On the way to Pluto at last!

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Mon Jul 20, 2015 11:42 pm

Anaxagoras wrote: I guess there are more craters there than on the close-up of Pluto, no?

Sink holes.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:05 am

Nix (enhanced) & Hydra (BW)

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:04 pm

Honk!

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:52 am

Pluto's atmosphere.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:40 am

--J.D.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 12:01 am

I've been reading about the details of the heart shaped region. It's a nitrogen glacier. How cool is that!?

We are used to referring to cold nitrogen as "liquid nitrogen", but Pluto is so far out there that it is cold enough for nitrogen to freeze solid, mp = -346F (-210C). Pluto's surface is around -400F, but apparently in the recent past, within the past million years, the surface became "warm" enough for the solid nitrogen to melt. Around the edges of the nitrogen glacier, you can see melt and flow patterns similar to what we see on earth with water glaciers.

So, even Pluto experienced a period of global warming, where "warm" is around -346F. Imagine a globally warmed Pluto with lakes and seas of liquid nitrogen. Carbon dioxide was also detected, but carbon dioxide remains solid until about -70F (-57C), so there may have been carbon dioxide ice bergs floating in a sea of liquid nitrogen. Thanks Obama!

What I find interesting is that is doesn't seem like it would take much to raise the temperature from -400F to -346F. An impact from a meteor would definitely do it, at least temporarily. If there is a lot of nitrogen and other solidified gasses on Pluto's surface, then they may have liquefied and re-frozen several times during Pluto's history after meteor impacts. That would have temporarily increased the density of Pluto's atmosphere, thus extending the period of global warming. Those meteor impacts would have become hidden underneath the nitrogen ice once it re-froze.

Cool stuff!

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 4:53 am

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:58 am

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:57 pm

[youtube]GC4ig303g_I[/youtube]

Thunderf00t has some thoughts about the images of Pluto.

Interesting theory he mentions too.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:21 pm

ScreenShot114.jpg

Shameless bitch

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:18 am

North polar region:

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 6:13 am

I do not see the Poll. . . .

--J.D.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 5:33 am

Stereo pair:

DrMatt · Post by **DrMatt** » Thu Aug 06, 2015 6:22 pm

In the stereo view, you can really see just how extreme the mountains on the right margin are.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 4:35 am

Clyde Tombaugh, 1931.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sat Aug 08, 2015 11:31 pm

HON . . . er . . . sorry. . . .

--J.D.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 5:21 am

The Daily Mirror wrote:ISIS supporters call for Pluto to be renamed 'The Moon of Mohammed'

In a post seen by more than 5,000 people, a supporter of the so-called Islamic State said the famous "heart" on the surface of Pluto was actually a message written in the style of the 'I heart New York' t-shirts.

The unnamed writer said two Arabic words could be spotted on either side of the heart.

"When we look carefully at this photo of Pluto, we will notice an Arabic sentence which means Allah loves Mohammed," the ISIS propagandist claimed.

"Since the heart is so big, that means 'so much love or 'God loves Mohammed so much'.

"These were made by God almighty on the surface of Pluto."

The Islamic State astronomer also claimed to have seen the Arabic word for Mohammed in NASA close-up photographs showing the surface of Pluto and Charon, one of its moons.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology ... ed-6229238

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 6:59 am

. . . and if they had their way we never would have known about Pluto.

--J.D.

P.S. HONK!

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 2:27 am

Compilation of surface textures.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 8:11 pm

New Pluto flyover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KRMcJhl7gk (no direct linking)

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:33 pm

Honk!

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:34 pm

--J.D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:38 pm

Dance somemore and look good while you're dancing.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 9:42 pm

Always happy to make a Cunt cry!

--J. "A RIVER to My People!" D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Sep 21, 2015 10:27 pm

Dance, fuckwit.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 12:10 am

Doctor X wrote:

Always happy to make a Cunt cry!

His whines are a serenade.

--J. "A RIVER to My People!" D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 1:37 am

ballet too. wow

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 2:56 am

Doctor X wrote:
Doctor X wrote:

Always happy to make a Cunt cry!
His whines are a serenade.

For he is My Bitch and he dances to my command!

