Pluto flyby wow

[traveller (Bo)]

Just watched Pluto flyby via NASA TV, what a historic event. This is my equivalent of man on the moon.

[traveller (Bo)]

And a brief glimpse of Bill Nye

[alpal]

I've been on all the live streaming.
All I can see are talking heads - no new pictures at all.

I think we will have to wait till tomorrow to see anything.

[Paul Haese]

Yes there is a 9 hour delay from the time the probe starts sending data to the time it is received on Earth. There is a new image on twitter from early this morning. Lots of detail seen including some craters that are sharp.

[traveller (Bo)]

New horizons only has a fixed antenna so it was put into data gather mode 4 hrs before the flyby. It will also take a peek after flyby to get more data before reorienting back to earth to transmit the data back.
More science porn ahead....

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Paul Haese

Yes there is a 9 hour delay from the time the probe starts sending data to the time it is received on Earth. There is a new image on twitter from early this morning. Lots of detail seen including some craters that are sharp.

Yes - it's nothing like the encounter with Neptune where
I remember live pictures coming back.

The data transfer rate is only 1Kbps -
that's 56 times slower than dial-up.
What a pity that they couldn't make a decent link.

We'll have to wait weeks or months for all the data.

[Steffen]

After all the images are in and processed I guess we'll see a Pluto atlas. Who will get to name all the craters and tectonic features?

[tileys]

Who will get to name all the craters and tectonic features?

They could be smart and auction off the chance to add your name (company or individual) to the features and it could fund the next mission

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by Steffen

After all the images are in and processed I guess we'll see a Pluto atlas. Who will get to name all the craters and tectonic features?

Originally Posted by tileys

They could be smart and auction off the chance to add your name (company or individual) to the features and it could fund the next mission

https://twitter.com/DrPhiltill/statu...056704/photo/1

[AussieTrooper (Ben)]

Originally Posted by Steffen

After all the images are in and processed I guess we'll see a Pluto atlas. Who will get to name all the craters and tectonic features?

It’s a little sad that Patrick Moore isn’t still around to complete his atlas. L

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by alpal

Yes - it's nothing like the encounter with Neptune where
I remember live pictures coming back.

The data transfer rate is only 1Kbps -
that's 56 times slower than dial-up.
What a pity that they couldn't make a decent link.

We'll have to wait weeks or months for all the data.

They were discussing this last night on NASA tv while I was watching it. The data rate is variable depending on the elevation of the receiving dish on earth, 1kb/s when it is lower to the horizon up to a max of 4kb/s when it is vertical.

You can actually see real time information including the current data transfer speed at http://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html Currently coming in at 1.68kb/s at Canberra

[Tandum (Robin)]

I heard today that the probe is carrying some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes. I sort of wonder if he's getting a good view of his discovery.

[alpal]

Originally Posted by Kal

They were discussing this last night on NASA tv while I was watching it. The data rate is variable depending on the elevation of the receiving dish on earth, 1kb/s when it is lower to the horizon up to a max of 4kb/s when it is vertical.

You can actually see real time information including the current data transfer speed at http://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html Currently coming in at 1.68kb/s at Canberra

Thanks for that link - very interesting.

I just saw the mountains shot on cnn.
It's great.