Posted on 10/06/2015 1:16:13 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What would it look like to fly past Pluto? The robotic New Horizons spacecraft did just this in late July and continues to return stunning pictures of the dwarf planet. Some well-chosen flyby images have now been digitally sequenced to create the featured video. The animation begins by showing New Horizon's approach to the Pluto system, with Pluto and its largest moon Charon orbiting a common center of mass. As the spacecraft bears down on Pluto uniquely, surprising surface features are nearly resolved that, unfortunately, quickly rotate out of view. New Horizons then passes just above and near a large, fascinating, light-colored, heart-shaped, and unusually smooth region now known as Tombaugh Regio. The spacecraft then pivots to look back at Pluto's night side, seeing an encompassing atmospheric haze. Finally, Pluto fades away in a final sequence illustrated with the orbits of many of Pluto's smaller moons. Although humanity has no current plans to return to Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft may well be directed next to fly past an asteroid currently known only as 2014 MU69.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Video Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins U. APL, SwRI, Stuart Robbins]
for later:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/gHwnkEIfNgs/maxresdefault.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgzM-uV81YE
So cold, so far away.
I wonder if humans will be there some far future day, on some base, on some way-station, doing something we can scarcely contemplate today.
You mean like freezing their freakin' asses off?
I can contemplate.
good thing we weren’t flying past Uranus
I'm a complete idiot.
Sure looks bright for being so far from the Sun. Exposure settings?
Amen to that!
Where is the petition to promote Pluto back to planetary status?
You are right in point out atheist activist Neil Tyson’s role in demoting it.
Nevermind. Sign the petition here:
https://www.change.org/p/international-astronomical-union-declare-pluto-a-planet-plutoflyby
Cold outside; warm inside.
:’D
Massive Flash cube..... :)
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