Eye's on the New Horizons and the Kuiper Belt

[Mainframes]

I wonder why Pluto is in that picture?

Pluto is the destination.....

 

[AV1611VET]

Pluto is the destination.....

Oh --

 

[florida2]

I wonder why Pluto is in that picture?

Perhaps because it's the target?

 

[Justatruthseeker]

As Laurele pointed out in her threads, refusing to call Pluto a planet for fear of having to name all these other things planets doesn't wash.

After all, there are now over 100 elements in the Periodic Table, and you don't see anyone complaining about that.

Which is fine with me if they don't want to call them planets or not, but Pluto is orbiting the sun and has a moon of it's own, besides the long tradition of calling it a planet. But I also understand some dividing line has to be drawn, else every asteroid big enough would have to be thoroughly checked out just to decide if it's an asteroid or a planet.

True, but the PT doesn't list all the different types (sizes for planets) of steel for example.

So I can see it both ways, but still think Pluto will always be thought of as a planet.

 

[AV1611VET]

Which is fine with me if they don't want to call them planets or not,

I would say most do want to call it a planet though.

Only a handful of scientists rigged a vote behind closed doors.

Many planetary scientists objected to the declassification.

My guess is that this is not consensus of opinion.

 

[rockytopva]

New Horizons going into it's final hibernation until December. After that it is a solid year of science! Should be exciting! I am wondering what Kuiper Belt object they will be going to after Pluto

New Horizons Web Site

 

[Split Rock]

I would say most do want to call it a planet though.

Only a handful of scientists rigged a vote behind closed doors.

Many planetary scientists objected to the declassification.

My guess is that this is not consensus of opinion.

If you are correct, then planatary scientists will continue calling Pluto a planet. You continue to misunderstand the IAU's authority. It has none.

 

[florida2]

As Laurele pointed out in her threads, refusing to call Pluto a planet for fear of having to name all these other things planets doesn't wash.

After all, there are now over 100 elements in the Periodic Table, and you don't see anyone complaining about that.

Non-sequitur. The elements in the periodic table are all referred to as elements because they all fit the same description.

The bodies in the solar system vary widely so it's difficult to find neat categories to fit them in to. However, Pluto is very similar in size to a lot of other bodies in the solar system so if you wanted the description of planet to include Pluto you couldn't ignore the others.

 

[rockytopva]

 

[rockytopva]

NASA’s Hubble Telescope Finds Potential Kuiper Belt Targets for New Horizons Pluto Mission

Small objects and a great distance away. Story highlights...

Peering out to the dim, outer reaches of our solar system, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered three Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) the agency’s New Horizons spacecraft could potentially visit after it flies by Pluto in July 2015.

The New Horizons team started to look for suitable KBOs in 2011 using some of the largest ground-based telescopes on Earth. They found several dozen KBOs, but none was reachable within the fuel supply available aboard the New Horizons spacecraft.

“We started to get worried that we could not find anything suitable, even with Hubble, but in the end the space telescope came to the rescue,” said New Horizons science team member John Spencer of SwRI. “There was a huge sigh of relief when we found suitable KBOs; we are ‘over the moon’ about this detection.”

This was a needle-in-haystack search for the New Horizons team because the elusive KBOs are extremely small, faint, and difficult to pick out against a myriad background of stars in the constellation Sagittarius, which is in the present direction of Pluto. The three KBOs identified each are a whopping 1 billion miles beyond Pluto. Two of the KBOs are estimated to be as large as 34 miles (55 kilometers) across, and the third is perhaps as small as 15 miles (25 kilometers).

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2014/141015_2.asp

 

[rockytopva]

New Horizons is approaching 2 AU's from Pluto. Almost show time!

In the meantime, searching for Kuiper belt objects that Hubble first spotted earlier in the year. These objects won't be reached until 2018 or 2019.

Meantime the Hubble team is atop Mauna Kay in Hawaii tracking these Kuiper Belt Objects. It's a hard job, but someones got to do it!

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/gallery/videos/podcast/LIFESTYLE-GHS-640x360.MP4

 

[Shemjaza]

I can wait for some really high detail pictures of Pluto and Charon.

 

[florida2]

I can wait for some really high detail pictures of Pluto and Charon.

It's amazing that there's an object in the solar system that we have known about since 1930 yet we don't really know what it looks like yet.

Can't wait.

 

[rockytopva]

Two AU's from Pluto!

 

[rockytopva]

-dup-

 

[rockytopva]

Within two of Pluto...

Months before New Horizons gets to that closest approach, we'll start getting the best images of Pluto we've ever seen. So far, the best Pluto pictures are from the Hubble Telescope. By May of next year, New Horizons will be sending home better images. - Mark Your Calendars: In A Year, We'll Arrive At Pluto : NPR


Stern says, "We actually call that our BTH date — Better Than Hubble."


We are still about 6 months away from seeing Pluto better than Hubble. At over 30 AU's further away, Hubble has some bragging rights!

 

[Shemjaza]

It may be a dwarf planet, but I certainly like Pluto more then Neptune or Uranus.

I love that in the outer Solar System within 2 AU is practically the home stretch... but there have probably been many times when Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury have all been within less then that of each other.

 

[rockytopva]

It is an amazing thing that we have such a long wait until we get better than Hubble. Keep in mind that we are now over 30 AU's from earth and less than 2 AU's from Pluto. And Hubble still has the better view.

 

[rockytopva]

Waking up for the last time... New Horizons Web Site

We are still well over 200 days from the July 14th closest approach. And still 6 months away from downloaded photos that are better than Hubble.

 

[Standing_Ultraviolet]

It's amazing that there's an object in the solar system that we have known about since 1930 yet we don't really know what it looks like yet.

Can't wait.

We also have some other dwarf planets that haven't had any good photographs taken of them, including Ceres, which was discovered in 1801 and is also going to get a fly-by this year. I'm more interested in Pluto and Charon, of course, but Ceres is a fascinating little sphere.