New Horizons' LORRI imager reveals the first ever surface details of Pluto as it gets closer to its
28 replies, posted
[url]http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-new-horizons-detects-surface-features-possible-polar-cap-on-pluto[/url]
[quote=NASA]For the first time, images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft are revealing bright and dark regions on the surface of faraway Pluto – the primary target of the New Horizons close flyby in mid-July.
The images were captured in early to mid-April from within 70 million miles (113 million kilometers), using the telescopic Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera on New Horizons. A technique called image deconvolution sharpens the raw, unprocessed images beamed back to Earth. New Horizons scientists interpreted the data to reveal the dwarf planet has broad surface markings – some bright, some dark – including a bright area at one pole that may be a polar cap.
“As we approach the Pluto system we are starting to see intriguing features such as a bright region near Pluto’s visible pole, starting the great scientific adventure to understand this enigmatic celestial object,” says John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “As we get closer, the excitement is building in our quest to unravel the mysteries of Pluto using data from New Horizons."[/quote]
Hubble's of pluto
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/PlutoColorMap_HST2002-2003.jpg[/img]
and LORRI's picture [img]http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-078.jpg[/img]
guess technology is going backwards for NASA.
[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;47634656]wait, just 90 days to go and thats the best image they got?
laaaaaaaaaaame[/QUOTE]
It will be MUCH closer in 90 days, detail will be significantly better.
[editline]1st May 2015[/editline]
Some quick searching tells me that it will be more than 10700 [B]times [/B]closer in 90 days.
what really amazes me about these spacecrafts is that they're so incredibly far away yet we can extract data from them
I've been waiting for this for years, this is very exciting!
[QUOTE=.Lain;47634753]what really amazes me about these spacecrafts is that they're so incredibly far away yet we can extract data from them[/QUOTE]
Is your head gonna explode if I tell you about how we use radiowave antennas to detect galaxies and all different kinds of astronomic phenomena many many light years away from us? Receiving the data sent from a spacecraft within our solar system is not that gargantuan task.
[QUOTE=benzer;47634630]Hubble's of pluto
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/PlutoColorMap_HST2002-2003.jpg[/img]
and LORRI's picture [img]http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-078.jpg[/img]
guess technology is going backwards for NASA.[/QUOTE]
hubble has a 15m mirror, new horizons has like a 10 inch spectrometer, that the two pics are even comparable is a testament to the craft's proximity
[editline]30th April 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=Impact1986;47635941]Is your head gonna explode if I tell you about how we use radiowave antennas to detect galaxies and all different kinds of astronomic phenomena many many light years away from us? Receiving the data sent from a spacecraft within our solar system is not that gargantuan task.[/QUOTE]
sort of is though, galaxies even millions of light years away put out magnatudes more power than our probes do, plus they're like...galaxies, very big objects, probes usually only have a 12-15 foot antenna
[QUOTE=LarparNar;47634672]It will be MUCH closer in 90 days, detail will be significantly better.
[editline]1st May 2015[/editline]
Some quick searching tells me that it will be more than 10700 [B]times [/B]closer in 90 days.[/QUOTE]
I wonder if there is any way of figuring out how much larger will it's apparent size be at that point. By my estimate they should look akin to moon flyover photos, with Pluto taking up the entire frame of the photo.
[QUOTE=Sableye;47635968]hubble has a 15m mirror, new horizons has like a 10 inch spectrometer, that the two pics are even comparable is a testament to the craft's proximity
[editline]30th April 2015[/editline]
sort of is though, galaxies even millions of light years away put out magnatudes more power than our probes do, plus they're like...galaxies, very big objects, probes usually only have a 12-15 foot antenna[/QUOTE]
I just don't see whats so amazing about sending radiowaves through a near vacuum and receiving those in a few AU distance. Our first radio signals from planet earth are still travelling through the cosmos, and if there was a space ship at about 79 light years away from us, it would receive the radio transmissions from the 1936 olympic games.
[QUOTE=WoodenSpoon;47635347]I've been waiting for this for years, this is very exciting![/QUOTE]
You and me both, I remember looking at the countdown timer on the NASA website around 9 years ago in middle school. I still check it pretty often and I'm pretty anxious to see the results, not just of the Pluto fly-by but also when it passes through the Kuiper Belt and goes beyond that.
Almost a decade has gone by since this thing launched in 2006, I feel old as shit right now, but its awesome to see scientific progress in any form in our lifetime.
