Author Topic: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015  (Read 180818 times)

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #400 on: 07/24/2015 06:10 pm »
2.2km per pixel:
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #401 on: 07/24/2015 06:12 pm »
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Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #402 on: 07/24/2015 06:12 pm »
"Like a real heart, it has two lobes".. (Well, Alan.. four, but I'll let you off)

They believe that the bright material (probably N2 snow), is being transported to the Eastern lobe from the Western lobe (perhaps aeolian, perhaps sublimation and recondensation)

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #403 on: 07/24/2015 06:13 pm »
False color.
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #404 on: 07/24/2015 06:14 pm »
Science...
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #405 on: 07/24/2015 06:16 pm »
Charon has much less atmosphere - if any - than Pluto.
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Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #406 on: 07/24/2015 06:17 pm »
Talking about the contrast enhanced false colour image: "This preliminary imaging is telling us that we brought the right set of instruments to Pluto" - because the other instruments have more sensitivity and resolution in the same parameters which show a large dynamic range.

Now showing the ALICE solar occultation of Charon.
The solar occultation plummets straight to zero (very very sharp)... so interpretation is that Charon has a much more rarefied atmosphere (if any).

Spectrum should be able to constrain the numbers... whatever residual atmosphere they have, might be N2.

They now have radio-occulation data from Pluto. (DSN transmission... and NH measurements.) (Me: Wow. They're really into post flyby science now)

Scientific surprise: The P_atm at the base of Pluto's atmosphere is much lower than expected.

HOLY SHOT. They got a shot of Pluto-Eclipsing the sun... Well.. not so much an eclipse as in the sun having any appreciably similar disc size.. but there's Pluto with a halo... which is all sorts of irony given the name of the celestial body. But that's science :D


The haze extends atleast 5x more from the surface of Pluto than expected by models.
« Last Edit: 07/24/2015 06:20 pm by AJA »

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #407 on: 07/24/2015 06:19 pm »
Pluto's atmosphere.
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #408 on: 07/24/2015 06:21 pm »
Science....
« Last Edit: 07/24/2015 06:21 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #409 on: 07/24/2015 06:22 pm »
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Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #410 on: 07/24/2015 06:24 pm »
Now talking about possible origins for the haze in Pluto's atmosphere. Hydrocarbons radicalised by sunlight, (Methane).. forming more complex hydrocarbons, and this then precipitates.

They're really surprised by the extent though, and there may be other mechanisms.

Talking about the surface atmospheric pressure.

The variation in surface pressure is quite a bit, depending on Pluto's orbital position. (They've measured the increase in pressure, as it moves away from the sun.. and therefore cools, and therefore exhibits an increase in the surface pressure).

But the REX data shows a pressure that's about 15 mb lower than expected (or previously measured(?)/estimated)

Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #411 on: 07/24/2015 06:26 pm »
Now back to the colour enhanced global image of Pluto..

Our attention's being drawn to a banding pattern near the poles. (Me: Reminded of the Saturnian polar hexagon).

Explanation of the high orbital inclination of Pluto's axis of rotation, and the complexity of seasons that that implies. It's LATITUDINAL variation of colours and brightnesses... except for Tombaugh reggio. This might be correlated with the hazes.

A speciality of this region is that they see CO (absent in other places), in addition to CH4 and N2 ices.
« Last Edit: 07/24/2015 06:27 pm by AJA »

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #412 on: 07/24/2015 06:26 pm »
Seasonal transport of ice.
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #413 on: 07/24/2015 06:27 pm »
Source region? (They wonder).
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Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #414 on: 07/24/2015 06:28 pm »
Mosaic. Size of Texas.
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Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #415 on: 07/24/2015 06:28 pm »
Geology now:

Ooh... 7 frame animation, of what will ultimately be a 12 frame animation. Showing Sputnik Planum.

(i.e. When the NASA feed decides to stop misbehaving)

"Sputnik Planum is famous, or really..well known for its hexagonal cells".... (Me: he's saying this for something that we only discovered.. LITERALLY two weeks ago. LOL :D)

The curved arrows in the picture (which Chris'll dutifully attach :P) denote glacial flow "streamlines". These ices are viscous, but they will flow.
« Last Edit: 07/24/2015 06:31 pm by AJA »

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #416 on: 07/24/2015 06:30 pm »
Evidence of recent geological activity....
« Last Edit: 07/24/2015 06:32 pm by Chris Bergin »
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Offline Lee Jay

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #417 on: 07/24/2015 06:31 pm »
This image is absolutely mind blowing.

Offline AJA

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Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #418 on: 07/24/2015 06:33 pm »
The singular arrow, they think denotes an old impact crater, and Nitrogen glaciers flowing into them. They're talking about how this constrains the age of the surface area to (at most), a very small fraction of the solar system's age... and from what they know about N2 ices, there's "no reason that these processes can't be going on today".

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: LIVE: New Horizons Pluto FlyBy - July 14, 2015
« Reply #419 on: 07/24/2015 06:34 pm »
Blimey "This is a very busy scene"
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