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Dwarf Planet Ahoy! Spacecraft Spies Pluto and Charon

Posted by Soulskill on from the i'm-way-too-excited-for-this-probe-to-reach-pluto dept.

astroengine writes "As NASA's New Horizons probe powers through interplanetary space, it's keeping a careful eye forward, watching its target gradually loom larger on the proverbial celestial horizon. But earlier this month the spacecraft spotted something right next to Pluto — a pixelated Charon, the dwarf planet's largest moon. 'The image itself might not look very impressive to the untrained eye, but compared to the discovery images of Charon from Earth, these 'discovery' images from New Horizons look great!' said New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD. 'We're very excited to see Pluto and Charon as separate objects for the first time from New Horizons.'"

15 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Privacy by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Funny

    So the NSA isn't content with spying all over the earth, they now also spy on Pluto and Charon. No, I'm not going to let the extra A after the N fool me. ;-)

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  2. That's no moon by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    It's a space station.

    1. Re:That's no moon by oodaloop · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's impossible. It's too small to be a space station.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  3. Just goes to show by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    these 'discovery' images from New Horizons look great! [..] We're very excited to see Pluto and Charon as separate objects for the first time from New Horizons.

    Not everone gets a boner from the same things that give an astronomer one.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Just goes to show by icebike · · Score: 1

      True, especially when it is only going to get better if they can just keep their pants on (to extend the metaphor).

      This represents a major milestone on the spacecraft’s 9½-year journey to conduct the initial reconnaissance of the Pluto system

      A couple pixels worth of separation hardly seems all that significant against a flood of noise. Ring we when they get close enough to see surface detail on either
      Pluto or Charon or some of the larger objects in the Kuiper Belt.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  4. Don't tell the NSA by intermodal · · Score: 1

    They might find the lack of communications coming from those locations to indicate suspicious activity...

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    In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
  5. It is NOT powering through interplanetary space by Alain+Williams · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is drifting, continuing it's journey because of its momentum: launched on 19 January 2006 ... velocity of about 16.26 km/s after its last engine was shut down. OK: powering reads more dramatically, but is wrong.

    1. Re:It is NOT powering through interplanetary space by dmbasso · · Score: 2

      "power is the rate at which energy is transferred, used, or transformed." -- from Wikipedia

      [pedantic mode on]
      It is receiving energy from solar wind, transforming it to motion... therefore it is actually powering, even if at an insignificant rate.

      --
      `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
    2. Re:It is NOT powering through interplanetary space by peragrin · · Score: 2

      oh don't forget about internal heating. Internal heating has been slightly altering Voyager's trajectory for the last decade.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    3. Re:It is NOT powering through interplanetary space by Tim+the+Gecko · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile the Dawn probe is powering through space using its ion drive. It's scheduled to get to Ceres a few months before New Horizons flies past Pluto. Here's the current position, and there's also an interesting journal.

      As well as space probes seeing Pluto and Ceres, 2015 should be when the LHC is turned up to higher power, so it could be a good year for science news.

  6. Re:It's actually an egg in space! by BergZ · · Score: 1

    "Dwarf Planet" could be a cool name for a sci-fi sequel to "Dwarf Fortress".

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  7. "New Horizons" by RevWaldo · · Score: 1

    Greetings! We come in peace to offer you affordable health insurance, management consulting, and organic gluten-free pasta!

    .

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    Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
  8. Re:It's actually an egg in space! by kelarius · · Score: 1

    "Dwarf Planet" could be a cool name for a sci-fi sequel to "Dwarf Fortress".

    Yeah, and here's how it would go:
    You fire up the game and it immediately displays "Your settlers die a horrible death in a vacuum, wondering how the hell they got into space from their island"

    --
    Personally I'd rather have my idiots at home glued to the TV than out doing idiotic things
  9. Re:It's actually an egg in space! by tnk1 · · Score: 2

    You mean:

    Slaves to Armok, God of Blood
    Chapter III: Dwarf Planet

    There will be Space Elves and they will be even bigger jerks than the ones in Dwarf Fortress.

    Oh wait, they already wrote that game, it's called Warhammer 40K.

  10. Re:You all should be ashamed by xevioso · · Score: 2

    tl:dr