Author Topic: The Official Space and Astronomy Thread v. Well, this is weird. (Read 194014 times)

Azyiu · « **Reply #595 on:** June 13, 2015, 08:46:26 PM »

Ok, this maybe OLD news to some of you space experts, but I just came across to this official ISS tracking site! It is quite cool!

https://www.heavens-above.com

rumborak · « **Reply #596 on:** June 14, 2015, 08:04:04 AM »

Philae woke up!

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #597 on:** June 14, 2015, 08:17:18 AM »

Azyiu · « **Reply #598 on:** June 14, 2015, 09:50:27 AM »

Awesome news! I wonder what sort of data will we get.

Bolsters · « **Reply #599 on:** June 14, 2015, 09:54:34 AM »

I'm not sure how I feel about a lander that tweets.

Kotowboy · « **Reply #600 on:** June 14, 2015, 09:56:22 AM »

@ESA_Rosetta

Day 45. No aliens spotted. More Rock. Just Rock. Infinite Rock. FML.

Azyiu · « **Reply #601 on:** June 14, 2015, 10:38:22 AM »

Quote from: Kotowboy on June 14, 2015, 09:56:22 AM

@ESA_Rosetta

Day 45. No aliens spotted. More Rock. Just Rock. Infinite Rock. FML.

...or ice?

Bolsters · « **Reply #602 on:** June 14, 2015, 10:08:04 PM »

@ESA_Rosetta

Day 46. Thought I found rock yesterday but it turned out to be ice LOL

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #603 on:** June 22, 2015, 05:49:28 AM »

Wanderers - a short film

Just a short little movie about space exploration that I thought was neat.

Azyiu · « **Reply #604 on:** June 25, 2015, 06:24:00 AM »

Someone in KY got a shot of Lunar X!

The Lunar X (also known as the Werner X) is a clair-obscur effect in which light and shadow creates the appearance of a letter 'X' on the rim of the Blanchinus, La Caille and Purbach craters.

Orbert · « **Reply #605 on:** June 25, 2015, 08:42:16 AM »

That's funky!

Chino · « **Reply #606 on:** June 25, 2015, 01:56:16 PM »

Awesome new footage released of SpaceX landing attempt.

https://mashable.com/2015/06/25/spacex-video-rocket-landing/

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #607 on:** June 25, 2015, 02:11:38 PM »

That was cool! So close yet so far away. It's descent towards the platform seemed to be very fast, didn't seem to be very controlled or maybe it's supose to be like that?

rumborak · « **Reply #608 on:** June 25, 2015, 03:11:00 PM »

The issue is that they have only a minute amount of fuel left, so they have to wait until the very last moment to slow down the rocket.

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #609 on:** June 26, 2015, 12:46:55 AM »

That would explain the speed yes. I guess a parachute would be in the way?

Sigz · « **Reply #610 on:** June 28, 2015, 09:56:17 AM »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=197&v=PuNymhcTtSQ

womp womp.

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #611 on:** June 28, 2015, 10:13:13 AM »

Quote from: Sigz on June 28, 2015, 09:56:17 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=197&v=PuNymhcTtSQ

womp womp.

Love the complete radio silence.

Chino · « **Reply #612 on:** June 29, 2015, 08:50:40 AM »

Total bummer about that Falcon 9 yesterday

I was waiting for one to fail eventually.

On a slightly different note, this was a really good read. I agree with most of what Krauss says during this dialog.

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/chomsky-krauss-space-science-qa

Azyiu · « **Reply #613 on:** June 30, 2015, 12:52:16 AM »

I think a retired professor is called an emeritus professor, rather than a professor emeritus like mentioned in the article.

Orbert · « **Reply #614 on:** June 30, 2015, 06:56:34 AM »

A retired professor is indeed a professor emeritus. "Emeritus" is usually postpositional; it is far less common to be used as a prepositional adjective.

Chino · « **Reply #615 on:** June 30, 2015, 07:09:37 AM »

I've never heard that term before

jasc15 · « **Reply #616 on:** July 01, 2015, 11:10:46 AM »

I may or may not have posted this in the "blow your mind" thread:

The New Horizons spacecraft left the earth on a solar escape trajectory that put it at the distance of the moon's orbit in only 9 hours.

Lunar missions, however, couldn't approach at such a speed, since they could never be captured by the moon's gravity; they would fly right past.

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #617 on:** July 01, 2015, 11:15:40 AM »

The mathematical calculations and planning before launch that NASA does for a project like that is something I will never understand and I would assume i'm not alone.

jasc15 · « **Reply #618 on:** July 01, 2015, 11:32:05 AM »

I know there is a computer model of the solar system that JPL uses to plan trajectories. It accounts for deviations from the ideal point mass approximations of the planets, orbital perturbations, etc. I know I heard about it somewhere, but I don't know much more about it.

Edit: I did find this, though: https://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

adace · « **Reply #619 on:** July 01, 2015, 07:30:06 PM »

Latest Pluto image: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg

Less than two weeks until the flyby!!

Implode · « **Reply #620 on:** July 01, 2015, 08:10:04 PM »

The white dot on Pluto has me thinking,

Chino · « **Reply #621 on:** July 02, 2015, 07:21:06 AM »

Quote from: adace on July 01, 2015, 07:30:06 PM

Latest Pluto image: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg

Less than two weeks until the flyby!!

