Posted on Aug 1, 2021
APOD: 2021 August 1 - Pluto in Enhanced Color
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Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Pluto in Enhanced Color." The latest visualization of Pluto gathered by the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015 is presented in today's APOD. For what it is worth, I'm in the ninth-planet camp of Solar System science - Pluto is the ninth planet in the Solar System (discovered in 1930). I know...it is officially classified as a "dwarf planet." We can talk about that (maybe) in another thread.
Some scientists believe there is an icy ocean trapped beneath Pluto's frozen surface. Mountains on Pluto range from 6,500 to 9,800 feet (2 to 3 kilometers) and are big blocks of water ice coated with frozen gases. Craters dot the landscape of Pluto (some as large as 162 miles in diameter), but much of the surface appears relatively undisturbed (remember Saturn's moon Mimas?). Speaking of moons, Pluto has five: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. The largest moon, Charon, is about half the size of Pluto itself. It orbits Pluto at a distance of just 12,200 miles (for comparison, our moon is 20 times farther away from Earth). As a result, Pluto and Charon are often referred to as a double planet.
A hat tip to the engineers at the Southwest Research Institute for their work on the New Horizons dataset and this image of Pluto. Well done.
Some scientists believe there is an icy ocean trapped beneath Pluto's frozen surface. Mountains on Pluto range from 6,500 to 9,800 feet (2 to 3 kilometers) and are big blocks of water ice coated with frozen gases. Craters dot the landscape of Pluto (some as large as 162 miles in diameter), but much of the surface appears relatively undisturbed (remember Saturn's moon Mimas?). Speaking of moons, Pluto has five: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. The largest moon, Charon, is about half the size of Pluto itself. It orbits Pluto at a distance of just 12,200 miles (for comparison, our moon is 20 times farther away from Earth). As a result, Pluto and Charon are often referred to as a double planet.
A hat tip to the engineers at the Southwest Research Institute for their work on the New Horizons dataset and this image of Pluto. Well done.
APOD: 2021 August 1 - Pluto in Enhanced Color
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
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Good Sunday morning, Maj William W. 'Bill' Price! I am on my cell, & can't display the image correctly, so will respond fully, when I get back home...
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Provided to YouTube by TuneCoreThe Pluto Blues · Owen TempleTwo Thousand Miles 2014 El PaisanoReleased on: 2008-01-22Auto-generated by YouTube.
belated thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Sunday, August 1, 2020 entitled "Pluto in Enhanced Color."
I expect Plutonians might be disgruntled to learn that their abode was downgraded to dwarf planet :-)
No doubt the Disney character Pluto was oblivious :-)
Image:
1. Pluto in Enhanced Color - Image Credit - NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ.-APL, Southwest Research Inst.
2. Plutostar
3. Plutonian Space Snail
APOD Background
"Explanation: Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and high-resolution images of our Solar System's most famous dwarf planet, taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in 2015 July, have been digitally combined to give an enhanced-color view of this ancient world sporting an unexpectedly young surface. The featured enhanced color image is not only esthetically pretty but scientifically useful, making surface regions of differing chemical composition visually distinct. For example, the light-colored heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio on the lower right is clearly shown here to be divisible into two regions that are geologically different, with the leftmost lobe Sputnik Planitia also appearing unusually smooth. After Pluto, New Horizons continued on, shooting past asteroid Arrokoth in 2019 and has enough speed to escape our Solar System completely."
The Pluto Blues · Owen Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOc0BsIJmT8
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC (Join to see) MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Sgt Albert Castro PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Samuel Kermon SSG Franklin Briant A1C Riley SandersGySgt Thomas Vick CPL Douglas Chrysler SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen GySgt Jack Wallace 1SG Steven Imerman MSgt James Clark-Rosa SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
I expect Plutonians might be disgruntled to learn that their abode was downgraded to dwarf planet :-)
No doubt the Disney character Pluto was oblivious :-)
Image:
1. Pluto in Enhanced Color - Image Credit - NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ.-APL, Southwest Research Inst.
