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Posted by: Astro0 Jul 11 2015, 11:18 AM

Just some fanciful artwork

Enjoy

Posted by: Ian R Jul 11 2015, 04:25 PM

... and the sharpest view of the 'whale' on Pluto taken thus far:

Posted by: Habukaz Jul 11 2015, 07:40 PM

The only thing we can say for certain about Pluto at this time, is that there's a long-snouted elk on its surface.



But there are https://twitter.com/SpaceGeck/status/619679160106156032 interpretations out there as well...

Posted by: Ron Hobbs Jul 11 2015, 11:32 PM

There is an interesting piece on http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150711 that was released just before the picture. It has a cool artistic image of Charon shining over the Plutonian surface.

"Charon, although three billion miles from the sun, is so close to Pluto and so ice-covered that it would be only five times dimmer than the full moon seen from Earth."

Posted by: The Singing Badger Jul 11 2015, 11:32 PM

To me, this picture of Pluto looks like a cheesy painting of a planet from the cover of a 1950s pulp sci-fi novel. So I made this. Apologies; resume science.

Posted by: FOV Jul 11 2015, 11:34 PM

Just havin fun....

Posted by: Jaro_in_Montreal Jul 12 2015, 12:01 AM

Looking even more like "Eyeball planet".....

Posted by: PFK Jul 12 2015, 12:17 PM

Looks like da Vinci was leaving a clue that he was even more ahead of his time than we give him credit for!
I always thought Pluto was enigmatic.
Dan Brown is probably sharpening his pencil as we speak!

Posted by: centsworth_II Jul 12 2015, 06:26 PM

I usually have a cup of coffee while perusing the UMSF Pluto (and other) news.
This was a two cup day! I'd better switch to decaf for the flyby!

Posted by: alk3997 Jul 13 2015, 02:41 AM

While we are waiting for new images, I present,

The Face On Pluto

From 7/11/15 - More time was spent on this than it deserved...

Andy

Posted by: stevesliva Jul 13 2015, 03:24 AM

The hat in the group shot here is *awesome*:
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-women-who-power-nasa-s-new-horizons-mission-to-pluto

Posted by: PDP8E Jul 13 2015, 04:24 AM

Ramblings...

When I was born there were no satellites in orbit.
And then I remember Sputnik, and then Explorer, Gargarin, then Mercury, Pioneer, Echo (I saw Echo 2 sail over my backyard in a pre-dawn morning with my Dad), Telstar, Ranger, Gemini, Mariner, Surveyor, Apollo, Skylab, Viking, MIR, Voyager, the Shuttle, Galileo, Cassini, the ISS, and all the rest. In my lifetime we have surveyed the whole Solar System. And now Pluto. I saw it as it happened... in real time, and not as history... from newspapers, TV and radio, space magazines, a bunch of ham radio guys (like Dad), with my own eyes, and now with the Internet. WOW. It reminds me in a way of the discovery of a new and gigantic continental mass stretching from almost pole to pole in the 1500's . What will ever happen next?

Posted by: Jaro_in_Montreal Jul 13 2015, 12:58 PM

"By the time New Horizons reached Pluto, it turned into a dwarf planet."
"Damn.... they told me not to buy cheap tickets...."

Posted by: climber Jul 13 2015, 02:15 PM

Since NH use plutonium as energy, Will next Mars rover use Mars bars?

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 13 2015, 07:04 PM

Posted by: climber Jul 13 2015, 09:19 PM

Found this in an Emily's tweet: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gFo4u_ADiw4

Posted by: Tom Tamlyn Jul 14 2015, 04:36 AM

There are two obvious times to observe the tradition of eating peanuts for good luck during the moments of greatest peril. July 14 @ 7:05 am Eastern Time, the moment of closest approach, and July 14 @ 9:02 pm Eastern Time, the scheduled arrival of the “phone home” signal.

I’ll be observing the tradition at both times, just to be on the safe side.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jul 14 2015, 10:05 AM

I recall all that, too.

