New-horizons-sees-pluto-and-charon (And bright spots)!

Getting better n better picture of Pluto! Just wanted to share th new images and info since MSM is fixated elsewhere.

www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: Xeven
I can't wait until she gets closer!

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?
"frozen molecular gas"

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel
a reply to: Xeven
I can't wait until she gets closer!

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?
"frozen molecular gas"

Mining for what?

a reply to: Xeven

Thanks for the images.
I can't wait until it gets even closer.

No matter how many times i see space news, I don't ever get bored of it!

Look closely... seems Pluto might have lights tooo! I see two distinct bright spots in the animated shots.

Found a link too!

www.latimes.com...

Because Pluto is tipped on its side (like Uranus), when observing Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft, one primarily sees one pole of Pluto, which appears to be brighter than the rest of the disk in all the images. Scientists suggest this brightening in Pluto's polar region might be caused by a "cap" of highly reflective snow on the surface. The "snow" in this case is likely to be frozen molecular nitrogen ice. New Horizons observations in July will determine definitively whether or not this hypothesis is correct.

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?

Seriously?

Chomping at the bit to pillage the solar system. Have we learned nothing? Let's just consume the whole galaxy like an interstellar vacuum cleaner.

Can we not simply acknowledge and appreciate it for what it is? Or must everything be exploited...

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?

Seriously?

Chomping at the bit to pillage the solar system. Have we learned nothing? Let's just consume the whole galaxy like an interstellar vacuum cleaner.

Can we not simply acknowledge and appreciate it for what it is? Or must everything be exploited...

All life requires consumption to survive, good thing the universe is HUGE, we'll probably go extinct before we can mine .0000000000000000001% of it


*does anyone else think one of the bright spots on the gif actually looks more like a plume or ejecta of some sort?

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?

Seriously?

Chomping at the bit to pillage the solar system. Have we learned nothing? Let's just consume the whole galaxy like an interstellar vacuum cleaner.

Can we not simply acknowledge and appreciate it for what it is? Or must everything be exploited...

Drill baby drill

I am so looking forward to this. I suspect that there will be many surprises in store for the New Horizons team. That animation of Pluto and Charon rotating around their common centre of gravity is an excellent demonstration of the relative masses of the two objects. Charon is half the diameter of Pluto, and therefore an extremely interesting object in its own right. I can't wait to see close up images of both worlds, and it's now only two and a half months to the flyby!

I am amazed at how they can tease out so much detail out of the raw images, where Pluto appears as an overexposed blob with a streak of sensor "bloom".

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?

Seriously?

Chomping at the bit to pillage the solar system. Have we learned nothing? Let's just consume the whole galaxy like an interstellar vacuum cleaner.

Can we not simply acknowledge and appreciate it for what it is? Or must everything be exploited...

You may lead the way; since you are so morally superior that you don't think we should consume stuff. Please cease consuming anything permanently right now. i wanna see you do it.

/me gets the defibrilator paddles ready and cackles in anticipation.

originally posted by: stormbringer1701

You may lead the way; since you are so morally superior that you don't think we should consume stuff. Please cease consuming anything permanently right now. i wanna see you do it.

/me gets the defibrilator paddles ready and cackles in anticipation.

Natural life processes are not the same as tearing a planet asunder in the pursuit of material decadence and ego gratification.

Or do you not see the difference?

a reply to: NthOther

If it's a biologically dead planet and/or astronomical body would it be better?

Pluto "appears to" have some kind of "bulge" visible during part of the animation/video thingy... Light glare? Geyser? Actual bulge from a large impactor joining its material to the planet? Closely orbiting body? Glitchy pixels? Lens flare? A broken chunk of the planet damaged by an impactor or torn open by gravitational force of a closely passing body that somehow didn't steal its moon in the process? Nothing?

a reply to: 3n19m470

There is a quote 8 posts above yours. It gives you a way more logical explanation.

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: AllSourceIntel

I wonder how long until we are out there mining places like this?

Seriously?

Chomping at the bit to pillage the solar system. Have we learned nothing? Let's just consume the whole galaxy like an interstellar vacuum cleaner.

Can we not simply acknowledge and appreciate it for what it is? Or must everything be exploited...

Humans though intelligent are part of Nature, as much a part of the Universe as anything else. We cannot by definition do anything unnatural.

Birds use tree limbs to build nests. The fly off and mine them and bring them back. Humans mining asteroids would be a natural act for human survival and life.

Our intelligence does not make us unnatural because Nature gave it to us. Its ok for us to expand. We must as earth won't always support life. We might even assist other earth species to survive post earth by bringing them with us.

originally posted by: Xeven

Humans though intelligent are part of Nature, as much a part of the Universe as anything else. We cannot by definition do anything unnatural.

Your definition must be different than mine. If we're a part of nature, why do you want to control and dominate it so badly? Sounds like an extremely unhealthy relationship to me. Maybe in need of a little counseling.

Birds use tree limbs to build nests. The fly off and mine them and bring them back. Humans mining asteroids would be a natural act for human survival and life.

If you can't see the difference between birds building nests with sticks and sending rockets across the solar system to dig minerals out of another planet with heavy machinery (and technology we're nowhere close to developing, I'll happily add)... then I don't know what to say.

Except "wow".

Our intelligence does not make us unnatural because Nature gave it to us. Its ok for us to expand. We must as earth won't always support life. We might even assist other earth species to survive post earth by bringing them with us.

I think your definition of "intelligence" is different than mine too. It is not an intelligent thing to do to drain your own planet of the resources you (think you) need to survive, thereby necessitating the destruction of even more planets.

That is, in fact, a pretty stupid thing to do. It is also stupid to think we need any of this for our own survival. All we need to survive is clean air, food and water, shelter from the elements and a little love. And that's it.

Losing sight of that is exactly what is causing ALL of our problems.

a reply to: NthOther

The dinosaurs lived that way, I'd prefer our species doesn't go the same route. We just so happen have the intelligence to prevent it from happening, but that involves things some people may not agree with. WHEN (not if) the next global catastrophe happens, I hope we will have used our intelligence properly to save us and as much of ALL life as we can.