New Horizons Pluto probe nearing its target

[Channel Hopper]

At least we know it's going in the right direction

That blob could be anything, a fly on the windscreen would look blurred.

 

[Channel Hopper]

A timeline of the flyby.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/what-new-horizons-will-see-and-when-060220155/

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hubble confirms it still has something to give.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33005898

The Magellan super scope may beat it in the long run though, if pollution levels don't increase.

The "adaptive optics" of which Dr McCarthy speaks is really now a must-have in modern astronomy.

Such systems counter the "twinkling" of stars and other astrophysical phenomena caused by their light passing through Earth's turbulent atmosphere.

By manipulating flexible secondary mirrors, it is possible to subtract this effect based on information gleaned from artificial stars projected on to the sky by lasers.

This approach, together with its great aperture size, should enable the GMT to capture images that are 10 times sharper than those from the Hubble Space Telescope.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32984957

 

[Terryl]

That blob could be anything, a fly on the windscreen would look blurred.

Not if it stops at "Bob's gas and Go" at the "Lookie that one" cross roads, they clean windows, and they have the best high octane liquid hydrogen fuel around, fill up your fusion drive and they give green stamps.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Not if it stops at "Bob's gas and Go" at the "Lookie that one" cross roads, they clean windows, and they have the best high octane liquid hydrogen fuel around, fill up your fusion drive and they give green stamps.

We have Romanian cleaners at crossings/stop signs(always dressed in female garb for some reason, despite their moustaches) around here.
Trouble is, the fluids they use is always darker than the stuff cleaned off the screen. Then they ask for some tokens in a foreign lingo, and all I have in the glove compartment is Sterling.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Windscreen now cleared of bugs, and what looks like a canal on the surface.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/06091643-an-enigmatic-line-across-pluto.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

Promo video fron the NSS

and their link

http://seeplutonow.com/

 

[Channel Hopper]

Images now in 'true' colour.

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-and-its-moon-charon-now-in-color

 

[Channel Hopper]

Now well under 20 million miles away (the probe is travelling at a million miles a day) and Pluto's moon Charon is found to have a dark 'South' pole.

http://astronomynow.com/2015/06/24/...se-approach-hemisphere-and-charons-dark-pole/

I've also learnt a new word today, deconvolved (or is that photoshopped ?)

 

[Channel Hopper]

And even though Pluto can be seen through dead ahead, New Horizons may still miss its target.

Because astronomers discovered the dwarf planet in 1930, they have seen only part of its 248-year path around the Sun, and they don’t know exactly where Pluto is. And New Horizons is so far from Earth that it takes 9 hours to send and receive a signal, making the spacecraft hard to direct in real time.

http://www.nature.com/news/pluto-bound-probe-faces-its-toughest-task-finding-pluto-1.17811

 

[Channel Hopper]

Methane detected on pluto

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/6...on-confirms-detection-of-methane-on-pluto.htm

The spacecraft is now less than 11 miles away from its destination. Hmmmm.

Last course manouevres and foil hat on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33348459

 

[Channel Hopper]

Glass half full journalism

http://www.space.com/29812-find-pluto-night-sky.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

Four blobs discovered, could be more flies on the windscreen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33369045

 

[Channel Hopper]

http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1435148079725/20150620-AMX-PLUTO202.pdf

 

[Channel Hopper]

Oh dear.

The New Horizons spacecraft experienced an anomaly the afternoon of July 4 that led to a loss of communication with Earth. Communication has since been reestablished and the spacecraft is healthy.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/07042044-new-horizons-enters-safe-mode.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

Quail's egg.

http://www.space.com/29884-pluto-heart-new-horizons-photo.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

And Pluto looks perfectly spherical, which is nice.

The probe's difficulty is getting all that information back to Earth. The distance to the dwarf is vast - more than 4.7 billion km - and this makes for very low bit rates.

The mission team expects it to take 16 months to return all the science to be acquired over the coming week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33491454

 

[Channel Hopper]

and the last time this side of Pluto will be seen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33496883

I do hope they change the direction of the probe soon, each image of the planet to date has been smack in the middle.

 

[Channel Hopper]

An hour long programme next week

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0638ysn

 

[Channel Hopper]

What went wrong last week

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...o-13-moment-on-the-way-to-pluto-10382365.html