[QUOTE=Impact1986;47636222]I just don't see whats so amazing about sending radiowaves through a near vacuum and receiving those in a few AU distance. Our first radio signals from planet earth are still travelling through the cosmos, and if there was a space ship at about 79 light years away from us, it would receive the radio transmissions from the 1936 olympic games.[/QUOTE]The maximum distance you can be from earth and detect something more than cosmic background is something less than a few light years away. Inverse square law, yo. And this is hampered (or helped) even further by frequency and method of transmission.
[QUOTE=Impact1986;47636222]I just don't see whats so amazing about sending radiowaves through a near vacuum and receiving those in a few AU distance. Our first radio signals from planet earth are still travelling through the cosmos, and if there was a space ship at about 79 light years away from us, it would receive the radio transmissions from the 1936 olympic games.[/QUOTE]
I'm saying like pulsars are putting out incalculable amounts of power and we hear them loud and clear using even small antennas on earth, but like this probe has a 7 foot wide dish running off of a ~180 watt power source using less power than a light bulb and we have to point our biggest dishes at it to hear it
[QUOTE=Impact1986;47635941]Is your head gonna explode if I tell you about how we use radiowave antennas to detect galaxies and all different kinds of astronomic phenomena many many light years away from us? Receiving the data sent from a spacecraft within our solar system is not that gargantuan task.[/QUOTE]
Okay king brain
[editline]1st May 2015[/editline]
Who [I] doesn't[/I] know the specifics on methods pertaining to deep space radio transmissions?
[QUOTE=FreakyMe;47636056]I wonder if there is any way of figuring out how much larger will it's apparent size be at that point. By my estimate they should look akin to moon flyover photos, with Pluto taking up the entire frame of the photo.[/QUOTE]
Not too far off according to this article. Keep in mind this is the long range imager, it has a color imager as well, but that has a larger FOV.
[Quote]New Horizons will find out as it nears the July 14 flyby, when Pluto will more than fill the field-of-view of the probe’s long-range camera and a color imager will take its own pictures.[/quote]
[url]http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/04/29/surface-markings-show-up-in-newest-pluto-imagery/[/url]
[QUOTE=benzer;47634630]Hubble's of pluto
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/PlutoColorMap_HST2002-2003.jpg[/img]
and LORRI's picture [img]http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/15-078.jpg[/img]
guess technology is going backwards for NASA.[/QUOTE]
LORRI
[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/RDzfSIF.jpg[/thumb]
Hubble
[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/0P6L7r4.gif[/thumb]
Hubble is specifically designed to be one massive camera/telescope.
New Horizons is a probe designed to be sent to the furthest reaches of our solar system and is still 2 months away from its closest approach.
Hang tight, we are going to get some amazing images.
Its amazing thinking how far away it actually is like holy shit.
[editline]2nd May 2015[/editline]
How do they get the data back so quickly aka how the fuck can I get WiFi with this range
[QUOTE=redBadger;47645327]Its amazing thinking how far away it actually is like holy shit.
[editline]2nd May 2015[/editline]
How do they get the data back so quickly aka how the fuck can I get WiFi with this range[/QUOTE]
'Quickly' is a relative term. The LORRI images are tiny but they'll take a long time to download, considering when New Horizons flys past Pluto there will be a latency of 4.5 Hours.
I think I remember somewhere that full definition photos will take a month or so to download at this distance.
[QUOTE=FlandersNed;47648532]'Quickly' is a relative term. The LORRI images are tiny but they'll take a long time to download, considering when New Horizons flys past Pluto there will be a latency of 4.5 Hours.
I think I remember somewhere that full definition photos will take a month or so to download at this distance.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it takes up to a month or even longer depending on the size of the data, however you have to remember that some of this data will be enormous. It might not seem that quick, but when you take into account the size of the data and the distance it's travelling, it's incredible how low the error rate is for this type of transmission.
Just think of it this way, we are able to send digital information over massive distances and while it might seem slow, it's absolutely amazing that we are able to do it in general without massive data loss.
[QUOTE=FlandersNed;47648532]'Quickly' is a relative term. The LORRI images are tiny but they'll take a long time to download, considering when New Horizons flys past Pluto there will be a latency of 4.5 Hours.
