Pluto is Much Colder Than Expected 298
IZ Reloaded writes "Any would be travellers to Pluto should bring extra winter gear. The new temperature on Pluto according to scientists is 43 degrees Kelvin. That's 10 degrees Kelvin colder than expected. From CNN: "Astronomers think Pluto's colder than expected temperature reading involves interactions between nitrogen ice on the planet's surface and the nitrogen gas that makes up its atmosphere...Pluto is a dynamic example of what we might call an anti-greenhouse effect...""
hmm (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hmm (Score:5, Informative)
Re:hmm (Score:2, Informative)
If the heat flow is radiation dominated, as is often the case when a system is vacuum isolated to minimize thermal conduction, it'll go like T^4 due to the Stefan-Boltzmann law.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Afaik, electronics wouldn't - they'd just run faster in the cold.
And I'm willing to bet that by the time we're ready to send people to pluto, we'll laugh at a toasty 43k.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Afaik, electronics wouldn't - they'd just run faster in the cold.
My cellphone and the remote control for my car would like to have a word with you about that, but they haven't really been themselves since they spent the night with me in a tiny emergency snow cave.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
My point is that we're perfectly capable of making electronics that run quite well in the sub-freezing cold.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Re:hmm (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know the effects of cold on normal solid state electronics, but I wouldn't have a problem believing that some components aren't going to work normally at 43K. It's not as if the parts manufacturer tests them at these extreme temperatures.
Re:hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hmm (Score:4, Interesting)
But you're right, on a mission to pluto they'd have to use an RTG for power, so chemical batteries wouldn't be needed. I hadn't thought of the low light levels. But, the original point is that a heat source is important because electronics don't work the same at such extremely low temperatures.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Second, a heat source is needed to provide power for computations not heat. Electronics in general *works better* at low temperatures.
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Become more opposed?
Re:hmm (Score:2, Funny)
Re:hmm (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.octools.com/ramil/newscientist/faster.h tm [octools.com]
a segment from the bottom...
everything had frozen solid and the thermometer registered -150 C. Success. Then the monitor started to flash strange images. Pressing keys on the keyboard produced random characters on the screen. "In other words," Tranquilino says, "the motherboard wa
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Re:hmm (Score:4, Informative)
Re:hmm (Score:4, Informative)
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Re:hmm (Score:2)
It would if it was Uranus.
Re:hmm (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Man on Pluto: "It's cold."
"It's not what we expected," said Mrs. White, mother of four, "We thought it'd be much milder than this. We haven't been able to go out all holiday and the kids have been bored. It was either this or Disney and the kids were all excited to get to see Pluto. We didn't think it'd be like this."
Mr. White says he intends to pursue compensation from NASA and other astronomic research orga
Re:hmm (Score:2, Funny)
I am all confused about all this. Please give us details !
Re:hmm (Score:2)
Well, that's her own fault, if she can't tell the difference between Pluto the planet and Pluto the floppy-eared brown dog.
Explanation for the difference (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Explanation for the difference (Score:2)
Re:Explanation for the difference (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Explanation for the difference (Score:3, Funny)
Not that cold... (Score:5, Funny)
That's nothing, my ex girlfriend easily was the coldest object in our solar system. She had to be way colder than that.
Re:Not that cold... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not that cold... (Score:2)
Warning, people - the music on that site is just jarring and annoying.
Re:Not that cold... (Score:2)
But this [roxyguy.com] is just comedy gold... It's just begging to be used as the world's most obnoxious forum avatar.
Re:Not that cold... (Score:2)
Re:Not that cold... (Score:2)
Not degrees (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not degrees (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Not degrees (Score:3, Informative)
To continue the pedantry.... (Score:2)
Furthermore, kelvin does not have an uppercase "K"
Re:Not degrees (Score:2, Informative)
Off topic Kelvin joke (Score:5, Funny)
One day two Girton girls are on his bus and one remarks his age and physique, turns to the other and murmurs "Super conductor". To which the other replies "Three degrees Kelvin."
As a result of the parent post, this joke is now officially demolished.
Re:Off topic Kelvin joke (Score:2, Interesting)
Wasn't he the source of Clarke's Law? (Score:2)
In other news ... (Score:2, Funny)
Naturally... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Naturally... (Score:2)
Re:Naturally... (Score:2)
Have you noticed that they're never seen in the same room together?
Re:Naturally... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Naturally... (Score:2)
For the lazy (Score:5, Informative)
= -382.27 degrees Fahrenheit
= -230.15 degrees Celsius
= really fucking cold outside.
Re:For the lazy (Score:2)
And for those who don't live in the midwest :)
Re:For the lazy (Score:2)
Re:For the lazy (Score:2)
Re:For the lazy (Score:2)
Reeeeeeeeaaaally ?????
Methane (CH4) 16.0426 g/mole Freezing point: -182.5 C
But still perfect... (Score:2)
In other words (Score:5, Funny)
But seriously, while researchers try to find exotic materials that exhibit room-temperature superconductivity, you could take more common materials and run them at insanely fast speeds out there. Of course, it would take a while to upload your code and data and download any processing results.......
Maybe the dark side of Mercury would be more feasible.
