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Old 24-05-2010, 00:31
HenryGarten
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Sorry, I meant to say in the West.

I was about to close my bedroom curtains about an hour ago and saw a planet or star very low and shining very brightly. I even went outside with my binoculars for a closer look.

I wish I knew more about astronomy. I am fascinated with watching the sky but don't very often know what it is that I'm looking at. And, I have to admit, I've never heard of the Swan.
If it was in the west and an hour ago then it almost certainly was Venus.

The way to learn your sky is to look more often.

Or better is to join your local astronomy club.
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Old 24-05-2010, 00:35
nethwen
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Venus set at about 11.40pm tonight.
Thanks, Henry. That must have been what I saw then.


There is so much to gain and learn from it. It's all small steps of learning constellations and the movement of the sky but each step of the way gives you something new to learn and see.

The Summer doesn't have much darkness but it has a lot of packed stars for you to see.
I have an astrology book but it's very complicated. So, I've loaned it out.

I even find it difficult to make out the more obvious constellations, even when someone points out the Plough or something.

I know Orion though. That's easy enough to spot. I also feel strangely drawn to Orion for some inexplicable reason.
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Old 24-05-2010, 00:39
Kablamo
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Thanks, Henry. That must have been what I saw then.




I have an astrology book but it's very complicated. So, I've loaned it out.

I even find it difficult to make out the more obvious constellations, even when someone points out the Plough or something.

I know Orion though. That's easy enough to spot. I also feel strangely drawn to Orion for some inexplicable reason.
Some of the obvious constellations aren't easily visible in most British skies nethwen.

Leo is... parts of Gemini are and parts of scorpio and saggitarius will be as they begin to rise over the summer.

If you set out time to step out on clear nights you should be surprised.

If you go out now and look west then Mars is read and directly next to it a polygon of stars is Leo.
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Old 24-05-2010, 00:40
HenryGarten
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Here is a tool for finding rising and setting times of celectial bodies.

See http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/mrst.php
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Old 24-05-2010, 04:10
Kablamo
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Jupiter is visible in the east right now, if you live somewhere north of Stoke.
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Old 28-05-2010, 09:08
BeethovensPiano
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SDO realtime solar images are now available on the SDO website

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/
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Old 29-05-2010, 00:40
Doogy
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Wonder if someone can help me out.

Very early Friday morning, around 2am I spotted what looked like a satellite overhead. Moving pretty much dead south/north. Now, I've seen the ISS and other satellites countless times. This one was very different though. Every few seconds it flared up, getting brighter then dimmer. This repeated for as long as I could see it (about 1 minute).

Never seen anything like it. Had a quick check on the iPhone NASA app and on heavens above but found nothing. Any idea what it could have been?
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Old 29-05-2010, 01:17
balthasar
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Wonder if someone can help me out.

Very early Friday morning, around 2am I spotted what looked like a satellite overhead. Moving pretty much dead south/north. Now, I've seen the ISS and other satellites countless times. This one was very different though. Every few seconds it flared up, getting brighter then dimmer. This repeated for as long as I could see it (about 1 minute).

Never seen anything like it. Had a quick check on the iPhone NASA app and on heavens above but found nothing. Any idea what it could have been?
Not a plane ? if not, maybe someone here able to shed some light .
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Old 29-05-2010, 01:52
afcbfan
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Possibly a satellite tumbling out of control, due to gyroscope failure or whatever. Did it look anything like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcB4ByEl1U
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Old 29-05-2010, 02:05
nethwen
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How many satellites are there up above us?
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Old 29-05-2010, 02:06
ardwark
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19
Nineteen
Ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen
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Old 29-05-2010, 02:09
nethwen
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19
Nineteen
Ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen
Only ni-ni-ni-ni-nineteen?

Thanks for that. I'll not be able to get that song out of my head for the rest of the night, now.
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Old 29-05-2010, 03:39
Gage
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Theres more than 19 satellites in space.
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Old 29-05-2010, 07:57
njp
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Wonder if someone can help me out.

Very early Friday morning, around 2am I spotted what looked like a satellite overhead. Moving pretty much dead south/north. Now, I've seen the ISS and other satellites countless times. This one was very different though. Every few seconds it flared up, getting brighter then dimmer. This repeated for as long as I could see it (about 1 minute).

Never seen anything like it. Had a quick check on the iPhone NASA app and on heavens above but found nothing. Any idea what it could have been?
Sounds like a satellite flare, caused by sunlight reflecting off the solar panels.

Flares from the Iridium satellites can be predicted very accurately, and there are online resources that will do this.
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Old 29-05-2010, 08:10
njp
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How many satellites are there up above us?
Well, there are around 928 operational satellites in orbit. But there are also some non-operational satellites that haven't fallen out of orbit, and lots of bits of space junk, such as tools dropped by astronauts, hardware released during satellite deployment, and debris from satellites that have collided with each other or been deliberately destroyed by the Chinese (OK, that was only one satellite, but it created thousands of pieces of junk!). All of it has to be tracked, because it could destroy other satellites, and add to the problem. The total number of orbiting "bits" amounts to many millions.
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Old 29-05-2010, 11:21
balthasar
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Sounds like a satellite flare, caused by sunlight reflecting off the solar panels.

Flares from the Iridium satellites can be predicted very accurately, and there are online resources that will do this.
Would a low orbit satellite pass over so quickly ?
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Old 29-05-2010, 11:54
njp
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Would a low orbit satellite pass over so quickly ?
Possibly. Although it won't have been an Iridium flare, because they don't occur with that rapidity. Can you tell I've never actually seen one?

Sounds more like an aircraft, now I think about it!
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Old 29-05-2010, 12:03
Doogy
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Possibly a satellite tumbling out of control, due to gyroscope failure or whatever. Did it look anything like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcB4ByEl1U
Thats exactly what it looked like! I didn't think it was an iridium flare simply because of the way it got brighter/dimmer.

Thanks, quite a sight!
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Old 04-06-2010, 08:44
BeethovensPiano
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Another comet/asteroid hits Jupiter

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/95573224.html
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Old 06-06-2010, 20:49
TelevisionUser
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...according to the BBC report here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_a...t/10209704.stm and you can even watch a short video too.

In this case, it's SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9) that has successfully launched and it's one of two private corporations that are ultimately developing a crewed launcher system capable of taking NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

The other company in the running is Orbital Space Sciences with their Taurus II launcher which is scheduled to launch in March 2011 - more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_II.
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Old 12-06-2010, 08:20
BeethovensPiano
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Asteroid probe ready for return to Earth

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/aste...ps-100611.html
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Old 13-06-2010, 17:16
BeethovensPiano
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Well, they made it.
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Old 17-06-2010, 10:42
HenryGarten
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Comet McNaught visible around midnight these days.

Great picture on APOD. See Comet McNaught
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Old 17-06-2010, 11:39
BeethovensPiano
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Mysterious Flash on Jupiter Left No Debris Cloud

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc.../2010/20/full/
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Old 20-06-2010, 09:42
TelevisionUser
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Comet McNaught visible around midnight these days.

Great picture on APOD. See Comet McNaught
Indeed, Henry Garten. There's more images and a sky chart of where to see this naked-eye visiible comet here http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser.../94277259.html.

Fortunately, Comet McNaught should be relatively easy to find in the night sky as it's following a line between the stars Mirfak (Perseus) and Capella (Auriga).
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