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Lifting the Veil On Pluto's Atmosphere

Posted by Soulskill on from the final-frontier dept.

New submitter Pedro Braganca sends an update on the New Horizons mission to Pluto, now less than four days to closest approach. While we're waiting, NASA has published the best images of Pluto and Charon yet seen. We're starting to be able to make out surface details: A high-contrast array of bright and dark features covers Pluto's surface, while on Charon, only a dark polar region interrupts a generally more uniform light gray terrain. The reddish materials that color Pluto are absent on Charon. Pluto has a significant atmosphere; Charon does not. On Pluto, exotic ices like frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide have been found, while Charon's surface is made of frozen water and ammonia compounds. The interior of Pluto is mostly rock, while Charon contains equal measures of rock and water ice. A countdown to closest approach is present on the New Horizons mission page, as well as the raw image feed.

9 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Frozen by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Charon is about 750 miles (1200 kilometers) across, about half the diameter of Pluto—making it the solar system’s largest moon relative to its planet.

    Sounds like someone at NASA is still not over Pluto not being a planet. Let it go... let it go...

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    1. Re:Frozen by turkeydance · · Score: 5, Funny

      but, but, Pluto identifies as a planet.

    2. Re:Frozen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Well Charon isn't a moon anyway. Since the center of gravity between the two isn't within Pluto (or Charon), it isn't a moon. So NASA, of all people, got that wrong too.

    3. Re:Frozen by myowntrueself · · Score: 5, Funny

      but, but, Pluto identifies as a planet.

      Are you saying that Pluto is a trans-planet?

      Maybe it can get some cosmetic surgery, oops sorry 'planetary status reassignment surgery'.

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  2. Re:Flyby or Orbt? by tomhath · · Score: 3, Informative

    A Delta V wouldn't have anywhere near the energy needed to slow it down enough for orbit. Remember that the rocket engine and fuel would be traveling at the same speed as the probe, that's a tremendous amount of kinetic energy.

  3. Not the fastest by sjbe · · Score: 3, Informative

    New Horizons is the fastest object ever launched.

    No it is not. Not even close to the fastest object we've ever launched. That honor goes to the Helios-A and Helios-B probes which traveled about 70km/s. Much faster than the 16km/s of New Horizons.

    1. Re:Not the fastest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Heliocentric velocities don't count. I should have said this:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons

      New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006, from Cape Canaveral, directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory with an Earth-relative speed of about 16.26 kilometers per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph); it set the record for the highest launch speed of a human-made object from Earth.

  4. Still not the fastest by sjbe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006, from Cape Canaveral, directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory with an Earth-relative speed of about 16.26 kilometers per second (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph); it set the record for the highest launch speed of a human-made object from Earth.

    Still probably not correct. I refer you to the manhole cover over the Pascal-B nuclear test. Basically we unintentionally (maybe?) made a nuclear powered potato canon. (which is AWESOME) The manhole cover was estimated to have been launched at 41,000mph - possibly being vaporized in the process.

  5. Re:Flyby or Orbt? by rasmusbr · · Score: 3, Informative

    The delta v relative to Pluto is 11 km/s, which is not a whole lot in and of itself. My understanding is that fuel boil-off during the 10 years of transit to Pluto makes it very difficult and expensive to bring along enough fuel for a retro burn to put a spacecraft into orbit around Pluto.

    It would have been pretty awesome to have an obiter that could zip around Pluto and Charon and do observations. Maybe next time.