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Pluto-bound probe faces its toughest task: finding Pluto
- jkot 11y agoJPL Ephemerides is one of the most complex equations: 1TB of polynoms and still growing :-)
- tim333 11y agoI hadn't heard of that. Just looked it up. I see you can go to http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi and set the object to Pluto to see where it is which is kinda cool.
- japaget 11y agoThe polynomials are an end result of thousands of complex calculations. For more details, see http://ipnpr.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report/42-196/196C.pdf http://ipnpr.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report/42-196/196C.pdf . Many effects, including general relativity and the gravitational perturbations of the planets and several hundred asteroids, were included.
- wfunction 11y ago> 1TB of polynoms Just to make sure I'm understanding this, are you saying there is 1 TERABYTE of data just representing a POLYNOMIAL equation?!
- frakturfreund 11y agoWow, this is the first ›real‹ telnet interface i saw in years: telnet horizons.jpl.nasa.gov 6775 Thanks, NASA!
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- zymhan 11y agoThe last part of this was my favorite: "Calculations on where Voyager was headed were plotted each day on graph paper posted on the wall at JPL. Soon the dots left the centre of the paper and began to wander onto the wall and then overhead. “There were dots on the ceiling for years afterward,” Owen says."
- yellowapple 11y ago> “You can’t tell whether it’s small and close or big and far,” says Fran Bagenal, a space physicist and mission co-investigator at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It’s a really interesting problem that we’ve never had at any other planet.” AHA! So Pluto is a planet after all. Eat your heart out, Neil!