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Space and Astronomy Thread |
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#2201 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Posts: 53,213
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4 minutes till ISS
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#2202 |
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Essex
Posts: 86,769
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#2203 |
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 14,044
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I've been doing a bit of Solar observing today seeing as it's nice and sunny here at the moment...
I've even snapped a rough and ready picture using a mobile phone held up to the eyepiece. http://seeviewo.org/seeview/downloads/sunsf.jpg You can clearly see a dark filament on the surface (bottom right) and a couple of nice prominences either side of 2 O'Clock. |
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#2204 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Cambridgeshire
Posts: 14,044
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If you take a look at the Moon right now you can't miss Jupiter just a few degrees to the right of it...
With a pair of binoculars you will also see three of Jupiters brightest moons, the forth Io is at the time of writing not visible with standard binoculars. |
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#2205 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,812
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It was a good night last night for viewing after the disappointment of missing the close approach last Friday due to cloud. I went out in time for the ISS flyover at 19:48 and succeeded in tracking it through the Dob at 46x magnification, could make out the solar panels and general structure, it moved very fast though through the FOV and I had about 80 secs of viewing time in all.
I must've been looking as similar sort of time as Gniess (as in the rock??) last night, I could see Io emerging from behind Jupiter around 20:15 ( I can't remember exactly) and it was a lovely site. The icing on the cake was watching Io's transit shadow moving across the Giant Red Spot a few mins after. I tried using a moon filter last night (#88 ND Filter) and it brought out detail quite nicely in the cloud bands of Jupiter, I wasn't expecting too much from it so was nicely surprised. After that I got a bit lazy and did some lunar viewing, managed to just resolve the central Alpine Valley Rille in fleeting moments of steady seeing. I could see the southern part that's approx 0.75 miles across but not the thinner sections further into Alpine Valley. After that I had a quick peek at NGC 2392 (Eskimo Nebula), even with the strong moonlight it was instantly visible at 32x with a defined blue hue, ramping up to 300x I could easily see the central star and an extended disc of dust. I got too cold after that and packed up. How's this for a telescope advert? http://www.firstlightoptics.com/clea...telescope.html |
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#2206 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 5,621
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Caught both ISS passes last night, it's not subtle! Two more tonight and the forecast is clear.
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#2207 |
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,812
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Quote:
Caught both ISS passes last night, it's not subtle! Two more tonight and the forecast is clear.
Bring on 18:58 and 20:32 tonight 30 mins before the first pass, Jupiter will be worth a look as Io will exit an eclipse at approx 18:32 |
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#2208 |
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 5,621
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Quote:
You can say that again, I haven't gone out looking for it since last year and it really caught my eye how much it stood out in comparison to the surrounding stars.
Bring on 18:58 and 20:32 tonight 30 mins before the first pass, Jupiter will be worth a look as Io will exit an eclipse at approx 18:32 ISS 18.54.49 for me and over 5 mins. |
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#2209 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 19,567
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There is a long running sighting the ISS thread here
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#2210 |
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Guest
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 3,812
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Quote:
There is a long running sighting the ISS thread here
I think a few of us could probably do a proper astronomy thread for users with scopes etc, Generally it's a bit technical for this general thread and also doesn't quite fit in the ISS threads. I think we've got a few good experienced observers on here to keep it running. |
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#2211 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
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Can anyone confirm my belief that Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) is unlikely to be a good object at our latitudes due to it being too low in the sky (or even below the horizon) when at its brightest in early March?
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#2212 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
Can anyone confirm my belief that Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) is unlikely to be a good object at our latitudes due to it being too low in the sky (or even below the horizon) when at its brightest in early March?
I was looking at a rather nice picture of Comet McNaught earlier today. I like seeing comets discovered by McNaught as he is a friend of a friend of mine. I have a feeling that Pan-Starrs might not be that great as if it was going to be I would have thought that excitement would be rising by now. Still no harm in keeping an eye out. March 12 it should be near the crescent moon. Here is a dated article about it. See here Here is a fairly recent article. |
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#2213 |
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Crawley, West Sussex
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Quote:
I think that the answer is that no one knows. Not sure if you are old enough to remember Kouhoutek but after that fiasco no one is ever going to be sure about comets again.
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#2214 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 19,567
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Hee Hee! I am old enough to remember Arend Roland!
![]() I enjoyed Hale Bopp but my best memory of a comet is actually Bennett. But then I lived under better skies back then. I am sure that around 12th March is the time to look. |
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#2215 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 11,055
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I'm looking more forward to Comet ISON towards the back end of the year.
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#2216 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Quote:
I'm looking more forward to Comet ISON towards the back end of the year.
Still a while away yet. |
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#2217 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: London
Posts: 4,020
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Then there was Comet West Did anybody else see this one, because I certainly never did? Perhaps it was not well placed from the UK.
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#2218 |
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Quote:
Then there was Comet West Did anybody else see this one, because I certainly never did? Perhaps it was not well placed from the UK.
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#2219 |
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Storbritannia
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Quote:
I think that the answer is that no one knows. Not sure if you are old enough to remember Kouhoutek but after that fiasco no one is ever going to be sure about comets again.
I was looking at a rather nice picture of Comet McNaught earlier today. I like seeing comets discovered by McNaught as he is a friend of a friend of mine. I have a feeling that Pan-Starrs might not be that great as if it was going to be I would have thought that excitement would be rising by now. Still no harm in keeping an eye out. March 12 it should be near the crescent moon. Here is a dated article about it. See here Here is a fairly recent article. Quote:
I'm looking more forward to Comet ISON towards the back end of the year.
And now for something completely different...(and much larger!) Cosmos may be 'inherently unstable' Scientists say they may be able to determine the eventual fate of the cosmos as they probe the properties of the Higgs boson. A concept known as vacuum instability could result, billions of years from now, in a new universe opening up in the present one and replacing it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21499765 |
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#2220 |
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#2221 |
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Programme on the meteor on C4 now.
Another on BBC2 at 9 pm. Sky at Night at 11.55 pm. APOD yesterday |
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#2222 |
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: London
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That Horizon programme looks like a more general coverage of asteroids, while ch4 is this one specifically.
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#2223 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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Quote:
Programme on the meteor on C4 now.
Another on BBC2 at 9 pm. Sky at Night at 11.55 pm. APOD yesterday Quote:
That Horizon programme looks like a more general coverage of asteroids, while ch4 is this one specifically.
Tonight's Sky at Night should have a report on the close pass of Asteroid 2012 DA14 last month. That small asteroid was imaged by the Goldstone radio telescope (see https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=as...ih=600#imgrc=_) and those images have been put together to form a video (see http://www.facebook.com/spacecom/posts/510920272280337) and that video shows that this asteroid has an elongated, potato-shaped form. |
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#2224 |
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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#2225 |
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne
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Quote:
That Horizon programme looks like a more general coverage of asteroids, while ch4 is this one specifically.
not seen horizon one yet |
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