New Horizons Captures Two of Pluto's Smaller Moons

[n2doc]

Pluto’s moon Nix (left), shown here in enhanced color as imaged by the New Horizons Ralph instrument, has a reddish spot that has attracted the interest of mission scientists. The data were obtained on the morning of July 14, 2015, and received on the ground on July 18. At the time the observations were taken New Horizons was about 102,000 miles (165,000 km) from Nix. The image shows features as small as approximately 2 miles (3 kilometers) across on Nix, which is estimated to be 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide.

Pluto’s small, irregularly shaped moon Hydra (right) is revealed in this black and white image taken from New Horizons’ LORRI instrument on July 14, 2015, from a distance of about 143,000 miles (231,000 kilometers). Features as small as 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) are visible on Hydra, which measures 34 miles (55 kilometers) in length.

While Pluto’s largest moon Charon has grabbed most of the lunar spotlight so far, these two smaller and lesser-known satellites are now getting some attention. Nix and Hydra – the second and third moons to be discovered – are approximately the same size, but their similarity ends there.

New Horizons’ first color image of Pluto’s moon Nix, in which colors have been enhanced, reveals an intriguing region on the jelly bean-shaped satellite, which is estimated to be 26 miles (42 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide.

Although the overall surface color of Nix is neutral grey in the image, the newfound region has a distinct red tint. Hints of a bull’s-eye pattern lead scientists to speculate that the reddish region is a crater. “Additional compositional data has already been taken of Nix, but is not yet downlinked. It will tell us why this region is redder than its surroundings,” said mission scientist Carly Howett, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. She added, “This observation is so tantalizing, I’m finding it hard to be patient for more Nix data to be downlinked.”

more

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-horizons-captures-two-of-plutos-smaller-moons

[Gothmog]

1. Thanks for posting

The pictures are amazing

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2. I'm just amazed New Horizons got to be where it was supposed to be, when it was supposed to be there

And using Jupiter as a sling shot in the middle, made the calculations even harder.
And as for receiving data for the next 16 months, from a 10 watt transmitter, that far out of the solar system and headed away at over 33,000 MPH? These NASA guys are not sufficiently appreciated by most people. They really aren't.

If my calculations are anywhere close to correct, the New Horizons will be 380,160,000 miles past where it is now at the end of 16 months. That's 3,040,160,000 miles from Earth.

Someone check my math and let me know.

[n2doc]

3. This gives current distance

http://www.yaohua2000.org/cgi-bin/New%20Horizons.pl
when I posted:
New Horizons is now 4786784195 kilometers away from the Earth.

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4. Thanks.

[MisterP]

5. and it'll just keep going, mind you!

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6. Its job will be basically complete after 16 months.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. Yeah, the radio part is what surprises me most

10 watts over that distance and we can actually hear it!

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8. It is digital.

They can dig the signal out, that is buried way down in the noise. The real reason for the slow transmission.