{"id":11659,"date":"2015-10-27T17:28:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T21:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11659"},"modified":"2015-10-27T17:28:57","modified_gmt":"2015-10-27T21:28:57","slug":"new-horizons-maneuvering-for-kuiper-belt-target-family-portrait-of-plutos-moons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11659","title":{"rendered":"New Horizons: Maneuvering for Kuiper Belt target + Family portrait of Pluto&#8217;s moons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Horizons probe<\/a>, which is still returning data from its encounter with Pluto, will\u00a0fly by\u00a0another distant object on January 1, 2019 if everything goes as planned. The spacecraft has just carried out<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>the second in a series of four maneuvers propelling it toward an encounter with the ancient Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, a billion miles farther from the sun than Pluto.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>More about this at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20151023\" target=\"_d\">Oct.23: Maneuver Moves New Horizons Spacecraft toward Next Potential Target: <em>Success in First of Four Such Maneuvers over the Next Two Weeks<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20151026b\" target=\"_d\">Oct.26: New Horizons Continues Toward Potential Kuiper Belt Target: <em>Spacecraft Team Reports Success in Second of Four Targeting Maneuvers<\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11660\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11660\" style=\"width: 268px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11660\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11660\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"768,859\" 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;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no%20date[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11660 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1-268x300.jpg\" alt=\"NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no%20date[1]\" width=\"268\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1-268x300.jpg 268w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/NH-Trajectory-to-KBO_20151016-no-date1.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 268px) 100vw, 268px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11660\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>On Course: Projected path of NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft toward 2014 MU69, which orbits in the Kuiper Belt about 1 billion miles beyond Pluto. Planets are shown in their positions on Jan. 1, 2019, when New Horizons is projected to reach the small Kuiper Belt object. NASA must approve an extended mission for New Horizons to study MU69.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the data from the flyby continues to flow back to earth. (It will take over a year to return all the data due to the low data transmission rate from the distant probe.) Here is a report on one of Pluto&#8217;s moons:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/News-Center\/News-Article.php?page=20151022\" target=\"_d\">Last of Pluto\u2019s Moons \u2013 Mysterious Kerberos<br \/>\n\u2013 Revealed by New Horizons<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Images of Pluto\u2019s tiny moon tiny Kerberos taken by NASA\u2019s New Horizons spacecraft \u2013 and just sent back to Earth this week \u2013 complete the family portrait of Pluto\u2019s moons.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_11662\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11662\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11662\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11662\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" 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;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"pluto_moons_family_portrait[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11662 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"pluto_moons_family_portrait[1]\" width=\"520\" height=\"293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/pluto_moons_family_portrait1.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11662\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Family Portrait of Pluto\u2019s Moons: This composite image shows a sliver of Pluto\u2019s large moon, Charon, and all four of Pluto\u2019s small moons, as resolved by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) on the New Horizons spacecraft. All the moons are displayed with a common intensity stretch and spatial scale (see scale bar). Charon is by far the largest of Pluto\u2019s moons, with a diameter of 751 miles (1,212 kilometers). Nix and Hydra have comparable sizes, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) across in their longest dimension above. Kerberos and Styx are much smaller and have comparable sizes, roughly 6-7 miles (10-12 kilometers) across in their longest dimension. All four small moons have highly elongated shapes, a characteristic thought to be typical of small bodies in the Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>Kerberos appears to be smaller than scientists expected and has a highly-reflective surface, counter to predictions prior to the Pluto flyby in July. \u201cOnce again, the Pluto system has surprised us,\u201d said New Horizons Project Scientist Hal Weaver, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>The new data, downlinked from the New Horizons spacecraft on Oct. 20, show that Kerberos appears to have a double-lobed shape, with the larger lobe approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) across and the smaller lobe approximately 3 miles (5 kilometers) across. Science team members speculate from its unusual shape that Kerberos could have been formed by the merger of two smaller objects. The reflectivity of Kerberos\u2019s surface is similar to that of Pluto\u2019s other small moons (approximately 50 percent) and strongly suggests Kerberos, like the others, is coated with relatively clean water ice.<\/p>\n<p>Before the New Horizons encounter with Pluto, researchers had used Hubble Space Telescope images to \u201cweigh\u201d Kerberos by measuring its gravitational influence on its neighboring moons.\u00a0 That influence was surprisingly strong, considering how faint Kerberos was. They theorized that Kerberos was relatively large and massive, appearing faint only because its surface was covered in dark material.\u00a0 But the small, bright-surfaced, Kerberos now revealed by these new images show that that idea was incorrect, for reasons that are not yet understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur predictions were nearly spot-on for the other small moons, but not for Kerberos,\u201d said New Horizons co-investigator Mark Showalter, of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The new results are expected to lead to a better understanding of Pluto\u2019s fascinating satellite system.