New Horizons is the fastest man-made space vehicle ever created. Traveling at nearly 36,000 mph, New Horzions is changing the face of interplanetary travel. Launched on January 19, 2006, it only took the probe about a year to pass Jupiter and make its way towards the outer planets. Most people first heard about New Horizons this past July when it became the first vehicle to ever encounter the dwarf planet, Pluto, about 40 AU from the center of the solar system
This week, New Horizons was in the news again as it provided the closest, clearest pictures of Pluto to date. The pictures were originally taken on July 14th and downlinked back to Earth on September 13. The images show an incredibly advanced surface make up of the dwarf planet including icy dunes, mountain ranges, and the possibility of large ice chunks floating in dense rivers of nitrogen. Beyond the astonishing landscapes, the pictures (taken at a distance of only 1,100 miles about Pluto's surface) show complex layers of atmosphere above the planet's surface. These layers of various gasses lead researchers to believe that Pluto has daily weather patterns and possibly a "water cycle" of precipitation, evaporation, and condensation though instead of using frozen water, with frozen nitrogen.
As New Horizons continues on passed Pluto, it has a new target in sight. By 2019, New Horizons hopes to encounter 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt exoplanet. If successful, New Horzions would be the first man-made object to leave our solar system. It is truly an exciting time to be studying engineering and astrophysics.
Works used
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/09/17/nasa-releases-dramatic-pluto-images/
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/09/10/439232708/new-pluto-pictures-are-out-of-this-world
http://www.cnet.com/news/beautiful-new-photos-of-pluto-show-terrain-atmosphere/
Great job Simon! I agree that these planetary missions are *super* cool, and it is a great time to be an astronomer :) 5/5
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