KBO encounters |
KBO encounters |
Aug 2 2008, 12:53 PM
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#1
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 6 Joined: 1-August 08 Member No.: 4280 |
Hi,
I’m regular follower of NH and I’m also interested in the 2nd leg of the mission, i.e the 2016+ KBOs encounters. Does anyone know when operations about this leg (starting with searching objects of interest with HST or some other earth-based means, I suppose) are expected to begin ? |
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Aug 20 2015, 03:13 PM
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#2
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Director of Galilean Photography Group: Members Posts: 896 Joined: 15-July 04 From: Austin, TX Member No.: 93 |
Well, NH is slowing down the further it goes, but probably not enough to compensate for the reduced sunlight available. I don't expect the pictures to be any worse than Charon. A similar closest distance as at Pluto gets us pictures a ~125 pixels across, with ~400m/pixel resolution, which should be good for learning some morphology.
My bet is that we will be surprised at the lack of craters. If these are primordial bodies, they grew by accreting nearby materials at a slow speed, like the ~basketball sized bodies seen in the walls of Rosetta's comet. The surface at a small scale with be lumpy/hummocky, with a couple of larger "mountain" areas where they gathered another small planetoid. I'm thinking something like Calypso/Helene, but not as smooth as Telesto or Methone. -------------------- Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks
-- "The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C Clarke Mother Nature is the final inspector of all quality. |
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