Pluto Visited!

[Stargeezer]

Pluto will be visited soon!
In mid July 12015 the space probe New Horizons will be passing by Pluto
It will be a real thrill if we can all see many pictures from the probe of close ups of
our 9th planet, and even maybe see the Big moon Charon and the other four small moons as well.
I do like that the UK refers to Pluto as a Plutoid, and not a dwarf planet, as that would
be a more acceptable reference to Pluto if the IAU will not reinstate it as a full fledged planet.
Even though there may be other objects in the Kuiper belt and beyond to the Oort cloud surrounding
our little solar system that are maybe the size of Pluto, these other objects including Eris are much more distant, and can not be seen with anything but the largest of the earth bound telescopes
and even the HST. This is just my 2 cents worth, of why Pluto is still the 9th planet to a lot
of people on earth, regardless of what the IAU and their supporters say!
It was a sad day when at the meeting of the IAU, where about 2700 of their more than 9000
members actually showed up to, then at the final days of the meeting when less than 500 of the members sat around and actually discussed about the demotion of Pluto to a dwarf planet.
This is about the least democratic method I have ever heard of to change the status of any of the planets, and yet that is how the status of Pluto was done. You may think that I am only spouting
on about this topic, but I got this information from a book that was published in the last few years.
I am trying to find this table top book which is about the planets and space, that costs about $50, but since I read it and did not buy it that day, I have not been able to relocate the book, and buy it
since.download/file.php?mode=view&id=17257

[hhfarang]

"We're going to reach Pluto for the first time in history tomorrow — here's how to watch"

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/humankin ... 53162.html

[pharvey]

Truly incredible - people just do not seem to appreciate the magnitude of the achievment, or what incredible effort, knowledge and skill has been involved to make this a success...

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-en ... t-33476813

BIG, BIG hand....

[hhfarang]

"New Horizons Won't Be The Only Spacecraft At Our Solar System's Edge



Now that it's sailed beyond Pluto, what comes next for NASA' s New Horizons spacecraft?

NASA says the probe will continue its mission into the Kuiper Belt, the vast region of primordial debris that encircles our solar system.

It will be lonely out there for sure. But maybe not as lonely as you might imagine. As McClatchy D.C. reported, the New Horizons probe won't be the only spacecraft at our solar system's edge -- it will be joining four other unmanned spacecraft that are already speeding their way out of the solar system: Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2.



The venerable Pioneer 10 spacecraft was launched in 1972 to explore Jupiter. It sent its last signal to Earth in 2003.



The Pioneer 11 spacecraft was launched in 1973 to explore Saturn. It sent its last signal to Earth in 1995.



The Voyager 1 spacecraft, which launched in 1977, made the historic entry into interstellar space in 2012 and continues to send signals back to Earth.



The Voyager 2 spacecraft, which launched in 1977, also continues to transmit data back to Earth.

While in the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons will examine celestial objects found in the region until it runs out of fuel, the Guardian reported.

"We have a chance to go further and explore the deep reaches of the heliosphere, like Voyager did, and to do that with much more modern instruments," Dr. Alan Stern, the principal investigator of New Horizons, told USA Today, "and hopefully return data that will really add to the storehouse of what we know about our environment in the solar system."

New Horizons has enough power to keep operating until the mid-2030s, Stern said. By that point it will be roughly 9.3 billion miles from the sun--and will continue on its way even after it falls silent.

Onward all!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/new ... lp00000592

[pharvey]

A great little video courtesy of NASA and the BBC ....

[Terry]

And to think that they did all that, without the help of any Welsh rocketeers...................

[pharvey]

^ Aha..... little do you know...