's gonna be fun watching as everything comes back over the next couple months. That mosaic snippet is fantastic.

[Vaspinne]

Fun fact, that dark spot on the northern part of the Charon moon they named "Mordor" lol

Edit:
NASA ‏@NASA 9m9 minutes ago
NEW: Pluto’s largest moon Charon has youthful terrain & dark area nicknamed 'Mordor' in north: http://go.nasa.gov/1CEz6EL

[BaneTheBrawler]

now how the fuck is elijah wood supposed to get there

[TsingTao]

Well he damn sure isn't walking...

[synistar]

Eagles with FTL engines. They will call them Hawking Eagles.

[Mythe_Seraph]

[Aksannyi]

Missed this thread yesterday but dammit, this is so fucking cool. The fact that we are able to see Pluto with this much clarity now as opposed to even a few years ago. Technology and science blow my mind.

[Churchill]

Well the technology used in that picture is 9 years old, so the clarity from a few years ago would technically be a lot better than what they are using today.

[TummieGaruda]

Well the technology used in that picture is 9 years old, so the clarity from a few years ago would technically be a lot better than what they are using today.

The New Horizons spacecraft is using the same CPU as the original Playstation (MIPS R3000), so some of the tech is much older. NASA prefers to use tried and tested technology over newer stuff because it lowers the probability of something going wrong.

[TummieGaruda]

More photos are being released in a little under two hours:

http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-tele...-space-tv.html

[Necronus]

With this mission revitalizing many peoples, myself included, interest in space missions (or more accurately the amount of actual attention we're giving them) I decided to check on Cassini and its 2015 timetable and I saw a flyby that caught my attention. On Oct 28th of this year, Cassini is going to skim Enceladus' surface a mere 30 miles over head past its cryovolcanos when they are most active in order to get more accurate readings of their composition. I dunno about you guys, but that's going into my phone as an alert in case I forget by then.

Edit: For people, like myself, who've never seen pictures of the Enceladus cryovolcanos, here's pictures of what they wanna fly through: