[David0ff]

NASA Spacecraft Flies Past Pluto For First Time Ever
This morning, the greatest astronomical event of the 21st century took place when the New Horizons spacecraft did a flyby of the Dwarf Planet Pluto. Until now, we had no idea what Pluto really looked like because it was too far and too small even for our biggest telescopes. I remember in 1989 when Voyager flew past Neptune for the first time and it was a pretty big deal. Pluto is the last of the original nine planets that humans hadn't gotten a closeup look at so for astronomy buffs today is pretty special.

This Wikipedia entry explains why Pluto is no longer considered a full planet:

Pluto was discovered in 1930 and was originally considered the ninth planet from the Sun. After 1992, its status as a planet fell into question following the discovery of the Kuiper belt, a ring of objects beyond Neptune that includes Pluto among other large bodies. In 2005, Eris, which is 27% more massive than Pluto, was discovered, which led the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term "planet" formally for the first time the following year.[15] This definition excluded Pluto and reclassified it as a member of the new "dwarf planet" category (and specifically as a plutoid).Some astronomers believe Pluto should still be considered a planet.


90 days ago humanity's best photo of Pluto was this:




Here is the latest image released this morning, shorty after the spacecraft flew by at 7:49AM EST:



And the best pic of Charon (Pluto's largest moon) so far ( on the left):






P.S. This is not my text , it is a plagiarism I just copy / pasted it from another source

[Whostheboss]

The entire planet is said to be just slightly bigger than the country of USA

[Lups]

^^ I thought Pluto got booted from the planet list?

[CANGRKE70]

[Whostheboss]

Originally Posted by Lups

^^ I thought Pluto got booted from the planet list?

One year it's taken off, the next it's added.
Right now it's considered a "Dwarf planet"

[MrPrena]

good article

http://www.universetoday.com/13573/w...nger-a-planet/

[Lups]

Originally Posted by Whostheboss

One year it's taken off, the next it's added.
Right now it's considered a "Dwarf planet"

Yeah, I Googled it. Thanks for making me realize world has changed since my school years!

[2msport]

so freaking cool!!!

[JeM9]

Very interesting stuff. Makes be start to imagine why these type of things exist, and it also has it's own moon, for what?

[upstatedoc]

Astronomers be wetting their underwear right about now..

[jwzimm]

Originally Posted by JeM9

Very interesting stuff. Makes be start to imagine why these type of things exist, and it also has it's own moon, for what?

wat?

It exists because it collected and coalesced into the body it is now. It will likely continue to collect (or be collected) until it has cleared the material from its orbit.

There is no "purpose" to a satellite (technical term for a moon). It is simply a body that the larger object has captured and pulled into a stable orbit around itself.

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by JeM9

Very interesting stuff. Makes be start to imagine why these type of things exist, and it also has it's own moon, for what?

It asked politely for one.

[JeM9]

Originally Posted by jwzimm

wat?

It exists because it collected and coalesced into the body it is now. It will likely continue to collect (or be collected) until it has cleared the material from its orbit.

There is no "purpose" to a satellite (technical term for a moon). It is simply a body that the larger object has captured and pulled into a stable orbit around itself.

That's what I meant by using my imagination

To think we have this ginormous galaxy… Then there's these little things called planets. Thanks for the info.

[SheaButter]

This is really cool man, thanks for sharing

[JeM9]

I thought there was a purpose for a moon.

[RJVIII]

wow

[David0ff]

Along the same lines :
What The World Looked Like When New Horizons Left Earth For Pluto
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkasprak/...left-for-pluto

[1MOREMOD]

Originally Posted by SheaButter

This is really cool man, thanks for sharing

+1 looks like a planet to me. Can we confirm size in diameter, or surface area?

[David0ff]

Pluto is a bit smaller than our moon I believe

[jwzimm]

Originally Posted by JeM9

I thought there was a purpose for a moon.

There is an effect of having a moon but effect does not imply purpose.

On earth our moon is responsible for the tidal movements of our oceans. This is an effect of its gravitational influence on the large body of water. There is no purpose for the moon, just resulting effects of it being there.

[rohitsja]

Originally Posted by JeM9

I thought there was a purpose for a moon.

Originally Posted by jwzimm

There is an effect of having a moon but effect does not imply purpose.

On earth our moon is responsible for the tidal movements of our oceans. This is an effect of its gravitational influence on the large body of water. There is no purpose for the moon, just resulting effects of it being there.

its not just the tidal effects, there is more to that. Various researches are suggesting/ and some claiming that full moon for eg. affects the sleep pattern in some people, google it.

[F30lolz]

Awesome. I love space and have always wondered what is 'outside' of space, even though space is supposed to be infinite and still expanding.