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I've not followed this too much, but is this an intermediate step or can we expect more detail than this?

by poooogles 8y ago

fogleman 8y ago
Higher resolution images are coming, and some will have better shadows that will reveal more detail.
- altcognito 8y ago
  Did they capture color or just not enough light for that?
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    Chances are they did (we know they did for the Pluto encounter), but right now they're prioritizing the most potentially scientifically interesting images as it's going to take 20 months to download the entire data set.
  - nabla9 8y ago
    Usually comets look gray even in color pictures. True-color image of comet 67P/C-G: https://i.imgur.com/wVMkBOV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wVMkBOV.jpg
  - Splendor 8y ago
    They did capture color. Ultima Thule is red. https://www.space.com/42878-ultima-thule-new-horizons-first-color-photo.html https://www.space.com/42878-ultima-thule-new-horizons-first-...
  - jstanley 8y ago
    There was a low-resolution colour camera and a high-resolution black-and-white camera. But the colour information isn't very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#Gallery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#Gallery
Groxx 8y ago
In time. I hunted a bit for something to mention how long it'll take to get all the data, and found: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/what-to-expect-new-horizons-mu69-ultima-thule.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/what-to... >As MU69 is substantially farther from Earth than Pluto was, the data downlink will be slower; it’s expected to take 20 months, conveniently wrapping up around the end of fiscal year 2020.
- 0culus 8y ago
  If you're interested in following these things, the Deep Space Network Now page [1] is a fun one to keep bookmarked. It displays the real time status of each DSN station and what spacecraft they are communicating with. [edit] you'll want to click on "more detail" on the lower right to see the technical information about the signals for each antenna. Right now, Canberra has both an uplink and a downlink going to New Horizons. Even more fun is when they get a downlink from one of the Voyager probes. The signal strength is so incredibly small, it's testament to very skilled engineers developing the signal processing they use. [1] https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

I've not followed this too much, but is this an intermediate step or can we expect more detail than this?

fogleman 8y ago

Higher resolution images are coming, and some will have better shadows that will reveal more detail.

altcognito 8y ago
Did they capture color or just not enough light for that?
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  Chances are they did (we know they did for the Pluto encounter), but right now they're prioritizing the most potentially scientifically interesting images as it's going to take 20 months to download the entire data set.
- nabla9 8y ago
  Usually comets look gray even in color pictures. True-color image of comet 67P/C-G: https://i.imgur.com/wVMkBOV.jpg https://i.imgur.com/wVMkBOV.jpg
- Splendor 8y ago
  They did capture color. Ultima Thule is red. https://www.space.com/42878-ultima-thule-new-horizons-first-color-photo.html https://www.space.com/42878-ultima-thule-new-horizons-first-...
- jstanley 8y ago
  There was a low-resolution colour camera and a high-resolution black-and-white camera. But the colour information isn't very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#Gallery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/(486958)_2014_MU69#Gallery

Groxx 8y ago

In time. I hunted a bit for something to mention how long it'll take to get all the data, and found: http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/what-to-expect-new-horizons-mu69-ultima-thule.html http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/what-to... >As MU69 is substantially farther from Earth than Pluto was, the data downlink will be slower; it’s expected to take 20 months, conveniently wrapping up around the end of fiscal year 2020.

0culus 8y ago
If you're interested in following these things, the Deep Space Network Now page [1] is a fun one to keep bookmarked. It displays the real time status of each DSN station and what spacecraft they are communicating with. [edit] you'll want to click on "more detail" on the lower right to see the technical information about the signals for each antenna. Right now, Canberra has both an uplink and a downlink going to New Horizons. Even more fun is when they get a downlink from one of the Voyager probes. The signal strength is so incredibly small, it's testament to very skilled engineers developing the signal processing they use. [1] https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html