I remember being in a Chinese restaurant downtown a couple of days after the Mariner-4 flyby of Mars marveling at newspaper presentations of the new Mars images. These were 4x5 copies of the facsimile-grade digital images, printed on cheap newspaper rag with a coarse halftone. And this was wonderful and a state-of-the-art presentation of the data. And now we are watching it "Live" and twiddling our thumbs waiting for the Light-Time delay to deliver the images.

How times have changed.

And looking up Mariner-4 to jog my memory, I find that the flyby was done of July 14-15 1965, a half century ago. And downlink of the data and images of the flyby was concluded on August 3. Some things can't change...

--Bill

Posted by: OWW Jul 14 2015, 01:52 PM

Oh my, that didn't take long:

Posted by: hendric Jul 14 2015, 02:54 PM

Going through the arrival celebration video, and this pic made me spit-take I was laughing so hard.

Posted by: nprev Jul 14 2015, 03:26 PM

...yeah, I caught that live. Cool that the janitor was wearing a NH T-shirt as well!

Posted by: climber Jul 14 2015, 03:49 PM

Alan gave NH 2 chances out of 10.000 to hit a piece of debris... This guy is doing his best to lower the risk

Posted by: climber Jul 14 2015, 05:00 PM

I dont know how it is in other countries but here in France, each day of the year is dedicated to a Saint. I couldn't believe when I checked for tomorrow, July 15th, that the day will be dedicated to .... Donald!
Yes, rigth after Pluto.

Posted by: Dan Delany Jul 14 2015, 05:10 PM

So, I heard that the New Horizons trajectory will allow for a Pluto observation during solar occultation. Given the shape of the bright terrain seen in the flyby, would this be considered a "total eclipse of the heart"?

Posted by: climber Jul 14 2015, 07:37 PM

First images interpretation: http://xkcd.com/1551/
I love the jpeg plumes...

Posted by: Pando Jul 14 2015, 07:38 PM

Well, thanks for that...

This cannot be unseen. From now on every time I'm look at Pluto, I am seeing Pluto!

Posted by: nprev Jul 14 2015, 08:30 PM

http://xkcd.com/1551/!!!

Posted by: Explorer1 Jul 14 2015, 08:37 PM

Plus a new 'What If?' that we're all hoping will be obsolete in a few hours:
http://what-if.xkcd.com/

Posted by: Anton Martynov Jul 15 2015, 02:50 AM

This one's pretty cute

Posted by: PaulH51 Jul 15 2015, 04:07 AM

Not mine, just found it linked on FB

"Celebration" staring Alan Stern

YouTube https://youtu.be/460Q9l5Zuwg

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 15 2015, 07:29 AM

A nightcap in honor of the successful flyby:

White rum, Kahlúa and ice cream substitute for the exotic ices and organics. I call it Pluto Express.

Posted by: tolis Jul 15 2015, 07:41 AM

Pluto does look a bit like a choc+vanilla ice cream that was left out of the freezer
for too long (or a planet-wide experiment at cappuccino making, take your pick)

Posted by: Astroboy Jul 16 2015, 03:33 PM

30 years ago this December... #ThrowbackThursday

Posted by: pitcapuozzo Jul 16 2015, 06:37 PM

NASA PR is doing a mess. Released the same inset (flipped) in two different locations.

Compare this:

to this:


From what I understand, the correct one is the first one.

Posted by: ugordan Jul 16 2015, 07:00 PM

NASA PR is not producing the images. What you're seeing is probably the result of pressure to release the images as fast as possible.

People complain when releases are delayed. People complain when they're not. There's just no pleasing some people.

Posted by: rtphokie Jul 17 2015, 01:22 AM

Question about slightly older Pluto images. Pluto is noted in these glass plates from Tombaugh's discovery in 1930. What is (are) the other item(s) highlighted in red?

Here's a crude blinking GIF:

https://twitter.com/rtphokie/status/621749241644498944

Posted by: ZLD Jul 17 2015, 01:24 AM

edit: deleted. I pay little attention some times.

