One piece of trivia that excited me was the fact that the brain of New Horizons is powered by the same CPU as the Playstation1*
The mind boggles - this might explain why its download rate is a mere 1kb / second.
Apparently it will take up to 16 months to completely download the info from Pluto / Charon, etc.
Don't forget though, the transmission point is over 3 billion miles away - and getting more distant all the time.
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| Ps One Evan Amos CC Licensed |
Even so, we already have a wealth of stuff to mull over about this distant corner of our solar system.
We learned that there are mountains of water ice some 11,000 feet high on Pluto.
We even got a 3D gif ...
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| The icy mountains of Pluto...* |
We have discovered a mountain in a weird moat - like depression on Charon, and evidence of chasms up to seven miles deep.
Also the relatively youthful geology of both Pluto and Charon indicate that they are very much active - this in itself, despite the lack of any obvious heat source, is peculiar.
Before I plunge headlong into the depths of tinfoil helmet - land...
The craft itself is powered by an RTG, specifically Plutonium, an element named after - guess.
As well as the gadgetry for readings and suchlike, New Horizons also contains some of the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh, the American astronomer who discovered Pluto.
Enroute to the Kuiper Belt now, he becomes the first human whose mortal remains have travelled beyond our solar system.
Clyde Tombaugh was also one of the highest profile astronomers to report a ufo sighting.
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| Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 |
Not only that , but he spotted unusual activity on the surface of Mars in 1941, in the form of bright flashes of light.
Curious ?
How about the bright lights recently spotted in craters on Ceres , which even NASA are puzzled over?
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| The mysterious lights of Ceres... |
Yes, Ceres, remember that little blip of excitement ?
Another dwarf planet, some 250 million miles away, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
It's gone oddly quiet on that front lately , and the only real news which I could glean was that in early August the Dawn craft should get closer, as it enters an orbit of around 900 miles above the surface for hopefully more in - depth photos.
Speculation already abounds - not least because we are seemingly being teased with almost but not quite detailed closeups.
The previous link above leads to a piece on the mysterious hazes which occasionally appear above the reflective patches.
there is debate as to whether these patches are composed of ice or salt - more importantly why don't we have Spectrometer analysis ?
Apparently the Spectrometer is otherwise engaged ...
Speaking of which, an animation of Ceres rotation has been released, which has missing footage.
Footage which may reveal the true nature of the lights...
Some say the haze is linked to an area of 'mini - atmosphere'...
Another theory is that it is an abandoned space base.
As the Dawn probe spirals closer, we can only wait.
Watch The Skies
* Pluto mountains GIF by MattiasMalmer , all other images Creative commons educational please thank you
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