Australian Phenomena

Launched January 19th 2006

Since 2006 the NASA'S New Horizons probe has been travelling to the outer edges of our solar system! it has taken it 9 years, give or take to reach the last celestial body in our solar system Pluto!

It is an amazing achievement that such a probe has withstood all that our solar system has thrown at it. As it gets closer and closer to Pluto, more surface detail will be captured by its inbuilt cameras. There is an archive of photo's that it has taken and updates regularly here at: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/

I don't know about you but I am overly excited about this! I feel a sense of achievement for humanity, Pluto is a planet that many in previous life times would relish being alive today to see this celestial body in all it's glory, and I am thankful that I will be able to admire it's beauty in this life time.

The New Horizon space probe as it floats further and further away, signals being sent and received from the probe will be delayed, so far it takes 4 hours to send and receive a signal from the probe, so you can imagine if the probe was 2 lengths of our solar system away that would double. So it gives you a kind of perspective on things and how minuscule we really seem.

Since the signal to input or receive data from the New Horizons probe is 4 hours give or take, that means 4 hours before the probe reaches it's closest approach to Pluto. The technicians at NASA will most likely have to make precise coordinated commands so that when the probe receives the input it will then 4 hours a head of time position it's self for several photo's of Pluto. 

So if you think of it like, you're playing a game with a joystick and lets say your joystick is delayed with 10 second intervals as the system receives the input. So the object on the game reacts to movements and directions you've made but 10 seconds later.

Pluto has been so lonely out there, and we as a species even denied the fact that it was a planet at one point but more of a kuiper belt object, but it's fame and glory should be revealed soon. I wait in great anticipation to see this planet! I feel like a kid in a candy store.