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Space and Astronomy Thread
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An Thropologist
23-04-2015
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?
Carlos_dfc
23-04-2015
Originally Posted by An Thropologist:
“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?”

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.
An Thropologist
23-04-2015
Originally Posted by Carlos_dfc:
“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.”

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.

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.
The Martian
23-04-2015
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.

The "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."”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32433839

Very cool image.

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...at/xlarge_web/
Grabid Rannies
23-04-2015
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?
Eddie Badger
23-04-2015
Originally Posted by Grabid Rannies:
“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/
atg
24-04-2015
Originally Posted by An Thropologist:
“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.”

If you are extremely dedicated and keep this up for 18 years and 7 months you will find that the Moon appears at the same phase at the same altitude again due to the precession of the lunar nodes.
archiver
24-04-2015
Originally Posted by The Martian:
“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/”

Certainly, but I can't help thinking of them as having been coloured in.

The following article explains what they do, and why:

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/behind...ning_of_color/
HenryGarten
29-04-2015
Russian progress spacecraft plunging toward Earth.

See Russian spacecraft......
HenryGarten
29-04-2015
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“Russian progress spacecraft plunging toward Earth.

See Russian spacecraft......”

This craft is probably going to crash to earth.

It may have big implications for the ISS
njp
29-04-2015
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“This craft is probably going to crash to earth.

It may have big implications for the ISS”

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?
zx50
29-04-2015
Originally Posted by The Martian:
“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 bottom image is an amazing one.
HenryGarten
29-04-2015
Originally Posted by njp:
“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?”

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.
Heston Veston
29-04-2015
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“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.”

I'm pretty sure the occupants of the ISS won't have to resort to cannibalism just yet.
archiver
30-04-2015
They should've stayed with Ukrainian guidance systems.
Keyser_Soze1
30-04-2015
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/
Eddie Badger
11-05-2015
New image of bright spots on Ceres
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32696746
Keyser_Soze1
11-05-2015
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
StrmChaserSteve
11-05-2015
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
Keyser_Soze1
11-05-2015
Originally Posted by StrmChaserSteve:
“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”

Jesus wept!
TelevisionUser
20-05-2015
Originally Posted by Keyser_Soze1:
“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”

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
Keyser_Soze1
20-05-2015
Originally Posted by TelevisionUser:
“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”

Thanks for those.

Shatner and Pluto's moons in the same article - perfect!

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic....er-pluto-moon/
Eddie Badger
21-05-2015
More detailed image of Ceres bright spots

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4594
belly button
23-05-2015
Nice website to play around. Some cool wallpapers to download too.

http://www.solarsystemscope.com
xxtimbo
24-05-2015
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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