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Space and Astronomy Thread
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TelevisionUser
17-03-2011
Originally Posted by tiger2000:
“The Messenger probe will go into orbit around Mercury tonight (00:45 GMT), the first spacecraft to visit the planet for over 30 years, the the first to go into orbit around the planet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12761025

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/me...ain/index.html”

...and that will give is a full picture of the surface and of Mercury's electromagnetic environment in due course. It's a bit much that Mercury is more habitable right now (at the poles) than Venus is with its huge global warming gone mad conditions!
HenryGarten
18-03-2011
NASA TV now talking about Messenger going into orbit around Mercury.
HenryGarten
18-03-2011
The burn has started.
HenryGarten
18-03-2011
Messenger in orbit around Mercury.
Biffo the Bear
18-03-2011
Originally Posted by squack:
“I flew with Virgin Atlantic, stayed in Orlando at the southern end of International Drive which is close to all of the theme parks (which I wasn't bothered to visit!). I didn't hire a car but sort of wish I did as I could have visited more attractions on the days that I wasn't in the space centre.
My local travel agent sorted the flight, hotel, visa, and airport transfers for just over £900. The only thing I had to do was get on a trip to Kennedy on the Thursday, I booked on a Florida Dolphin tour through the Viator website, but you can book directly with Florida Dolphin on their website here.
The tour cost $169 (£106) and gets you into Kennedy on the launch day (blue ticket) and out to the causeway (green ticket) for the launch. The blue ticket is good for a second visit: as most of the space centre is not accessible on launch days so you will need a return trip to see everything there. Florida Dolphin also do a 'transport only' for $55 which takes you to the Astronaut Hall of Fame and Kennedy Visitors Centre where you can do the full tour on a non-launch day.

There were reports that there were about 250,000 people watching the launch that day and the next two will only get worse so if you want to see the launch you may need to decide soon. I was very, very lucky in that the launch actually took place, you need to remember that STS-133 was originally scheduled to launch in September which slipped to November and was scrubbed 5 times before it actually launched. I left everything till last minute as it gave me a better chance of seeing the launch rather than planning months ahead only to find out the date had slipped. You may not have that luxury with the launch day tickets as they will be getting huge demand for these last launches.

I hope you do decide to go as it is really a 'once in a lifetime' experience and timing and luck had a lot to do with giving me the chance which I took with both hands and am really glad that I did.”

I was lucky enough to see a shuttle launch some years back and it is quite an exhilarating event!
Scrolllock
18-03-2011
Originally Posted by squack:
“There are two left Henry, you still have time to see one. You need to do what I did, which was decide to go last minute you don't have time to change your mind as you're already travelling! Florida is hot anytime of year, so you get a nice holiday too, which is a bonus.
I'm even missing a Wales rugby game being out here and that's a bit like denying religion for a Welshman

I thought the Saturn V was real, there was just no-one on them. ”

That depends on the part of Florida you are in.
BeethovensPiano
18-03-2011
The first post in this thread was about MESSENGER.
TelevisionUser
19-03-2011
Firstly, tonight we'll hopefully have a clear sky because the Moon will be at it's closest distance to Earth since 1992 and there's more here http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...st-point-years. Nothing to worry about though.

As for the Mega Galaxy, here's a link to a New Scientist article on the biggest things in the universe: http://www.newscientist.com/article/...e-universe.htm.

In particular, that IC 1101 galaxy is just awesome http://astronomycentral.co.uk/astron...e-known-limits. It is 5 million light years across which is 50x the diameter of our own Milky Way galaxy and it's twice as long as the distance between our Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy.

Finally, here's a link to an interesting discussion between Professor Brian Cox and Dr Brian Green which is hosted by Andrew Marr - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zdbhz.
Carlos_dfc
19-03-2011
Originally Posted by TelevisionUser:
“Firstly, tonight we'll hopefully have a clear sky because the Moon will be at it's closest distance to Earth since 1992 and there's more here http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...st-point-years. Nothing to worry about though.”

Nice to see the Guardian isn't overplaying this 'supermoon' in the way that many other sources are.

I've seen many sources lately stating that the Moon will be 30,000 miles closer than usual, and linking it with the Japanese earthquake

What these sensationalist sources always neglect to mention is that the Moon comes to perigee (close-point) every single month, and that this current perigee - though 30,000 miles closer than the Moon's average distance - is only a thousand or so miles closer than most other perigees.
They also neglect to mention that on the day of the big one in Japan, the Moon was nearer apogee (furthest point) than it was to perigee.
TelevisionUser
19-03-2011
Originally Posted by Carlos_dfc:
“Nice to see the Guardian isn't overplaying this 'supermoon' in the way that many other sources are.

I've seen many sources lately stating that the Moon will be 30,000 miles closer than usual, and linking it with the Japanese earthquake

What these sensationalist sources always neglect to mention is that the Moon comes to perigee (close-point) every single month, and that this current perigee - though 30,000 miles closer than the Moon's average distance - is only a thousand or so miles closer than most other perigees.
They also neglect to mention that on the day of the big one in Japan, the Moon was nearer apogee (furthest point) than it was to perigee.”

Indeed, Carlos_dfc, that stuff is a tad depressing though.

On a separate topic, the Moon really does look larger when it's near the horizon and there are objects to compare it with even though it's ultimately an optical illusion.
HenryGarten
19-03-2011
Well you can never let truth get in the way of a good story can you?
Darthchaffinch
19-03-2011
a rubbish pic of the 'super' moon here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10823446@N04/5540986698/

Was a bit of an anti climax tbh...
tvqueen1905
19-03-2011
My pictures from today
tvqueen1905
19-03-2011
Originally Posted by Darthchaffinch:
“a rubbish pic of the 'super' moon here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10823446@N04/5540986698/

Was a bit of an anti climax tbh...”

mine was never that big
Darthchaffinch
19-03-2011
Originally Posted by tvqueen1905:
“mine was never that big”

I was using an slr with tele-lens though!
HenryGarten
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by tvqueen1905:
“My pictures from today”

Very good effort.
tvqueen1905
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“Very good effort.”

really i didn't think they were of best quality
HenryGarten
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by tvqueen1905:
“really i didn't think they were of best quality”

Yes but none of us can control the weather!
tvqueen1905
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“Yes but none of us can control the weather! ”

the skies were clear and perfect till about 3pm

the cloud wasn't forcast and unfortunately it was just one of those things

fortunately i saw it in some form though
Jack_Burton
20-03-2011
We were lucky with mostly clear skies overhead on the south coast so had a terrific view of the Moon with some 12 X 50 binos. I was hoping to see M32 too as 8pm-ish is currently a good time, but too much cloud that way.
*marv*
20-03-2011
Here are a couple I managed to get earlier before the cloud rolled in.
http://flic.kr/p/9rDMQD
Fio Montoya
20-03-2011
I was a bit disappointed, to be honest. From some of the articles I caught glimpes of, I half expected to open my front door tonight and find the moon right outside going boo! However, the moon is as beautiful as ever, even if it doesn't really seem any closer
Tissy
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by Darthchaffinch:
“a rubbish pic of the 'super' moon here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10823446@N04/5540986698/

Was a bit of an anti climax tbh...”

I think it`s great !!

Too cloud here grrrr and the night before was so clear
HenryGarten
20-03-2011
I discivered this little tool last night. I have not come across anything quite like it before. See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s....php?t=1451015
Gneiss
20-03-2011
Originally Posted by HenryGarten:
“I discivered this little tool last night. I have not come across anything quite like it before. See http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s....php?t=1451015”

That's quite neat )
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