This is cool:
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is at Pluto.
After a decade-long journey through our solar system, New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto Tuesday, about 7,750 miles above the surface — roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India – making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth.
“I’m delighted at this latest accomplishment by NASA, another first that demonstrates once again how the United States leads the world in space,” said John Holdren, assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “New Horizons is the latest in a long line of scientific accomplishments at NASA, including multiple missions orbiting and exploring the surface of Mars in advance of human visits still to come; the remarkable Kepler mission to identify Earth-like planets around stars other than our own; and the DSCOVR satellite that soon will be beaming back images of the whole Earth in near real-time from a vantage point a million miles away. As New Horizons completes its flyby of Pluto and continues deeper into the Kuiper Belt, NASA’s multifaceted journey of discovery continues.
That’s tax money well spent.
For those of you who follow me on the twitter tube, I am completely incapable of reading any tweet about space exploration without retweeting it and asking “But What About URANUS?,” so this headline for me is just amazing.
Baud
This makes Grover sad.
? Martin
Shame they have to go hauling ass through the neighborhood so fast. Would have been cool to hang out there for a while, but that just wasn’t possible. Either would have taken *way* longer to get there, or they’d have had to put a fuckton of fuel/engines to slow down.
BGinCHI
If they renamed it Goofy it would really take off.
Bargal20
“I’m delighted at this latest accomplishment by NASA, another first that demonstrates once again how the United States leads the world in space…”
Why is it always a dick measuring contest, even when it comes to interplanetary science?
? Martin
And that image was taken from 60x the altitude of its closest approach. But it’ll take 16 months for it to send all of its data home at 128 bytes/second.
? Martin
@Bargal20: I don’t think you’re to read it as ‘we’re better than them’. I think it’s more a matter of ‘let’s keep pushing forward, doing new things’ and a pat on the back for being a country that does just that.
Betty Cracker
@Bargal20: Until the aliens come or NASA is under female leadership, yes.
Gin & Tonic
@Bargal20: It’s more diplomatic than going before Congress and saying “fuck you, pay me.”
Culture of Truth
I just heard we won’t actually know if it worked until late tonight or tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
Felonius Monk
Could the New Horizons spacecraft be classified as an interplanetary peeping tom?
? Martin
@Gin & Tonic: You sure. Isn’t that pretty much what Lockheed and Exxon do?
Omnes Omnibus
@Felonius Monk: It has a search warrant issued by the United Federation of Planets.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
Not entirely. Lockheed and Exxon say that in public, but in private they give kickbacks.
shell
Really exciting. Though New Horizons sounds like a drug rehab place.
jl
@Baud:
‘ This makes Grover sad. ”
Grover is probably very sad today, weeping over PlutoPix.
But, hey, at least it is not money spent studying boring worthless bogus soft science shit on Earth. It’s another planet to it is Hard Science, and even the GOP has to grudgingly admit it is worth it. So we can have a (very short, as far as I am concerned) bipartisan happy nice time today.
mai naem mobile
Saw funny tweet about whether Pluto
had filed to run for the GOP nomination. one of the answers was ‘ No, remember what happened to Seamus Romney’s dog?’
mdblanche
I would hardly call 14 km/second “real slow.”
HinTN
Where do you get these people?
mai naem mobile
@Baud: I’d like to get Grover a one way ticket to Pluto. Maybe sell him on the zero taxation advantages.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Fuck Grover with a rusty chainsaw and no lube, and then confiscate every dime in his trust fund.
Grover is a fucking poster boy for having a North American Reign of Terror.
However, it is BEYOND cool that we’ve reached and explored Pluto! I still lament that 2001: A Space Odyssey failed in its predictions beyond the damn picturephone. I look up at the moon and weep that there are no men up there walking around on the FUCKING MOON like they were in my tweens and early teens. Shit, fuck, shit.
