(just kidding)
Posted on 06/11/2015 6:40:58 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is still 24 million miles and more than a month away from the dwarf planet Pluto, but the probe's pictures are already revealing a world that's more complicated than previously thought.
"They show an increasingly complex surface with clear evidence of discrete equatorial bright and dark regions — some that may also have variations in brightness," the mission's principal investigator, Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, said Thursday in an image advisory. "We can also see that every face of Pluto is different, and that Pluto's northern hemisphere displays substantial dark terrains."
The brightest as well as the darkest regions, however, appear to be on the icy world's equator or just south of it. "Why this is so is an emerging puzzle," Stern said.
Like previously released pictures, the images taken between May 29 and June 2 show a bright area at one of Pluto's poles that scientists suspect is an ice cap. Some of the pictures make it look as if Pluto is non-spherical — but the scientists say that's just an illusion, caused by the intensive image processing as well as the wide variations in surface brightness.
...
One picture that's been posted to the UnmannedSpaceflight.com discussion forum appears to show a dark streak dividing bright areas on Pluto's disk. Icelandic imaging whiz Björn Jónsson says it looks like an honest-to-goodness surface feature, and may hint at activity on the surface.
"Dark lines crisscrossing a disk! It's the discovery of canali on Pluto!" the Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla half-jokingly observed. "We have reached Schiaparelli-quality mapping of Pluto's surface!"
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Looks more like Gorbachev to me. You can see the birthmark on his head, and everything.
Hopefully
Take that garbage to Stormfront where it belongs.
Please.
“Take that garbage to Stormfront where it belongs.
Please.”
Huh?
Do I really need to apologise for making a pluto joke based on current events on FREE REPUBLIC?
That stick up your ass?
Break it off before it sticks out your mouth.
No need for you to apologize.
Just take your ignorant comments somewhere else.
Thank you.
Hey...bite me.
Your implication that I am a neo nazi or racist is pure bullshit.
Thank you.
You have to say “por pabor”..
(just kidding)
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to – The Outer Limits.
It’d be nice if New Horizons could hang around out there for awhile, like Cassini @ Saturn.
Reminds me more of that “Planet Hillary” disaster.
“Pluto’s rotational period of 6.4 days”
You Earthlings ... always comparing things to your odd planet.
‘Don’t Mess With Mars/Buy Martian!’
King John Carter
6th Prefect, Barsoom
A. Yes, much.
B. These are already incredible, fantastic, extraordinary improvements over anything we previously had, and for that reason, quite exciting.
It’s interesting, that the craft is so far away, and the pass-by is so speedy, that pictures from the flyby will be coming in for a long time (perhaps a year+!) AFTER the craft is long gone from Pluto. There are also bandwidth restrictions because the distance is so great, the transmitter isn’t very powerful, and the receiving equipment isn’t dedicated specifically to this mission.
Looks the same as last week
LOL! Methinks he means “DONT STEAL MY THREAD WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH”
Thanks BenLurkin.
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