New Horizons Mission to Pluto

[MartG]

6.62 billion km away, round trip time 12.27 hrs

[Eric Mc]

MartG said:

Gandahar said:

MartG said:

Crosseye stereo pic

Great pic. I do wonder what that white bit is around the neck, it looks like someone using icing sugar after their baking experiment went wrong.

My theory is that it is refrozen ice, melted by the energy of impact and now holding the two parts together

At the press conference it was speculated that it might be "slump material" which has rolled down the valley into the neck area over aeons.

[funkyrobot]

Bit late for the snowman pics.

[Beati Dogu]

"Ultima" is the big bit and "Tooley" is the little one.

[MartG]

New high res pic

[Eric Mc]

I see some craters.

[MartG]

NASA APOD hi res colour pic

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190129.html?fbclid=Iw...

[Caruso]

The shape of it really looks like it's formed from the coalescing of smaller objects. Not just the head and body, but the shape of the body itself looks like 6 lumps round a central core.

[Pesty]

This mission is just staggering to me. Amazing stuff.

[MartG]

It seems that it isn't as round as it appears - Scott Manley vid explaining the latest info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD8eVMXfsK4

[MartG]

More hires pics released http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.p...

[Beati Dogu]

ash73 said:

Been watching reruns of Space 1999 and Ultima Thule was a planet in the episode Death's Other Dominion. I wonder if someone on the New Horizons team is a fan?

Ha, I think I've seen that. With Brian Blessed no less!

The name was put forward by 40 people in a public competition. (No doubt to avoid "Snowy Mc Snowmanface" getting picked) they narrowed their shortlist of 29 names to this one.

[Pesty]

Beati Dogu said:

ash73 said:

Been watching reruns of Space 1999 and Ultima Thule was a planet in the episode Death's Other Dominion. I wonder if someone on the New Horizons team is a fan?

Ha, I think I've seen that. With Brian Blessed no less!

The name was put forward by 40 people in a public competition. (No doubt to avoid "Snowy Mc Snowmanface" getting picked) they narrowed their shortlist of 29 names to this one.

There is aledgedly another reason that name was picked. It has other rather nasty connotations .i just found out googling for that 1999 episode

Let’s hope they were 1999 fans

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/03/nasa-refuses-change...

Thule Society identified Ultima Thule as a lost ancient landmass in the extreme north, near Greenland or Iceland,[15] said by Nazi mystics to be the capital of ancient Hyperborea.

Edit but let’s not derail this excellent thread. No point in debating those idiots, back to space.

I can’t see a thread on the Japanese hayabusa lander?

Edited by Pesty on Saturday 9th March 00:42

[Eric Mc]

Donald Trump is, at this moment, allocating funds for a manned mission to Ultima Thule - with him as captain.

[MartG]

Eric Mc said:

Donald Trump is, at this moment, allocating funds for a manned mission to Ultima Thule - with him as captain.

One way trip ?

[Einion Yrth]

MartG said:

Eric Mc said:

Donald Trump is, at this moment, allocating funds for a manned mission to Ultima Thule - with him as captain.

One way trip ?

Politics elsewhere, please gentlemen.

[Eric Mc]

It was a joke.

Just to say though, I'm quite impressed with Trump's appointment as the head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine. He seems to be giving the agency better direction and goals. If only he could get them some more money.

[Stan the Bat]

ash73 said:

Beati Dogu said:

Ha, I think I've seen that. With Brian Blessed no less!

Yep and Valerie Leon was one of the Thule native girls! So not an entirely desolate place.

And quite mountainous too.

[cymtriks]

Pesty said:

There is aledgedly another reason that name was picked. It has other rather nasty connotations .i just found out googling for that 1999 episode

Let’s hope they were 1999 fans

https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/03/nasa-refuses-change...

Seriously? This isn't an early April Fool? These people worry about names given to asteroids?

Do the people taking that article seriously feel the same way about VW Beetles (Nazi design), Audi (Nazi funded), Mercedes Benz (Nazi funded), Autobahns (Nazi project), the title of "Chancellor" for head of state (Hitler's idea), Atlantis (Nazi theories here too), Egypt (again), Nepal (again), Long horned cows (yes, really) and anything developed earlier than it would otherwise have been due to using V2 tech to jump start the space programme which would make Sat-Nav and weather satellites a bit Nazi.

[Eric Mc]

cymtriks said:

Seriously? This isn't an early April Fool? These people worry about names given to asteroids?

Do the people taking that article seriously feel the same way about VW Beetles (Nazi design), Audi (Nazi funded), Mercedes Benz (Nazi funded), Autobahns (Nazi project), the title of "Chancellor" for head of state (Hitler's idea), Atlantis (Nazi theories here too), Egypt (again), Nepal (again), Long horned cows (yes, really) and anything developed earlier than it would otherwise have been due to using V2 tech to jump start the space programme which would make Sat-Nav and weather satellites a bit Nazi.

Otto Von Bismark was Chancellor of German 70 years before Adolf Hitler.

Rocket technology was being developed in many countries besides Germany. Yes, they were more advanced with booster technology in the 1940s but eventually other countries would have got to the same level with or without German rocket technology. Don't give them credit for everything.