Villago Delenda Est
@jl: Well, as long as we’re not doing any planetary studies on the third rock from the Sun, where it might interfere with Exxon/Mobil’s profits, it’s cool to them.
srv
Neil Tyson should be fired for rendering this planet to snowball status
Villago Delenda Est
@shell: Sounds like the name of a Cardassian colony ship.
beltane
Donald Trump wants to invade this planet.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
As I always say in this case, Grover Norquist deserves to be drowned in a bathtub. Poetic justice demands it.
Schlemazel
My guess is Grover would say “But other than some pretty pictures what does the American taxpayer get out of this?” followed by “If it were really important private industry would do it, better and cheaper”.
I wish he would slip and drown in his bathtub.
Schlemazel
@srv:
Its better to remain silent & have people think you are a fool than to comment and prove to everyone you are.
Smiling Mortician
Better than the WaPo headline is the beginning of the article:
Scientists used to think that things were pretty chill over in the south hemisphere of Uranus. In fact, they thought it was one of the calmest regions of any of the gas giants.
Baud
It’s quiet. All the cool Juicers are at the meetup.
James Gary
@Villago Delenda Est: Sounds like the name of a Cardassian colony ship.
Those Cardassian ships are….hard to keep up with.
Matt McIrvin
@Culture of Truth: The ping back (if it exists) is even now passing through the solar system and arrives at Earth around 9 PM Eastern time. No science data in the message, just “I survived” (if it did).
Then a few highlights of the dataset start coming back over the next several days, starting tomorrow. This will include some awesome close-up pictures.
Then there’s a months-long pause in which only non-image data gets sent back, then the whole set of pictures starts coming down in September (first a lossily compressed version, then the whole thing). It’s going to take a year to get them all.
Villago Delenda Est
Man walks on fucking moon!
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Bastards.
ms_canadada
“But What About URANUS?,” Ha-ha-hee-hee. My 5 year-old nephew, Tristan, just discovered this, and John, you two are kindred spirits!
He doubles over in laughter when he says it, while his mother rolls her eyes, and his dad ignores it. His little brother, Jackson, who is almost 3, laughs and laughs, although he doesn’t have a clue why he’s laughing!
Kids these days…I’m talking to you, John Cole.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: When is there going to be a Bay Area meetup?
grump grump grump
Major Major Major Major
@Matt McIrvin: What’s the deal with that? The transmission time isn’t that long. Does the thing only have like 512Mb of RAM or something?
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Don’t mourn, organize.
Major Major Major Major
@Omnes Omnibus: Fine. Hi bloghosts! Let’s front-page something about a Bay Area meetup! Should I email Anne Laurie?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
They’re missing out on the Uranus puns.
Howard Beale IV
Looks like the IMF is getting cold feet over the whole Greece deal.
Some bad shit is about to go down.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
It uses WordPress.
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: They may be cool but we are cooler.
different-church-lady
@mdblanche:
CURVED UNIVERSE, STUPID!
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
Electronic interactions > social interactions.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: Fuck if I know. I’ve never organized a Balloon Juice meet-up. I just saw an opportunity to use the “don’t mourn, organize” line.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: Does that mean that Cole is going to bigfoot its transmissions after five minutes?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: That almost makes the drive to DC sound worthwhile.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m expecting NASA will be getting some cat pictures mixed in with Pluto.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Almost.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: I dunno, I haven’t seen many cat pictures on here recently. Except for the Tunch memorial.
Looking at you, Cole. What happened to Steve?
ETA: Fun random story. I incorporated at least one cat GIF into every single paper and presentation I did in grad school. Well, most of them; if I couldn’t squeeze one in then I just made a physics pun that nobody would notice.
