{"id":10372,"date":"2015-04-14T20:37:21","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T00:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10372"},"modified":"2015-04-14T20:37:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T00:37:21","slug":"videos-new-horizons-pluto-mission-update-color-image-of-pluto-and-moon-charon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10372","title":{"rendered":"Videos: New Horizons Pluto mission update + Color image of Pluto and moon Charon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_d\">New Horizons<\/a>\u00a0spacecraft moves ever closer to Pluto for its fly-by in July. Today there were two panel discussions about the mission. The first panel focused on the science:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ej3HUvLw_sA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the second panel, which focuses on the spacecraft:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OOx7Oi7go3E?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20150414\" target=\"_d\">NASA&#8217;s New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NASA&#8217;s New Horizons spacecraft is three months from returning to humanity the first-ever close up images and scientific observations of distant Pluto and its system of large and small moons.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"10373\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=10373\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png\" data-orig-size=\"250,250\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10373\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png\" alt=\"20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph[1]\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png 250w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em><strong>Pluto-Charon in Color: <\/strong>This image of Pluto and its largest moon, Charon, was taken by the Ralph color imager aboard New Horizons on April 9, 2015, from a distance of about 71 million miles (115 million kilometers). It is the first color image ever made of the Pluto system by a spacecraft on approach. (<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/Multimedia\/Science-Photos\/image.php?gallery_id=2&amp;image_id=175\">full caption<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png\">)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Scientific literature is filled with papers on the characteristics of Pluto and its moons from ground based and Earth orbiting space observations, but we&#8217;ve never studied Pluto up close and personal,&#8221; said John Grunsfeld, astronaut, and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency&#8217;s Headquarters in Washington. &#8220;In an unprecedented flyby this July, our knowledge of what the Pluto systems is really like will expand exponentially and I have no doubt there will be exciting discoveries.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The fastest spacecraft ever launched, New Horizons has traveled a longer time and farther away &#8211; more than nine years and three billion miles &#8211; than any space mission in history to reach its primary target. Its flyby of Pluto and its system of at least five moons on July 14 will complete the initial reconnaissance of the classical solar system. This mission also opens the door to an entirely new &#8220;third&#8221; zone of mysterious small planets and planetary building blocks in the Kuiper Belt, a large area with numerous objects beyond Neptune&#8217;s orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The flyby caps a five-decade-long era of reconnaissance that began with Venus and Mars in the early 1960s, and continued through first looks at Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the 1970s and Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching this third zone of our solar system &#8211; beyond the inner, rocky planets and outer gas giants &#8211; has been a space science priority for years. In the early 2000s the National Academy of Sciences ranked the exploration of the Kuiper Belt &#8211; and particularly Pluto and its largest moon, Charon &#8211; as its top priority planetary mission for the coming decade.<\/p>\n<p>New Horizons &#8211; a compact, lightweight, powerfully equipped probe packing the most advanced suite of cameras and spectrometers ever sent on a first reconnaissance mission &#8211; is NASA&#8217;s answer to that call.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is pure exploration; we&#8217;re going to turn points of light into a planet and a system of moons before your eyes!&#8221; said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. &#8220;New Horizons is flying to Pluto \u2014 the biggest, brightest and most complex of the dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt. This 21st century encounter is going to be an exploration bonanza unparalleled in anticipation since the storied missions of Voyager in the 1980s.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Pluto, the largest known body in the Kuiper Belt, offers a nitrogen atmosphere, complex seasons, distinct surface markings, an ice-rock interior that may harbor an ocean, and at least five moons. Among these moons, the largest &#8211; Charon &#8211; may itself sport an atmosphere or an interior ocean, and possibly even evidence of recent surface activity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no doubt, Charon is a rising star in terms of scientific interest, and we can&#8217;t wait to reveal it in detail in July,&#8221; said Leslie Young, deputy project scientist at SwRI.<\/p>\n<p>Pluto&#8217;s smaller moons also are likely to present scientific opportunities. When New Horizons was started in 2001, it was a mission to just Pluto and Charon, before the four smaller moons were discovered.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft&#8217;s suite of seven science instruments &#8211; which includes cameras, spectrometers, and plasma and dust detectors &#8211; will map the geology of Pluto and Charon and map their surface compositions and temperatures; examine Pluto&#8217;s atmosphere, and search for an atmosphere around Charon; study Pluto&#8217;s smaller satellites; and look for rings and additional satellites around Pluto.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, even with New Horizons closer to Pluto than the Earth is to the Sun, the Pluto system resembles little more than bright dots in the distance. But teams operating the spacecraft are using these views to refine their knowledge of Pluto&#8217;s location, and skillfully navigate New Horizons toward a precise target point 7,750 miles (12,500 kilometers) from Pluto&#8217;s surface. That targeting is critical, since the computer commands that will orient the spacecraft and point its science instruments are based on knowing the exact time and location that New Horizons passes Pluto.