Ready for Its Close-Up

INCOMING: At noon today, I was one of many (enough to make the NASA server laggy!) tuned into NASA TV online to hear the press conference where the first Pluto flyby photos were shared with the world.

What you see above IS THE SURFACE OF FREAKING PLUTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mountains, canyons, valleys ... the detail - it's incredible!

The scientists on the panel were downright giddy (professional, but giddy!) over the new data in had.

I think Alan Stern, principal investigator for New Horizons  at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, said it best: “Home run! New Horizons is returning amazing results already. The data look absolutely gorgeous, and Pluto and Charon are just mind blowing."

We've already learned so much from New Horizons' in one short day. For instance, we now know that that Pluto's equator is studded with icy mountains, and that Pluto has one of the youngest surfaces in the Solar System. There's not a single impact crater visible on its surface (a bit of a shocker), leading scientist to believe the planet's surface is young, and quite possibly, if not likely, active here and now. Per a NASA press release today, "The mountains on Pluto likely formed no more than 100 million years ago -- mere youngsters in a 4.56-billion-year-old solar system. This suggests the close-up region, which covers about one percent of Pluto’s surface, may still be geologically active today."

Another thing that's been deduced: "Water is there in great abundance," said one of the scientists on this afternoon's panel.  The water is in frozen form, supporting the weight of mountains made of volatiles, the "frosting" on the planet's surface.

Amazingly, though it just passed Pluto yesterday, New Horizons has already zipped significantly more than a million miles past the dwarf planet.
And don't even get me started about Pluto's moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra, Styx and Kerberos! We'll save that for another day.

I love, Love, LOVE the attention Pluto has been getting attention in all corners, including from the PR team at the White House. Clearly, there are some nerds hanging out there days, as the White House has been all over social media showing Pluto love. Perhaps my favorite example was their Facebook post today:

The White House

Page Liked · 18 mins · 

 

One does not simply fly 3 billion miles to take a photo of Mordor, the dark spot on top of Pluto's moon Charon. www.nasa.gov/newhorizons #PlutoFlyBy

For those not quite as nerdy, the shadowy spot atop Pluto has been informally named Modor by NASA scientists, after the home of Sauron and Mount Doom in "The Lord of the Rings."  The White House quote comes from a scene in the 2001 film adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien’s "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," when the Council of Elrond reveals that an evil ring has to be destroyed by being thrown into the fires of Mount Doom, a volcano in the dangerous territory of Mordor. A character points out the difficultly of the task by noting, "One does not simply walk into Mordor”. The scene has developed into an Internet meme.

If you like what you've seen the past couple of days from Team Pluto at NASA, why not drop them a little (online) thank you. The White House has a portal for you to do that.

MEANWHILE, IN FLORIDA: A rocket launched today. Specifically, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V, lifting a GPS satellite to orbit for the U.S. military. I watched it live, and really appreciated the lovely onboard shots - so pretty, and they really drive home just how fast that thing was climbing!

You can check it out here: 

http://www.floridatoday.com/media/cinematic/video/30187929/video-launch-of-atlas-v-rocket-carrying-gps-satellite/