Aleta
@Baud:
Too quiet.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I wonder why someone isn’t live blogging the meet-up. I am guessing that they are talking spitefully about us and don’t want us to know.
jl
@Major Major Major Major: your Q got me curious, so…
Talking to Pluto is hard! Why it takes so long to get data back from New Horizons
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla
“…Pluto is far away — very far away, more than 30 times Earth’s distance from the Sun — so New Horizons’ radio signal is weak. Weak signal means low data rates: at the moment, New Horizons can transmit at most 1 kilobit per second. (Note that spacecraft communications are typically measured in bits, not bytes; 1 kilobit is only 125 bytes.) Even at these low data rates, only the Deep Space Network’s very largest, 70-meter dishes can detect New Horizons’ faint signal. ”
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/01300800-talking-to-pluto-is-hard.html
Major Major Major Major
@Aleta:
Like the deadly Prius.
Villago Delenda Est
If you’re really jonesing for cat pictures, go over to Wonkette and take a look at the most recent The Donald thread. People have been posting pictures of their cats with Trump hair!
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
It has plenty of RAM. The problem is that the transmitter has limited power, so the signal is very, very weak by the time it gets to earth. To avoid problems with noise in that very weak signal, they have to limit the transmission speed to something like 1 kbit/s. It’s going to be like downloading all its files over a 1200 baud modem.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
They are clearly ingrates.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: Oh, redundancy and error reduction, of course. Bad digital librarian *flogs self*
Felonius Monk
@Baud:
I always thought that it’s painful when you pun Uranus.
Major Major Major Major
@jl: Thanks!
@Felonius Monk: If it hurts you’re doing it wrong.
different-church-lady
@Major Major Major Major: The transmission speed isn’t all that slow, but because they’re using AOL dial-up they need to reconnect several times every hour.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
Can’t wait to see the pictures from your meet up.
Baud
@different-church-lady:
In space, no one can hear you CTRL-ALT-DEL.
schrodinger's cat
@Major Major Major Major: Pluto is really far away from earth. It is about 330 light minutes away from earth, compare that to the sun which is 8 light minutes away.
Aleta
@Baud:
It’s impossible to be simultaneously cool and universally loved, unless you’re the speed of light.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodinger’s cat: Minutes aren’t weeks; see above.
Baud
@Aleta:
It is however possible to be neither, as I can attest. :-(
mai naem mobile
So whats the super.secret password to get into the BJ kool kids meet up club meeting? Also too, aren’t they supposed to meet up in a.
treehouse?
Baud
I think Omnes is actually driving down to D.C.
Felonius Monk
@different-church-lady:
I’d heard that the budget problems were so bad that they had to resort to 2 tin cans and a gazillion miles of string. But, I could be wrong.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: Oh I’ll keep my shirt on, nobody can tell.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
I thought you were gay.
Gimlet
NYPD union head on the city’s Eric Garner settlement
Mr. Garner’s family should not be rewarded simply because he repeatedly chose to break the law and resist arrest.
The responsibility of the City in paying damages, if any, to Mr. Garner’s family should be proportionate to its responsibility for Mr. Garner’s death, which was at best, minimal.
I question: where is the justice for New York taxpayers? Where is the consistency in the civil system? The settlement amount tendered to the Garner family is obscene
Aleta
@Baud: Then we both have something in common with Uranus.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: Oh I’d take it off for you, Baud. But straight bars (where I imagine the meetup would happen) tend to frown on that.
Baud
@Major Major Major Major:
Straight bars are so lame, unlike Uranus.
schrodinger's cat
@Major Major Major Major: I was giving you the limiting case, and that is six hours, without any other technical or engineering limitations.
jibeaux
I’m listening to a fantastic audio book called The Whites. It has a minor, not plot related scene where the parents are called in to discuss their son punching a boy who antagonized him somehow, it isn’t specified yet. The mom listens for a bit to the questions about their home life, then explodes with what did they think was going to happen putting on a boring play with the kids pretending to be planets, one of them was inevitably going to have to say “I’m Uranus!” And what did they think was going to come of that?
anyway, great book. All the better for me being temporarily in NYC, the dialogue rings true.
