This is the first Kuiper belt object that a spacecraft has visited. Nobody is sure what it will look like. Preliminary indications are that it seems kind of peanut shaped, and may end up being two small objects in contact (fused?) or orbiting each other very closely. (Or... this is for MR... it might be a relic alien starship that's been floating dead out there for millions of years... unlikely sure, but...)
Unclear how much viewers will initially be able to see. This thing is way out beyond forsaken and unloved former-planet Pluto. (With a giant heart on its side, it remains every child's favorite. They identify with it.) Not only will there be a speed-of-light delay in the signals arriving here, I believe that the data transmission rate is low so it will take some time to download data and photos. So the juicy details might not be made public immediately. Apparently the plan is for the spacecraft to blurt that it is awake and recording as it passes its target, then 4 to 5 hours later when it's done observing it will reorient to point its high-gain antenna at Earth and begin transmitting high-res photos and stuff.
Schedule of streaming media events here:
https://www.space.com/42859-new-horizons...guide.html
NASA will have coverage (panel discussions with planetary scientists and live updates) here
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
And there will also be a stream from Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel MD (where the mission is being controlled) here (dunno if these are the same events that NASA will have, I imagine so):
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Where-to-Watch.php
There will be quick updates on New Horizons' twitter pages too:
https://twitter.com/nasanewhorizons
https://twitter.com/JHUAPL
https://twitter.com/plutoport
More here
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
https://twitter.com/jtuttlekeane/status/...8989062150
Unclear how much viewers will initially be able to see. This thing is way out beyond forsaken and unloved former-planet Pluto. (With a giant heart on its side, it remains every child's favorite. They identify with it.) Not only will there be a speed-of-light delay in the signals arriving here, I believe that the data transmission rate is low so it will take some time to download data and photos. So the juicy details might not be made public immediately. Apparently the plan is for the spacecraft to blurt that it is awake and recording as it passes its target, then 4 to 5 hours later when it's done observing it will reorient to point its high-gain antenna at Earth and begin transmitting high-res photos and stuff.
Schedule of streaming media events here:
https://www.space.com/42859-new-horizons...guide.html
NASA will have coverage (panel discussions with planetary scientists and live updates) here
https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
And there will also be a stream from Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel MD (where the mission is being controlled) here (dunno if these are the same events that NASA will have, I imagine so):
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Where-to-Watch.php
There will be quick updates on New Horizons' twitter pages too:
https://twitter.com/nasanewhorizons
https://twitter.com/JHUAPL
https://twitter.com/plutoport
More here
http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
https://twitter.com/jtuttlekeane/status/...8989062150