This is so exciting. It kind of saddens me that the vast majority of the public doesn't even know this flyby is happening. We are going to be the first people in the history of our species to actually see Pluto. How cool is that?

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #622 on:** July 02, 2015, 07:49:12 AM »

Quote from: jasc15 on July 01, 2015, 11:32:05 AM

I know there is a computer model of the solar system that JPL uses to plan trajectories. It accounts for deviations from the ideal point mass approximations of the planets, orbital perturbations, etc. I know I heard about it somewhere, but I don't know much more about it.

Edit: I did find this, though: https://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

Yea I would imagine something like that was in use. Cool stuff!

Quote from: Chino on July 02, 2015, 07:21:06 AM

Quote from: adace on July 01, 2015, 07:30:06 PM
Latest Pluto image: https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/soc/Pluto-Encounter/data/pluto/level2/lor/jpeg/029803/lor_0298030209_0x630_sci_1.jpg

Less than two weeks until the flyby!!

This is so exciting. It kind of saddens me that the vast majority of the public doesn't even know this flyby is happening. We are going to be the first people in the history of our species to actually see Pluto. How cool is that?

I totally share your excitment. I think that alot of people just assume we already been there with a satellite or something. I actually up until recently thought that Voyager 1 did a flyby in the 70s but apparently they went to Saturnus moon Titan instead.
It's an historic event for sure!

Chino · « **Reply #623 on:** July 02, 2015, 07:53:51 AM »

Quote from: MrBoom_shack-a-lack on July 02, 2015, 07:49:12 AM

I actually up until recently thought that Voyager 1 did a flyby in the 70s but apparently they went to Saturnus moon Titan instead.
It's an historic event for sure!

Did either of the Voyagers visit Pluto?
Why didn't the Voyagers fly by Pluto?

"Answer: Both Voyagers flew beyond the orbit of Pluto/Neptune in 1989, but neither flew by Pluto, which was elsewhere in its orbit at the time. It was never planned that the Voyagers would visit Pluto.

The original mission of Voyager was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Two spacecraft were sent on slightly different paths, first to Jupiter and then, with gravity assists, on to Saturn. Voyager 1 could have been aimed on to Pluto, but exploration of Titan and the rings of Saturn was a primary scientific objective. This caused the trajectory to be diverted upward out of the ecliptic plane such that no further planetary encounters were possible for Voyager 1. Once Voyager 1 had successfully gathered data at Titan, Voyager 2 was allowed to go on to Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, theoretically, could have been aimed for Pluto, but the aim point would have been inside the planet of Neptune - not very practical. So Pluto was the only outer planet the Voyagers didn't visit."

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html

^^^ Pretty cool stuff in there if you're looking to kill some time.

MrBoom_shack-a-lack · « **Reply #624 on:** July 02, 2015, 09:18:31 AM »

Thx for the link!

On a slightly diffrent but still relevant....

Kotowboy · « **Reply #625 on:** July 02, 2015, 09:56:56 AM »

Nickelback are not looking good these days.

Dublagent66 · « **Reply #626 on:** July 02, 2015, 10:43:52 AM »

I'm surprised there has been no discussion in here about Jupiter and Venus. Over the past 3 or 4 months, I noticed Jupiter slowly making it's way from the eastern sky to the western sky while Venus remains in the west. Of course, this is just an optical illusion because Jupiter isn't really moving that fast. Venus is actual moving towards Jupiter along the eliptical plane. This conjuntion is also aided by our vantange point from Earth in it's orbital position. Pretty cool stuff since this rare conjunction won't happen again in our lifetime.

Unfortunately, I missed the closest encounter when Venus passed Jupiter from right to left because of cloud cover on Tuesday night 6/30. Still an amazing sight.
Check out the link below to see what transpired.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/30/418915225/venus-and-jupiter-set-for-a-close-encounter-tuesday-night

Implode · « **Reply #627 on:** July 02, 2015, 10:55:38 AM »

Unfortunately I missed that too. I did notice them being rather close to each other last night though.

Chino · « **Reply #628 on:** July 02, 2015, 10:58:29 AM »

I have not had good enough skies the last few nights to see this.

I'm not sure if any of you are familiar with this;
https://guardianlv.com/2015/06/venus-star-of-bethlehem-that-wise-men-followed-appears-again-after-2000-years-video/

Quote

he event begs the question, did an ancient conjunction between the planets of Venus and Jupiter form the star of Bethlehem that the Wise Men of the Bible followed 2000 years ago? That is the theory that has not only been put forth by NASA, but many in the scientific community have come to support this recent finding. For the next six days, when the planet Venus has its conjunction with Jupiter, there will be what looks like the joining of two stars in the skies beginning on Monday night, and continuing through Saturday July 4th. It will appear as if one bright light or star forming in the western sky.

The scientific community now believe that this conjunction of the planets may have mistakenly been called the Star of Bethlehem by the Wise Men mentioned in the New Testament. According to Fred Schaaf, Sky & Telescope Contributing Editor, the upcoming conjunction of Venus and Jupiter will closely resemble one that occurred between the years 3 and 2 B.C., which falls within the approximate time frame that the Wise Men were said to have followed the Star of Bethlehem.

Implode · « **Reply #629 on:** July 02, 2015, 11:06:56 AM »

I was not. That's really cool.

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Author Topic: The Official Space and Astronomy Thread v. Well, this is weird. (Read 194014 times)