New Horizons, Only 100 days from Pluto.

[John]

Interesting stuff here - the taking questions https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3d9luh/were_scientists_on_the_nasa_new_horizons_team

Helen

Thats an interesting conversation. Someone posted a link to the image below comparing a New Horizons image with an arstists impression by Don Dixon many years old:

Quite remarkable correlation !

[Alien 13]

Thats an interesting conversation. Someone posted a link to the image below comparing a New Horizons image with an arstists impression by Don Dixon many years old:

Xrs7YkP.jpg

Quite remarkable correlation !

That so spooky even some of the crater features are almost exact.

Alan

[Stu]

Silly one from Facebook

[Alien 13]

Silly one from Facebook

That is the image of Pluto that will stay with me forever absolutely brilliant.

Alan

[Laurie61]

Thats an interesting conversation. Someone posted a link to the image below comparing a New Horizons image with an arstists impression by Don Dixon many years old:

Xrs7YkP.jpg

Quite remarkable correlation !

Don Dixon did a better job with his rendering than NASA. 

[Stub Mandrel]

Both of them are pretty prescient, just depends which direction you are looking in.

[DaveGarland]

This guy on twitter seems to have gone suspiciously quiet lol!

@solarview

[Starlight 1]

So  pluto have 5 Moons i finding out something new every day.

""The probe is investigating not only Pluto but also its five moons: Charon, Styx, Nix, Kerberos and Hydra.""""""

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Don Dixon did a better job with his rendering than NASA. 

STEyAtF.png

Well, they did better than me. I predicted Charon would resemble Graham Taylor.

[Laurie61]

New Horizons has obtained impressive new images of Pluto and its large moon Charon that highlight their compositional diversity. These are not actual color images of Pluto and Charon—they are shown here in exaggerated colors that make it easy to note the differences in surface material and features on each planetary body.

The images were obtained using three of the color filters of the “Ralph” instrument on July 13 at 3:38 am EDT. New Horizons has seven science instruments on board the spacecraft—including “Ralph” and “Alice”, whose names are a throwback to the “Honeymooners,” a popular 1950s sitcom. 

“These images show that Pluto and Charon are truly complex worlds.  There's a whole lot going on here,” said New Horizons co-investigator Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona.  “Our surface composition team is working as fast as we can to identify the substances in different regions on Pluto and unravel the processes that put them where they are.”

[Highburymark]

I was planning to take the day off work today to watch the coverage, glad I didn't.

Has there just been a lot of misinformation, or did they not actually reveal when the first few close approach images would be released, until today?

Don't want to slate their press team too much, but if us lot don't know what is due and when.

None of which will matter when we get those high res images in front of us

Julian - they always said that the closest images would not arrive until Wednesday - that means New Horizons has been able to concentrate fully on the job in hand today, and although we have to wait a little longer, it also means we'll have a lot more pics and info to enjoy tomorrow.

[impactcrater]

Pluto...'other worldly'...the Mouldy Orange ?

[rolion]

Healthy space craft, lots of data and ... they are already out bound from Pluto !

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Thanks NASA !!!

[DRT]

I just watched the "phone home" live broadcast on the BBC - all systems are "nominal" and New Horizons is on its way out with a full set of data from the flyby.

Absolutely stunning achievement. Well done guys - a job well done

[rolion]

[rolion]

NASA Live TV with the H U M A N S and the machines behind this great achievement:

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Thanks...

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Great news.

[Stub Mandrel]

:-)

[Mr Spock]

It's alive!

Looking forward to seeing the detailed pics. What a fascinating world Pluto is.

[Chris]

So amazing, can't believe the pictures coming back! Clyde Tombaugh would have loved this. I Googled how to spell his name and just found out some of is ashes are onboard the new horizons probe, how cool is that!

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Re the criticism of NASA's 'live' coverage of the fly past.Does this make them a Mickey Mouse Outfit?   I've got me coat,thanks.

[RLWP]

Yes, yes - well done guys, great achievement, small step for man, good work, but...

I WANT A GREAT BIG PICTURE OF PLUTO NOW!!!

Ahem.

Patience is a virtue, they say*

Richard

*fools

[Laurie61]

Good to see the spacecraft is 100% and we have all those lovely images to look forward to  OK NASA blow my socks off    

[symesie04]

Providing of course the camera hasnt gone goofy.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Providing of course the camera hasnt gone goofy.

Is that an intentional Disney reference?

Yes, we're not home and dry yet, it's possible that something went wrong during the pass or that a system could fail during the 16 month it will take to transmit the data. But it's looking very promising, New Horizons has lots of redundant systems and it didn't report any problems in its contact message.