Hubble's new Pluto images

[Philotas]

http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html

They are not released yet; they will be streamed live at 1 p.m. EST, which raises a question for me:

is 1 p.m. EST about than 7 hours and 40 minutes from when this topic was initiated?

Anyone know what to expect from these new images?

 

[MeteorWayne]

1 PM EST is 6 PM GMT/UTC, about 5 hours from when I write this.

I suspect they will be wider bandwidth images using the new capability of the WFPC3.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Teleconference about to start, audio is up and running...

 

[Philotas]

It turns out "new" meant 2002/2003

NASA today released the most detailed set of images ever taken of the distant dwarf planet Pluto. The images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show an icy and dark molasses-colored, mottled world that is undergoing seasonal changes in its surface color and brightness. Pluto has become significantly redder, while its illuminated northern hemisphere is getting brighter. These changes are most likely consequences of surface ices sublimating on the sunlit pole and then refreezing on the other pole as the dwarf planet heads into the next phase of its 248-year-long seasonal cycle. The dramatic change in color apparently took place in a two-year period, from 2000 to 2002.

New Hubble Maps of Pluto Show Surface Changes

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes, images from the Advanced Camera for Surveys taken in 2002 and 2003. 384 images. Processing them to reveal this level of detail took 20 computers running continuously for 4 years.

Mike Brown: "Biggest changes observed on any body in the Solar System"


Nice map of changes between 1994 and 2003:


http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/4215 ... y-full.jpg

Movie of Pluto rotating:

http://www.nasa.gov/mp4/421719main_v1006-b-H264l.mp4

Whole story:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubbl ... 00204.html

 

[Couerl]

Thanks for posting this.. What is remarkable to me is that even in our tiny, relatively insignificant fraction of the universe, our own solar system, the distances are so great that even the Hubble telescope can only come up with a blurry puddle of a picture. When the probe goes by in the near future it will be able to show us so much more with the comparative equivalent of a cell phone camera. I just find that awe-inspiring.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Far better than a cell phone camera...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newho ... index.html

Detailed Instrument descriptions:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/spacecraft/sciencePay.html

 

[h2ouniverse]

hi all,

very impressive post-processing technique that they used there. Applied to other dwarves or, one day, to exoplanets (once they make more than one pixel), that will be of enormous help.
Twenty computers during four years mean a lot of resource though but as Moore's law is not dead yet, I hope that within a decade such a processing will be far less expensive.

best regards.

 

[3488]

Incredible stuff.

The large KBO, second largest known only to Eris, is being slowly revealed well before New Horizon's pass. The colour & contrast variations are very impressive.

Still no real definitive surface features visible as yet such as impact craters, etc, but these observations are still incredible.

Pluto seen from 12 differing longitudes.

Image with scale.

That frosty Carbon Monoxide bright patch is very interesting. Wonder what caused it? Cryovolcanic or impact?

Possibly an impact basin, like Valhalla on the Jupiter moon Callisto maybe???

Great to see that WFPC3 will continue this. Hopefully the same is being done for Eris, Charon, 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 4 Vesta, etc.

Andrew Brown.

 

[reddragan]

If ESA used all the telescopes they recently sent up into orbit together could a better picture be produced?

 

[MeteorWayne]

No

 

[clint_dreamer]

Hey Wayne, I'm sure you've probably answered this before but I'm hoping you'll provide me with an answer too. What will the quality of the images from New Horizons be like? How much detail will the images show? I've been wanting to see what this planet looks like since I was a kid. Thanks buddy.

 

[MeteorWayne]

The best pictures of Pluto will depict surface features as small as 200 feet (about 60 meters) across.

From the JHU/APL Website :

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/missionDesign.php

 

[robnissen]

Hey Wayne, I'm sure you've probably answered this before but I'm hoping you'll provide me with an answer too. What will the quality of the images from New Horizons be like? How much detail will the images show? I've been wanting to see what this planet looks like since I was a kid. Thanks buddy.

Your question was asked and answered by 3488 in the New Horizons thread. Here is the cut and paste:

"Passage of New Horizons through the Pluto system. Closest approach to Pluto will be 10,000 KM / 6,200 Miles, sharpest images will have a resolution of 45 metres / 147 feet per pixel.Closest approach to Charon will be 27,000 KM / 16,800 Miles, sharpest images will have a resolution of 100 metres / 328 feet per pixel.These images will be quite close in quality to some of the better ones returned by Galileo of some of the Jupiter moons & Cassini of some of the Saturn moons.They will not match the very best, but will be more than sharp enough to reveal the geological natures of both Pluto & Charon."