Hello, Pluto! NASA Spacecraft Makes Historic Dwarf Planet Flyby

http://news.yahoo.com/hello-pluto-nasa-spacecraft-makes-historic-dwarf-planet-115557846.html ^ | July 14 '15 | Mike Wall

[Pluto is NOT a Planet]

My screen name says it all.

[Old Sarge]

Pluto.
Dwarf.
Launched from Florida.

This has Disney written all over it...

[MNDude]

too bad they’ll never know what those black spots are since they’re on the other side now.

[Vince Ferrer]

I haven't read all about this mission in detail, but I am interested in the camera the probe has. At that distance the sun is not much more than a bright star and photography would be difficult. I remember that the Voyager probe’s instruments were optimized for Jupiter, and had to be reprogrammed before it flew by Uranus, specifically due to issues with less sunlight available.

[RIghtwardHo]

Epic!

[navyguy]

Did you notice how the black spots were all huddled together, segregated from the rest of the lightly colored planet.

That’s right... Pluto is a huge racist.

Yeah, I said it.

[PapaBear3625]

too bad they’ll never know what those black spots are since they’re on the other side now.

They said that they had timed the flyby for when Pluto's biggest moon was in a position where it could reflect some light so as to illuminate the night side. How much light? Not much. We will see if we got anything somewhere in the next few months as they download all the data and images.

[Skooz]

[NonValueAdded]

“Mickey Mouse’s dog is gay???” /obscure

[mrsmith]

Looking forward to seeing the pics which are supposed to be released today.
Hope it doesn’t take them too long to erase the alien bases...

[alexander_busek]

At that distance the sun is not much more than a bright star and photography would be difficult.

Given Pluto's mean distance of 39 A.U. from the Sun, Pluto receives only about 1500th (1 / 39 squared) as much light per square centimeter as the Earth (with is, by definition, 1 A.U. from the Sun). Nevertheless, the Sun is still much, much more than just a "bright star" as seen from Pluto. In fact, it would outclass every other celestial body in Pluto's sky. Even at aphelion (i.e., when farthest from the Sun, at a distance of 7.3 billion km), the Sun in Pluto's sky is still 150 times brighter than the Earth's full Moon as viewed from the Earth.

As far as the camera on board New Horizons - it is capable of discerning details on the NIGHT-side of Pluto lit only by sunlight reflected from Charon.

Regards,

[cripplecreek]

New Horizons instrumentation.

LORRI Long range reconnaissance imager telescopic camera. It provides high res geologic images.

RALPH Visible and infrared imager/spectrometer provides color composition and thermal maps

ALICE ultraviolet imaging spectrometer analyzes Pluto’s atmospheric structure

REX radio science experiment measures atmospheric composition and temperature. Passive radiometer.

[cicero2k]

As far as the camera on board New Horizons - it is capable of discerning details on the NIGHT-side of Pluto lit only by sunlight reflected from Charon.

If Charon is reflective, i.e. white, that amount of light should be significant to show Pluto night side details, given the sensitivity of the detectors this probe is carrying.

[al baby]

Do you know what they call a traffic jamb in watts ? A blood clot

[dangus]

Fleas?

[navyguy]

LOL! There’s actually some truth to that!

[Shark24]

You forgot to mention the dozen Sylvania Blue Dot flashbulbs the New Horizons is carrying to use at the fly by. Of course not many people know this. :)

[SkyDancer]

And how soon will 0bama make a press announcement claiming credit?

[Textide]

[Textide]

I read a disgusting article this morning that had a line it to the effect of: “Exploration of the planets started with Kennedy, and now is completed under President Obama.”