New Horizons Pluto flyby

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The space probe New Horizons is currently doing its closest flyby of Pluto! Just hours ago, the probe snapped this picture, which is the clearest photo of Pluto we've ever seen:

image.jpg


If you're an astronomy nut like me, this is very exciting!

More info here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33524589
 
Click to expand...
And to just think the only pics of Pluto we used to have were just blimps of light by the Hubble Space Telescope back in the early 2000s. Just look at how far we came with technology in recent years! This blows my mind on so many levels.
 
I still genuinely have trouble believing that the picture is real given how detailed it is. I guess I'm too used to blurry pictures of objects that far out in the solar system.

Also:

0W1fxNA.jpg
 
I was thinking of starting this thread myself but refrained from doing so as it might seem too geeky. I literally got chills from seeing the latest photos today. I've been heavily into astronomy since age 6. Pluto looks like nothing else, maybe a bit like Triton. Planet or not, it's fascinating that we finally get to see what it looks like.
 
Also, with the New Horizons flyby, humanity has now visited (through space probes, of course) every planet (including dwarf planets, such as Ceres) in the solar system. We've come so far in such little time. Back in 1915, who could have guessed that we would have expanded our reach so far beyond Earth in just 100 years?
 
Cosmos said:
The space probe New Horizons is currently doing its closest flyby of Pluto! Just hours ago, the probe snapped this picture, which is the clearest photo of Pluto we've ever seen:

View attachment 37392

If you're an astronomy nut like me, this is very exciting!

More info here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33524589
Click to expand...

Looks like a moldy orange. Still pretty awesome.

Apparently, we'll be downloading the data for the next 16 months at 2,000 bps. Bits per second. That reminds me of BBS days. I certainly hope they're using zmodem with crash recovery (of course 13 hours to resend a packet would be a bit of a pain)! Using kermit would be a real problem.
 
Cosmos said:
Also, with the New Horizons flyby, humanity has now visited (through space probes, of course) every planet (including dwarf planets, such as Ceres) in the solar system. We've come so far in such little time. Back in 1915, who could have guessed that we would have expanded our reach so far beyond Earth in just 100 years?
Click to expand...

Didn't we want to send someone to the moon by putting them in a giant cannon back in 1915???

Also:
CJ4ejHkUsAAEAnm.jpg


EDIT: Dad tells me it's 50 years to the day today that we got our first images of Mars.
 
Last edited:
  1. https://static.kiwifarms.net/data/avatars/s/0/1.jpg?1436649429 A moment agoNull:
    PLUTO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A BLUE ICE BALL
  2. https://static.kiwifarms.net/data/avatars/s/0/1.jpg?1436649429 A moment agoNull:
    FUCK THIS GAY EARTH
 
Pluto was my favorite planet when I was a kid (before those assholes at NASA changed their minds) and it was incredible to wake up to those pictures on the news this morning, I'd wanted to see what it looked like since I was about 7.

Now I think it's time to send a probe deep into Uranus and learn about it's different gasses.:lol:

Please forgive my terrible joke....
 
I'm hoping the fly by goes smoothly. Shit tends to happen and all it takes is one smallish rock and its game over.

I'm mostly interested in Hydra; is it part of the Pluto system or a capture?
 
ASoulMan said:
And to just think the only pics of Pluto we used to have were just blimps of light by the Hubble Space Telescope back in the early 2000s. Just look at how far we came with technology in recent years! This blows my mind on so many levels.
Click to expand...
I don't think that the technology came that far, the probe was launched in january 2006. The thing that matters most is proximity.
 
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