Ok, rtphokie, a more studied answer this time. Strangely, the object appears to be the same in both frames, so I would assume not dust (though it has a peculiar shape). It appears to be going 90 degrees to the ecliptic. in this image. I don't see anything registering on Stellarium. Interesting. Hope to see a resolution to this as well.

----------
Edit
----------

Also just noticed a few other moving dots. Pluto of course, near the middle in the ellipse.

This is a discussion better placed in its own thread though.

Posted by: Mongo Jul 17 2015, 02:01 AM

Apparently, if instead of a blink comparator, Mr. Tombaugh had used a stereo comparator (where each of the two plates is projected to a separate eye), any slow-moving objects would have been immediately obvious as a dot hovering above (or below) the flat plane of the fixed stars. Not sure how it would handle objects moving at a near right angle, like the second object pointed out above. I believe the individual plates would be slowly rotated through a 180 degree half-turn, but I'm not certain about that. This method was widely adopted after the discovery of Pluto because it was far easier to spot slow-moving objects using this method than with a blink comparator.

Posted by: nprev Jul 17 2015, 02:24 AM

rtpholke, that was probably an asteroid. Recall that Tombaugh was specifically searching for objects moving at a slow speed, which would normally indicate that it was a large distance from the sun.

Posted by: fredk Jul 17 2015, 02:58 AM

Yeah. We have to keep in mind that the press release images are just that - and they're not meant for the kind of analysis many of us do here. (We've seen some bizarre stuff with the Dawn press release images, too.) We may have to wait for the jpegs at the New Horizons SOC site, and better still for the eventual downlink and release of the raws.

Push the gamma on one of those press release images too far and you never know what you may find...

Posted by: rtphokie Jul 17 2015, 03:33 AM

Makes sense, thanks

Posted by: John Broughton Jul 17 2015, 03:40 AM

We can rule out another TNO, given it is not moving in the same general retrograde direction as Pluto. MBAs and NEOs can also be ruled out for similar reasons. Knowing how thorough Tombaugh was with his survey, he wouldn't have overlooked something of that magnitude. The non-symmetrical appearance in both images suggests they were specks of dirt on the plates when they were eventually scanned.

Posted by: Astro0 Jul 17 2015, 05:07 AM

I know what you mean. Opened the 'false colour' image in Photoshop and it still had the 'guide lines'

Posted by: akuo Jul 17 2015, 06:13 AM

I wouldn't think it is an asteroid, since they move the same apparent distance in hours when Pluto takes months.

Posted by: nprev Jul 17 2015, 06:23 AM

Depends almost entirely on the distance. NEOs at their closest can whiz by VERY quickly from our perspective, main belt asteroids not so fast.

I don't recall the interval between the two Pluto discovery photographs, but I'm pretty sure it was hours or at most a couple of days, not months. Those pics have an extremely small field of view.

Posted by: Astro0 Jul 17 2015, 10:04 AM

A friend made this for their son's birthday.
They'd been waiting for years to be able to make a NH/Pluto cake for them.

Posted by: pioneer Jul 17 2015, 01:34 PM

Anyone else remember seeing that special on TV a few years ago called "95 Worlds and Counting?" It featured "water skiing" on Titan, spelunking on Triton and other possible adventures in the outer solar system. I think the show could be updated to include skiiing on Pluto with those mountains we saw Wednesday. I'm sure the slopes would include plenty of black diamond ski trails

Posted by: ZLD Jul 17 2015, 03:29 PM

The original uncropped photos posted by rtphokie had the dates January 23, 1930 and January 29, 1930 respectively. So a weeks time. These objects are moving near the same speed or slower than Pluto. The largest is the biggest mystery. I wouldn't expect an asteroid because of the high inclination. Pluto is pretty close to the ecliptic here, hence why Tombaugh was able to find it. But this large object is moving somewhere around 60-70 degrees to that. Its possible its dust but it seems to have registered roughly the same shape in each frame. Could be a comet, could be dust. I agree that it seems strange that it would go unnoticed because it is brighter than Pluto in these frames.

