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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Pluto in True Color
NASA ^ | 28 Jan, 2024 | Image Credit: NASA, JHU APL, SwRI; Processing: Alex Parker

Posted on 01/28/2024 11:26:23 AM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: What color is Pluto, really? It took some effort to figure out. Even given all of the images sent back to Earth when the robotic New Horizons spacecraft sped past Pluto in 2015, processing these multi-spectral frames to approximate what the human eye would see was challenging. The result featured here, released three years after the raw data was acquired by New Horizons, is the highest resolution true color image of Pluto ever taken. Visible in the image is the light-colored, heart-shaped, Tombaugh Regio, with the unexpectedly smooth Sputnik Planitia, made of frozen nitrogen, filling its western lobe. New Horizons found the dwarf planet to have a surprisingly complex surface composed of many regions having perceptibly different hues. In total, though, Pluto is mostly brown, with much of its muted color originating from small amounts of surface methane energized by ultraviolet light from the Sun.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa; pluto
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To: Empire_of_Liberty

Not really. Brown dwarfs, between 13 and about 75 Jupiter masses fuse deuterium in their cores, however. There is an idea that U-235 is reacting in earth’s core providing some of its internal heat. I don’t know how valid that idea is, though.


21 posted on 01/28/2024 12:46:41 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Telepathic Intruder

Gabon reactor...


22 posted on 01/28/2024 1:05:23 PM PST by null and void (I identify as a conspiracy theorist. My personal pronouns are told/you/so.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew
I often enjoy these Astronomy Picture of the Day. It almost has me working toward a Gastronomy Picture of the Day, too.

You should do it.

23 posted on 01/28/2024 1:16:53 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: MtnClimber

“Pluto - in Color!!”

…yeah… it’s still gray..


24 posted on 01/28/2024 1:37:37 PM PST by joethedrummer (We can't vote our way out of this, folks..)
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To: joethedrummer

25 posted on 01/28/2024 2:03:39 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: MtnClimber

If only I were not engaged in other work! If only my culinary expertise extended beyond french toast and hot dogs! If only I were not so lazy otherwise!


26 posted on 01/28/2024 2:30:22 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew (In a world of parrots and lemmings, be a watchdog.)
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To: MtnClimber; Caipirabob

27 posted on 01/28/2024 4:16:24 PM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: MtnClimber

28 posted on 01/28/2024 4:47:10 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: MtnClimber

29 posted on 01/28/2024 5:49:26 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

What does Pluto do with all of the idle time now that it is not busy being a planet?


30 posted on 01/28/2024 6:23:02 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: MtnClimber

Sure looks like a planet to me.


31 posted on 01/28/2024 7:49:34 PM PST by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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To: Empire_of_Liberty
I don’t see anything that suggests that Eris has traveled from another star, following your link.

Your original statement ("My belief is that nothing of Pluto’s size crosses the void between stars.") was ambiguous. Someone can, e.g., cross the Golden Gate Bridge by walking 5 yards, from the Bay side to the Pacific Ocean side. Viewed from Earth, Eris could be said, in a poetic fashion, to "cross the void." One possible interpretation of your statement is thus that you believed there were no other celestial bodies still in orbit around our Sun that were comparable to Pluto in size, yet beyond Pluto's orbit. I was responding to that possible interpretation. On the other hand, it would be absolutely ridiculous, in this context, to speculate about Pluto-sized bodies, now in orbit around our Sun, that might currently be traveling interstellar distances (i.e., nothing in the article suggested that).

Your post was so confusing and mixed-up that it would probably have been better if I had not responded at all.

Regards,

32 posted on 01/28/2024 10:48:11 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Telepathic Intruder
There is an idea that U-235 is reacting in earth’s core providing some of its internal heat. I don’t know how valid that idea is, though.

Besides the residual heat of formation and the continued heat generated by the Earth's continued contraction (so-called "primordial heat"), the slow decay of radioactive nuclides (so-called "radiogenic heat") both contribute (in roughly equal proportions) to the Earth's internal heat budget, estimated at 47±2 terawatts (TW).

Tidal forces (resulting in friction and, thus, heat) also make a contribution, though I don't know off hand how this heat is classified (it certainly isn't "radiogenic heat," but then it really isn't "primordial heat," either - I suppose that it should be classified as "external heat," together with the 173,000 TW of incoming solar radiation).

U-235 is just a single radionuclide. There are many other naturally occurring radionuclides that make significant contributions to the Earth's internal heat budget.

Regards,

33 posted on 01/28/2024 11:07:05 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Empire_of_Liberty
Is there a term for a Sun-like body large enough to be fusing Uranium [...] ?

Yes, it's called an impossibility.

Uranium does not "fuse" - it is, however, "fissile," i.e., can be made to "fission" (through neutron bombardment - in, say, a nuclear reactor or in an atomic bomb).

It also can decay naturally, with a half-life of about 700 million years.

Generally speaking: Atoms lighter than iron can fuse (with a net release of energy), and atoms heavier than iron can be made to fission (with a net release of energy).

Fusing atoms heavier than iron will generally require a net input of energy.

Regards,

34 posted on 01/28/2024 11:14:13 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: alexander_busek

Yes. I think it would be best if you do not post to me in the future, on anything.

I will do likewise.


35 posted on 01/29/2024 4:18:31 AM PST by Empire_of_Liberty
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To: alexander_busek

I like your tag line, by the way. It’s my favorite catch phrase when dealing with conspiracy theories. I do believe there are conspiracies, I just don’t believe in mass conspiracies. Ones involving thousands or millions of people.


36 posted on 01/29/2024 1:02:41 PM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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