Major Major Major Major
@schrodinger’s cat: But of course. I thought that was assumed in my earlier comment, is all. No worries, no shade thrown, it’s cool :)
Pee Cee
Uranus is big and gassy, right?
jibeaux
@Gimlet:
that makes me want to do unspeakable things to the skull of a kitten.
Major Major Major Major
@Pee Cee: speak for yourself
Keith G
I do not know if this has been noted yet, but Tom Friedman interviewed Obama earlier today.
The headline: Obama Makes His Case on Iran Nuclear Deal
He certainly does.
Pee Cee
1 kilobit per second? Didn’t know NASA was using AT&T DSL…
different-church-lady
New Horizons has phoned home, alive and well
Gimlet
Fortunately we have nothing to fear regarding sane, cool tempered Republicans like McCain, Bolton or Kristol using a nuclear weapon.
Huckabee said that if Iran becomes capable of producing nuclear weapons, “we’re now looking at the apocalypse because these people are crazy enough to use it, first against Israel and eventually against us.”
Roger Moore
@Howard Beale IV:
At least they’re making noises in favor of giving the Greeks a break rather than being tougher. It’s about fucking time somebody else stood up to the EU bullies.
Gimlet
Ricky WWJD?
Santorum: “I would have ratcheted up those sanctions. I would have continued to put pressure on this regime to capitulate. What we have here is not a capitulation.”
“The Iranians have never kept a deal. Never,” Santorum added. “There will be plenty of opportunity for the next president of the United States to make the case to the world that this deal … is fraudulent.”
Keith G
@Gimlet:
Well that means the Reverend Mike is that much closer to sharing a plate of cheesy grits and fatback with his pal Jesus.
He must be in favor of that. No?
Gimlet
@Keith G:
I think he dusted off his N Korea rant and just tweaked a few things.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: The Israelis are utterly defenseless. They have no nuclear deterrent. They are sitting ducks. The Iranians will of test their nuclear weapon on Jerusalem, since they have absolutely no reverence for Jewish holy places, and do so knowing that they have nothing to fear by doing so.
Cripes, this shit is so stupid that Hucksterbee actually believes it. Or his marks do.
Uncle Cosmo
@mai naem mobile:
Well crap, he’s already got a season pass to the planet Hisownanus….
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s not just that. The probe has at most a few watts of radio power and a relatively small radio dish. The amount of signal we get back here on Earth is minuscule, so it has lots of problems with noise. That inherently limits the data rate even before you include things like redundancy and error correction. If you try to increase the data rate too much, the noise overwhelms the signal to the point no degree of error correction can fix it.
Roger Moore
@Uncle Cosmo:
I think that’s where you’ll find his head.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I thought about it but got lazy.
jibeaux
Random question, is anyone here in NYC? Hard to phrase this without sounding pathetic, but you really can be lonely surrounded by people.
Baud
@jibeaux:
No and yes.
tarragon
@Roger Moore:
… and you can’t monopolized one of the 3 big dishes for months. They’ll be sharing time with other spacecraft.
jl
@Villago Delenda Est:
” The Iranians will of test their nuclear weapon on Jerusalem, ”
Then make a thousand more, put them on their hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles and overwhelm us. This doom is foreordained the second Obama signs the treaty. All the GOPers told me so.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Our fate was sealed when we voted for him in 2008. We’ve been dead men walking ever since.
BubbaDave
@shell:
IT training company, actually.
redshirt
Poor Uranus. It’s a nice, cool planet and doesn’t deserve this mockery.
Since it’s unlikely we’ll get rid of “Ur-Anus” jokes, I propose we give up the fight and rename Uranus. Something like Dicksayswut.
carbon dated
@? Martin:I think his statement was calculated to put Merkins first, and it’s a little bit embarrassing. He co-wrote this bit of jingo:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-new-horizons-20150713-story.html