A New Horizon

A whopping 4.8 billion kilometers. An enduring 3460 plus days of nail-biting countdown. A 700 million dollar spacecraft and thousands of curious hearts ! 




It has been over 2 days for the historic flyby of the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto. Reaching your destination can be a long affair. And one of immense patience too. But the New Horizons spacecraft has it all. Enduring and patient, it cruised in nothingness for a flyby to Pluto. A technological feat, whose planning began well before it was launched in January 2006. The road to Pluto was challenging and demanding. But now its Pluto's time to shine! :) 
Enough of artist's illustrations for Pluto, it has its own identity now-a colour, a precise size, terrain, features and much more! 

As Dennis Overbye puts in an excellent New York Times column,
"None of us alive today will see a new planet up close for the first time again."

More than 9 years back, all we heard was about the elusive Pluto (in fact the curiosity around Pluto begins well before its discovery in 1930, the story of its discovery is too interesting). Nothing extraordinary size-wise too. A small, frigid body, at the edge of the solar system moving in a weird orbit, that poor Pluto was even demoted to a dwarf planet. It is for the first time Earthlings get to see Pluto in close-up. And well, it is beautiful. It has surprised us with its thin atmosphere and geology too. 

To get to Pluto, take a left at Jupiter. The New Horizons spacecraft, launched in 2006, used a gravitational slingshot boost from Jupiter to speed its way. 

-Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

It is a time to celebrate, not only for scientists and technologists behind it, but for every single being who are witnessing this. I would always want something astronomical to witness in my lifetime (something like Man landing on Moon :P), and I must admit, this is one of those moments, I am glad I am alive to cherish Pluto's first scientific photo-op. Hope Pluto has more surprises packed for us ( Can you imagine, New Horizons send us data back from 3 billion miles ?! ) New Horizons is also making sure it is doing some serious science in the little time it has. It may eventually lead us to answer fundamental questions about solar system, its origin and formation, Kuiper belt objects, composition, geology, atmosphere of these and much more). 

Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

This piano sized spacecraft with its army of seven instruments does the reconnaissance around the dwarf. A visible, infrared and an ultraviolet spectrometer, a radiometer, a telescopic camera, energetic particle spectrometer. The SDC (Student Dust Counter) is inspiring as it is built and operated by students (measures the space dust)

So what does this dwarf look like (apart from the big heart)? The high resolution images show icy mountain ranges estimated to be rising more than 3 kilometers. Surprisingly, it also shows smoother areas (no impact craters implies younger surfaces) which means that Pluto is awake and kickin' (active and youthful; internal processes?). Considering the proximity to the Kuiper belt, it also means that it has survived impacts and collisions. It is quite possible that it is still active (what if New Horizons could catch a glimpse of the activity if it occurs! Woaahh, asking for too much there). 

The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100 million years ago--mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today. 
-NASA

Charon doesn't stay behind in surprising! Canyons, rigged terrain, darker mysterious regions, cliffs. What more would you expect from a tiny object? Mind blowing indeed!



Must watch the animation view of Pluto through the years. 
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/views-of-pluto-through-the-years

Ruler of the underworld is exposed by Earthlings, kudos to the NASA and New Horizon team. Just as I finish writing this, the "encounter mode" is over and a "cruise mode" is on again :( However we will continue receiving the data for 16 months with an extremely slow transfer rate.

An incredible story has just begun. 

(Meanwhile, the stress of waiting was reduced by the comical strips, really clever :) ) 

P.S. 
Stay focused, even if it means taking years to get what you want. Worth it! <3 

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Source:

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Pluto/index.php

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/overview/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nh-fact-sheet-2015_1.pdf

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/news/index.html

All images: NASA