Good pics of Pluto this Wednesday.

[K191145]

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/07/13/it-showtime-for-pluto-prepare-to-be-amazed-by-nasa-flyby/

 

This will be cool, it flys by Tuesday but i heard it takes 14 hours at the speed of light to get the pics back to earth, that's a loooong way away. Even if it's just a round rock at least we will know.

[K191145]

1st pictures coming in already. 

 

 

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JMH42/media/Pluto_zpsmfht9ykz.jpg.html][/URL]

[zybysco]

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/07/13/it-showtime-for-pluto-prepare-to-be-amazed-by-nasa-flyby/

This will be cool, it flys by Tuesday but i heard it takes 14 hours at the speed of light to get the pics back to earth, that's a loooong way away. Even if it's just a round rock at least we will know.

The article you linked says 4-1/2 hours. The signal is slower than speed of light as well.

Maybe they'll find another "face" on Pluto.

[No_0ne]

The article you linked says 4-1/2 hours. The signal is slower than speed of light as well.

Maybe they'll find another "face" on Pluto.

At 186280 miles/second, light takes about 4.47 hours to travel 3 billion miles, the approximate distance to Pluto.  Radio waves don't always propagate at the same speed as light, but because most of the distance is through free space, the signals from the Pluto probe should traverse the distance at lightspeed, at least until reaching the Earth's magnetosphere.  There are however specific broadcast "windows"  which act to delay the signals from being transmitted from the craft except at optimum times ...

[K191145]

At 186280 miles/second, light takes about 4.47 hours to travel 3 billion miles, the approximate distance to Pluto.  Radio waves don't always propagate at the same speed as light, but because most of the distance is through free space, the signals from the Pluto probe should traverse the distance at lightspeed, at least until reaching the Earth's magnetosphere.  There are however specific broadcast "windows"  which act to delay the signals from being transmitted from the craft except at optimum times ...

 

UUUHHH, yea, okay.  :)

[Tncobra]

At 186280 miles/second, light takes about 4.47 hours to travel 3 billion miles, the approximate distance to Pluto.  Radio waves don't always propagate at the same speed as light, but because most of the distance is through free space, the signals from the Pluto probe should traverse the distance at lightspeed, at least until reaching the Earth's magnetosphere.  There are however specific broadcast "windows"  which act to delay the signals from being transmitted from the craft except at optimum times ...

But if we drove to Pluto at the speed of light, at night and turned our headlights on. Could we see or would we have to wait for daybreak.

[jhc77]

At 186280 miles/second, light takes about 4.47 hours to travel 3 billion miles, the approximate distance to Pluto. Radio waves don't always propagate at the same speed as light, but because most of the distance is through free space, the signals from the Pluto probe should traverse the distance at lightspeed, at least until reaching the Earth's magnetosphere. There are however specific broadcast "windows" which act to delay the signals from being transmitted from the craft except at optimum times ...

Brilliant. Does the free space have a vacuum pressure calculated in for the speed of light?
I kid really. That is a good explanation though Edited July 14, 2015 by JHC77

[Oh Shoot]

At 186280 miles/second, light takes about 4.47 hours to travel 3 billion miles, the approximate distance to Pluto.  Radio waves don't always propagate at the same speed as light, but because most of the distance is through free space, the signals from the Pluto probe should traverse the distance at lightspeed, at least until reaching the Earth's magnetosphere.  There are however specific broadcast "windows"  which act to delay the signals from being transmitted from the craft except at optimum times ...

 

However, for reasons I don't really fully grok, the transmission rate from it is only 1kb (125 bytes) per second, so each standard image is about 45 min getting out in the first place. And it can't send them continuously either.

 

The actual data reception and interpolation parts on our end is the most amazing part.

 

Sort of explanations:

 

http://www.geek.com/science/new-horizons-probe-has-a-1-kilobit-per-second-data-connection-from-pluto-1614967/

 

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html

 

- OS

Edited July 14, 2015 by Oh Shoot

[FUJIMO]

Who knew TGO would be a hot bed for astronomy talk today.

 

First Dolomite watching out for Uranus and now this :)

[E4 No More]

$700,000,000 spent on pictures. I wonder how many folks in the US that would have lifted out of poverty, fed, sheltered, etc?

[npgunner]

Who knew TGO would be a hot bed for astronomy talk today.

First Dolomite watching out for Uranus and now this :)

Someone here is trying to see my anus? They must be in favor of the new Supreme Court ruling ...

