Sidral Mundet 1,666 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 So early today New Horizons preformed the first successful flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto! And while it will take some time to get all the information it obtained in it's short voyage, we are seeing up close photographs of the body for the first time! Here's one it took before it's historical trip. 6 Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 Pretty neat, I always pictured pluto as a giant ball of ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mesme Rize 15,683 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 It's funny. But when i was little, i always saw Pluto as a purple planet. Still, this is very cool. 5 My OC Mesme Rize: >https://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/mesme-rize-r8777 Thank you Randimaxis for this Wonderful Avatar. Please, don't be afraid to talk to me. I am not as unapproachable, as you might think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pastel 7,630 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 The spot looks like a heart. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa 5,553 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 The spot looks like a heart. I wonder what that spot is. Is it an ice cap or something? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DubWolf 17,263 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 Indeed very nice. Pluto fell in love with Earthlings when it knew a space probe was coming all the way from Earth to pay it a visit. Hence the heart . It's my own story for it. 4 Sig by Wolf, Handwriting by SparklingSwirls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheeryFox 23,821 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 It is a thing of beauty. 3 Sōten ni zase...Hyōrinmaru! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastelBread 147 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 This is amazing! I am so glad that we still get to make new discoveries in this day and age! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frostgage 7,975 July 15, 2015 Share July 15, 2015 Pluto is bae <3 Although I have to admit I'm more curious about what's BEYOND Pluto Watching Interstellar gets a guy excited about space exploration. 3 Signature by Lacerna | You should fill out my Johari Window. All the cool kids are doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidral Mundet 1,666 July 16, 2015 Author Share July 16, 2015 The Mountains of Pluto and New Horizons closest approach to Pluto! Also let's not forget Charon: As well as a new pic for one of Pluto's other moons: Hydra! Okay yeah this one's not all that great, but its still better than a pixel or two of light from Hubble and other telescopes. 3 Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin_Case001 4,891 July 16, 2015 Share July 16, 2015 This is so friggin awesome. What a time to be alive. (Of course, I'd have rather lived during a time when we have colonies on other planets, but whattya gunna do?) What's so amazing to think is how fast New Horizons is moving. What did I read? 36,000 mph, I believe. That's fast enough to circle the Earth in about 45 mintues. I usually picture space probes just drifting lazily along, which is what it would look like, relative to the celestial bodies, but that thing is hauling ass. How can it get such clear pictures at that speed? Pretty amazing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidral Mundet 1,666 July 16, 2015 Author Share July 16, 2015 New up close picture of Charon's surface! 3 Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,532 July 16, 2015 Share July 16, 2015 These images are unreal! I cannot beleive that these are actually being taken by a spacecraft launched 9 years ago and for a planet we knew so little about. It is surreal looking at the photos now. I cannot wait to see what else it discovers, already Pluto is quite a bit different than I thought before. It makes me all giddy inside. I'm sort of a space nut. Who knows what the craft will find beyond Pluto too? It is so exciting. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Regulus 2,769 July 16, 2015 Share July 16, 2015 (edited) This is so friggin awesome. What a time to be alive. (Of course, I'd have rather lived during a time when we have colonies on other planets, but whattya gunna do?) What's so amazing to think is how fast New Horizons is moving. What did I read? 36,000 mph, I believe. That's fast enough to circle the Earth in about 45 mintues. I usually picture space probes just drifting lazily along, which is what it would look like, relative to the celestial bodies, but that thing is hauling ass. How can it get such clear pictures at that speed? Pretty amazing. At its closest, it was 12.5e6 m from Pluto's surface. It was at a speed of 13.78e3 m/s. Given this, let's draw a right triangle with sides x and y. Length x is 0, and length y is 12.5e6 m. Add in the data for the rate of change: dy/dt is 0, and dx/dt is 13.78e3 m/s. Set up an angle θ such that tan θ = x/y. Solve for θ to get θ = arctan x/y. Set x/y = u, such that θ = arctan u. Then take the derivative of both sides, dθ/dt = (u2 + 1)-1 * du/dt. Since u = x/y, differentiate with quotient rule and get du/dt = (y * dx/dt - x * dy/dt) / y2. Substitute everything in, get dθ/dt = (x2/y2 + 1)-1 * (y * dx/dt - x * dy/dt) / y2. This comes out to dθ/dt = (12.5e6 * 13.78e3) / (12.5e6)2 = 1.1024e-3. That's your answer in radians per second. In degrees per second, that's 0.063. In degrees per minute, that's 3.79. So, think of it this way: if you're moving with the probe, you'd have to turn your head at a rate of 3.79 degrees per minute to keep your eyes on Pluto. That's... really not very fast. Why? Because even though it's moving really fast, the planet is still really far away. It's like when you're riding in a car, and the objects in the distance barely seem to move while the objects nearby move really fast. It's the same thing. In this case, even at closest approach, Pluto is moving too slow relative to the probe for there to be any apparent speed at that distance. Edited July 16, 2015 by Admiral Regulus 3 Tumblr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grtxkkyz 388 July 17, 2015 Share July 17, 2015 This is simply amazing! Ever since i was a child, I always have had a soft spot for Pluto and its moons. (Saturn is still my favorite though) And all these discoveries make it even better, plus that heart shaped spot is the proof which shows that tiny planetoid loves us... 2 My Dragon Cave scroll: http://dragcave.net/user/Dino-Mario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidral Mundet 1,666 July 17, 2015 Author Share July 17, 2015 NASA computer compilation of the flyby over Pluto Also first images of Nix! Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Knight 1,172 July 17, 2015 Share July 17, 2015 It's so magical and soothing to look at, thanks for sharing this. 1 created by Blue Moon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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