Pluto

originally posted by: alienjuggalo

originally posted by: eriktheawful
First images of the close fly by will be released today at 3pm EDT.

They are expecting to post them here on Space.com, here's the link:

Amazing Flyby Images To Be Unveiled Today

From your link.

The completion of that task may not mark the end of the spacecraft's work, either: Stern and other New Horizon team members have said they want to fly by another object in the faraway Kuiper Belt, the realm of icy bodies beyond Neptune's orbit. This second flyby would likely take place in 2019, if NASA approves and funds the extended mission.

What other object?

They are considering two, but the names escape me at the moment. I think it was going to depend on trajectory when it finally passed Pluto.

No craters found yet on pluto!!.

The first High Res picture of Pluto they showed, location is at the bottom of the "Heart" region.



Mountains in the pic are estimated at 11,000 feet high, and most likely made of a lot of water ice.

Stunning!

a reply to: eriktheawful



And what's the deal with that pic of Charon?! It looks like an entire ring has been gouged out of it. Soooo cool. . .

www.nasa.gov...

I guess all recent Pluto threads on ATS will be overflowing with the newest images, but I've posted some in the "Watch" thread: www.abovetopsecret.com...

History-making stuff indeed. It was cool to learn that they haven't found any impact craters, but found mountains and other signs of activity - both on Pluto and on Charon.

Looks like scientists have no idea what they're looking at. I find it particularly interesting that Pluto is being called 'active,' with mountains, erosion, and resurfacing. Charon may also have geologic activity and has a surface much younger than anticipated. Wouldn't be surprised if we have to completely revamp our understanding of geology and thermodynamics.

WOW!!!!!!!




Yay!

Charon Is just as fascinating as Pluto. I fully expected a heavily cratered chunk of dirty ices looking much like the far side of the moon. Also, the equatorial 'feature' appears similar to Valles Marineris on Mars.

As Jaffo just said:

"And what's the deal with that pic of Charon?! It looks like an entire ring has been gouged out of it. Soooo cool. . . "

I totally agree - weird stuff indeed.

Wow....I was just showing my youngest son the pictures, and then I went back to this one to show him the difference:

Hubble's computer enhanced image of Pluto:



Then it hit me! The heart region and the dark areas! You can see it in the above image!



Just too cool!

Wow what an amazing picture. Space is so vast and has so many wonderful things to explore. I hope in my lifetime I get to see more of it.
I can't wait to see more.

a reply to: eriktheawful

You're right. That's a really cool find, and really show how image enhancements (and patience) can reveal what isn't immediately obvious. It also makes an interesting test case for exoplanet imagery!

Edit to add: NASA really must point new horizons cameras back at Earth for many images over several days and see how well they can reconstruct Earth from that distance, similar to the way Hubble imaged Pluto.

originally posted by: Septimus
Looks like scientists have no idea what they're looking at. I find it particularly interesting that Pluto is being called 'active,' with mountains, erosion, and resurfacing. Charon may also have geologic activity and has a surface much younger than anticipated. Wouldn't be surprised if we have to completely revamp our understanding of geology and thermodynamics.

I don't think the data from Pluto will make us completely revamp geology and thermodynamics, but we may need to revamp how we think a planetary body reacts to geology and thermodynamics -- e.g., the speed at which a planetary body cools after formation, and/or potential mechanisms for internal heating, such as radioactive material decay.

For example, the fact that the Jovian Moons such as Io and Europa were surprisingly active and dynamic places rather than cold dead moons did not completely revamp our understanding of geology and thermodynamics (even though many researchers were shocked by the findings), but instead we learned in what other ways our understanding of geology and thermodynamics could be applied to those moons.

a reply to: zazzafrazz
Well, now we know that Pluto is a girl.

Maybe a name change, Pluta?

a reply to: Thorneblood

?

a reply to: Chadwickus

11,000 foot mountains made of water ice!

This short video seems pertinent to your thread.



Also here is a picture of Charon, apparently Nasa says it has seen possible evidence of geological activity.

originally posted by: chrisss

originally posted by: Chadwickus
a reply to: chrisss

After Pluto it's heading to the Kuiper Belt to explore a handful of planetoids there too..

Why? To satisfy the curiosity of a handful of people?

Well, without curiosity of a handful of people, the US wouldn't have excisted...... Along with alot of many other countries etc. Exploring and expanding is what the human race is does best!

originally posted by: zazzafrazz

WOW!!!!!!!

I think one of the most interesting things about that picture of the 11,000 foot mountains is the fact that the surface around them is not cratered -- which would lead one to think that Pluto (at least in that area) has had relatively recent geologic activity, considering that the surface looks relatively young.

...And when I say "relatively recent", I simply mean more recent than the geological processes present when it was still hot after forming 4.5 billion years ago.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That's what they said about that image at the conference. They are suggesting that area's surface is most likely under 100 million years old, mainly due to the lack of craters.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

That's what they said about that image at the conference. They are suggesting that area's surface is most likely under 100 million years old, mainly due to the lack of craters.

Yes. I should have said "as mentioned in the news conference...".

I'm not that smart to have figured that out myself.

a reply to: zazzafrazz

Pluto appears to have an innie in that new high res pic.