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our team has worked hard to get to this point, and we know we have just one shot to make this work,&#8221; said Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, which built and operates the spacecraft. &#8220;We&#8217;ve plotted out each step of the Pluto encounter, practiced it over and over, and we&#8217;re excited the \u2018real deal&#8217; is finally here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft&#8217;s work doesn&#8217;t end with the July flyby. Because it gets one shot at its target, New Horizons is designed to gather as much data as it can, as quickly as it can, taking about 100 times as much data on close approach as it can send home before flying away. And although the spacecraft will send select, high-priority datasets home in the days just before and after close approach, the mission will continue returning the data stored in onboard memory for a full 16 months.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;New Horizons is one of the great explorations of our time,&#8221; said New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver at APL. &#8220;There&#8217;s so much we don&#8217;t know, not just about Pluto, but other worlds like it. We&#8217;re not rewriting textbooks with this historic mission &#8211; we&#8217;ll be writing them from scratch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>APL manages the New Horizons mission for NASA&#8217;s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Alan Stern of SwRI is the principal investigator. SwRI leads the science team, payload operations and encounter science planning. New Horizons is part of the New Frontiers Program, managed by NASA&#8217;s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>For more information on New Horizons, visit:\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/newhorizons\" target=\"_blank\">www.nasa.gov\/newhorizons<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>pluto.jhuapl.edu<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0New Horizons\u00a0spacecraft moves ever closer to Pluto for its fly-by in July. Today there were two panel discussions about the mission. The first panel focused on the science: Here&#8217;s the second panel, which focuses on the spacecraft: &#8212;&#8211; Here&#8217;s a NASA&#8217;s New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto NASA&#8217;s New Horizons spacecraft is three months &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10372\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Videos: New Horizons Pluto mission update + Color image of Pluto and moon Charon<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluto"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2Hi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8680,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8680","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":0},"title":"Videos: New Horizons-Pluto and Voyager-Neptune fly-by discussions","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The videos have been posted of the panels in Monday's two-part NASA event (see earlier posting) about the New Horizons Pluto mission and comparing that probe's\u00a0passing the orbit of Neptune with the 25th anniversary of the Voyager 2 fly-by of Neptune. A panel discussion of the New Horizons project: http:\/\/youtu.be\/z3ekr2CXlK0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=98"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/z3ekr2CXlK0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10864,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10864","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":1},"title":"Pluto Fly-by: New images, methane detection, &#038; course correction","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yet more news and pictures from\u00a0New Horizons:\u00a0 New Horizons Update: Methane Detected; New Images of Pluto and Charon\u00a0 Yes, there is methane on Pluto, and, no, it doesn\u2019t come from cows. The infrared spectrometer on NASA\u2019s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has detected frozen methane on Pluto\u2019s surface; Earth-based astronomers first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"nh-6-30-15_pluto_movie_nasa_jhuapl_swri[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/nh-6-30-15_pluto_movie_nasa_jhuapl_swri1.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2815,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2815","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":2},"title":"Pluto probe to stay on course despite dust\/debris collision worries","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe heading towards Pluto will stay on course despite concerns of a possible collision with orbital dust and debris that have been found to be greater that expected since the launch of the mission (link via Twitter \/ jeff_foust): New Horizons Team Sticking to Original Flight Plan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Science&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Science","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image of Pluto system","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/news_center\/news\/pictures\/Pluto-System.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10977,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10977","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons flies by Pluto","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe made its\u00a0close fly-by pass of Pluto this morning: NASA's Three-Billion-Mile Journey to Pluto Reaches Historic Encounter NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft is at Pluto. After a decade-long journey through our solar system, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto Tuesday, about 7,750 miles above the surface\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pluto_LORRI_FULLFRAME_COLOR","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Pluto_LORRI_FULLFRAME_COLOR.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10779,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10779","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":4},"title":"New Horizons Pluto mission: New video + Course correction","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A video from the New Horizons mission to Pluto: https:\/\/youtu.be\/aky9FFj4ybE --- And here is a press release: One Month from Pluto: New Horizons on Track, All Clear, and Ready for Action Now within one month of the historic Pluto flyby, NASA\u2019s New Horizons team has executed a small but important\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/aky9FFj4ybE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10758,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10758","url_meta":{"origin":10372,"position":5},"title":"Video: &#8216;The Year of Pluto&#8217; &#8211; documentary about the New Horizons mission","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a documentary about the New Horizons mission, which will fly past Pluto on July 14th: https:\/\/youtu.be\/EJxwWpaGoJs From the caption: New Horizons is the first mission to the Kuiper Belt, a gigantic zone of icy bodies and mysterious small objects orbiting beyond Neptune. This region also is known as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pluto and beyond&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pluto and beyond","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=97"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/EJxwWpaGoJs\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10374,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10372\/revisions\/10374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}