Heres a Stellarium shot from January 23, 1930 with as much detail as I can add in.



It unfortunately does not include asteroids, KBOs, SDOs, or anything else other than planets and stars unfortunately.

Here is Celestia with all solar orbiting body orbits in the standard version visible.

Posted by: acastillo Jul 17 2015, 03:50 PM

That is amazing! I can not imagine how long that took to make.

Posted by: rtphokie Jul 17 2015, 04:05 PM

Those two images were taken 6 days apart. Jan 23 and 29, 1930

Posted by: fredk Jul 17 2015, 04:19 PM

It's dust. It only takes a few minutes to check the https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/multimedia/detail.cfm?id=6074 - this is the corresponding region from the Jan 23rd plate:

Familiar lesson here: always go back as far as you can to the original data! What's intended for public consumption is often not reliable for serious analysis.

Posted by: hendric Jul 17 2015, 05:50 PM

Remarkably smart "social media" questions this time around!

Posted by: hendric Jul 17 2015, 05:57 PM

I put a post on Alan Stern's facebook feed thanking him for continuing the raw image release policy. Please Like it to thank him for continuing to include us in this amazing journey!

https://www.facebook.com/s.alan.stern?fref=ts

Posted by: nprev Jul 17 2015, 06:56 PM

MOD NOTE: Several posts hidden due to violations of several rules under section 2. Please review the http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?act=boardrules. Even old hands should do that every so often just to keep them fresh in their minds.

Posted by: alan Jul 17 2015, 09:07 PM

SarcasticRover ‏@SarcasticRover 4 hours ago

BREAKING: Pluto is weird. Everything's all whatever.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jul 18 2015, 12:34 PM

I'm waiting for an announcement of the Alan Stern Pluto Orbiter Mission...



--Bill

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 18 2015, 07:41 PM

First impressions....

Posted by: Astro0 Jul 19 2015, 10:16 AM

An update to my http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.php?showtopic=8054&view=findpost&p=222757 artwork.

Desktop wallpaper 1920x1080

Posted by: Mercure Jul 19 2015, 10:20 PM

A fine gesture across the void, from a European orbiter to a US probe:
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/07/14/hello-pluto/
“Comet 67P and Rosetta are by now surrounded by a dense atmosphere of gas and dust. It’s like watching Pluto through a blizzard.”

Posted by: JohnVV Jul 19 2015, 10:56 PM

just a fun post from being a bit bored
and there are NO!!! NEW !!! IMAGES !!!

using a wide angle Virtual lens on a Virtual camera
using Virtual land in a 3d render

-- 1920 x 1080 15 Degree rotation on Z
http://imgbox.com/ALXtq6Bb http://imgbox.com/wUWRs62w http://imgbox.com/M0YxedMC http://imgbox.com/R9MA4cTB http://imgbox.com/of7p3s3p http://imgbox.com/yIFqOqDx http://imgbox.com/659PvPCB


Gladstoner i like the earthmover it dose look a bit like a new subdivision going in

Posted by: Astroboy Jul 20 2015, 05:48 PM

Hydra is giving me rubber ducky vibes. Could she be 67p's sister??

Posted by: jamescanvin Jul 20 2015, 08:56 PM

Ha-ha, I made the same observation on Twitter during the press conference when it was released.

https://twitter.com/nivnac/status/621414125328072704

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 21 2015, 12:41 AM

Speaking of rubber foul:

Posted by: Herobrine Jul 21 2015, 11:53 PM

I'm not sayin'....


I'm just sayin'...

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 22 2015, 04:02 AM

Dwarf planets compared....

Posted by: Exploitcorporations Jul 22 2015, 04:53 AM

Gladstoner, that comparison is pure genius.

This thread seems like the right place for something like this. Rendering of Pluto and Charon using the maps created by Bjorn Jonsson, with their relative positions and orientations tweaked for aesthetics:

Posted by: MarsInMyLifetime Jul 22 2015, 05:15 AM

"Are you Ceres?" "Yes! Yahoo Ceres!" (Well, to me, entertainers Klaus and Yahoo do have sort of a similar vibe.)

