Space and Astronomy Thread
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Originally Posted by emails:
“wheres that probe at the moment?”
“wheres that probe at the moment?”
Just over 1.1 billion miles from the Pluto system and closing at 31,721 mph.
Another plug for those that haven't seen it for JPL's 'Eyes on the Solar System':
'Eyes on the Solar System' is a 3-D environment full of real Nasa mission date. Explore the cosmos from your computer. Hop on an asteroid. Fly with NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. See the entire Solar System moving in real time. It's up to you. You control space and time.
Explore the planets and their moons and ride onboard the spacecraft, past present and future, that explore our cosmic backyard. Keep checking back for new features, tours and news. Just like the Universe, 'Eyes on the Solar System' is expanding.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/eyes/
...starting with the European Space Agency's IXV re-entry demonstrator which is expected to be tested in 2013 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13891747.
This has the look of those 1960s NASA lifting body tests and it could theoretically become a replacement for the Space Shuttle.
Pandora galaxy cluster crash yields dark matter clues
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13878171
The Pandora galaxy cluster is itself a huge mega-merger of four smaller galaxy clusters:
Largest ever radio telescope being built in China
This radio telescope will have an aperture of 500 metres (cf. 305m for Arecibo) and construction is currently underway in Guizhou Province in southern China. The telescope will be known as the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) and it will be completed in 2016.
More here: http://www.gizmag.com/five-hundred-m...lescope/18930/
This has the look of those 1960s NASA lifting body tests and it could theoretically become a replacement for the Space Shuttle.
Pandora galaxy cluster crash yields dark matter clues
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13878171
The Pandora galaxy cluster is itself a huge mega-merger of four smaller galaxy clusters:
Originally Posted by Dr Richard Massey:
“"Now we've got a combined picture of the galaxies, the gas and the dark matter, and we can put together the full picture with all three ingredients."”
“"Now we've got a combined picture of the galaxies, the gas and the dark matter, and we can put together the full picture with all three ingredients."”
Largest ever radio telescope being built in China
This radio telescope will have an aperture of 500 metres (cf. 305m for Arecibo) and construction is currently underway in Guizhou Province in southern China. The telescope will be known as the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) and it will be completed in 2016.
More here: http://www.gizmag.com/five-hundred-m...lescope/18930/
An asteroid is due to pass very close to Earth tomorrow (6.14pm BST).
See Space.com and Astronomy Magazine and Daily Telegraph.
See Space.com and Astronomy Magazine and Daily Telegraph.
Originally Posted by wildmovieguy:
“So none of you use night vision. Scared of what you might see? lol”
“So none of you use night vision. Scared of what you might see? lol”
Good grief!
Tried it - it's shit for astronomy.
You see no more than you do with binocs, the image is heavily colour-tinted, the green glow knackers your natural dark-adaption, and the resolution is awful.
Originally Posted by Carlos_dfc:
“Good grief!
Tried it - it's shit for astronomy.
You see no more than you do with binocs, the image is heavily colour-tinted, the green glow knackers your natural dark-adaption, and the resolution is awful.”
“Good grief!
Tried it - it's shit for astronomy.
You see no more than you do with binocs, the image is heavily colour-tinted, the green glow knackers your natural dark-adaption, and the resolution is awful.”
Is it used at all in amateur astronomy.?
Really can't think of a purpose it would serve.
Originally Posted by balthasar:
“Is it used at all in amateur astronomy.?
Really can't think of a purpose it would serve.”
“Is it used at all in amateur astronomy.?
Really can't think of a purpose it would serve.”
Nah - nobody that I know uses it.
There's the idea (by people who don't really know much about the practicalities of astronomical observing) that it might help light-sensitivity for low-magnification viewing - but the images are so awful, and the benefits so small, that a pair of standard binoculars is better, and cheaper.
We had a beautiful clear sky last night so I went outside at about 23:00 and lay on the trampoline in the back garden and watched the sky for about half an hour. I saw one definite shooting star, one other possible, one very bright satellite (thought it may have been the ISS but checked later and it wasn't) and a couple of other 'things' I'm not sure about, either aircraft or car lights reflecting of windows in the dark. Very theraputic.
