APOD: Dim World, Dark Nebula (2010 Jul 08)

[APOD Robot]

Dim World, Dark Nebula

Explanation: Dim, distant, dwarf planet Pluto can be hard to spot, especially in recent months as it wanders through the crowded starfields of Sagittarius and the central Milky Way. But fortunately for backyard Pluto hunters, it crossed in front of a dark nebula in early July. The diminutive world is marked with two short lines near the center of this skyscape recorded from New Mexico Skies on July 5. Pluto stands out only because obscuring dark nebula Barnard 92 (B92) blocks the background of the Milky Way's congeries of faint, innumerable stars. Another of astronomer E. E. Barnard's cataloged dark markings on the sky, B93, is easy to pick out just left of B92. Prominent at the lower left is open star cluster NGC 6603. In fact, Pluto, dark nebulae, and star cluster all lie within a portion of M24, also known as the Sagittarius Star Cloud, filling most of the frame.

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[Guest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAZQ0qX5iR0

So funny!

[phytophan]

interesting to see how dim our companions can be, but what is the bright object slightly above and left of pluto that is also between us and B92 ?

[owlice]

More Pluto images here: http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 29&t=20123

[Chris Peterson]

interesting to see how dim our companions can be, but what is the bright object slightly above and left of pluto that is also between us and B92 ?

It's a star, HD 312872. This star has a parallax of 4.1 mas, so it is about 800 ly distant, as compared to 10,000 ly for the dark nebula.

[Guest]

Cool picture
How long does it take Pluto to go around the sun?


-H-

[bystander]

How long does it take Pluto to go around the sun?-

90,613.3 days
248.1 years

[workgazer]

and only 20 days holidays in a plutoian working year they need a better union

[orin stepanek]

Pluto pictures. http://space.about.com/od/solarsystem/i ... s-Gallery/
I hope New Horizons gets some good pictures of this outpost of the Solar System!

[Guest]

and only 20 days holidays in a plutoian working year they need a better union

lol

[León]

The dark world which passes the god of the underworld, the question arises, how will dwarf in the nebula, between subjects, shadows, miserable shattered parts of ancient gods transformed into dark powder.

[bystander]

and only 20 days holidays in a plutoian working year they need a better union

It's not quite as bad as it first looks, it's only 14,164.4 Pluto solar days
(one solar day on Pluto is almost a week long (6 days, 9 hr, 17 min)).
Look at all the free time you would have each 8 hour working day.

[moonstruck]

It's amazing how far astronomy has come. I bought a pretty good telescope when I was younger and about all I could ever find was Saturn and Jupitor and maybe Mars and that would be on a lucky night. If I brought friends over I couldn't even do that half the time. In fact back then I don't think they even knew about Pluto and if we did we couldn't have found it. Way to go you professional type guys.

[León]

New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, and Hydra. NASA may also approve flybys of one or more other Kuiper Belt Objects.

New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006 directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory. It had an Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s or 58,536 km/h (10.10 mi/s or 36,373 mi/h) after its last engine shut down. Thus, it left Earth at the fastest launch speed ever recorded for a man-made object. It flew by Jupiter on February 28, 2007 at 5:43:40 UTC and Saturn's orbit on June 8, 2008 at 10:00 UTC. It will arrive at Pluto on July 14, 2015 and then continue into the Kuiper belt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons

[bystander]

New Horizons: http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... =8&t=10199

More sightings of Pluto on the Observation Deck.

[biddie67]

I am constantly amazed at the determination that the astrophotographers have to be able to pick out such a small object from the astounding myriad of objects around it - congratulations to you Ray Gralak!!!!

What also amazes me is that predictions of where to find Pluto like this can be so accurate.

The the length of Pluto's "day" is fascinating - I've often wished that our day was about 3-4 hours longer than it is - that would match my own internal clock better than the 24 hour day that I (we all) must live with! But Pluto's day would definitely be too much!!!

[orin stepanek]

The the length of Pluto's "day" is fascinating - I've often wished that our day was about 3-4 hours longer than it is - that would match my own internal clock better than the 24 hour day that I (we all) must live with! But Pluto's day would definitely be too much!!!

Maybe it's my age; but as tired as I get I don't think I could take a day longer than 24 hours.

[Wolf Kotenberg]

Isaw no bulges so Charon must be in line of sight or behind. I made the image as big as my image software wouldlet me.You know what would be cool ? next planetary mission,put a laser generator on the machine and see if telescopes van follow the voyages.

[Chris Peterson]

Isaw no bulges so Charon must be in line of sight or behind. I made the image as big as my image software wouldlet me.

At maximum separation, Pluto and Charon are only about 0.9 arcseconds apart. That is probably below the resolution limits of the optics and seeing conditions. In any case, this is a wide field image, with a plate scale (on the large image) of about 4 arcseconds per pixel. So Pluto and Charon together will always be seen as a point source, without the slightest hint of a bulge.

[DavidLeodis]

I learnt a new word from the explanation, "congeries" that was used in "the Milky Way's congeries". My dictionary defines congeries as "a disorderly collection; a mass or heap" and is used as a singular and plural noun. Not sure if I should be or not for not knowing the word.

[owlice]

David, one of the many things I love about APOD is that it expands my vocabulary. I love finding new-to-me words in APOD text.

[DavidLeodis]

David, one of the many things I love about APOD is that it expands my vocabulary. I love finding new-to-me words in APOD text.

I wonder if we APODers are mostly considered to be an orderly lot or a disorderly lot hence a congeries of APODers. Hopefully the former!

[owlice]

Wouldn't the latter be much more fun, though??

:: sits on the congeries bench ::

:: hopes others will join her ::

[DavidLeodis]

Wouldn't the latter be much more fun, though??

:: sits on the congeries bench ::

:: hopes others will join her ::