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Time-Lapse of Pluto and Charon Produced By New Horizons
schwit1 writes: Cool images! Using New Horizons' long range camera, scientists have compiled a movie showing Charon and Pluto orbiting each other during the last week of January 2015. "Pluto and Charon were observed for an entire rotation of each body; a "day" on Pluto and Charon is 6.4 Earth days. The first of the images was taken when New Horizons was about 3 billion miles from Earth, but just 126 million miles (203 million kilometers) from Pluto — about 30% farther than Earth's distance from the Sun. The last frame came 6.5 days later, with New Horizons more than 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) closer." The wobble easily visible in Pluto's motion is due to the gravity of Charon, about one-eighth as massive as Pluto and about the size of Texas. Our view of Pluto and Charon is only going to get better as New Horizons zooms towards its July fly-by.
Still pretty far away
It makes sense when you're going to thecoldest planet in the solar system, to arrive in summer.
That's no moon!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
They should have gotten CSI on the job, need that zoom+enhance facility.
I'm waiting for the close in good stuff. Nothing there we can't see with a ground based telescope. Fuzzy dot, circling other fuzzy dot.
The problem of a lack of women in science has often been raised here, maybe they just don't care. I just showed these pictures to my girlfriend, pointing out that these were pictures from another world that was a staggering distance away from us. Her reaction? "So?" Sometimes I wonder why we bother.
One still notes that Charon isn't actually bigger than Texas, though it could be one of Chuck Norris' turds! Now we will find out for sure.
Thank you NASA. Thank you American taxpayer, this is one of the most inspiring things I've seen for a long time.
I wish NASA a long mission!!
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
... really consider putting something epic into the barycenter between Pluto and Charon, if only to prove that we can:
- An Eiffel Tower that goes both ways
- A retirement home for our old folks
- The ISS; the guys currently onboard would never see it coming. It would be hilarious.
- A big cube full of cyborgs
- A big blinking sign that would read: "There's nothing to see here, move along!" to discourage any potential alien invasion.
- A space station that looks like a moon, probably with lasers
(obligatory Ep.IV quote... parenthetical added since last time some people though this was a dissertation in planetary astronomy)
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
It makes me wish they had taken (or would publish) more than a mere 7 frames. At only 1 frame per day, it reminds me more of a stop-motion than time-lapse.
It's really amazing to see that visible wobble.
It makes me wonder if there are any available time lapses of the Earth-Moon system from a comparable vantage point? And would they show a much smaller but still faintly perceptible wobble in the Earth?
There are two kinds of people: 1) those who start arrays with one and 1) those who start them with zero.
So what strikes me is that the orbit or Charon looks nearly circular (allowing for the wobble and all). Is this because Charon's orbit is actually at near 90 degrees to the solar ecliptic or is it that New Horizons is just very far above or below said ecliptic? I would not have expected to see such an orbit if NH was near the plane of the solar ecliptic. I would have expected Charon to be eclipsed by Pluto or some other edge-on orbit effect.
So, what's Mass Effect 4 going to do when the premise that Charon is actually a "mass relay" is no longer usable for suspension of disbelief? =^-^=
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
the IAU should grant Pluto a once-in-the-universe exception to the definition of 'planet'
it's perfect for kids...
why?
because Pluto technically isn't a planet even though historically it is known as one of the planets
why isn't it a planet?
see...it's just a big excuse to talk about astronomy
put an asterisk by it in the textbooks
the IAU could bolster its reputation by doing this as well
Thank you Dave Raggett
Just saying.
Chuck Norris is a religious nut, can we please stop these jokes about how tough he is. He has no sense of humor and actively sues people using his memes on joke products.
Yep, I see what you mean. He's a bit of a jerk.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.