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_11663\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11663\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pluto.jhuapl.edu\/Multimedia\/Science-Photos\/pics\/kerberos.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"11663\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=11663\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/kerberos1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"360,348\" 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=\"kerberos[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/kerberos1.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-11663 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/kerberos1.jpg\" alt=\"kerberos[1]\" width=\"360\" height=\"348\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/kerberos1.jpg 360w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/kerberos1-300x290.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11663\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Kerberos Revealed. This image of Kerberos was created by combining four individual Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) pictures taken on July 14, approximately seven hours before New Horizons\u2019 closest approach to Pluto, at a range of 245,600 miles (396,100 km) from Kerberos. The image was deconvolved to recover the highest possible spatial resolution and oversampled by a factor of eight to reduce pixilation effects. Kerberos appears to have a double-lobed shape, approximately 7.4 miles (12 kilometers) across in its long dimension and 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) in its shortest dimension. Image credit: NASA\/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory\/Southwest Research Institute<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New Horizons probe, which is still returning data from its encounter with Pluto, will\u00a0fly by\u00a0another distant object on January 1, 2019 if everything goes as planned. The spacecraft has just carried out the second in a series of four maneuvers propelling it toward an encounter with the ancient Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69, a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11659\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">New Horizons: Maneuvering for Kuiper Belt target + Family portrait of Pluto&#8217;s moons<\/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":[97,13,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pluto","category-space-science","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-323","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11297,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11297","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":0},"title":"Video of New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system + Kuiper Belt target candidate chosen for flyby","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out this excellent animation of the New Horizons probe flying out from earth and past Pluto:\u00a0To Pluto and Beyond: Animating New Horizons\u2019 Flight Through the Pluto System -\u00a0Pluto New Horizons https:\/\/youtu.be\/ds_OlZnV9qk === A\u00a0candidate\u00a0target out in the Kuiper Belt\u00a0for the\u00a0New Horizons probe to fly by has been chosen: NASA\u2019s New\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":"NewHorizonsKBOencounter[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/NewHorizonsKBOencounter1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15157,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15157","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":1},"title":"Enter name for Kuiper Belt object that New Horizons will visit in 2019","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new NASA naming contest: Help Nickname New Horizons\u2019 Next Flyby Target NASA\u2019s New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt is looking for your ideas on what to informally name its next flyby destination, a billion miles (1.6 billion kilometers) past Pluto. On New Year\u2019s Day 2019, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Contests and Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Contests and Games","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/nh_flyby_target1-1024x673.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10372,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10372","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":2},"title":"Videos: New Horizons Pluto mission update + Color image of Pluto and moon Charon","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"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: https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ej3HUvLw_sA Here's the second panel, which focuses on the spacecraft: https:\/\/youtu.be\/OOx7Oi7go3E ----- Here's a NASA's New Horizons Nears Historic Encounter with Pluto\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":"20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/20150414_First_Color_Image_Ralph1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17420,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17420","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":3},"title":"New Horizons to make New Years flyby of Ultima Thule","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe made its flyby of Pluto in July of 2015 and then sped on into the Kuiper Belt, a vast region of space inhabited by debris from the earliest era in the formation of the solar system. As a mission bonus, the trajectory of the spacecraft was\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\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/kuiperBeltChart1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17980,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17980","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":4},"title":"New Horizons: High-res images of Ultima Thule + New documentary &#8220;Summiting the Solar System&#8221;","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On Friday, the New Horizons mission released the highest resolution images yet of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule, which the probe flew by on January 1st: Spot On! New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of Ultima Thule The mission team called it a \"stretch goal\" \u2013 just before\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\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/ca06_linear_m2_to_22_rot2701.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17454,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=17454","url_meta":{"origin":11659,"position":5},"title":"New Horizons successfully flies by Ultima Thule &#038; Brian May releases commemorative song","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Horizons probe made a successful flyby of the Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule today. (See earlier preview posting.) It will take several weeks for all of the high resolution images and data to be downloaded from the distant spacecraft. 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