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Space and Astronomy Thread |
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#2726 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 16,125
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People in here seem to know their onions so I am hoping someone might indulge me by answering a really basic question.
I am sure I should know this. My interest in the heavens tends to be fairly sporadic though For a couple of weeks I have been able to dispense with my winter curtains so I am aware of the moon again. For the past few nights I have been seeing a crescent moon before bedtime (say midnight) through my bedroom window. I am sure that the last time I was conscious of the moon through my bedroom window, which will have been back in October 2014 (before I started using the heavy curtains to keep the warmth in) it was shining through that same window in the early morning - 4amish. Is this possible or am I misremembering? I understand that the moon goes through phases from crescent to full and back again. I also realise that the moon appears to move across the sky during the course of the night. But does it also rise and set in different positions each day, so that some nights it is visible in the west at a particular time and a few days or weeks later is in say the east at that same time? |
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#2727 |
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Bishop-Auckland / Darlington
Posts: 6,636
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Quote:
But does it also rise and set in different positions each day, so that some nights it is visible in the west at a particular time and a few days or weeks later is in say the east at that same time?
Because it goes around the Earth nce a month (moon-th), it appears to 'move' about 13º across the sky per day. So it will rise (and set) about an hour earlier from one day to the next.* Or if you vew it at the same time every day, it'll shift gradually from west to east, by the aforementioned 13º-ish *That period varies a bit depending how high (or low) it is. Because it's orbit isn't tilted at the same angle as the earth's axis, it can 'wander' up and down by up to a max of 28½º from the ecliptic (the Sun's path acrioss the sky) When it is exactly on the ecliptic, at 'New Moon', is when we get a solar eclipse, like we did last month. |
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#2728 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 16,125
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Quote:
Yes.
Because it goes around the Earth nce a month (moon-th), it appears to 'move' about 13º across the sky per day. So it will rise (and set) about an hour earlier from one day to the next.* Or if you vew it at the same time every day, it'll shift gradually from west to east, by the aforementioned 13º-ish *That period varies a bit depending how high (or low) it is. Because it's orbit isn't tilted at the same angle as the earth's axis, it can 'wander' up and down by up to a max of 28½º from the ecliptic (the Sun's path acrioss the sky) When it is exactly on the ecliptic, at 'New Moon', is when we get a solar eclipse, like we did last month. When you refer to rise and set I assume you are meaning something more technical than what I would mean. To me it would just mean when it appears visably in the sky or not; so is pretty well dictated by sunrise and sunset. But I am aware that sometimes the moon is visible in day light so I am assuming that it rises irrespective of whether or not it is dark. |
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#2729 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Mars
Posts: 1,489
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Hubble issues 25th birthday image Quote:
The Hubble Space Telescope has celebrated its silver anniversary with a picture featuring a spectacular vista of young stars blazing across a dense cloud of gas and dust. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32433839The "Westerlund 2" cluster of stars is located about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina. Hubble was launched on Space Shuttle Discovery on 24 April, 1990. Engineers expect the observatory to keep operating for at least another five years. "Even the most optimistic person to whom you could have spoken back in 1990 couldn't have predicted the degree to which Hubble would rewrite our astrophysics and planetary science textbooks," commented Nasa Administrator Charlie Bolden. "A quarter of a century later, Hubble has fundamentally changed our understanding of our Universe and our place in it." Very cool image. ![]() http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...at/xlarge_web/ |
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#2730 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,456
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I am completely thick at space navigation. Here in South Wales at the moment, colour is retreating evanescent from the evening sky, but whilst there is still some I can see one singular, refulgent star just away to the south east of the crescent moon. I'm assuming it has to be a planet - Venus?
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#2731 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 5,354
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Quote:
I am completely thick at space navigation. Here in South Wales at the moment, colour is retreating evanescent from the evening sky, but whilst there is still some I can see one singular, refulgent star just away to the south east of the crescent moon. I'm assuming it has to be a planet - Venus?
![]() This might help you find your way around the sky http://astronomynow.com/uk-sky-chart/ |
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#2732 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: London
Posts: 4,020
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Quote:
Many thanks Carlos. I am grateful to know that I am not losing my memory or my marbles. I am going to start paying more attention and track the progress around the sky for a bit.
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#2733 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Closed
Posts: 7,796
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Quote:
Hubble issues 25th birthday image
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32433839 Very cool image. ![]() http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...at/xlarge_web/ ![]() The following article explains what they do, and why: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind...ning_of_color/ |
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#2734 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 19,567
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#2735 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 19,567
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Quote:
It may have big implications for the ISS |
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#2736 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 21,645
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Quote:
This craft is probably going to crash to earth.
