new horizons present position...

[capncnut]

your a bast*** i was getting ready to put that one up. Yeah, it's a beauty ain't it. Back to New Horizons... ...I know this image is a couple of weeks old now but it absolutely blew me away when I saw it. Such a unique view of Europa rising behind Jupiter. If the Pluto pics are half as good then I'll be happy as a pig in s**t!

[Mike70]

do you remember when galileo was at the end of its mission and the it was decided to purposefully crash it into jupiter to prevent the chance (relatively small as it was) that it might impact on europa and contaminate it? there were all of those knobhead conspiracy folks that were trying to claim that the plutonium RTG on galileo was going to cause some sort of giant nuclear explosion on jupiter?? that is one of the 5 most ridiculous things i have ever read on the internet and, as a gourmet of human stupidity, provided me with hours of entertainment.

[capncnut]

Is it me or is this probe gaining some serious distance? New Horizons present position

[Mike70]

Is it me or is this probe gaining some serious distance? New Horizons present position it's not you this thing is rocking out as far as speed goes. i mean damn, it went from the earth to jupiter in 13 months.

[capncnut]

Two days ago this little bitch passed Saturn's orbit. Onward to Uranus for March 2011!

[Mike70]

necromancy time. a bit of an update on new horizons. the size of the outer solar system is humbling for sure. 13 months from earth to jupiter and even with a gravity assist from the king of the planets, it is still about 15 months from crossing the orbit of uranus (insert joke here). new horizons is .02 AU closer to pluto than earth now. 16.42 AU from earth and 16.40 AU to get to pluto. new horizons is presently cruising at a speed of 16.48 m/sec, which is nearly 60,000 km/hr.

[capncnut]

Great stuff. Nice to see that NH is moving along nicely. The gap is now closing.

[Mike70]

necromancy time again. all this talk of neutrinos and europa and what not has me thinking about New Horizons again. still literally space trucking its way toward pluto at 15.45 km/sec.

[strayrider]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...2-b-nasa-earth