Pluto

[fred8615]

This web site has a collection of Pluto memes in honor of the New Horizons mission:

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2015/07/be ... o-memes/3/

There's some good ones there.

Warning: there is some NSFW language.

[Christopher K.]

The good stuff just keeps coming! There will be yet another briefing at noon CDT tomorrow (in the Webb Auditorium), during which Jim Green and Alan Stern and company will discuss findings further. There may be some additional information concerning the strange depression on Charon.

More information:
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa- ... v-briefing

[Christopher K.]

For those who cannot view the Post Flyby News Conference live (it occurs in twenty minutes), all three NASA-TVs will rebroadcast the conference at 3pm CDT, 7pm CDT and 9pm CDT.

[fred8615]

The two closeup flyby animations of Tombaugh Regio are today's Astronomy Picture of the Day:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150718.html

[Christopher K.]

The Year of Pluto documentary will air once again on all three NASA-TVs, at 7pm CDT tonight and 9am CDT and 6pm CDT tomorrow.

Yesterday's APOD shows the image of Charon acquired late Monday night...
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150717.html
...while Thursday's APOD shows the Rocky Mountain-height terrain on Pluto...
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150716.html
...and Wednesday's is centered on the heart-shaped feature that will probably(?) be named after Pluto's discoverer...
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150715.html

I hope Tombaugh Regio remains the name of that region, Fred!

[fred8615]

I hope Tombaugh Regio remains the name of that region, Fred!

If it doesn't, then there's a definite anti-American bias at the IAU! (There were those who claimed that when Pluto was demoted, since it was the only planet discovered by an American.)

I'm less hopeful for Mordor, on Charon. The IAU just doesn't strike me as that whimsical.

[geckgo]

I also am not fond of "Mordor," or that tweet by the White House, basically a LOTR meme about Mordor. Guess our elected officials just don't have enough to do.

[Christopher K.]

Jim Green, Alan Stern and company will return tomorrow at 1pm CDT for a science update at the James Webb Auditorium. Even more images will be released and the team will share with the media and public the latest conclusions.

More information:
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa- ... or-july-24

[Christopher K.]

The moons Hydra and Nix each seem to have at least one crater; Nix has a partially-reddish surface.

HRPO presents the lecture "Pluto--Five Weeks of Data" this Friday at 7:30pm. The talk is free admission and for a general adult audience.

The Nix and Hydra information:
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/new-h ... -in-a-moat

[Christopher K.]

The thirty-second video "Art Meets Science in New Pluto Aerial Tour" shows the images from mid-September downloaded from New Horizons. They were pieced together to simulate the flyby of the Plutonian sphere. The animation was made with LORRI and starts with a low-altitude view of Norgay Montes, heads north over Sputnik Planum and Cthulhu Regio then drifts east. The video is currently in the fourth-to-last row of NASA's video archive...
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html