Space stuff thread

Whew.....
NASA’s New Horizons Plans July 7 Return to Normal Science Operations | NASA

Philae comet could be home to alien life, say top scientists

Astronomers say features of comet landed on by spacecraft in November, such as black crust and icy lakes, suggest living micro-organisms beneath surface.

The comet landed on by the spacecraft Philae could well be home to an abundance of alien microbial life, according to leading astronomers.

Features of the comet, named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, such as its organic-rich black crust, are most likely explained by the presence of living organisms beneath an icy surface, the scientists have said.

Rosetta, the European spacecraft orbiting the comet, is also said to have picked up strange clusters of organic material that resemble viral particles.

Read more: Philae comet could be home to alien life, say top scientists | Science | The Guardian

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New Horizons Closest Approach to Pluto: 7:49:57 a.m. EDT, (11:49:57 UTC) July 14, 2015 Tuesday.

Because of a 9-hour lag in round-trip communications between Earth and probe the folks at JHUAPL won't know how successful they are until almost 5pm EDT Tuesday afternoon.

I don't know how your cable runs in Florida Loki, but here in PA the Science channel has been advertising the last few weeks for a special one hour show; "Direct from Pluto: The First Encounter" on Wednesday the 15th, at 10pm EDT.

As NASA's unmanned New Horizons spacecraft speeds closer to a historic July 14 Pluto flyby, it's continuing to multi-task, producing images of an icy world that's growing more fascinating and complex every day.

On July 11, 2015, New Horizons captured this image, which suggests some new features that are of keen interest to the Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team now assembled at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland. For the first time on Pluto, this view reveals linear features that may be cliffs, as well as a circular feature that could be an impact crater. Just starting to rotate into view on the left side of the image is the bright heart-shaped feature that will be seen in more detail during New Horizons' closest approach.

The New Horizons spacecraft is now approaching a milestone – only one million miles to Pluto – which will occur at 11:23 p.m. EDT tonight, Sunday, July 12. It's approaching Pluto after a more than nine-year, three-billion mile journey. At 7:49 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 14 the unmanned spacecraft will zip past Pluto at 30,800 miles per hour (49,600 kilometers per hour), with a suite of seven science instruments busily gathering data. The mission will complete the initial reconnaissance of the solar system with the first-ever look at the icy dwarf planet.

Follow the path of the spacecraft in coming days in real time with a visualization of the actual trajectory data, using NASA's online Eyes on Pluto.

Stay in touch with the New Horizons mission with #PlutoFlyby and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/new.horizons1


Source: New Horizons

Related Links:
New Horizons

A little more than half way down here: Pluto’s Time to Shine Just Hours Away – A Guide and Timetable gives a schedule of events in EDT and links to NASA TV, its website and social media. on New Horizons progress.

If you time it right you can watch below.

Live Video streaming by Ustream

Hi Anak,

I don't have anything but over the air free TV... So I go to the NASA sites for what's new...

Looks like the most interesting side of Pluto will not be the side they see on the close fly by...

We will not be back to Pluto, so hope they have no problems.

Loki

PS Thanks for the NASA TV link, I was planning on checking if they would have it...

It's Pluto Flyby Day! Get In on the Climax of NASA's New Horizons Mission - NBC News