2. Plutostar
3. Plutonian Space Snail
APOD Background
"Explanation: Pluto is more colorful than we can see. Color data and high-resolution images of our Solar System's most famous dwarf planet, taken by the robotic New Horizons spacecraft during its flyby in 2015 July, have been digitally combined to give an enhanced-color view of this ancient world sporting an unexpectedly young surface. The featured enhanced color image is not only esthetically pretty but scientifically useful, making surface regions of differing chemical composition visually distinct. For example, the light-colored heart-shaped Tombaugh Regio on the lower right is clearly shown here to be divisible into two regions that are geologically different, with the leftmost lobe Sputnik Planitia also appearing unusually smooth. After Pluto, New Horizons continued on, shooting past asteroid Arrokoth in 2019 and has enough speed to escape our Solar System completely."
The Pluto Blues · Owen Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOc0BsIJmT8
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC (Join to see) MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Sgt Albert Castro PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Samuel Kermon SSG Franklin Briant A1C Riley SandersGySgt Thomas Vick CPL Douglas Chrysler SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen GySgt Jack Wallace 1SG Steven Imerman MSgt James Clark-Rosa SGT (Join to see) Maj Marty Hogan
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LTC Stephen F.
Paul Gardner - guitar & vocal....Alan Warner - guitar & vocal ....Michael Worth - bass.....Derek Jervis - drums...
PLUTO - Road To Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnkjOQlZeI
FYI CSM Charles HaydenSPC Woody Bullard SFC William Farrell SPC Michael TerrellSSG Paul HeadleeSPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D PO1 H Gene Lawrence Maj William W. 'Bill' Price PO2 (Join to see) LTC John ShawSGT Steve McFarland 1LT Voyle Smith SPC Nancy GreeneSPC Steve Irvine LTC Ken ConnollyLTC David Brown MSgt Dale Johnson Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SSG Michael Noll CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJnkjOQlZeI
FYI CSM Charles HaydenSPC Woody Bullard SFC William Farrell SPC Michael TerrellSSG Paul HeadleeSPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D PO1 H Gene Lawrence Maj William W. 'Bill' Price PO2 (Join to see) LTC John ShawSGT Steve McFarland 1LT Voyle Smith SPC Nancy GreeneSPC Steve Irvine LTC Ken ConnollyLTC David Brown MSgt Dale Johnson Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SSG Michael Noll CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana
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LTC Stephen F.
Video for Plutos' Long White Cross from the 2005 album "Pipe Line Under The Ocean"
Pluto - Long White Cross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFvn0qVhFi4
FYI SSG Michael Noll SFC (Join to see)SGT Denny EspinosaSP5 Dennis LobergerLinda LawrenceMSgt James Clark-RosaSMSgt Mark VenezioMGySgt (Join to see)SFC Ralph E KelleySSG Robert WebsterSGT Randell RoseCSM (Join to see)SSG Paul Headlee SGT James Murphy ~1457031:SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson]SGM Gerald Fife Sgt Jim Belanus SGM Bill Frazer SPC Woody Bullard CPT (Join to see)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFvn0qVhFi4
FYI SSG Michael Noll SFC (Join to see)SGT Denny EspinosaSP5 Dennis LobergerLinda LawrenceMSgt James Clark-RosaSMSgt Mark VenezioMGySgt (Join to see)SFC Ralph E KelleySSG Robert WebsterSGT Randell RoseCSM (Join to see)SSG Paul Headlee SGT James Murphy ~1457031:SP5 Geoffrey Vannerson]SGM Gerald Fife Sgt Jim Belanus SGM Bill Frazer SPC Woody Bullard CPT (Join to see)
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CPT Gurinder (Gene) Rana
Send Musk, Bezos and the Virgin Chairman all to explore Pluto. First, it takes years to travel and it definitely is a challenge to go where no other person or money has gone before. Amen Sir!
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