Cape Canaveral. The dwarf planet Pluto is a bit larger than imagined, according to the calculations made by the spacecraft New Horizons (Nuevos Horizontes), shortly before a reconnaissance flight this mission passes NASA Pluto Tuesday.
During the passage of 30 minutes by the dwarf planet and its five satellites, 12 thousand 499 kilometers, New Horizons will conduct a careful series of maneuvers to position their cameras and scientific instruments and capture hundreds images.
Yesterday it was announced that the measurements made by the ship indicate that its radius is 184 thousand kilometers, 80 km. most of what is believed; accordingly, the scientist Alan Stern said, it has a lower density than designed, which might be because its interior is cooler.
Now Pluto is officially bigger than Eris, one of hundreds of thousands of small planets and comets like beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt region objects. The discovery of this area in 1992 led to the official re-designation of Pluto from planet to “dwarf planet”.
The increase in circumference means that Pluto is a little bit less ice and rock, an important detail for scientists trying to decipher when this planet and the rest of the solar system formed. “The Pluto system is a fossil remnant of the early solar system,” said scientist John Grunsfeld.
The cruise ship, which has traveled 4000 kilometers 800 million in nine and a half years, ends today. The probe will pass through the center of an area between the orbit of Pluto and its primary moon Charon, at 11:49 GMT.
Most New Horizons data will be stored on the ship and broadcast Earth after the probe through the Pluto system. Flight controllers expect to receive a short message from the probe at 21:00 local time, which survived his approach to the planet.
Stern said there was a chance of one in 10 000 for a crash with debris destroyed the probe when approaching Pluto.
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