I think I remember somewhere that full definition photos will take a month or so to download at this distance.[/QUOTE]
There's also the unfortunate nature of the craft and its fly-by it will literally only fill one of its recorders because it cannot send that data back while its capturing it because the instruments were fixed in place for better longevity and the dish cannot be pointed at earth while the cameras are pointed at the target. So we get one shot at this and that's it
well voyager uses parabolic antennas which direct radio waves to go all in the same direction like this:
[IMG]http://www.science4all.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Reflections-on-Parabola.png[/IMG]
a radio source is placed at the little dot where all the rays come from, and because of the geometry of parabolas any lines which come through the focus will go straight up when reflected against the parabola itself. In a sense, it is almost like a laser.
The difficult part is really collecting the probe's signals, NASA uses the Deep Space Network to collect the signals, since collecting from multiple sources is a lot easier. There are also frequencies exclusively reserved for deep space missions, jtjiujij
I wonder if it would be possible for some third party to send commands to the thing or listen to the data they stream back to Earth.
Just imagine how advanced our telescopes and stuff will be when we launch another state of the art piece of technology into space. Everything is so small now a days like computers and smart phones. You can cram a lot of tech into new space crafts. How old is hubble anyways? Are they going to replace it with a new state of the art one anytime soon? Also I wonder if they ever thought about having satellites that orbit other planets that act like a signal repeater for sending data and stuff for 2 way communication for future missions and stuff.
[QUOTE=apierce1289;47652867]Just imagine how advanced our telescopes and stuff will be when we launch another state of the art piece of technology into space. Everything is so small now a days like computers and smart phones. You can cram a lot of tech into new space crafts. How old is hubble anyways? Are they going to replace it with a new state of the art one anytime soon? Also I wonder if they ever thought about having satellites that orbit other planets that act like a signal repeater for sending data and stuff for 2 way communication for future missions and stuff.[/QUOTE]
Hubble has been continuously updated with new technology, though. It's maybe not state of the art, but it isn't 90's tech either.
[QUOTE=apierce1289;47652867]Just imagine how advanced our telescopes and stuff will be when we launch another state of the art piece of technology into space. Everything is so small now a days like computers and smart phones. You can cram a lot of tech into new space crafts. How old is hubble anyways? Are they going to replace it with a new state of the art one anytime soon? Also I wonder if they ever thought about having satellites that orbit other planets that act like a signal repeater for sending data and stuff for 2 way communication for future missions and stuff.[/QUOTE]
The Hubble's replacement is the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope]James Webb Space Telescope[/url], due to launch in 2018. It's one crazy looking mofo as well
[t]http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/James-Webb-Space-Telescope-image-credit-European-Space-Agency-ESA-posted-on-SpaceFlight-Insider.jpg[/t]
[QUOTE=apierce1289;47652867]Just imagine how advanced our telescopes and stuff will be when we launch another state of the art piece of technology into space. Everything is so small now a days like computers and smart phones. You can cram a lot of tech into new space crafts. How old is hubble anyways? Are they going to replace it with a new state of the art one anytime soon? Also I wonder if they ever thought about having satellites that orbit other planets that act like a signal repeater for sending data and stuff for 2 way communication for future missions and stuff.[/QUOTE]
The Hubble Space Telescope isn't going to be "replaced" any time soon, it is expected to be in operation around five more years, but it's "scientific successor", the James Webb Space Telescope is getting pretty close to launch (planned for about three years from now).
A comparison of the mirrors (that are used for collecting light/EM-waves):
[t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/JWST-HST-primary-mirrors.svg/1280px-JWST-HST-primary-mirrors.svg.png[/t]
It will look something like this, and it should give us some pretty incredible images from really, really far away (which is really long ago).
[t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg/1280px-James_Webb_Space_Telescope_2009_top.jpg[/t]
[editline]4th May 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=CatFodder;47653380]The Hubble's replacement is the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope]James Webb Space Telescope[/url], due to launch in 2018. It's one crazy looking mofo as well
[t]http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/James-Webb-Space-Telescope-image-credit-European-Space-Agency-ESA-posted-on-SpaceFlight-Insider.jpg[/t][/QUOTE]
[img]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2668640/Contacts/animateemoji/angry.gif[/img]
That new telescope looks like a coffin
[QUOTE=Chaplin;47655464]That new telescope looks like a coffin[/QUOTE]
It is the death of our obliviousness.
[sp]far-fetched eh[/sp]
[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;47634656]wait, just 90 days to go and thats the best image they got?
laaaaaaaaaaame[/QUOTE]
Oicani you play KSP what are you doing
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