It may have big implications for the ISS |
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#2737 |
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: County Durham
Posts: 78,619
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Quote:
Hubble issues 25th birthday image
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32433839 Very cool image. ![]() http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...at/xlarge_web/ |
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#2738 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 19,567
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Quote:
In what way? I suppose if it did a lot of damage on impact, there might be a backlash. Other than that possibility, isn't it just the type of failure which was bound to happen sooner or later?
Not sure how bad the situation is. Given that the US cargo ship crashed in October they may have supply problems. Wait and see. |
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#2739 |
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Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 3,063
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Quote:
I think they rely on the Protons for boosting the ISS.
Not sure how bad the situation is. Given that the US cargo ship crashed in October they may have supply problems. Wait and see. |
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#2740 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Closed
Posts: 7,796
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They should've stayed with Ukrainian guidance systems.
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#2741 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: The Sixth Circle of Hell
Posts: 20,184
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New Horizons spots possible polar cap on Pluto.
The images in the coming months are going to be simply spectacular. http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....-cap-on-pluto/ |
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#2742 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 5,354
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New image of bright spots on Ceres
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32696746 |
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#2743 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: The Sixth Circle of Hell
Posts: 20,184
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Look at this photograph of the oldest galaxy yet imaged and you are seeing back 13.1 billion years into the far distant past.
A form of true time travel. Contemplate that for a moment and remember that you are looking at a time around 8.5 billion years before the planet you are living on was even formed. Science can be truly wonderful at times. ![]() https://news.google.com/news/story?n...ed=0CCsQqgIwAA |
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#2744 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 2,646
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The Express have really outdone themselves this time.
Forget Heatwaves / Ice Ages Here comes the end.... (headline) Asteroid a MILE wide to hurtle past Earth in 72 HOURS - as experts warn of MASS EXTINCTION http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature...xtinction-NASA |
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#2745 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: The Sixth Circle of Hell
Posts: 20,184
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Quote:
The Express have really outdone themselves this time.
Forget Heatwaves / Ice Ages Here comes the end.... (headline) Asteroid a MILE wide to hurtle past Earth in 72 HOURS - as experts warn of MASS EXTINCTION http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature...xtinction-NASA ![]() ![]()
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#2746 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Storbritannia
Posts: 28,927
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Quote:
Look at this photograph of the oldest galaxy yet imaged and you are seeing back 13.1 billion years into the far distant past.
A form of true time travel. Contemplate that for a moment and remember that you are looking at a time around 8.5 billion years before the planet you are living on was even formed. Science can be truly wonderful at times. ![]() https://news.google.com/news/story?n...ed=0CCsQqgIwAA http://www.space.com/29193-beyond-hu...elescopes.html http://jwst.nasa.gov/science.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Sp...y_the_infrared As well as looking at galaxies of the deep past, we can also see the likely fate of galaxies in the far future: Galaxies die by slow 'strangulation' When galaxies stop making stars, their death is usually a slow process that chokes them of the necessary cool gases over about four billion years. That is the conclusion of astronomers who surveyed thousands of galaxies, living and dead, to assess whether the transition is rapid or slow. In the dead galaxies they detected high levels of metals, which build up during star formation and point to a slow strangulation process. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32734978 http://www.nature.com/articles/natur...=www.bbc.co.uk |
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#2747 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: The Sixth Circle of Hell
Posts: 20,184
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Quote:
The James Webb Space Telescope will be able to shed more light on the early stages of the universe because it can detect well into the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum and that's helpful because it can see through clouds of obscuring space dust. Links below:
http://www.space.com/29193-beyond-hu...elescopes.html http://jwst.nasa.gov/science.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Sp...y_the_infrared As well as looking at galaxies of the deep past, we can also see the likely fate of galaxies in the far future: Galaxies die by slow 'strangulation' When galaxies stop making stars, their death is usually a slow process that chokes them of the necessary cool gases over about four billion years. That is the conclusion of astronomers who surveyed thousands of galaxies, living and dead, to assess whether the transition is rapid or slow. In the dead galaxies they detected high levels of metals, which build up during star formation and point to a slow strangulation process. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32734978 http://www.nature.com/articles/natur...=www.bbc.co.uk ![]() Shatner and Pluto's moons in the same article - perfect! ![]() http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....er-pluto-moon/ |
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#2748 |
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 5,354
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#2749 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Is there life on Mars
Posts: 5,370
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#2750 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 7,683
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About 9 pm at night, Im seeing a quarter size moon in west.. quite high up in the sky and a little further over one very bright star (? ) the only star in the sky at that time
( or is it a space station ) |
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