Re:In other words (Score:2, Informative)
Re:In other words (Score:5, Informative)
What "dark side of Mercury?" It's been known for over twenty years that Mercury rotates in 2/3 of the time it takes to orbit the sun rather than having its day equal to its year. It's just that the best times to observe the planet by telescope come about 2/3 or 4/3 of an orbit apart. (Not sure which one, but in either case, the same side was always lit when we could observe it. It took doppler radar to find out what was really going on.)
Re:In other words (Score:2)
From the same source, we see that Mercury's minimum temperature is about 100K (comfortably colder than liquid nitrogen). Obviously that would occur on the currently-dark side of the planet. So while there's no permanently-dark side of Mercury, there's certainly a cold dark part of mercury somewhere at any given point in time, and that coldest part is only about 50K away from Pluto's temp (presu
Re:In other words (Score:2)
Very little atmosphere
+ massive heat dissipation
+ small die surface area
= Quick overheating
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft has already launched a probe to harness the power of Pluto to cool the Xbox 360.
The White House, misreading the term "global warming", immediately denied that Pluto exists. After reading the article they retracted the statement and issued another, stating that they will investigate Pluto's "anti-warmification properties".
An investigation has been opened into just who Kelvin is, and why he's allowed to practice science without a degree.
Tornadoes? (Score:2)
Re:Tornadoes? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The Pentium Extreme Edition might actually burn (Score:2)
But supposing one actually wanted to design a computer system that could operate on the surface of Pluto, I'm sure the heatsink design wouldn't be the worst problem. Just mount the CPU so that the heat-spreader is mated to the case, and sit the case on the planet surface. I don't know the thermal conductivity of frozen solid nitrogen, but I have a feeling it will be adequate. The heat of vaporization will take care of the rest.
Re:The Pentium Extreme Edition might actually burn (Score:2)
Famous last words...
weird science (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:weird science (Score:2)
Re:weird science (Score:2)
So? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So? (Score:2)
Re:So? (Score:2, Funny)
Sensational + by someone without a science degree (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure some newspaper will soon start running headlines about how Pluto is "23% colder than anticipated." In the real world, 10 K isn't that much, although it would be nice to know why our estimates are off. For reference, water freezes at 273.15 K, and the deepest darkest nook of outer space registers about 2.7 K, thanks to some background microwave radiation.
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
I think you've missed the point of the article. How it's "sensationalist" I can't understand at all. The point of the article was that astronomers have found something interesting. A planet that cools itself via "perspiration". Pretty neat if you ask me.
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
Of most importance: "The finding could apply to other planets in the solar system which have condensable atmospheres like Mars." IOW, it's another little piece in our understanding of the overall solar jigsaw puzzle.
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
I was referring to the root post as sensational, not the article.
I just re-read the article summary and I still don't see how anyone could think it's sensational. Much colder is a matter of perspective. It's colder than experimental error and what theory (based on reflectivity and light levels) can account for. That's enough to warrant some serious interest. Hell, when they first discovered high-temperature superconductors it was at 77K. It's all a matter of perspective and context. No one but a solid
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
That's something to applaud. Sure, it might not be that different - 23% colder than "really fucking cold" is also "really fucking cold" - but it would be accurate.
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
Re:Sensational + by someone without a science degr (Score:2)
Re:Style right, Grammar wrong :-) (Score:2)
Ah-hah! (Score:2)
Hmmmm.... (Score:3, Funny)
So does that mean scientists will continue to change what we can expect from Pluto? One decade they say it will get warmer, the next decade cooler?
BAH! (Score:4, Funny)
But it's not so much . . . (Score:5, Funny)
Heinlein was wrong about Pluto (Score:2, Interesting)
Wait... (Score:2, Informative)
Awesome (Score:2)
anti-greenhouse effect? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:anti-greenhouse effect? (Score:3, Funny)
- the redhouse effect (red is complementary to green)
- the burnthouse effect (frost will "burn" plants in a greenhouse)
- the evergreenhouse effect (it is so cold that the plants are actually frozen green forever)
- the exgirlfriend effect (it's cold, and will never get warm; shameless plagiarizing another comment)
Ok, I suck.
Not A Surprise (Score:3, Funny)
Hmmm... (Score:4, Funny)
I didn't really have Pluto on my "must visit" list anyway but with that announcement it's certainly never going to be on it.
Damn the Plutorians and their cold world.
Just in time! (Score:3, Funny)
What a great place to cool your Xbox 360! (Score:2)
Re:Alternative Title (Score:2, Funny)
Can there be anything more cooler than Pluto? Venus is Hot... I think I want a pin up poster of that one!
Re:About this anti-greenhouse effect... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:About this anti-greenhouse effect... (Score:2)
Since Pluto has just passed through summer we can assume that the solid nitrogen lasts long enough to keep the surface cool for the entire warm period. Exactly the way the north polar cap only just lasts the summer on Earth.
Re:About this anti-greenhouse effect... (Score:2)
Re:About this anti-greenhouse effect... (Score:2)
Re:OUTGOING (Score:2)
This one is seen all the time. Analysis of user agents and IP addresses would be interesting. I wonder if I could attract the (presumed) robot by mirroring the posts. Might be a good way to set up a honeypot.