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Science (non-SETI) :
Pluto is a Planet!
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Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
Common, maybe. Accessible for us to go to, not very likely. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
Both Earth and Pluto have large moons, in proportion to their own diameters, which lie notably close to their primaries. In both cases this seems to be the result of a primordial collision with another sizable body. Neither Venus, nor Mars have a such large moons...though, they r still stable in their rotation! How so? :D (rhetorical q) non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
William Rothamel Send message Joined: 25 Oct 06 Posts: 3756 Credit: 1,999,735 RAC: 4 |
A stabilizing moon may just be one of perhaps two dozen conditions required for intelligent life to form and survive. |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
New Images. New from NASA's New Horizons: Increasing Variety on Pluto's Close Approach Hemisphere, and a 'Dark Pole' on Charon NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft doesn’t pass Pluto until July 14 – but the mission team is making new discoveries as the piano-sized probe bears down on the Pluto system. In a long series of images obtained by New Horizons’ telescopic Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) May 29-June 19, Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, appear to more than double in size. From this rapidly improving imagery, scientists on the New Horizons team have found that the “close approach hemisphere†on Pluto that New Horizons will fly over has the greatest variety of terrain types seen on the planet so far. They have also discovered that Charon has a “dark pole†– a mysterious dark region that forms a kind of anti-polar cap. "This system is just amazing," said Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator, from the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "The science team is just ecstatic with what we see on Pluto’s close approach hemisphere: Every terrain type we see on the planet—including both the brightest and darkest surface areas —are represented there, it’s a wonderland! "And about Charon—wow—I don’t think anyone expected Charon to reveal a mystery like dark terrains at its pole," he continued. "Who ordered that?" https://youtu.be/navsfeb19vI Video link. NASA |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
A stabilizing moon may just be one of perhaps two dozen conditions required for intelligent life to form and survive. & u know that how? how many star systems have u visited, to KNOW this! or r u betting on 1/9 chances in this Solar system? ;) non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
A stabilizing moon may just be one of perhaps two dozen conditions required for intelligent life to form and survive. & maybe we need to call them on +ZBX area code? :D non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Mysterious for now. What Is Glittering at Pluto’s North Pole? As the New Horizons spacecraft nears Pluto, more details are coming into view, and we are beginning to see surface features on the tiny world. And that means we’ll see things that are … odd. Perhaps “as yet unexplained†is a better term, since we’re seeing these markings for the first time in human history. The press releases have been amazing, but the images released have been enlarged and processed in complex ways to bring out details. Pictures of Pluto taken at 05:37:30 (left) and 30 seconds earlier (right), enlarged and contrast enhanced. http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/06/25/pluto_north_pole_bright_spot_getting_clearer.html @Julie, the countdown is running.. |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
Bright spots are seen on Ceres by the Dawn spacecraft. We shall be seeing them from a lower altitude soon as Dawn lowers its orbit. Tullio |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
Both Ceres and Pluto belong to the primitive part of the Planetary System. We might be in for some surprise. Tullio |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
I've suggested a kind of natural nuclear fission reaction, like that found in Oklo, Gabon, 1972. Wait and see. Tullio |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
Mysterious for now. oh, no...not again! I can see Yellow pages already! :D non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
tullio Send message Joined: 9 Apr 04 Posts: 8797 Credit: 2,930,782 RAC: 1 |
A final correction has been made the New Horizons path to Pluto. It takes 9 hours to send a command to the spacecraft, so commnds must be sent in advance and stored in the computers to be executed at an exact moment. Meanwhile the SOFIA 2.5 meters IR telescope aboard a 747SP modified jetliner has observed an occultation of a star by Pluto on June 29, which is important for the study of the Pluto atmosphere, which includes methane. Tullio |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
OMG! New Horizons Update: Methane Detected; New Images of Pluto and Charon; Sunrise/Sunset Observations Yes, there is methane on Pluto, and, no, it doesn’t come from cows. The infrared spectrometer on NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has detected frozen methane on Pluto’s surface; Earth-based astronomers first observed the chemical compound on Pluto in 1976. “We already knew there was methane on Pluto, but these are our first detections,†said Will Grundy, the New Horizons Surface Composition team leader with the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Soon we will know if there are differences in the presence of methane ice from one part of Pluto to another.†http://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-update-methane-detected-new-images-of-pluto-and-charon-sunrisesunset |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1384 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Several recent images of Pluto show what looks like a huge crater, better than 1/2 of the planet's diameter. A dark ellipse, surrounded by a whitish rim are apparent, suggesting the contours of a crater, as seen from a low angle. An impact on this scale would very probably be enough to destroy Pluto's structure, erasing all traces of itself. If the better images that will be coming in over the next two weeks confirm that this feature is real, it may be necessary to devise another explanation for it. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1384 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
On the opposite hemisphere of Pluto from the apparent huge crater, they've seen several dark, rounded areas, each of about the same size, equally spaced along the equator. The investigators are at a loss to explain these. Link below to an article with pictures of both the huge crater-like object, and the self-similar array of dark circles. Magnifying the images with your computer will help in seeing these features more clearly. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33369045 |
William Rothamel Send message Joined: 25 Oct 06 Posts: 3756 Credit: 1,999,735 RAC: 4 |
It's Thor's bowling ball !! |
Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
Thanks Michael, for the link :-) BBC, pictures better than NASA. |
KLiK Send message Joined: 31 Mar 14 Posts: 1304 Credit: 22,994,597 RAC: 60 |
It's Thor's bowling ball !! American bowling ball has 3 holes...that is why we (man) love them! So similar... ;) non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1384 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
The New Horizons space probe nearing Pluto suffered a technical fault on Saturday. It is currently communicating with Earth, but is in safe mode, which means that no photography or other scientific work can be done at the moment. The mission team will analyze diagnostic data from the probe, to try to determine the nature of the problem. They hope to restore New Horizons to normal operations with a day or two, ahead of the Jul. 14th flyby of Pluto. Link to news article on this matter: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/nasas-new-horizons-team-reviving-pluto-probe-after-anomaly-n386876 |
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