Tag: Pluto Flyby
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Pluto’s champion recounts first mission to icy world – and gears up for the next one
The 1991 stamp that served as the rallying cry for the New Horizons mission to Pluto is “updated” by members of the New Horizons science team on July 14, 2015, the day the spacecraft flew past Pluto. Principal investigator Alan Stern is at far left. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA) It took nine years for…
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New Horizons probe finishes transmitting data from Pluto flyby after 15 months
An artist’s conception shows the New Horizons spacecraft beaming data back to Earth. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) More than 15 months after NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto, the last bit of data captured during the flyby has finally been transmitted back to Earth. NASA said the final transmission was a digital segment…
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One year after Pluto flyby, New Horizons mission looks back and looks ahead
A composite image shows enhanced-color views of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left). Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI One year ago today, NASA’s New Horizons probe whizzed past Pluto and opened up a new frontier for planetary science – and to mark the occasion, the mission team is looking back at its greatest hits and…
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New Horizons provides the best close-up of Pluto some of us might ever see
Craters and linear features are scattered across Pluto’s terrain in this high-resolution view from NASA’s New Horizons probe. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Almost a year after NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, the team behind the mission has put together a long mosaic strip that includes all of the highest-resolution images. “This…
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Clouds on Pluto? Pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe spark discussion
An image captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last July 14 shows the edge of Pluto and its atmospheric haze, including what appears to be a light wispy cloud toward the right side of the image. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI via New Scientist) Even before NASA’s New Horizons probe flew past Pluto, scientists…
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Why methane snow covers Pluto’s peaks
The inset pictures show a section of Pluto’s Cthulhu Regio that includes a reddish plain as well as a 260-mile-long mountain range. The far right inset indicates the distribution of methane ice in purple, as observed by New Horizons’ Ralph/MVIC imager during the spacecraft’s flyby on July 14, 2015. The dark terrain informally known as…
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NASA’s New Horizons mission colorizes Pluto’s close-up – and zooms in on its pits
This enhanced color mosaic combines image data from two cameras on NASA’s New Horizons probe. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) The Pluto pictures from NASA’s New Horizons probe just keep getting better and better: Feast your eyes on this colorized view of the border between the towering al-Idrisi mountains made of water ice, and…
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Science journal gives New Horizons mission to Pluto its day in the sun
NASA’s New Horizons probe captured this backlit image of Pluto as it flew past the dwarf planet on July 14. Scattered sunlight reveals numerous haze layers within Pluto’s thin atmosphere, while the surprisingly diverse surface landscape indicates ongoing geological activity. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) The first peer-reviewed scientific paper about the New Horizons probe’s…
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Pluto, we have a problem: Some geographical names may not fly on official maps
The heart-shaped area that’s prominent in this New Horizons picture of Pluto is known as Tombaugh Regio. (Credit: NASA / JHUAPL / SwRI) Some of the best-known names on Pluto — ranging from the Sputnik plains to the Hillary and Norgay mountains and the dark Cthulhu Regio — may never appear on the International Astronomical Union’s maps,…
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NASA mission’s leader calls B.S. on Pluto haters: Will it make a difference?
New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern’s jaw drops as he ogles the first pictures to be sent back from the probe’s Pluto flyby, shown on a fellow team member’s laptop. (Credit: Bill Ingalls / NASA) Can you say “bullshit” at NASA? The principal investigator for NASA’s New Horizons mission did, in an outburst directed at the tortuous…