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[Grym]

It hasn't emerged from hibernation yet, from the article it says Sunday morning, right?

I hope it wakes up, ESA said themselves, that the turning their probe, Rosetta, online after it's hibernation, was the most intense moment.

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory says it wakes up 2 hours from now (3:00 EST), sends out a signal about an hour and a half later, which they should receive about 8.5 hours from now (9:30 EST)

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/20141113.php

According to that site they've woken it from hibernation on average twice a year to test systems, do trial runs, and collect data

 

[RoKKeR]

It's awake!

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/541425583176286208

It's ALIVE! The @NASANewHorizons mission control just received full confirmation at 9:53 p.m ET! Pluto get ready!

Quite the week for NASA.

 

[Volimar]

Humans never fail to amaze when they channel their energy in a positive direction. Now let's kill all those Plutonians!

 

[Escape Goat]

It's awake!

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/541425583176286208


Quite the week for NASA.

Johnny 5...is alive!

 

[Grym]

It's awake!

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/541425583176286208


Quite the week for NASA.

Awesome. Couple weeks until we have some amazing images

 

[akachan ningen]

Pssh it's not even a planet anymore.

 

[Josh7289]

YES! Can't wait to see what New Horizons discovers.

 

[Grexeno]

YES! Can't wait to see what New Horizons discovers.

"New Horizons discovers new planet, named Pluto."

 

[Ashodin]

Lol reading the Wikipedia article on Pluto....

Wait what? How the hell are they finding a new planet? lol

it moves way more than the stars do. Closer.

 

[Chichikov]

Awesome. Couple weeks until we have some amazing images

I believe we're a few months away from that.

 

[Smokey]

Truly been an amazing past weeks/months for space.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Pssh it's not even a planet anymore.

it's an ice giant, which is whole class of planetary objects we have no direct visual information about. Or at least very little.

didn't know it would be already in January.

 

[Jedi2016]

Good to know that it woke up. I always envision worst-case scenarios in which there was some sort of failure or damage in the intervening years and they never get any signal from it again, just a chunk of dead metal sailing off into the ether.

Can't wait to see what info it sends back. How much time will it have at/near Pluto?

 

[Chichikov]

it's an ice giant, which is whole class of planetary objects we have no direct visual information about. Or at least very little.

didn't know it would be already in January.

You meant to say a dwarf planet.
Uranus and Neptune are ice giants.

But yeah, there's a whole lot to learn there, I'm excited.

 

[Aquamarine]

Good to know that it woke up. I always envision worst-case scenarios in which there was some sort of failure or damage in the intervening years and they never get any signal from it again, just a chunk of dead metal sailing off into the ether.

Can't wait to see what info it sends back. How much time will it have at/near Pluto?

On January 4th, Pluto will be a few pixels wide.

By May 5th, resolution will exceed Hubble's resolution.

This will last for about 2 weeks.

 

[Chichikov]

Good to know that it woke up. I always envision worst-case scenarios in which there was some sort of failure or damage in the intervening years and they never get any signal from it again, just a chunk of dead metal sailing off into the ether.

Can't wait to see what info it sends back. How much time will it have at/near Pluto?

This is the schedule, closest approach is July 2015.
For those expecting great pictures be patient, only 10 weeks before the closest approach (so sometime in May probably) you'll start getting better pictures than Hubble's, and since Hubble's best picture looks like that -

Well, you know.

Edit: beaten.

 

[soxinthebox]

Considering that this:

Is currently the best image of Pluto, this is definitely an exciting event.

This is great. I can't wait to see detailed pictures of it and Charon.

 

[Charlie McCarthy]

Awesome stuff!

For those saying "its not a planet anymore!!", who gives a shit? Its still part of our solar system and something we still haven't seen in any detail, so this will be huge.

To the guy who posted the Venus pics from the Venera probes, I agree these are some of the best pictures available of any of the planets mainly because of how difficult they were to obtain. The Russians sent a lot of probes to Venus and very few made the surface. The ones that did were flattened within a minute due to atmospheric pressure, so the pictures taken had to be taken quickly.

 

[noah111]

This is awesome. Thought it's too bad we're still months away from getting a better look at Pluto for the first time ever. It's insane to imagine that we've never actually had a good look at it.

Amazing times.

 

[DrForester]

I believe we're a few months away from that.

According to the timeline on Wikipedia, early May is when they expect to be close enough to get better pictures than Hubble. The actual flyby of Pluto should occur on July 14. And it will be a quick flyby. The closest approach of Pluto should occur at 11:47 UTC, with the flyby of the moons less than 15 minutes later.

Also, just so people can temper their expectations, this is the type of picture they are expecting to get.

 

[everyday math]

It's awake!

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/541425583176286208


Quite the week for NASA.

So cool

 

[Grym]

I believe we're a few months away from that.

