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Space and Astronomy Thread

1969799101102158

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    RobinOfLoxleyRobinOfLoxley Posts: 27,040
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    Marcus du Sautoy's on BBC4 tonight at 10.25pm with the 'faster than light particles' story.

    I guess that means this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17560379

    I hope the documentary has been updated with the correct results and findings.

    And I'm sure I've watched it before, but will watch again.
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    CLL DodgeCLL Dodge Posts: 115,873
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    45 years ago today.

    A giant leap for mankind.
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    spiney2spiney2 Posts: 27,058
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    manned moon landings lasted a much shorter time than the beatles ...... lunar bases got relegated back to "a vision thing" ......
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    WutheringWuthering Posts: 1,071
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    Supermoon tonight! Looks absolutely beautiful, and it's shining right into my bedroom. I love it.
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    WutheringWuthering Posts: 1,071
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    Did nobody see the moon last night? It was stunning.
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    HenryGartenHenryGarten Posts: 24,800
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    Wuthering wrote: »
    Did nobody see the moon last night? It was stunning.

    More stunning than normal?
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    Waj_100Waj_100 Posts: 3,739
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    Wuthering wrote: »
    Did nobody see the moon last night? It was stunning.

    I wish I could have, but the clouds got in the way :(

    I wanted to take some pictures.
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    renard grisrenard gris Posts: 1,038
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    Today is the 15th anniversary of the Total Solar Eclipse of Aug 11, 1999, which crossed part of south-west England.

    Historical info:-

    http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=19990811

    http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0411999/

    I had booked the train to go down to Cornwall, but decided to cancel due to the poor weather forecast for the SW. So, I stayed at home and watched the partial eclipse instead. Tbh, even though the maximum obscuration was just under 94% (at my location), there wasn't any discernable light change at street level. What I remember most, was that the sky took on a 'watercolour blue' appearance and feel to it.

    I still have some video recordings of the news clips and special programmes that took place that day on ITV, BBC and CNN.
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    WutheringWuthering Posts: 1,071
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    More stunning than normal?

    Yes.

    At one point it was like it was close enough to touch, so big and bright. Just magnificent.
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    HenryGartenHenryGarten Posts: 24,800
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    Wuthering wrote: »
    Yes.

    At one point it was like it was close enough to touch, so big and bright. Just magnificent.

    So you actually watch the moon regular are could see the difference with the human eye?
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    HenryGartenHenryGarten Posts: 24,800
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    Today is the 15th anniversary of the Total Solar Eclipse of Aug 11, 1999, which crossed part of south-west England.

    Historical info:-

    http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=19990811

    http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0411999/

    I had booked the train to go down to Cornwall, but decided to cancel due to the poor weather forecast for the SW. So, I stayed at home and watched the partial eclipse instead. Tbh, even though the maximum obscuration was just under 94% (at my location), there wasn't any discernable light change at street level. What I remember most, was that the sky took on a 'watercolour blue' appearance and feel to it.

    I still have some video recordings of the news clips and special programmes that took place that day on ITV, BBC and CNN.

    Oh thanks. I was in Redruth and all I saw was clouds and birds panicking that it had gone dark.

    Yes I often try to explain that there is a huge difference between even a 99% partial and a total.

    I was lucky enough to see the "Big one" from Baja on 11 July 1991.
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    WutheringWuthering Posts: 1,071
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    So you actually watch the moon regular are could see the difference with the human eye?

    If you mean did the moon look larger and brighter than usual, then yes.
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    blue eyed guyblue eyed guy Posts: 2,470
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    There is a new class of planet out there that astronomers are calling the "mega-Earth".



    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27669572

    Super interesting article.

    Going on holiday abroad would be quite laborious on a planet 17 times larger than ours, especially with our current technology.

    I wonder if this big rocky planet is going to be named Melancholia?
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    TelevisionUserTelevisionUser Posts: 41,417
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    Wuthering wrote: »
    Did nobody see the moon last night? It was stunning.

    Yes, the Moon has been relatively bright and large (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/28730727) and it's created some really atmospheric effects and lighting as the recent storm clouds have been moving across it.

