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Old 17-03-2008, 23:26
Mandark
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Astronauts playing with the robot arm of the ISS live at the moment.
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Old 19-03-2008, 20:00
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Another interesting report from space.com
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Old 20-03-2008, 00:43
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Look at this for a great image. What a job!
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Old 20-03-2008, 19:35
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Interesting. See here.
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Old 20-03-2008, 19:36
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More interesting news from space.com.
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Old 20-03-2008, 19:48
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What a window view!
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Old 21-03-2008, 10:31
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The Planetary Society have a better report on the Titan news story:

http://planetary.org/news/2008/0320_...Mountains.html
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Old 21-03-2008, 17:32
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Another great image from NASA.
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Old 22-03-2008, 09:07
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Looks like we all missed a Supernova.
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Old 22-03-2008, 15:09
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A thread to discuss all things space related..

I'll get the ball rolling.

In exactly two hours NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft will pass 124 miles from the surface of Mercury, the first visit to the planet since 1975.. Follow the mision with latest images etc here: http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/ and http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/
Now that we have some useful data back, Mercury seems to be more like the more southern, heavily cratered part of our own moon. There's also some pictures of what looks like lava flows though it's nowhere near as extensive as the lunar maria.

It'll be interesting to see what the rest of the mission turns up, though. I suspect the surface features will have been predominantly generated by impacts, e.g. Caloris Basin, craters and so on, but it'll be interesting to see if there's anything volcanic like cinder cones present. I'm pretty sure Mercury's large enough for that to have taken place.
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Old 22-03-2008, 15:52
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Looks like we all missed a Supernova.

"The starburst would have appeared as bright as some of the stars in the handle of the Little Dipper."

From 7.5 billion light years away! That's astonishing
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Old 22-03-2008, 16:30
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Looks like we all missed a Supernova.
As much as I would like to check this link; I can't. My browsers keep timing out on it and DU Meter shows no data moving at all.
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Old 22-03-2008, 16:51
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As much as I would like to check this link; I can't. My browsers keep timing out on it and DU Meter shows no data moving at all.
Just checked it myself. Seems to be loading ok.
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Old 22-03-2008, 16:54
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The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge it set a record for the most distant object that could be seen on Earth by the naked eye.


A star 7.5 billion light years away exploded, giving off the brightest gamma-ray burst afterglow ever seen.

The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reaching Earth early Wednesday.

The gamma rays were detected by NASA's Swift satellite at 2:12 a.m. "We'd never seen one before so bright and at such a distance," NASA's Neil Gehrels said.

It was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

However, NASA has no reports that any skywatchers spotted the burst, which lasted less than an hour.

Telescopic measurements show that the burst -- which occurred when the universe was about half its current age -- was bright enough to be seen without a telescope.

"Someone would have had to run out and look at it with a naked eye, but didn't," said Gehrels, chief of NASA's astroparticles physics lab at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The starburst would have appeared as bright as some of the stars in the handle of the Little Dipper constellation, said Penn State University astronomer David Burrows. How it looked wasn't remarkable, but the distance traveled was.

Don't Miss
NASA: Swift mission Web site
The 7.5 billion light years away far eclipses the previous naked eye record of 2.5 million light years. One light year is 5.9 trillion miles.

"This is roughly halfway to the edge of the universe," Burrows said.

Before it exploded, the star was about 40 times bigger than our sun. The explosion vaporized any planet nearby, Gehrels said
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Old 22-03-2008, 17:07
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I have heard recently that Jodrell Bank may close down due to lack of funds. I think that is really sad as it is such an icon in Astronomy and is still used today.

The government wants to attract more people in to science and technology yet they don't seem to want to put any funds in these projects.

I remember my first visit to Joderall bank when I was only 9 years of age and it helped to influence my interest in science.
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Old 22-03-2008, 18:40
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Old 22-03-2008, 21:18
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Live spacewalk on NASA tv at the moment.
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Old 24-03-2008, 13:09
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Endeavour undocks from the ISS later today. A superb mission. Let's wish them an event-free return to Earth.
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Old 24-03-2008, 13:30
Mandark
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I have heard recently that Jodrell Bank may close down due to lack of funds. I think that is really sad as it is such an icon in Astronomy and is still used today.

The government wants to attract more people in to science and technology yet they don't seem to want to put any funds in these projects.

I remember my first visit to Joderall bank when I was only 9 years of age and it helped to influence my interest in science.
Agree totally. The government's always expressing concerning over Britain's scientific brain drain and the low number of students taking up these subjects yet big science and technology projects are always amongst the first to get their budgets cut.

Makes you wonder how seriously the government is committed to space exploration, which it claims it wants to get more involved in. They'll probably sell Jodrell Bank to the Chinese for a hundred quid!
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Old 27-03-2008, 00:54
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Fantastic night landing.

Like the bursts of flame coming from the APU units near the tail - normal but show up more at night obviously.
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Old 27-03-2008, 07:35
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Fantastic night landing.

Like the bursts of flame coming from the APU units near the tail - normal but show up more at night obviously.
An outstanding end to an outstanding mission.
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Old 27-03-2008, 16:27
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Slight delay to the next mission.
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Old 27-03-2008, 17:24
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There can't be many more shuttle missions left now can there?
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Old 29-03-2008, 01:47
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Track the International Space Station.
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Old 29-03-2008, 02:56
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Track the International Space Station.
There is a long running thread dedicated to that. See Track the space station.
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