I wouldn't be surprised if Pluto has several more smaller natural satellites.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.
Originally Posted by Carlos_dfc:
“I wouldn't be surprised if Pluto has several more smaller natural satellites.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.”
“I wouldn't be surprised if Pluto has several more smaller natural satellites.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.”
You take that back!
NASA's Dawn space probe has arrived at the asteroid Vesta where it's returned the first close-up images of this minor planet:
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/...wn_gallery.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14195373
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/why.asp
Vesta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta is the brightest asteroid and the second most massive one after Ceres. That large mass has meant that it has gravitationally induced spherical shape and that has a differentiated interior with a crust, mantle and core just like Earth: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...mat/web_print/
The craters and scars on its surface indicate that it has suffered a lot of bombardment in the past and some of those Vestan fragments have actually ended up on Earth as meteorites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HED_meteorite
After a year or so at Vesta, Dawn will then journey to the largest asteroid of all, Ceres and there's more about that particular worldlet here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29
Finally, there's a discussion about asteroids here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9kh for anyone who is interested in these small planets.
Shuttle Alternatives
With the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, here's a look at a few of the future replacements:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14089297
Wow! It's like it's got its own tiny icy solar system all of its own.
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/...wn_gallery.asp
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14195373
http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/why.asp
Vesta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta is the brightest asteroid and the second most massive one after Ceres. That large mass has meant that it has gravitationally induced spherical shape and that has a differentiated interior with a crust, mantle and core just like Earth: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/arc...mat/web_print/
The craters and scars on its surface indicate that it has suffered a lot of bombardment in the past and some of those Vestan fragments have actually ended up on Earth as meteorites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HED_meteorite
After a year or so at Vesta, Dawn will then journey to the largest asteroid of all, Ceres and there's more about that particular worldlet here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_%28dwarf_planet%29
Finally, there's a discussion about asteroids here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9kh for anyone who is interested in these small planets.
Shuttle Alternatives
With the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, here's a look at a few of the future replacements:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14089297
Originally Posted by CLL Dodge:
“Pluto gains a 4th moon.
Not bad for a dwarf.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14220620”
“Pluto gains a 4th moon.
Not bad for a dwarf.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14220620”
Wow! It's like it's got its own tiny icy solar system all of its own.
Originally Posted by Carlos_dfc:
“I wouldn't be surprised if Pluto has several more smaller natural satellites.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.”
“I wouldn't be surprised if Pluto has several more smaller natural satellites.
It's pretty common for asteroids and KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects) to travel in little clumps, all orbiting around each other.
And after all, that's what Pluto is - a KBO - it was a mistake that it ever had planetary status.”
I think saying it was a mistake is a bit harsh. When Pluto was discovered there had been predictions of a 9th planet's existence for years. Observational techniques back then were not sufficient to accuratley resolve Pluto's size or mass so there was no real way of knowing how small it was until it's major moon Charon was discovered in the late 70's. Until very recently (the Hubble era) there was no real reason to define what a planet was beyond a body that orbited the Sun and was clearly not an asteroid (a mass / shape definition) so having Pluto was a planet was not controvercial. Only since the discovery of Eris (larger than Pluto) and other KBOs and the probablity that even larger objects will eventually be discovered beyond Pluto's orbit has it been an issue.
Even then it's only really an argument about numbers. For some reason having 10 or more 'planets' in the solar system is a problem. As far as I'm aware the only arguments for this re-calssification is because it's hard to fit lots of planets on a poster or hard for children to learn the names of lots of planets. There no real scientific reason for having it. Quite what happens when we start to find exo-planetary systems with larger numbers of planets or when we discover KBO's which rival Mercury for mass (it will happen, and there will be more than one) is something no-one pushing for the reclassification has addressed.
At least downgrading Pluto means Holst's The Planets suite is complete without lesser composers adding an extra movement.
Originally Posted by CLL Dodge:
“At least downgrading Pluto means Holst's The Planets suite is complete without lesser composers adding an extra movement.”
“At least downgrading Pluto means Holst's The Planets suite is complete without lesser composers adding an extra movement.”
But he left out the Earth too.
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