--J. "A RIVER to My People!" D.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:27 am

http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/09/ ... new-world/

Not quite the colors your eyes would see apparently.

Rather than providing RGB images, however, the new batch has data on red, blue, and infrared. So it's not full color yet, but you can revel in the fact you're looking at information that your eyes can't actually see.

ETA: Possibly even higher-res version here:

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-r ... s-of-pluto

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:37 am

Give me an "H!"

--J.D.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:41 am

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:54 am

This color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft shows rounded and bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa, that rise up along Pluto’s terminator and show intricate but puzzling patterns of blue-gray ridges and reddish material in between. This view, roughly 330 miles (530 kilometers) across, combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera (MVIC) on July 14, 2015, and resolves details and colors on scales as small as 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometers). Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

http://www.universetoday.com/122516/ast ... -on-pluto/

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 3:57 am

Give me an "O!"

--J.D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:32 pm

Honk!

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:55 pm

Doctor X wrote:
Doctor X wrote:
Doctor X wrote:

Always happy to make a Cunt cry!
His whines are a serenade.
For he is My Bitch and he dances to my command!

--J. "A RIVER to My People!" D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 1:57 pm

Try tap dancing

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 2:06 pm

Dance!

--J.D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 12:56 am

Kewl. What else can you do?

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 6:13 am

--J.D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 4:59 pm

Keep dancing fuckwit.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:43 pm

--J.D.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:17 pm

Your current adopted AIDS orphan?

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:31 pm

--J.D.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:19 pm

First published study based on the new data in the journal Science:

The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons (Science)

And if you prefer your science pre-digested by the lay media:

What's in a dwarf planet? First Pluto findings from New Horizons (Cnet)

Up to and during its historic Pluto flyby on July 14 this year, space probe New Horizons collected some 50 gigabits of data. This is probably going to occupy researchers for years to come. Today, the first study has landed, revealing Pluto as an unexpectedly complex and idiosyncratic dwarf planet. Over 150 authors contributed to the paper.

"The Pluto system surprised us in many ways, most notably teaching us that small planets can remain active billions of years after their formation," said first author Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute. "We were also taught important lessons by the unexpected degree of geological complexity that both Pluto and its large moon Charon display."

The paper, published in the journal Science, examines in particular Pluto's complex and varied surface geology, and the behaviour of its moons Charon, Nix and Hydra.

Researchers already knew that Pluto's surface was diverse in colour. Flyby images show regions that are dark red, pale blue, golden and white. Now researchers have discovered that this colour diversity is indicative of diversity in Pluto's surface composition. The research also reveals a surprisingly broad variety of landforms and terrain ages on Pluto's surface.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:28 pm

Key to the names they've given to various surface features:

There's a "Chthulhu Regio" on Pluto and a "Mordor Macula" on Charon.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:29 pm

Anaxagoras wrote:

Got a high resolution image of this as my desktop.

I saddens me how little excitement amongst my friends and family and the general public over Pluto. The probe was launched in 2007 and I've been keeping track of it the entire time. I felt elated when the probe woke up successfully after it's 8 yr journey, physically ill during the communication problems that occurred a week before the big day, and euphoric when the communication problems were fixed before the big day. I've been in awe with every press release and publication over the pictures and data.

Seems that everyone except me has been like, meh, it's just a rock.

It's a planet with geologic activity, carbon dioxide glaciers, a measurable atmosphere, and multiple moons.

Meh, so it's icy rock with a bit of vapor, surrounded by more rocks.

Kids, you're asking to be written out of your dad's will.

(ok, as if I have a will or any money, but.........grrrr.......damn kids and their sassitude)

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 6:57 pm

Honk!

--J.D.

P.S. And this is my 50505th Post!

P.P.S. Which is HONK!

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:22 pm

Bruce wrote:

Got a high resolution image of this as my desktop.

I saddens me how little excitement amongst my friends and family and the general public over Pluto.

I wish I could get that excited. I think it is cool that we're doing it. I'm happy to foot my end of the bill. But I don't really give a shit.

Dude, it isn't even a planet.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 12:43 am

What Abdul said, except that nine hopping mads would have been more poetic.

You make me sad, Rob. You avatar always led me to believe you were a classy kinda guy.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 12:48 am

Honk.