Re:Pluto ‘Wows’ in Spectacular New Backlit Panorama
by chestervonwinch on Friday September 18, 2015 @08:08AM
(#10238679)
Pluto is 7.5 billion kilometers away. Let that sink in while you look at the photo.
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Re:Pluto ‘Wows’ in Spectacular New Backlit Panorama
by verandaguy on Friday September 18, 2015 @09:10AM
(#10238945)
While it doesn't take away from the magnitude of sending a grand piano-sized suite of instruments and cameras to Pluto, both the planetoid and the NH probe are actually closer to 5 billion km away[0][1].
Pluto does indeed have an aphelion at some 7,311,000,000km (~48 AU), but its eccentric orbit means that its perihelion is about 20 AU closer to the Sun than its aphelion.
[0]http://spaceprob.es/newhorizons/
[1]http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Where-is-New-Horizons/index.php