Can New Horizons make a solar system portrait like Voyager?

[llivinglarge]

Ya know, do a 180 and snap a picture of the solar system.

 

[CalliArcale]

There's no reason why it can't. It has the advantage that unlike Voyager, it will still be in its primary mission when it's at a suitable distance, so there's more likely to be money for that. (It may seem odd that money is needed just to take pictures with a probe that's already out there, but it's to pay for the people who plan the imaging session, code the instructions, uplink it to the probe, downlink the results, and process the pictures. That's not at all excessive if a mission is in its primary phase, though, because you've already got those people on staff. There's also a very small expenditure of propellant, of course, as the probe slews to the desired angles.) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[llivinglarge]

If NH were to do a portrait, would it be a patch-work mosaic or a "Greatest APOD of All Time" panorama from above the ecliptic.

 

[CalliArcale]

I'm pretty sure it would be a patchwork mosaic. I don't know of any probe yet launched with a fisheye lens (they tend to reduce resolution and are of less scientific value in most situations). Voyager's portrait was also a mosaic. It would not be from especially far above the ecliptic.<br /><br />It might be a greatest APOD of all time anyway, though. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> You might be surprised how many APOD pics are mosaics. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>