    On the subject of the Moon, Japanese scientists think that the Moon might still have a tiny molten outer core thanks to gravitational tidal heating (compare Io & Jupiter):

    “The previous studies indicated that there is the possibility that a part of the rock at the deepest part inside the lunar mantle may be molten. This research result supports the above possibility since partially molten rock becomes softer,” the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan stated. “This research has proven for the first time that the deepest part of the lunar mantle is soft, based upon the agreement between observation results and the theoretical calculations.”
    http://www.universetoday.com/113761/moons-insides-still-hot-hot-hot-after-billions-of-years-of-formation-study/

    More lunar pics & info below:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk7h/galleries
    https://www.flickr.com/groups/bbcskyatnight
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5w97cqpBrmltWFw5qt8w6nn/pete-lawrences-moon-guides
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    atgatg Posts: 4,260
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    I had booked the train to go down to Cornwall, but decided to cancel due to the poor weather forecast for the SW. So, I stayed at home and watched the partial eclipse instead. Tbh, even though the maximum obscuration was just under 94% (at my location), there wasn't any discernable light change at street level. What I remember most, was that the sky took on a 'watercolour blue' appearance and feel to it.
    I went to France and stood under some clouds. Schoolfriends went to Cornwall and found a gap in them. >:(
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    atgatg Posts: 4,260
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    Wuthering wrote: »
    If you mean did the moon look larger and brighter than usual, then yes.
    But might that have been the Moon illusion?
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    KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    Today is the 15th anniversary of the Total Solar Eclipse of Aug 11, 1999, which crossed part of south-west England.

    Historical info:-

    http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=19990811

    http://astro.ukho.gov.uk/eclipse/0411999/

    I had booked the train to go down to Cornwall, but decided to cancel due to the poor weather forecast for the SW. So, I stayed at home and watched the partial eclipse instead. Tbh, even though the maximum obscuration was just under 94% (at my location), there wasn't any discernable light change at street level. What I remember most, was that the sky took on a 'watercolour blue' appearance and feel to it.

    I still have some video recordings of the news clips and special programmes that took place that day on ITV, BBC and CNN.

    Is it really 15 years ago?? I was walking on southern Dartmoor at the time. It was cloudy unfortunately but it did go remarkably dark very very quickly. It was uncanny and eerie and something I'll never forget.
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    balthasarbalthasar Posts: 2,824
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    Is it really 15 years ago?? I was walking on southern Dartmoor at the time. It was cloudy unfortunately but it did go remarkably dark very very quickly. It was uncanny and eerie and something I'll never forget.

    Tempus Fugit,! it seemed to be a rather big event that turned into a damp squib, due to the cloud cover.
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    TelevisionUserTelevisionUser Posts: 41,417
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    It certainly has been a stormy time weather-wise...on Uranus:

    A telescope on Earth has spotted huge storms brewing on the planet Uranus. Scientists using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii have recently seen a number of storms develop on the planet. One image, taken on Aug. 5, shows a few bright spots in infrared photos taken of the planet. The bright bits show storms in the planet's atmosphere. A second photo of Uranus, taken on Aug. 6, reveals more bright spots.
    http://www.space.com/26794-uranus-giant-storms-photos.html

    What is interesting is that now terrestrial telescopes are beginning to rival what the Hubble Space Telescope can see in terms of detail and resolution.
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    atgatg Posts: 4,260
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    What is interesting is that now terrestrial telescopes are beginning to rival what the Hubble Space Telescope can see in terms of detail and resolution.
    I felt that this happened some years ago with the development of adaptive and dynamic optics actually, not to mention the computing power applied to the images obtained from ground based telescopes. In fact, given that the Hubble is mostly 1980s technology it is amazing it is still producing much of value.
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    cmq2cmq2 Posts: 2,502
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    ESA presser (87min) from last week detailing progress and objectives of Rosetta orbiter at comet 67P: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2014/08/Rosetta_at_comet_First_images_science_results
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    afcbfanafcbfan Posts: 7,163
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    There's going to be a lovely conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the pre-dawn sky tomorrow morning. They'll appear to be just 0.2 degrees apart; the full Moon diameter being 0.5 degrees, by way of comparison.
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    afcbfanafcbfan Posts: 7,163
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    ...and very pretty they look, too. By all accounts they're in the same binocular field-of-view as the Beehive Cluster. Too light to see them, though, unfortunately.
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    TelevisionUserTelevisionUser Posts: 41,417
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    OK, so just where is this flocking comet?

    Comet C2014 E2-Jacques

    l looked last night with both sets of binoculars and l saw diddly. Has anyone else seen this comet?

    In other news, spectacular images of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko have come back from the ESA's Rosetta probe and in three month's time, a little lander will be sent down to the surface of this particular dirty snowball.

    http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_arrives_at_comet_destination

    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=comet+67p/churyumov-gerasimenko+rosetta&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=gxH6U-fWMI3garnYgKgM&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=599
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    renard grisrenard gris Posts: 1,038
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    If you look at the top picture in the above link, the comet looks a bit like a deformed hairdryer!
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