Posted by: Ian R Jul 22 2015, 06:16 AM

That's awesome, EC!

Posted by: climber Jul 22 2015, 06:22 AM

I second that! It' s not actually "funny" it's pure Art. Thank you

Posted by: Exploitcorporations Jul 22 2015, 07:20 AM

Most welcome! Adjusted for content.

Posted by: Bill Harris Jul 22 2015, 01:37 PM

Very apropos, too.

--Bill

Posted by: Sherbert Jul 22 2015, 05:43 PM

If you have not seen http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/pluto_is_the_death_star_and_ot.html, its quite fun. Charon would surely have been a better analogue.

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 25 2015, 12:10 AM

How to prepare Plutonian mountains....

1. Select a portion of water-ice crust:

2. Slice and dice:


3. Fill a basin with nitrogen and/or CO-ice slurry:


4. Add crust to slurry:


5. Stir occasionally:



6. Strain crust:


7. Let sit for a few million years. Serve cold.

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 25 2015, 03:27 AM

Posted by: nprev Jul 25 2015, 03:44 AM

HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Exploitcorporations Jul 25 2015, 04:25 AM

Posted by: jbytof Jul 25 2015, 04:27 AM

Charles Foster Pluto.

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 25 2015, 06:54 AM

Rosebud....

Posted by: Herobrine Jul 25 2015, 07:31 AM

That's the best thing I've seen in here so far.

Posted by: climber Jul 25 2015, 07:41 AM

If (Brian) May is on Pluto, where is Avril (Lavigne)?

This one better work in french but well...

Posted by: Gladstoner Jul 28 2015, 07:39 AM

Posted by: Exploitcorporations Jul 28 2015, 08:05 AM

Posted by: neo56 Jul 29 2015, 04:39 PM

Posted by Tyler Nordgren aka @NightSkyPark on Twitter.

Posted by: Nafnlaus Aug 4 2015, 01:02 PM

Alternative headline, if the Daily Mail was covering the story: "New Horizons' Alan Stern Wants To Spend $72 Billion To Shatter The Earth And Incinerate Humanity, For Exploration Purposes"

http://www.space.com/30145-new-horizons-pluto-mission-legacy.html

(paragraph 6)

Posted by: Nafnlaus Aug 6 2015, 03:37 PM

And the award for Worst New Horizons News Coverage goes to...

http://www.pulseheadlines.com/horizons-spacecraft-discovers-plutos-largest-moon-charon/3218/

Posted by: Explorer1 Aug 6 2015, 04:42 PM

It looks from the writing style that the site is just one of those spam aggregators that just does whatever it can to attract search engine traffic, taking content from real websites and combining it. If it's any comfort, I doubt there's a single human reader of that headline other than us.

Posted by: Herobrine Aug 6 2015, 05:22 PM

Unfortunately, I think a lot of people probably read it. I saw that headline earlier today when Google News recommended it to me. I even took a screenshot at the time because I collect terrible headlines+preview text from Google News and bizarre mismatches between headline and thumbnail, and this one had both.

"Fun" fact: The really -inducing ones are the ones that seem to have been automatically transcribed using low-quality speech recognition.

Posted by: hillbilly3160 Aug 7 2015, 05:09 AM

found Pluto in my travels to a much smaller space 30 years ago !

working for CSIRO I spied some microspherules on a ceramic under high pressure processing.

Ni, Ti precipitates on a 100um lead spherule

got to the front cover ! remarkable resemblance

Posted by: Gladstoner Sep 16 2015, 04:12 PM

A preview of the upcoming image release:

Posted by: Astro0 Sep 20 2015, 09:21 AM

Playing around with the latest New Horizons images to create this fanciful artwork.

Posted by: PFK Sep 25 2015, 08:54 PM

Posted by: dvandorn Sep 26 2015, 12:32 AM

A million suns shine down,
But the one here's pretty dim....



