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Space and Astronomy Thread |
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#2576 |
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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I expect that everybody on this thread knows about National Geographic's Space/Tech news archive - but if you do not it goes back to mid 2009 and there are always some really beautiful images on there - just scroll down to find something that interests you.
![]() http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...pace-and-tech/ |
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#2577 |
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Join Date: May 2014
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Mysterious Planet X May Really Lurk Undiscovered in Our Solar System Quote:
At least two planets larger than Earth likely lurk in the dark depths of space far beyond Pluto, just waiting to be discovered, a new analysis of the orbits of "extreme trans-Neptunian objects" (ETNOs) suggests. http://www.space.com/28284-planet-x-...50116_38927567Researchers studied 13 ETNOs — frigid bodies such as the dwarf planet Sedna that cruise around the sun at great distances in elliptical paths. Theory predicts a certain set of details for ETNO orbits, study team members said. For example, they should have a semi-major axis, or average distance from the sun, of about 150 astronomical units (AU). (1 AU is the distance from Earth to the sun — roughly 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.) These orbits should also have an inclination, relative to the plane of the solar system, of almost 0 degrees, among other characteristics. But the actual orbits of the 13 ETNOs are quite different, with semi-major axes ranging from 150 to 525 AU and average inclinations of about 20 degrees.
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#2578 |
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Quote:
Mysterious Planet X May Really Lurk Undiscovered in Our Solar System
http://www.space.com/28284-planet-x-...50116_38927567 ![]() |
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#2579 |
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Location: Bishop-Auckland / Darlington
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Quote:
Finally saw Comet Lovejoy late last night. Just about visible in town conditions with 10x50 binoculars, down and to the right of The Pleiades. It will be climbing even higher over the next few days, but not due to brighten much more, I believe.
It's a fairly easy naked-eye object if you can get to an out-of-town dark site - Last time I saw it (Friday night) I reckoned it to be about 4th magnitude. It was right beside delta Arietis (mag 4.3) and a tad brighter than it. Best visuals have been through 20x80 binocs - a telescope tends to magnify it too much. A friend of mine got this image of it when we were up at our regular dark site, last Monday night (12th) http://s12.postimg.org/e0f2hbw59/Lovejoy_Q2.jpg 80mm f/6.9 refractor, Canon DSLR, 3 mins @ iso800 |
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#2580 |
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New Horizons Begins Pluto Encounter
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft recently began its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto. The spacecraft is entering the first of several approach phases that culminate July 14 with the first close-up flyby of the dwarf planet, 4.67 billion miles (7.5 billion kilometers) from Earth.
“NASA first mission to distant Pluto will also be humankind’s first close up view of this cold, unexplored world in our solar system,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division at the agency’s Headquarters in Washington. “The New Horizons team worked very hard to prepare for this first phase, and they did it flawlessly.” The fastest spacecraft when it was launched, New Horizons lifted off in January 2006. It awoke from its final hibernation period last month after a voyage of more than 3 billion miles, and will soon pass close to Pluto, inside the orbits of its five known moons. In preparation ..for the close encounter, the mission’s science, engineering and spacecraft operations teams configured the piano-sized probe for distant observations of the Pluto system that start Sunday, Jan. 25 with a long-range photo shoot. http://www.nasa.gov/press/2015/janua...uto-encounter/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30746650 |
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#2581 |
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Just had to come on and tell you that my daughter has been accepted to University to study a masters degree in Pure & applied maths and Astronomy!!!!
So so so proud!!! Sorry to hijack the thread but I am on cloud 9!! |
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#2582 |
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Quote:
Just had to come on and tell you that my daughter has been accepted to University to study a masters degree in Pure & applied maths and Astronomy!!!!
So so so proud!!! Sorry to hijack the thread but I am on cloud 9!! |
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#2583 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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The university of Glasgow
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#2584 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
Just had to come on and tell you that my daughter has been accepted to University to study a masters degree in Pure & applied maths and Astronomy!!!!
So so so proud!!! Sorry to hijack the thread but I am on cloud 9!! |
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#2585 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Asteroid to narrowly miss the Earth
An asteroid a third of a mile wide is set to narrowly pass by Earth next week. The rock, code-named 2004 BL86, will pass by at about three times the distance of the moon. Though that is a safe distance, it’s a close encounter for an asteroid. On January 26, the rock will fly past about 745,000 miles from Earth Another reference. Giant Rock headed our way |
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#2586 |
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I posted this on another thread but might be better here.
I feel overwhelmed when I watch this. Try it on a large full screen http://mic.com/articles/108854/nasa-...ace-ever-taken |
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#2587 |
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Quote:
I posted this on another thread but might be better here.
I feel overwhelmed when I watch this. Try it on a large full screen http://mic.com/articles/108854/nasa-...ace-ever-taken ![]() Thank you so much for posting this. ![]() It is so very humbling and frightening in equal measure. |
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#2588 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
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Quote:
Just had to come on and tell you that my daughter has been accepted to University to study a masters degree in Pure & applied maths and Astronomy!!!!
