Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 1, 2015 #1 Share Posted July 1, 2015 New Horizons ‘Speeds Up’ on Final Approach to Pluto June 30, 2015With just two weeks to go before its historic July 14 flight past Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft tapped the accelerator late last night and tweaked its path toward the Pluto system. The 23-second thruster burst was the third and final planned targeting maneuver of New Horizons’ approach phase to Pluto; it was also the smallest of the nine course corrections since New Horizons launched in January 2006. It bumped the spacecraft’s velocity by just 27 centimeters per second – about one-half mile per hour – slightly adjusting its arrival time and position at a flyby close-approach target point approximately 7,750 miles (12,500 kilometers) above Pluto’s surface. Read more... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 1, 2015 Author #2 Share Posted July 1, 2015 New Horizons Update: Methane Detected; New Images of Pluto and Charon; Sunrise/Sunset Observations Yes, there is methane on Pluto, and, no, it doesn’t come from cows. The infrared spectrometer on NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has detected frozen methane on Pluto’s surface; Earth-based astronomers first observed the chemical compound on Pluto in 1976.“We already knew there was methane on Pluto, but these are our first detections,” said Will Grundy, the New Horizons Surface Composition team leader with the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Soon we will know if there are differences in the presence of methane ice from one part of Pluto to another.” Read more... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 2, 2015 Author #3 Share Posted July 2, 2015 NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft Stays the Course to Pluto July 1, 2015NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is getting a final "all clear" as it speeds closer to its historic July 14 flyby of Pluto and the dwarf planet's five moons. After seven weeks of detailed searches for dust clouds, rings, and other potential hazards, the New Horizons team has decided the spacecraft will remain on its original path through the Pluto system instead of making a late course correction to detour around any hazards. Because New Horizons is traveling at 30,800 mph (49,600 kph), a particle as small as a grain of rice could be lethal. Read more... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 2, 2015 Author #4 Share Posted July 2, 2015 New Horizons Color Images Reveal Two Distinct Faces of Pluto, Series of Spots that Fascinate July 1, 2015New color images from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft show two very different faces of the mysterious dwarf planet, one with a series of intriguing spots along the equator that are evenly spaced. Each of the spots is about 300 miles in diameter, with a surface area that's roughly the size of the state of Missouri. Read more... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzard Posted July 5, 2015 #5 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Cant wait for the HD close ups 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 6, 2015 Author #6 Share Posted July 6, 2015 The latest colour image of Pluto from New Horizons can be found HERE in the Exploring the Solar System section of the UM Space Exploration gallery. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 9, 2015 Author #7 Share Posted July 9, 2015 Another new colour image of Pluto from New Horizons can be found HERE. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted July 13, 2015 #8 Share Posted July 13, 2015 (edited) Here is our last, best look at Pluto's "far-side" for decades to come as NH heads for its historic closts point of approach (CPA) http://earthsky.org/...5295f-394012957 the four dark areas are in much more detail here. Taken on July 11, 2015 from 2.5 million miles away. Edited July 13, 2015 by Merc14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 14, 2015 Author #9 Share Posted July 14, 2015 The moment of closest encounter has passed. Congratulations NASA! Now we wait for the data to start reaching Earth. New Horizons is far too busy to contact Earth at the moment so it will be a while before we know if everything has gone well. It will take months to download all the data on-board but we should get a taste of what New Horizons saw in the next day or two. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 14, 2015 Author #10 Share Posted July 14, 2015 (edited) Unbelievable! After a voyage of nearly 10 years and 3 billion miles New Horizons arrived just 72 seconds earlier than predicted and just 70 miles from the predicted point. Newtonian physics is awesome! Edited July 14, 2015 by Waspie_Dwarf 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merc14 Posted July 14, 2015 #11 Share Posted July 14, 2015 (edited) Congrats NASA and JPL on another amazing accomplishment. New Horizons will collect so much data during this period that it will take 16 months to download it all so we will be hearing amazing new things about Pluto for a long while. Already they have found that Pluto is larger than expected. As an aside, if you go to Google today you'll se a little spacecraft flying past a tan planet with a heart shape on it. Check out this beautiful image from approx. 450K away Edited July 14, 2015 by Merc14 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted July 14, 2015 Author #12 Share Posted July 14, 2015 (edited) Congrats NASA and JPL on another amazing accomplishment. Congratulate them by all means but New Horizons isn't actually a JPL project, it's a NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI mission (John Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab & Southwest Research Institute). Edited July 14, 2015 by Waspie_Dwarf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Socks Junior Posted July 14, 2015 #13 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I like their time and distance error. Should inspire generations of introductory physics lab students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now