-the other Doug

Posted by: Webscientist Nov 8 2015, 07:12 PM

A simulated artistic view of the Pluto-Charon System from the camera of a typical smartphone.
The field of view here is 57 degrees. The virtual camera is approximately 3600 km (2250 miles) from Pluto and 23200 km (14500 miles) from Charon.
Thanks to the texture maps found on the website of Steve Albers involving the work of Machi and Herobrine.

Posted by: alan Nov 9 2015, 08:27 PM

From a recent Pluto article

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/09/does-pluto-have-ice-volcanoes.html

Posted by: wildespace Dec 6 2015, 01:55 PM

A question just popped into my mind - if you could smell and lick tholins on Pluto, what would they taste and smell like?

Posted by: volcanopele Dec 6 2015, 04:51 PM

Probably a lot like this:

https://youtu.be/8XlPwsmkPHI?t=1m19s

Posted by: Gladstoner Dec 9 2015, 07:15 AM

Another reason to have multiple monitors:

I hadn't quite realized how large that image is.

Posted by: PaulH51 Dec 9 2015, 08:01 AM

Some have stated that we should have a 'like' or 'up-vote' button on this forum... My request is simpler... Can they add me a "Want Button"

Posted by: JRehling Dec 9 2015, 05:45 PM

I guarantee that you'd never get your tongue back after you licked Pluto.

Posted by: Astroboy Dec 9 2015, 10:39 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXxBhOc7jEA

ADMIN NOTE: Minor language level warning and very distasteful videos that follow.

Posted by: Gladstoner Dec 10 2015, 06:38 PM

Probably the carob powder my health-kick parents had us put in our milk instead of chocolate.

Posted by: fred_76 Jan 8 2016, 12:33 PM

Giant snails are the cause of the white trails on Sputnik Planum :

Posted by: ZLD Feb 2 2016, 05:02 PM

So I'm pouring wax blocks this morning for a project and something recognizable came about as it was cooling.

This is the most analogous substance I've seen to compare Sputnik Planum. Of course, the action occuring here is convection from the very hot wax on the bottom floating up to the top and cooling down once it reaches the much colder surface-air medium. What is most interesting I think is that for the wax to have this appearnace with the much darker regions, there has to be liquid present under the solid layer, otherwise, it all has the homogenous appearance of a cool wax block. On sputnik Planum, many similar areas of darker and lighter regions exist as well.

Posted by: Ian R Feb 21 2016, 08:56 AM

Advanced image processing techniques pioneered by the people behind CSI and CSI: Bognor Regis were applied to New Horizons images of Triton --- with spectacular results!

Posted by: Nafnlaus Feb 23 2016, 08:03 AM

Have you tried to work out the reynolds number of the wax?

Posted by: Mercure Jun 18 2016, 05:32 AM

Just came across this painting, "Floating city" from 1981, by Sci-Fi artist David A. Hardy.

Seems he had access to NH imagery a good deal earlier than anyone else! :-0

Posted by: TheAnt Feb 24 2017, 12:02 PM

In the 'other stuff' category we got this https://www.nasa.gov/feature/fusion-enabled-pluto-orbiter-and-lander

http://www.physics.uci.edu/US-JAPAN-CT2016/Program_Presentations/2.5_M.Paluszek_CT2016.pdf

Posted by: Gerald Feb 25 2017, 03:27 AM

Did the FRC fusion technique make significant progress since http://w3.pppl.gov/ppst/docs/razin2012iac.pdf?

The fusion reactor seems to be the bottle neck of the mission design.

Posted by: hendric Feb 25 2017, 06:15 AM

That's got to be the funniest thing I've heard all week.

Posted by: Explorer1 Feb 25 2017, 07:09 AM

It's only 20 years away... and has been for the last 50. Though to be fair, an engine to burn a limited amount of fuel is is probably not as difficult as actually building a facility that self-sustains itself and produces more energy than it takes in (though we can still dream!)