So so so proud!!! Sorry to hijack the thread but I am on cloud 9!! |
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#2589 |
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Quote:
That is simply awe-inspiring and to think that is only one galaxy - it just totally staggers the imagination.
![]() Thank you so much for posting this. ![]() It is so very humbling and frightening in equal measure. ![]() I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened. It's been buzzing around my head all day. Glad someone viewed it. |
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#2590 |
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Join Date: Feb 2014
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Quote:
Hi Keyser
![]() I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened. It's been buzzing around my head all day. Glad someone viewed it.
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#2591 |
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Join Date: Jul 2003
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New Horizons probe eyes Pluto for historic encounter
New Horizons to take its first long distance photographs of Pluto today... Quote:
A Nasa probe is to start photographing the icy world of Pluto, after travelling 5bn km (3bn miles) and nine years to get near the dwarf planet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30954673
The mission to Pluto is being billed as the last great encounter in planetary exploration. It is one of the first opportunities to study a dwarf planet up close. The pictures are critical to enable the New Horizons probe to position itself for a closer fly-by later this year. As the probe is still 200 million km away, Pluto will be hardly discernable in the images - just a speck of light against the stars. But the mission team says this view is needed to help line up the spacecraft correctly for its fly-by on 14 July. |
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#2592 |
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Quote:
New Horizons to take its first long distance photographs of Pluto today...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30954673 ![]() I am really looking forward to this, when I was a child Pluto seemed to be totally out of reach as the last significant object in the Solar System - of course now we know that it is anything but. The attempt to photograph even more distant Kuiper belt objects is also very exciting and to get to Pluto in only nine years is bloody good going - that is one fast space craft! ![]() Old Pluto may not be a planet any more but this mission still f***ing rocks. ![]() A few links. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ne.../#.VMVP_P6sXuI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons |
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#2593 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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Quote:
Been watching it on and off for a coupla weeks now, through various optics, from 10x50 binocs right up to a 10" telescope.
It's a fairly easy naked-eye object if you can get to an out-of-town dark site - Last time I saw it (Friday night) I reckoned it to be about 4th magnitude. It was right beside delta Arietis (mag 4.3) and a tad brighter than it. Best visuals have been through 20x80 binocs - a telescope tends to magnify it too much. A friend of mine got this image of it when we were up at our regular dark site, last Monday night (12th) http://s12.postimg.org/e0f2hbw59/Lovejoy_Q2.jpg 80mm f/6.9 refractor, Canon DSLR, 3 mins @ iso800 Quote:
New Horizons to take its first long distance photographs of Pluto today...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30954673 While we're on the topic of dwarven worlds, this year sees the Dawn probe arrive at the largest asteroid Ceres and the first pictures were taken a few days ago: http://www.space.com/28336-mysteriou...-on-ceres.html There's more about Ceres here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29 and my best guess is that Ceres might look a bit like Jupiter's moon Callisto: https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitio...69callisto.gif |
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#2594 |
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Quote:
I posted this on another thread but might be better here.
I feel overwhelmed when I watch this. Try it on a large full screen http://mic.com/articles/108854/nasa-...ace-ever-taken The Andromeda Galaxy is unfortunately partly side on to us so that doesn't help matters either. Personally, I'd go with galaxies that are easier to see inside such as the side on M33 Triangulum Galaxy (northern hemisphere) and the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. Linkies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4shqOBkCki8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Kvij2WJjM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7rTl136kIQ |
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#2595 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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Asteroid 2004 BL86 has its own moon
Asteroid 2004 BL86, the stadium-sized space rock that flew nearer to Earth today than any other such large object is expected to for the next decade, also brought a surprise along with it. NASA radar images indicate that the 1,100-foot wide asteroid (not quite the size of a mountain, as numerous other headlines would have you believe) is also being orbited by a small moon roughly 230 feet across. The asteroid made its closest approach this morning, coming within 745,000 miles — or just a little over three times the distance to the moon — of our planet. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack...-its-own-moon/ |
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#2596 |
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Newport Pagnell
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Quote:
Hi Keyser
![]() I've had an indulgent day today and so have watched it a few times. I was wondering how to describe my feelings when I first saw it and you are right, I think I did feel frightened. It's been buzzing around my head all day. Glad someone viewed it. May I ask what exactly it is about that awesome clip that frightens you especially? As I watched it the first thing that came into my head was a comment that I once heard that there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach and desert in the entire world. When you consider how many grains there are in just a small child's sand castle bucket, that number is beyond comprehension. It must be a lot of noughts. |
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#2597 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
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Latest image from Ceres http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31009791
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#2598 |
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Quote:
Latest image from Ceres http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31009791
Did anyone see it with binoculars from the UK overnight? |
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#2599 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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29 years ago today was the Challenger disaster. Probably not many people under 40 remember it.
See Challenger Disaster Live Interestingly it was 48 years since the Apollo I disaster yesterday. |
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#2600 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
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Quote:
29 years ago today was the Challenger disaster. Probably not many people under 40 remember it.
See Challenger Disaster Live Interestingly it was 48 years since the Apollo I disaster yesterday. And 29 years since Challenger, time really does fly. |
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