Observations of Pluto begin Jan 15. I know it doesn't get to its closest for months yet, but was thinking we'd get something better than we currently have much sooner. Could be wrong though

Edit Ahh just read above. Still awhile to wait for better than hubble i see. Is that really the best photo they are expecting. It got better images of Io

edit2

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/missionDesign.php

The best pictures of Pluto will depict surface features as small as 200 feet (about 60 meters) across

 

[soxinthebox]

According to the timeline on Wikipedia, early May is when they expect to be close enough to get better pictures than Hubble. The actual flyby of Pluto should occur on July 14. And it will be a quick flyby. The closest approach of Pluto should occur at 11:47 UTC, with the flyby of the moons less than 15 minutes later.

Also, just so people can temper their expectations, this is the type of picture they are expecting to get.

That's a little disappointing tbh

 

[sphinx]

about pluto and the kuiper belt.

what exactly was NASA's motiviation to study that part of our solar system?

just plain curiosity?

or were there signs of something special or particularly relevant to us, humans, based on observation from earth/hubble?

 

[slit]

Cool,

I always wanted to view photos of Pluto up close. Check one off the list for solar system curiosity.

 

[sphinx]

That's a little disappointing tbh

if pluto is the one on the back and Charon the one closer in the pic, then yeah, I expected something like the comet pictures or the Venus captures, like somethine right there in front of us.

that's damn near, though. Pluto is nearing off-limits to anything we humans can realistically handle and observe first-hand, distancewise. (Voyager aside)

 

[Lovely Salsa]

so...why exactly can't we get close to pluto and get a pic like this?

 

[RetroStu]

On January 4th, Pluto will be a few pixels wide.

By May 5th, resolution will exceed Hubble's resolution.

This will last for about 2 weeks.

How come Hubble can take amazingly detailed pictures of stellar nurseries thousands of light years away but it can only take blurry images of something in our own solar system?.

 

[raphier]

According to the timeline on Wikipedia, early May is when they expect to be close enough to get better pictures than Hubble. The actual flyby of Pluto should occur on July 14. And it will be a quick flyby. The closest approach of Pluto should occur at 11:47 UTC, with the flyby of the moons less than 15 minutes later.

Also, just so people can temper their expectations, this is the type of picture they are expecting to get.

umm...Confirm if I am wrong, but isn't it going to hover to atmosphere level? Were going to basically get pictures of it's surface topview.

How come Hubble can take amazingly detailed pictures of stellar nurseries thousands of light years away but it can only take blurry images of something in our own solar system?.

Because the object is too close to the lense and moving very fast compared to stellar objects afar. Remember that Hubble's lense was specifically build to intercept far away objects with a very high capture rate, which is bad for closer objects with movement.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

I can't be the only one who sniggered at the title right? Right?!

Spoiler

I'm extremely immature

 

[RetroStu]

Because the object is too close to the lense and moving very fast compared to stellar objects afar. Remember that Hubble's lense was specifically build to intercept far away objects with a very high capture rate, which is bad for closer objects with movement.

Yeah i figured it was something like that. Still Pluto is something like 10billion km away or something, you still would of thought they could get better pictures than that.

 

[Polishin8r]

Reminds me so much of 2001 the space oddesy book

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

umm...Confirm if I am wrong, but isn't it going to hover to atmosphere level? Were going to basically get pictures of it's surface topview.

The current mission design will take New Horizons past Pluto in a day at a minimum distance of 6,000 miles.

In current mission designs, the spacecraft comes as close as about 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) from Pluto and about 17,000 miles (27,000 kilometers) from Charon. During the half-hour when the spacecraft is closest to Pluto or its largest moon, it will take close-up pictures in both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The best pictures of Pluto will depict surface features as small as 200 feet (about 60 meters) across.

Grym posted a link above. New Horizons Mission Design. I don't know if that distance has changed since July when the page was updated though.

I really can't wait to see what images we get back and with Philae possibly waking up again in August there's a lot to look forward to! Oh and there's currently 3 probes around Mars at the moment i think, i hope they find some neat things too.

Good times in space at the moment

 

[DrForester]

umm...Confirm if I am wrong, but isn't it going to hover to atmosphere level? Were going to basically get pictures of it's surface topview.

No. Pluto is far too small to have enough gravity to put something into orbit of it in any reasonable amount of time, and New Horizons is going way too fast to slow down at Pluto.

 

[Melon Husk]

60 meter resolution is very good. This is a 100m/pixel topography map of Luna.

edit: You can picture Pluto as two-thirds the size next to it.

 

[cruets]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ck-its-first-color-image-of-pluto-and-charon/


First pics of Pluto and Charon. Nothing impressive yet.

 

[Log4Girlz]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ck-its-first-color-image-of-pluto-and-charon/


First pics of Pluto and Charon. Nothing impressive yet.

I posted the pic in the other new horizon thread.