There seems to be some really interesting surface detail on the opposite side where we only have a low res image. We may never see up close images of that side in our lifetime. What a fascinating little world.
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New Horizons Pluto Encounter
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I want to start a ski resort there! Awesome!
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Yeah, but not as cold as Canada.
Another issue is the fact that Charon does not orbit Pluto. The barycenter of the Pluto/Charon system is well over seven times the diameter of Pluto above the surface of Pluto itself, and the two are tidally locked to each other. No body of planet class is tidally locked to any of its moons. The highest ratio of moon-to-planet mass is that of this here rock to its own moon, which is around 1.2%, but the barycenter of this system is still over a thousand miles below the surface of the Earth. Not a whole lot, but enough.
Granted, the barycenter of Jupiter's orbit lies above the surface of the Sun, by a little less than a third of Jupiter's diameter, so maybe we ought to have a different term for whatever that monstrosity is.
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Stunning pictures, @bobob and @obeygiant; this is absolutely astonishing. Thank you for posting them.
And to @Sydde, may I tender an even more profound expression of gratitude; I had not even known the word - or the concept - of a 'barycentre' before today. So, I have learned something new. And yes; I am just entranced and fascinated by what I have been reading.
What happened to the old designation Planet X? Most of the recent press is using this Planet Nine instead.
Is the 'X' too confusable with ten in roman numerals, thereby opening up old wounds about the demotion of Pluto, the former ninth planet?
Per the article, they don't want it to have the connotation of Aliens and End of World-ish type of names.
I must say, this link has me very, very surprised. That two astrophysicists from Calteh are willing to put their name on the line to say everyone has missed a giant gas planet the size of Neptune in the Kuiper belt is... astonishing. But it also goes to show how little we can actually see. If no one can say for sure they are wrong, to me it says, no one has even the optical power to scrutinize to that level of detail with certainty. So, it is 21st century and we are still locally (as in Solar System) blind.
Also, I'm so happy I can find this kind of material from macrumors!!
The Director of Planetary Science at NASA refers to it as Planet X.
https://amp.twimg.com/v/6bad722e-9a4c-46aa-b0fc-7a189bd74dd9
"This is the most detailed view of Pluto’s terrain you’ll see for a very long time. This mosaic strip – extending across the hemisphere that faced the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew past Pluto on July 14, 2015 – now includes all of the highest-resolution images taken by the NASA probe. With a resolution of about 260 feet (80 meters) per pixel, the mosaic affords New Horizons scientists and the public the best opportunity to examine the fine details of the various types of terrain on Pluto, and determine the processes that formed and shaped them.
The width of the strip ranges from more than 55 miles (90 kilometers) at its northern end to about 45 miles (75 kilometers) at its southern point. The pictures in the mosaic were obtained by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) approximately 9,850 miles (15,850 kilometers) from Pluto, shortly before New Horizons’ closest approach."
The width of the strip ranges from more than 55 miles (90 kilometers) at its northern end to about 45 miles (75 kilometers) at its southern point. The pictures in the mosaic were obtained by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) approximately 9,850 miles (15,850 kilometers) from Pluto, shortly before New Horizons’ closest approach."
Just for your amusement, Fox critter Greta something is peeved at the government bureaucracy that tied up NASA, causing it to take many months for us to get to see all the Pluto pictures.
Ran across this stunning photo on Twitter just now.
That is absolutely extraordinary; simply stunning - thanks for sharing it.
Too bad people of the earth can't create a ship like the Star Destroyer and navigate around this solar system. That would be a cool ship to cruise around the solar system.
