NASA's New Horizons spacecraft recently began its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto. The spacecraft is entering the first of several approach phases that culminate July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth.
“NASA first mission to distant Pluto will also be humankind’s first close up view of this cold, unexplored world in our solar system,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. “The New Horizons team worked very hard to prepare for this first phase, and they did it flawlessly.”
The fastest spacecraft when it was launched, New Horizons lifted off in January 2006. It awoke from its final hibernation period last month after a voyage of more than 3 billion miles, and will soon pass close to Pluto, inside the orbits of its five known moons. In preparation
..for the close encounter, the mission’s science, engineering and spacecraft operations teams configured the piano-sized probe for distant observations of the Pluto system that start Sunday, Jan. 25 with a long-range photo shoot.
An asteroid a third of a mile wide is set to narrowly pass by Earth next week.
The rock, code-named 2004 BL86, will pass by at about three times the distance of the moon. Though that is a safe distance, it’s a close encounter for an asteroid.
On January 26, the rock will fly past about 745,000 miles from Earth
That is simply awe-inspiring and to think that is only one galaxy - it just totally staggers the imagination.
Thank you so much for posting this.
It is so very humbling and frightening in equal measure.
Hi Keyser
I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened.
It's been buzzing around my head all day.
Glad someone viewed it.
I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened.
It's been buzzing around my head all day.
Glad someone viewed it.
I am really looking forward to this, when I was a child Pluto seemed to be totally out of reach as the last significant object in the Solar System - of course now we know that it is anything but.
The attempt to photograph even more distant Kuiper belt objects is also very exciting and to get to Pluto in only nine years is bloody good going - that is one fast space craft!
Old Pluto may not be a planet any more but this mission still f***ing rocks.
Been watching it on and off for a coupla weeks now, through various optics, from 10x50 binocs right up to a 10" telescope.
It's a fairly easy naked-eye object if you can get to an out-of-town dark site - Last time I saw it (Friday night) I reckoned it to be about 4th magnitude. It was right beside delta Arietis (mag 4.3) and a tad brighter than it.
Best visuals have been through 20x80 binocs - a telescope tends to magnify it too much.
A friend of mine got this image of it when we were up at our regular dark site, last Monday night (12th) http://s12.postimg.org/e0f2hbw59/Lovejoy_Q2.jpg
80mm f/6.9 refractor, Canon DSLR, 3 mins @ iso800
Nice pic! I'm pleased that this modest comet wasn't hyped up and it's actually in a much better position to be seen in the northern hemisphere than the two celestial lemons that were Ison and Panstarrs back in 2013.
Yes, the first pics should be back with us some time on Tuesday. My advance prediction is that Pluto (and Charon) turn out to be pretty much like Neptune's moon Triton: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/images/Triton_feat.jpg
It is good but unfortunately it only covers the core area whereas (my own view only!) the really exciting bits are the spiral arms where star formation is happening and the central galactic black hole and the Andromeda Galaxy will no doubt have a huge mofo of a black hole! (if you ever get the offer of a starship voyage to a black hole, my firm advice is to decline that nice invitation because no good will come of it)
The Andromeda Galaxy is unfortunately partly side on to us so that doesn't help matters either. Personally, I'd go with galaxies that are easier to see inside such as the side on M33 Triangulum Galaxy (northern hemisphere) and the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Asteroid 2004 BL86 has its own moon Asteroid 2004 BL86, the stadium-sized space rock that flew nearer to Earth today than any other such large object is expected to for the next decade, also brought a surprise along with it. NASA radar images indicate that the 1,100-foot wide asteroid (not quite the size of a mountain, as numerous other headlines would have you believe) is also being orbited by a small moon roughly 230 feet across. The asteroid made its closest approach this morning, coming within 745,000 miles — or just a little over three times the distance to the moon — of our planet. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2015/01/26/that-big-asteroid-whizzing-by-earth-has-its-own-moon/
I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened.
It's been buzzing around my head all day.
Glad someone viewed it.
I've just viewed the clip of Andromeda too, in the middle of the night, only up and looking at this thread because of the asteroid that is meant to be visible from 1am to 6am today. No luck seeing it due to slight cloud cover.
