| Piú votate - Pluto and Charon: The "Double Planet" |
ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-Pluto_and_Charon-01-NewHorizons-1422.jpgSo close, and yet so far...73 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
(2 voti)
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ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-ZZ-Pluto-PIA19947-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpg15 Minutes after Pluto - Closer View (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)74 visiteJust 15 minutes after its Closest Approach to Pluto - which occurred on July, 14, 2015 -, the NASA - New Horizons Spacecraft looked back toward the Sun and captured this simply beautiful Near-Sunset View of the rugged, Icy Mountains and flat Ice Plains extending all over around and to Pluto's Horizon and Terminator Line.
The smooth expanse of the Icy Plains which have (so far) been informally named Sputnik Planum (watch to the right - Dx - of the picture) is flanked to the West (left - Sx) by rugged Mountains that reach up an altitude of approx. 11.000 feet (such as, roughly, 3352,8 meters), including the (even in this case, so far) informally named Norgay Montes (visible in the foreground) and the Hillary Montes, visible on the Skyline (---> Outer Edge/Horizon of Pluto). To the right (Dx), such as to the East of Sputnik Planum, some rougher (---> highly irregular) Terrain is cut by - what they appear to be - Glaciers. Furthermore, the backlighting, highlights several Layers of Haze in Pluto's tenuous - but quite uniform and highly distended - Atmosphere.
This image was taken from a distance of about 11.000 miles (such as approx. 17.702,74 Km) from the Surface of Pluto; finally, the whole scene is roughly 230 miles (about 370,1482 Km) wide.
The image (which is an Original NASA - New Horizons Spacecraft's b/w and NON Map-Projected frame published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. 19947) has been additionally processed, magnified to aid the visibility of the details, contrast enhanced and sharpened, Gamma corrected and then colorized (according to an educated guess carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga-LXTT-IPF) in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a normal human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - New Horizons Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Dwarf-Planet Pluto), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team.MareKromium
(2 voti)
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ZYZ-S-Pluto-P4-HST.jpgMore Moons for Pluto!101 visiteCaption NASA:"Nix and Hydra were first introduced to human eyes in Hubble Space Telescope images from May 2005, as Pluto's second and third known moons. Now Hubble images have revealed a fourth satellite for the icy, dwarf Planet.
Provisionally designated P4, it completes an orbit of Pluto in about 31 days. Presently Pluto's smallest and dimmest known moon, P4 is estimated to be 13 to 34 Km across. The newly discovered satellite was first spotted in Hubble observations from June 28, 2011, and later confirmed in a follow-up on July 3 and July 18. These two panels are composites of both the short and long exposures that include brighter Pluto itself along with Pluto's largest moon Charon.
Camera noise and image artifacts also show up in the long exposure segments. The Hubble observations were made while searching for faint Rings around the distant world in support of NASA's New Horizons mission, set to fly by the Pluto system in 2015".MareKromium
(2 voti)
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ZZ-New_Horizons-02.jpgOn the way to Pluto: through the Jupiter System (3)55 visiteCaption NASA:"This image shows New Horizons' path through the Jupiter System; the inset shows the location of Jupiter's four largest moons, Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
New Horizons will turn its science instruments toward the moons as well as the giant planet".
(2 voti)
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ZZ-New_Horizons-03.jpgOn the way to Pluto: beyond Jupiter (4)54 visiteCaption NASA:"This image shows New Horizons' Current Position (end of February, 2007). The green segment of the line shows where New Horizons has traveled since launch; the red indicates the spacecraft's path toward Jupiter, Pluto and beyond. Positions of stars with magnitude 12 or brighter are shown from this perspective, which is above the Sun and "north" of Earth's orbit.
AU -> The graphics on these pages note New Horizons' distance from Earth, Jupiter and Pluto in AU, or Astronomical Units. One AU is the average distance between the Sun and Earth, about 93 MMs or 149,6 MKM.
HV -> The Current Position graphic also notes the spacecraft's Heliocentric Velocity - HV, such as its speed with respect to the Sun - in kilometers per second.
One kilometer per second is equivalent to 0,62 miles per second, or 2237 miles per hour".
(2 voti)
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ZC-Pluto_s Map-HST-PIA00825_modest.jpgA "Map" of Pluto, from HST88 visiteCaption NASA originale:"The two smaller inset pictures at the top are actual images from HST; North is up. Each square pixel (picture element) is more than 160 Km across. At this resolution, HST discerns roughly 12 major "regions" where the surface is either bright or dark. The picture was taken in blue light when Pluto was at a distance of about 3 BMs from Earth".
(10 voti)
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ZM-The Moons of Pluto.jpgNew "moons" for Pluto? Early news54 visiteThe leading theory for the formation of Charon involves a large object striking Pluto. The debris from that collision could have formed the two smaller moons, Weaver speculates. It can't be ruled out that they might have been captured into the System, but that seems very unlikely, he said. The two new moons are between 30/40 and 100/125 miles (48/64 to 160/200 Km) in diameter. There is not enough data to pin their size down exactly, however. The moons were found using the HST.
The moons are catalogued as S/2005 P1 and S/2005 P2 for now.
Once they are confirmed, the discoverers will suggest names, to be approved by the IAU (International Astronomical Union).
