New Horizons Sights Tiny Pluto Moon As Spacecraft Races Toward Dwarf Planet

universetoday.com ^ | September 15, 2014 | Elizabeth Howell on

[BenLurkin]

Here’s Hydra! The New Horizons team spotted the tiny moon of Pluto in July, about six months ahead of when they expected to. You can check it out in the images below. The find is exciting in itself, but it also bodes well for the spacecraft’s search for orbital debris to prepare for its close encounter with the system in July 2015.

Most of Pluto’s moons were discovered while New Horizons was under development, or already on its way. Mission planners are thus concerned that there could be moons out there that aren’t discovered yet — moons that could pose a danger to the spacecraft if it ended up in the wrong spot at the wrong time. That’s why the team is engaging in long-range views to see what else is lurking in Pluto’s vicinity.

“We’re thrilled to see it, because it shows that our satellite-search techniques work, and that our camera is operating superbly. But it’s also exciting just to see a third member of the Pluto system come into view, as proof that we’re almost there,” stated science team member John Spencer, of the Southwest Research Institute.

[wideminded]

How can Pluto be less than a planet if it has a moon(s)?

1. Apparently there are asteroids that have moons.

2. Pluto is less than 70% the diameter of Earth's moon and has only 1/6 the mass of our moon. In contrast, Mercury at least has a mass 4 1/2 times that of our moon.

3. Pluto isn't even the biggest "dwarf planet" and there may be a very large number of these in the outer solar system.

4. The Wikipedia article on dwarf planets is interesting and covers some of the controversies surrounding the new classifications.

[free_life]

Pluto the kewl planet!

[minnesota_bound]

“Construction Shack” (1973), a short story by Clifford D. Simak. The first mission to Pluto uncovers evidence that the solar system was a huge alien engineering project. They messed up the asteroid belt. They was to be a planet there!

The lawsuit is still working it’s way thru the alien court system.....

Read the story here Approx 15 pages. Click on “html” and open in your web browser then go to File> Save as and save to your desktop:
http://alfalib.com/book/29862.html

[minnesota_bound]

#19 Pluto was never a planet.
Pluto is gonna be very angry with you!