May I ask what exactly it is about that awesome clip that frightens you especially? As I watched it the first thing that came into my head was a comment that I once heard that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach and desert in the entire world. When you consider how many grains there are in just a small child's sand castle bucket, that number is beyond comprehension. It must be a lot of noughts.
I remember Apollo 1, I was 9 at the time and a real space buff. It was the first mainstream news story that really had an impact on me.
And 29 years since Challenger, time really does fly.
The best time to be a space buff. It was gut wrenchingly exciting in those days. The USA thought they had lost the race to the moon at that point. Then of course came the disaster of Soyuz I a few months later and it was back to all square.
To be honest I think the most gripping moment of Apollo was the launch of Apollo VIII
Almost everyone was saying "They will never come back"
The best time to be a space buff. It was gut wrenchingly exciting in those days. The USA thought they had lost the race to the moon at that point. Then of course came the disaster of Soyuz I a few months later and it was back to all square one.
To be honest I think the most gripping moment of Apollo was the launch of Apollo VIII
Almost everyone was saying "They will never come back"
Exciting times, other kids had pictures of footballers on their bedroom walls, I had astronauts. I'll never forget staying up with my grandfather to watch Neil Armstrong step on the moon and the nail biting tension of Apollo 13 and the relief when they made it through re-entry.
Exciting times, other kids had pictures of footballers on their bedroom walls, I had astronauts. I'll never forget staying up with my grandfather to watch Neil Armstrong step on the moon and the nail biting tension of Apollo 13 and the relief when they made it through re-entry.
Yes late on a Friday afternoon. Yet the astronauts were ever so calm. I think that was the TV event with the greatest audience for very many years.
Tuesday 28th January 1986 is a day I recall very clearly indeed for the shock of the Space Shuttle and especially the civilian crew member and teacher who had won a place on the crew, Christa McAuliffe. I was 16 at the time and had not long come in from school and I recall that Channel 4 was on when there was a newsflash at about 4,52pm and Peter Sissons came on screen to say what had just happened. It seared into my memory. We'd just got so used to them going up safely in the previous 5 years and it seemed routine by then. President Reagan then made a great speech at his desk in the Oval Office I recall later that day.
At the time I had a large model of Space Shuttle Columbia in the bedroom, which I had got and made the year the shuttle first went up. I still have it in a cupboard a bit worse for wear, so when Columbia too was destroyed on re-entry I was really very saddened, and the 12th anniversary of that shuttle tragedy is only this coming Sunday 1st February too.
Comments
“NASA first mission to distant Pluto will also be humankind’s first close up view of this cold, unexplored world in our solar system,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. “The New Horizons team worked very hard to prepare for this first phase, and they did it flawlessly.”
The fastest spacecraft when it was launched, New Horizons lifted off in January 2006. It awoke from its final hibernation period last month after a voyage of more than 3 billion miles, and will soon pass close to Pluto, inside the orbits of its five known moons. In preparation
..for the close encounter, the mission’s science, engineering and spacecraft operations teams configured the piano-sized probe for distant observations of the Pluto system that start Sunday, Jan. 25 with a long-range photo shoot.
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/january/nasa-s-new-horizons-spacecraft-begins-first-stages-of-pluto-encounter/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30746650
So so so proud!!!
Sorry to hijack the thread but I am on cloud 9!!
Great news.
An asteroid a third of a mile wide is set to narrowly pass by Earth next week.
The rock, code-named 2004 BL86, will pass by at about three times the distance of the moon. Though that is a safe distance, it’s a close encounter for an asteroid.
On January 26, the rock will fly past about 745,000 miles from Earth
Another reference. Giant Rock headed our way
I feel overwhelmed when I watch this. Try it on a large full screen http://mic.com/articles/108854/nasa-just-released-the-most-detailed-photo-of-outer-space-ever-taken
That is simply awe-inspiring and to think that is only one galaxy - it just totally staggers the imagination.
Thank you so much for posting this.
It is so very humbling and frightening in equal measure.
Great news. Best of luck to your daughter, I'm sure she'll do well.
Hi Keyser
I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened.
It's been buzzing around my head all day.
Glad someone viewed it.
Well I really enjoyed it - simply incredible. ^_^
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30954673
A very good article by the BBC.