(7 voti)
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ZD-Pluto.jpgPluto and the stars around...92 visiteUn'immagine, a nostro parere, altamente suggestiva di Plutone e del campo stellato che lo circonda. Anche questo frame è stata estratto dalla "2MASS Atlas Image Gallery at IPAC".
Plutone è l'oggetto posizionato ESATTAMENTE AL CENTRO della fotografia.
(15 voti)
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ZB-T-Surface map of Pluto.jpgSurface Map of Pluto73 visiteQuando si parla del Sistema Plutone-Caronte in molti (anche noi...) parlano - a nostro avviso impropriamente - di "Sistema Binario", con ciò intendendo il fatto che i due corpi celesti in questione hanno dimensioni similari e si muovono ad una modesta (sempre in termini cosmici) distanza media l'uno dall'altro. In realtà il rapporto che lega Plutone a Caronte è comunque un rapporto di "maggiore" a "minore" o, se preferite, di "Parent Planet" a "moon" (o "satellite") e quindi parlare di Sistema Binario è errato.
Per Sistema Binario, infatti, si dovrebbe intendere un rapporto "alla pari" fra i 2 corpi il quale - prescindendo anche dalle loro effettive dimensioni - si fonda su un principio di "Equilibrio Gravitazionale" fra di essi. Un "equilibrio" in virtù del quale non c'è nè un Parent Planet, nè una moon, bensì 2 corpi celesti "connessi ma indipendenti", i quali si muovono armonicamente e sincronicamente l'uno rispetto all'altro secondo traiettorie definite dalle loro reciproche interazioni gravitazionali.
(9 voti)
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A - Pluto and Charon - HST.jpgPluto and Charon from the Hubble Space Telescope134 visiteAggiornamento del 19 Agosto 2006: il Sistema "Plutone-Caronte", sino a ieri considerato un sistema equiparabile a quello Terra-Luna (in cui Plutone, al pari della Terra, è il Corpo Maggiore e Caronte, invece ed al pari della Luna, quello minore e dunque SOLO Satellite del primo), in accordo ad una decisione dell'International Astronomical Union (IAO) è stato ora rubricato come "Doppio Pianeta".
Caption IAU originale:"Both Pluto and Charon each are large enough (massive enough) to be spherical. Both bodies independently satisfy the definition of “planet”. The reason they are called a “double planet” is that their common centre of gravity is a point that is located in free space outside the surface of Pluto. Because both conditions are met: each body is “planet-like” and each body orbits around a point in free space that is not inside one of them, the system qualifies to be called a “Double Planet”.
(19 voti)
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PLUTO.jpgPluto in "true color"222 visiteOvviamente non sappiamo molto di Plutone, ma le più recenti scoperte parlano di vasti depositi di acqua ghiacciata sulla sua superficie. Sappiamo pure che Plutone possiede un'atmosfera (composta da azoto, metano ed altri gas in misura minore) oltremodo sottile la quale, inevitabilmente, "ghiaccia" all'afelio del Pianeta (afelio--->il punto più lontano dal Sole).
Il lancio della Sonda New Horizons è stato concepito secondo tempistiche le quali dovrebbero portarla a ridosso di Plutone prima che la sua atmosfera ghiacci totalmente e quindi permetterci di studiarla (un minimo) ed analizzarne le componenti.
Facts-bites about Pluto&Charon:
Pluto orbits the Sun once every 248 years.
A person on Pluto would weigh 1/15 what they weigh on Earth - for comparison, the astronauts on the Moon had 1/6 of their Earth weight.
Pluto is named after the Greek god of the underworld.
The symbol for Pluto ("PL") is tribute to Percival Lowell, who started the search for the ninth planet in the early 1900s.
Charon is 20 times closer to Pluto than our moon is to Earth.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh.
American astronomers James Christy and Robert Harrington discovered Charon in 1978.
Charon is named after the mythological boatman who ferried souls across the river Styx to Pluto for judgment.
At 1,470 miles (about 2,370 kilometers) across, Pluto could fit between Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado.
Charon is half of Pluto's diameter - making it the largest satellite relative to the planet it orbits.
Pluto is an ice dwarf - a "new" type of planet common to the deep outer solar system.
Pluto-Charon is the solar system's only known binary planet.
Pluto's surface is among the most contrasty in the solar system.
Pluto has weather, winds, hazes, chemistry and an ionosphere.
Pluto's estimated surface temperature falls between --378 to --396 degrees F (-228 to -238 C).
Pluto is one of only two planets that rotates on its side - Uranus is the other.
Pluto's surface has nitrogen, methane and carbon monoxide ices on it.
A radio signal moving at the speed of light takes about 4 hours to reach Pluto from Earth.
The Kuiper Belt is a collection of icy, rocky objects residing beyond Neptune's orbit.
The first Kuiper Belt Object was discovered in 1992.
Some Kuiper Belt Objects (like Pluto) have an average reddish color, while others are gray.
(32 voti)
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ZB-Surface map of Pluto-HST-PIA00826_modest.jpgA "Map" of Pluto, from HST85 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This map that covers about 85% of the surface of the Planet confirms that Pluto has a dark equatorial belt and bright polar caps. The brightness variations in this map may be due to topographic features such as basins and fresh impact craters. Pluto itself probably shows even more contrast and perhaps sharper boundaries between light and dark areas than is shown here, but HST resolution (just like early telescopic views of Mars) tends to blur edges and blend together small features sitting inside larger ones".
(13 voti)
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