So Long, Pluto! Probe Beams Backlit Portrait That Leaves NASA Puzzled

PatrickJS

New member
Jun 8, 2015
409
0
0
So Long, Pluto! Probe Beams Backlit Portrait That Leaves NASA Puzzled



As New Horizons sails by Pluto in its fly-by mission, it turns around to take a stunning photo - one that reveals an unexpected atmosphere.

On Friday, NASA revealed New Horizons' latest, and maybe last, photo of Pluto. This time, we see its dark side.

Every photo taken so far of the dwarf planetoid has had the benefit of the sun's illumination. Astronomers were able to clearly make out fine details of Pluto's surface [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141480-Mount-Spock-Kirk-Crater-Vader-Valley-Are-All-Possibly-Names-on-the-List-for-Plutos-Features], not to mention its moons. And yet, this new angle of Pluto offers a tantalizing mystery in something we couldn't get a good look at before: its atmosphere.

"My jaw was on the ground when I saw this first image of an alien atmosphere in the Kuiper Belt," says Alan Stern, private investigator principal investigator for New Horizons. The Kuiper belt is the region at the edge of our solar system that Pluto inhabits, and includes many other objects present from the very beginning. "It reminds us that exploration brings us more than just incredible discoveries -- it brings incredible beauty."

Speaking of, have a look at a gallery of recent Pluto images compiled a week ago: [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141587-Pluto-Probe-New-Horizons-Beams-Back-Close-Up-Shots-of-Dwarf-Planet-and-Its-Moons-but-Neil-DeGrasse-Tyson-Isnt-Impressed]

[gallery=4420]

Oddly enough, scientists have estimated that Pluto would be too warm for the "haze" we can see forming at its current height. It was assumed Pluto would have an atmosphere of some kind, but it wouldn't reach so high above the planetoid's surface.

"We're going to need some new ideas to figure out what's going on," says Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator.


What's next for New Horizons? Well, NASA hopes it receives funding to investigate some other Kuiper Belt objects. There are two particular masses within range that are extremely tempting, as their age and distance can give us incredible clues to what was happening as the solar system formed, more than four billion years ago. Earth was just a sparkle in the sun's corona when these asteroids and comets were made.

So that means that, except for NASA's uploads over the next few months, it could be the last we hear from New Horizons until 2018. And beyond that? The edge of the heliosphere, where our sun's direct influence fades. It should get there in about twenty years.

Fun fact: Voyager 1, which carries the golden disk as a message to alien life and was launched in 1977, reached the heliosphere in 2013. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127743-Voyager-1-Enters-Interstellar-Space] It might seem like New Horizons is poised to outpace Voyager, but thanks to multiple gravity assists the latter received that the former missed out on, New Horizons will never be able to "catch up" with our little peace probe.

Source: NASA [http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-new-horizons-team-finds-haze-flowing-ice-on-pluto]

Permalink
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

Alleged Feather-Rustler
Jun 5, 2013
6,760
0
0
You know what this means!
Half Life 3 confirmed!

Seriously though, that is interesting. Pluto isn't large enough to maintain even a weak atmosphere.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

Bound to escape
Legacy
Jul 15, 2013
4,953
6
13
[REDACTED]

Plutonians may still exist...

Edit: this comment was not meant for this article...oops. The cause may have been too much wine last night. But me no remember much, so cannot say for sure xD
 

Spygon

New member
May 16, 2009
1,105
0
0
Sorry but is NASA's funding review coming around as suddenly a lot of news about things in space is filling my news feed.Not saying it's not true just weird that all these "amazing" discoveries are happening lately.
 

PatrickJS

New member
Jun 8, 2015
409
0
0
Zachary Amaranth said:
Are we sure this isn't just viral marketing for the new Heroes spin-off? Is it being set on Mars?
Ha, well now I can't unsee it. NASA + Heroes cross-promotion. There are probably ARE a lot of men with horn-rimmed glasses at Jet Propulsion Labs...
 

WouldYouKindly

New member
Apr 17, 2011
1,431
0
0
Reminds me when I had to do a report on Pluto in school. That was a lesson in frustration. There was no information about the little ice ball so there was really very little to report. Despite being a child, I didn't want to just make shit up.

If nothing else, that ticks off one of the old boxes. Yes, it does have an atmosphere of some significance. Composition? Who the fuck knows, but it's there!
 

truckspond

New member
Oct 26, 2013
403
0
0
Now we wait for the rest of the data (ETA: ~15.7 months) to see if there is any data about what is actually in that atmosphere.
 

JCAll

New member
Oct 12, 2011
434
0
0
Typical. Years of waiting and millions of dollars just for out satellite to send back screenshots from Ringu.
 

FalloutJack

Bah weep grah nah neep ninny bom
Nov 20, 2008
15,489
0
0
Still no Mi-go, but then they wouldn't WANT to be seen.

In all seriousness, that's some damn good footage.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
In light of this new evidence, I here-by motion that we re-instate Pluto's planetary status. :3
 

Xeros

New member
Aug 13, 2008
1,940
0
0
FalloutJack said:
Still no Mi-go, but then they wouldn't WANT to be seen.
No, they have plans to make themselves known. They want to take us there; to show us their ways. Where're all my dogs?

OT: It still boggles the mind that, for all of the universe we can currently observe; galaxies beyond our own of 400 billion+ systems, we still barely understand our own 9 (8?) planets, and even our rinky-dink planetoid can still offer up new surprises.
 

xxobot

New member
Jun 2, 2014
57
0
0
FalloutJack said:
...barely understand our own 9 (8?) planets...
I'll meet you in the middle and say eight and a half. That's my final offer to the scientific community and their continual efforts to deplaneterize a minority.

Nobody ever stops to ask how pluto feels about this. I mean, we havn't even seen it do a full orbit around the sun since we discovered it...