I am really looking forward to this, when I was a child Pluto seemed to be totally out of reach as the last significant object in the Solar System - of course now we know that it is anything but.
The attempt to photograph even more distant Kuiper belt objects is also very exciting and to get to Pluto in only nine years is bloody good going - that is one fast space craft!
Old Pluto may not be a planet any more but this mission still f***ing rocks.
A few links.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/#.VMVP_P6sXuI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons
Nice pic! I'm pleased that this modest comet wasn't hyped up and it's actually in a much better position to be seen in the northern hemisphere than the two celestial lemons that were Ison and Panstarrs back in 2013.
Yes, the first pics should be back with us some time on Tuesday. My advance prediction is that Pluto (and Charon) turn out to be pretty much like Neptune's moon Triton: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/images/Triton_feat.jpg
While we're on the topic of dwarven worlds, this year sees the Dawn probe arrive at the largest asteroid Ceres and the first pictures were taken a few days ago: http://www.space.com/28336-mysterious-white-spot-on-ceres.html
There's more about Ceres here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29 and my best guess is that Ceres might look a bit like Jupiter's moon Callisto: https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/exploring-the-planets/online/jupiter/jupimg/JUP_79HC269callisto.gif
It is good but unfortunately it only covers the core area whereas (my own view only!) the really exciting bits are the spiral arms where star formation is happening and the central galactic black hole and the Andromeda Galaxy will no doubt have a huge mofo of a black hole! (if you ever get the offer of a starship voyage to a black hole, my firm advice is to decline that nice invitation because no good will come of it)
The Andromeda Galaxy is unfortunately partly side on to us so that doesn't help matters either. Personally, I'd go with galaxies that are easier to see inside such as the side on M33 Triangulum Galaxy (northern hemisphere) and the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud.
Linkies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4shqOBkCki8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Kvij2WJjM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7rTl136kIQ
Asteroid 2004 BL86, the stadium-sized space rock that flew nearer to Earth today than any other such large object is expected to for the next decade, also brought a surprise along with it. NASA radar images indicate that the 1,100-foot wide asteroid (not quite the size of a mountain, as numerous other headlines would have you believe) is also being orbited by a small moon roughly 230 feet across. The asteroid made its closest approach this morning, coming within 745,000 miles — or just a little over three times the distance to the moon — of our planet.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2015/01/26/that-big-asteroid-whizzing-by-earth-has-its-own-moon/
I've just viewed the clip of Andromeda too, in the middle of the night, only up and looking at this thread because of the asteroid that is meant to be visible from 1am to 6am today. No luck seeing it due to slight cloud cover.
May I ask what exactly it is about that awesome clip that frightens you especially? As I watched it the first thing that came into my head was a comment that I once heard that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach and desert in the entire world. When you consider how many grains there are in just a small child's sand castle bucket, that number is beyond comprehension. It must be a lot of noughts.
Did anyone see it with binoculars from the UK overnight?
See Challenger Disaster Live
Interestingly it was 48 years since the Apollo I disaster yesterday.
I remember Apollo 1, I was 9 at the time and a real space buff. It was the first mainstream news story that really had an impact on me.
And 29 years since Challenger, time really does fly.
The best time to be a space buff. It was gut wrenchingly exciting in those days. The USA thought they had lost the race to the moon at that point. Then of course came the disaster of Soyuz I a few months later and it was back to all square.
To be honest I think the most gripping moment of Apollo was the launch of Apollo VIII
Almost everyone was saying "They will never come back"
Exciting times, other kids had pictures of footballers on their bedroom walls, I had astronauts. I'll never forget staying up with my grandfather to watch Neil Armstrong step on the moon and the nail biting tension of Apollo 13 and the relief when they made it through re-entry.
Yes late on a Friday afternoon. Yet the astronauts were ever so calm. I think that was the TV event with the greatest audience for very many years.
At the time I had a large model of Space Shuttle Columbia in the bedroom, which I had got and made the year the shuttle first went up. I still have it in a cupboard a bit worse for wear, so when Columbia too was destroyed on re-entry I was really very saddened, and the 12th anniversary of that shuttle tragedy is only this coming Sunday 1st February too.