Haha ... I couldn't let that go.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[No_0ne]

However, for reasons I don't really fully grok, the transmission rate from it is only 1kb (125 bytes) per second, so each standard image is about 45 min getting out in the first place. And it can't send them continuously either.

 

The actual data reception and interpolation parts on our end is the most amazing part.

 

Sort of explanations:

 

http://www.geek.com/science/new-horizons-probe-has-a-1-kilobit-per-second-data-connection-from-pluto-1614967/

 

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html

 

- OS

 

Good articles.  I imagine the limited bandwidth is due to conserving power, after all the thing runs on a battery, and even the energizer bunny slows down after 3 billion miles and over 9 years ...

[K191145]

$700,000,000 spent on pictures. I wonder how many folks in the US that would have lifted out of poverty, fed, sheltered, etc?

 

This is something I don't have a problem spending some money on, it's knowledge and fascinating also. I wish they could send a craft to mars to collect dust and rocks, dig a sample in an old river bed to find some microscopic life fossils then have a way to send it back. 

Edited July 14, 2015 by K191145

[K191145]

Who knew TGO would be a hot bed for astronomy talk today.

 

First Dolomite watching out for Uranus and now this :)

 

Don't ever have Klingons on Uranus, I heard that was bad.  :eek:

[E4 No More]

This is something I don't have a problem spending some money on, it's knowledge and fascinating also. I wish they could send a craft to mars to collect dust and rocks, dig a sample in an old river bed to find some microscopic life fossils then have a way to send it back.

Please tell me how will these pictures will benefit YOU in your lifetime? Humans will destroy their selves long before anyone can colonize even Mars.

[vontar]

In my book Pluto is still a planet.  My 3rd grade teacher said so.

 

I don't get into this name calling, saying it is a dwarf planet it and such.  I will agree it is a little planet or a small planet.  I don't even know if it is PC to use the word dwarf.

[K191145]

Please tell me how will these pictures will benefit YOU in your lifetime? Humans will destroy their selves long before anyone can colonize even Mars.

 

That very statement was probably said to explorers long ago.

[TNWNGR]

So Pluto's to large to be considered a planetoid and to small to be classified as a planet but calling it a minor planet won't wash either making it a dwarf planet? Rubbish. I hope lots of great images and data are published and consider it a worthwhile use of taxpayer money.

[TNWNGR]

Please tell me how will these pictures will benefit YOU in your lifetime? Humans will destroy their selves long before anyone can colonize even Mars.

Historically we've destroyed ourselves before and eventually gotten back on our feet so who can say what will or won't happen. Remember it really doesn't take much to destroy a civilization but as a species it would need to be far more catastrophic.

[vontar]

When this probe was launched Pluto was still considered a planet.  It was only demoted after New Horizons was already on it's way to the planet Pluto. 

[Hershmeister]

$700,000,000 spent on pictures. I wonder how many folks in the US that would have lifted out of poverty, fed, sheltered, etc?

None

[No_0ne]

Please tell me how will these pictures will benefit YOU in your lifetime? Humans will destroy their selves long before anyone can colonize even Mars.

 

The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs cost about $25 billion, and that was in 1960's dollars.  For all that money, and a decade of work, we got a few hundred pounds of moon rocks and dust.  However, as a direct result of the research and development done to allow those journeys, we transformed the modern world in ways never imagined, to include GPS, improved satellite and land-based communications and many new materials which are in daily use today, not to mention the revolution in computing power and electronics caused by the need to miniaturize electronic instrumentation and computers on board the ships.  The total value of the spin-off technologies of our earlier endeavors in space is likely in the tens, if not hundreds of trillions of dollars, a pretty good ROI in anyone's estimation ...

[E4 No More]

That very statement was probably said to explorers long ago.

The major difference being DISTANCE.

[E4 No More]

The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs cost about $25 billion, and that was in 1960's dollars.  For all that money, and a decade of work, we got a few hundred pounds of moon rocks and dust.  However, as a direct result of the research and development done to allow those journeys, we transformed the modern world in ways never imagined, to include GPS, improved satellite and land-based communications and many new materials which are in daily use today, not to mention the revolution in computing power and electronics caused by the need to miniaturize electronic instrumentation and computers on board the ships.  The total value of the spin-off technologies of our earlier endeavors in space is likely in the tens, if not hundreds of trillions of dollars, a pretty good ROI in anyone's estimation ...

The same advancements came from orbital missions. The driver for going to the moon was to one up the Russians, nothing more.

[Chucktshoes]

The same advancements came from orbital missions. The driver for going to the moon was to one up the Russians, nothing more.

And in the end, it only took us as far as a Hollywood soundstage. :tinfoil: