(NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.)
Posted on 02/18/2015 1:24:13 PM PST by BenLurkin
It's not exactly a clean shot, but it's certainly a timely one: 85 years to the day after Pluto's discovery, NASA has released fresh images from New Horizons that show two of its smaller moons. The long-exposure images, which were taken between Jan. 27 and Feb. 8 from a distance of 125 to 115 million miles, show Hydra and Nix -- moons too small to show up in previous shots.
Hydra is enclosed in a yellow diamond with Nix in orange. The image on the right has been specially processed to reduce the center glare, a result of the over-exposure of Pluto and its tidally-locked (and largest) moon Charon.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Does that mean it can be a real planet again?
It’s just not fair that a demoted planet has three moons and we have only one. I’ll bet Obama can do something about that.
They don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Genuine Saturday cartoons that were shown once upon a time.
I am super excited about this mission - probably the last great exploration mission by the US, unfortunately. This spring and summer should have some awesome science.
It is just stupid that we tax and squander so much money on deadbeats and the lazy, rather than fund activities like space, which would generate true high end jobs, further science, and lead to spin off technology.
Yeah, Obama will get us demoted. History of geocentrism, you know.
I always think of that specific cartoon with I see “Pluto.”
85 years to the day after Pluto's discovery, NASA has released fresh images from New Horizons that show two of its smaller moons.Last planet to get probed! Yeah! And, just in case you'd wondered where I stand:
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"To Pluto And Far Beyond" By David H. Levy, Parade, January 15, 2006 -- We don't have a dictionary definition yet that includes all the contingencies. In the wake of the new discovery, however, the International Astronomical Union has set up a group to develop a workable definition of planet. For our part, in consultation with several experienced planetary astronomers, Parade offers this definition: A planet is a body large enough that, when it formed, it condensed under its own gravity to be shaped like a sphere. It orbits a star directly and is not a moon of another planet. |
Cool! Nine years down, five months to go!
MD
How many planets —? —12 at least that what the Ancient Babylonians believed. Its why we have 12 signs of the Zodiac.
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