My personal favorite astronomical image of all time is this view taken by New Horizon during its retreat from Pluto:<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA19948-NH-Pluto-Norgay-Hillary-Mountains-2050714.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PIA19948-NH-Pluto-Norgay-...</a><p>It shows atmospheric haze and the curvature of the planet in the same picture as stark terrain features. (It's a real image; not a reconstructed 3D visualization.) The Hillary Montes break into the limb (skyline) near the top of the image.
Interesting about the 1000 ft tall ice shards. The article mentions a possible orbiter mission to Pluto. Is it even possible? The spacecraft would have to either massively decelerate at the end of the mission, meaning take a huge amount of fuel with itself, or would have to travel much slower, with the mission possibly taking decades to arrive.<p>In 2017 some astrophysicists met to discuss a possible orbiter mission:<p><a href="https://www.space.com/36697-pluto-orbiter-mission-after-new-horizons.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.space.com/36697-pluto-orbiter-mission-after-new-...</a><p>They've also discussed a Charon lander, but seem to be now preferring an orbiter with a complex dual-object orbit.<p>In 2017 they decided to firm up the plan so they can make a formal proposal at a 2020 meeting where NASA decides what it wants to do over the next decade. So we likely will hear a lot about how this would work next year.
Does anyone know what shutter speeds and ISO they are using for such pictures? It must be f...ing dark out there. Or do concepts like shutter speed and ISO not make sense for the type of camera they are using?