Starship Asterisk*

ppml5 wrote:
Ever since man first landed on the moon, NASA has been the leader in high adventure and the most advanced science. In the Pluto fly-by it is amazing how they even managed to retrieve the radio signals from such a vast distance.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft/Data-Collection.php wrote:
<<A major challenge for the New Horizons mission is the relatively low "downlink" rate at which data can be transmitted to Earth, especially when you compare it to rates now common for high-speed Internet surfers. During the Jupiter flyby in February 2007, New Horizons sent data home at about 38 kilobits per second (kbps), which is slightly slower than the transmission speed for most computer modems. The average downlink rate after New Horizons passes Pluto (and sends the bulk of its encounter data back to Earth) is approximately 2,000 bits per second, a rate the spacecraft achieves by downlinking with both of its transmitters through NASA's largest antennas. Even then, it will take until late 2016 to bring down all the encounter data stored on the spacecraft's recorders.>>

De58te wrote:Something puzzles me. With a speed of 1333.3 kilometers a minute, and a Pluto diameter of about 2,400 kilometers, then New Horizons whizzed past Puto's diameter in just under 2 minutes. Why is the video a time lapse, because 2 minutes is the real time? Also, why does the journey begin in the predawn? You'd think that New Horizons beginning its journey from the inner solar system, sun side, that it would arrive at Pluto during mid Pluto day, or high noon? Then it would take 2 minutes to shoot off into the twilight evening sky. It didn't fly sideways and duck around Neptune, thus arriving from the side, relative to the Sun?

De58te wrote:Something puzzles me. With a speed of 1333.3 kilometers a minute, and a Pluto diameter of about 2,400 kilometers, then New Horizons whizzed past Puto's diameter in just under 2 minutes. Why is the video a time lapse, because 2 minutes is the real time? Also, why does the journey begin in the predawn? You'd think that New Horizons beginning its journey from the inner solar system, sun side, that it would arrive at Pluto during mid Pluto day, or high noon? Then it would take 2 minutes to shoot off into the twilight evening sky. It didn't fly sideways and duck around Neptune, thus arriving from the side, relative to the Sun?

Rosey wrote:That's Canis Major and Lepus rising over Pluto in the opening 30 seconds..

rstevenson wrote:

Spif wrote:Are the features exaggerated? Caption says the colors are enhanced, but what about the vertical relief?

The mountains look much higher than they ought to given the scale. Craters look too deep.

I was wondering that myself, and found this on the "featured two-minute time-lapse video" page ...

The topographic relief is exaggerated by a factor of two to three times in these movies to emphasize topography; the surface colors of Pluto ... also have been enhanced to bring out detail.

Rob

Spif wrote:Are the features exaggerated? Caption says the colors are enhanced, but what about the vertical relief?

The mountains look much higher than they ought to given the scale. Craters look too deep.

The topographic relief is exaggerated by a factor of two to three times in these movies to emphasize topography; the surface colors of Pluto ... also have been enhanced to bring out detail.