Pluto - it's here and it's real !

Wow ! If this is just the latest shot from NASA 's new horizons space probe, can any body only imagine what Pluto reveal in July as it passes close by

news.discovery.com/space/new-spacecraft-...lex-pluto-150527.htm

Keith..

Yes very exciting,

Excluding other EKB objects, Pluto and Charon are the largest unexplored (known) objects in the Solar System.
From the New Horizons craft, Pluto has now surpassed 10 arcsec in diameter. Maybe not seem large, but from Earth Pluto is just 0.10 arcsec across! In the coming weeks Pluto and Charon will dramatically increase in size in the FOV of New Horizons cameras.

John

The first colour movies of Pluto and Charon have been released ( www.nasa.gov/feature/pluto-and-its-moon-charon-now-in-color ). Although the resolution is very low, Pluto has a beige colour with clear variations, whereas Charon is grey. The outer (minor) planets and moons, with their many different textures and hues, have much more varied surfaces than the small rocky objects of the inner Solar System. I'm really looking forward to what will be revealed as the close fly-by approaches.

Mike

That really cool Mike, it's good to see NASA sharing it's received data with the public very quickly. I am just amazed by this world and it's moons, everyday it's just getting better. Right now we can see definite differences in Pluto's surface feature's although very low resolution, my bet is that it will look very like Neptune's moon Triton !

This thread will be very busy from now on

Keith..

Hi everybody, Wow! This is just getting better from the New Horizons probe, the latest pictures from Pluto show it better than ever in colour, it could easily resemble any of Jupiters moons or indeed Neptunes Triton.

And Charon looks dark with its own surface markings, what a great moment in space exploration

www.astronomy.com/news/2015/07/spots-on-...s-gets-the-all-clear

Keith..

Hi,

A few comparisons, as of today (3rd July):

Pluto is still only 39" in width (and Charon 20"). But at last it's bigger than Jupiter's apparent diameter of 32". They should grow rapidly in the coming days!

From Earth, Pluto is 0.10" in diameter!

John