Cool astronomy photos

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Oct 16, 2018 2:46 am

Bad news: Hubble is on his last gyros.

Details: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45788412

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:59 am

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:48 pm

An obvious fake by Betsy Ross to discredit Teh Chump....

Wait.

What?

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 1:34 am

What kind of celestial object is this? A relatively normal galaxy -- but seen from its edge. Many disk galaxies are actually just as thin as NGC 5866, pictured here, but are not seen edge-on from our vantage point. A perhaps more familiar galaxy seen edge-on is our own Milky Way Galaxy. Cataloged as M102 and NGC 5866, the Spindle galaxy has numerous and complex dust lanes appearing dark and red, while many of the bright stars in the disk give it a more blue underlying hue. The blue disk of young stars can be seen extending past the dust in the extremely thin galactic plane. There is evidence that the Spindle galaxy has cannibalized smaller galaxies over the past billion years or so, including multiple streams of faint stars, dark dust that extends away from the main galactic plane, and a surrounding group of galaxies (not shown). In general, many disk galaxies become thin because the gas that forms them collides with itself as it rotates about the gravitational center. The Spindle galaxy lies about 50 million light years distant toward the constellation of the Dragon (Draco).

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180725.html

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Sun Oct 28, 2018 11:57 am

Abdul Alhazred wrote: ↑Sun Oct 28, 2018 11:34 am If you were a Martian who could see ultraviolet, what would you see looking in our direction?

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181028.html

Wouldn't a Martian evolve to see slightly more in the infrared?

I think you meant Mercurian perhaps.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sun Oct 28, 2018 6:03 pm

Martians would have blown up Earth by now. It blocks their view of Venus.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Mon Oct 29, 2018 4:13 am

index.jpg

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Nov 08, 2018 12:34 am

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:38 am

And the Parker Solar Probe has started its flights around the sun. Details:

http://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/
https://www.space.com/42344-parker-sola ... roach.html

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:40 am

RIP, Kepler:

Space telescope dead after long 'blockbuster' mission

The most prolific planet-hunting machine in history has signed off.

NASA's Kepler space telescope, which has discovered 70 percent of the 3,800 confirmed alien worlds to date, has run out of fuel, agency officials announced today (Oct. 30). Kepler can no longer reorient itself to study cosmic objects or beam its data home to Earth, so the legendary instrument's in-space work is done after nearly a decade.

And that work has been transformative.

"Kepler has taught us that planets are ubiquitous and incredibly diverse," Kepler project scientist Jessie Dotson, who's based at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, told Space.com. "It's changed how we look at the night sky."

Today's announcement was not unexpected. Kepler has been running low on fuel for months, and mission managers put the spacecraft to sleep several times recently to extend its operational life as much as possible. But the end couldn't be forestalled forever; Kepler's tank finally went dry two weeks ago, mission team members said during a telecon with reporters today.

"This marks the end of spacecraft operations for Kepler, and the end of the collection of science data," Paul Hertz, head of NASA's Astrophysics Division, said during the telecon.

https://www.euronews.com/2018/10/31/kep ... ncna920186

https://www.space.com/32847-nasa-kepler ... tures.html

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Nov 09, 2018 10:24 pm

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the Serpens Nebula, a stellar nursery about 1300 light-years away. Within the nebula, in the upper right of the image, a shadow is created by the protoplanetary disc surrounding the star HBC 672. While the disc of debris is too tiny to be seen even by Hubble, its shadow is projected upon the cloud in which it was born. In this view, the feature -- nicknamed the Bat Shadow -- spans approximately 200 times the diameter of our own Solar System.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and STScI

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2 ... 141451.htm

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 12:38 am

This composite of images spaced some 5 to 9 days apart, from late April (bottom right) through November 5 (top left), traces the retrograde motion of ruddy-colored Mars through planet Earth's night sky. To connect the dots and dates in this 2018 Mars retrograde loop, just slide your cursor over the picture (and check out this animation). But Mars didn't actually reverse the direction of its orbit. Instead, the apparent backwards motion with respect to the background stars is a reflection of the motion of the Earth itself. Retrograde motion can be seen each time Earth overtakes and laps planets orbiting farther from the Sun, the Earth moving more rapidly through its own relatively close-in orbit. On July 27, Mars was near its favorable 2018 parihelic opposition, when Mars was closest to the Sun in its orbit while also opposite the Sun in Earth's sky. For that date, the frame used in this composite was taken during the total lunar eclipse.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181108.html

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 1:20 am

HA! DIS PROVEZ DAT EARTH IS CENTR OF UNIVERZE! CHEKMATE ATHEISTS!!!111!!11111ELEVENTY!!

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:00 am

https://earthsky.org/space/juno-spacecr ... tadt-doran

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Nov 12, 2018 5:15 pm

ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured an unprecedented series of images showing the passage of the exoplanet Beta Pictoris b around its parent star. This young, massive exoplanet was initially discovered in 2008 using the NACO instrument at the VLT. Astronomers have since tracked the exoplanet, making observations from late 2014 until late 2016 using the VLT's Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE). These observations are shown here as a time-lapse depicting the passage of Beta Pictoris b around its host star.

Credit: ESO/Lagrange/SPHERE consortium

https://www.eso.org/public/videos/potw1846a/

The black disk is of course an obstruction in the telescope to keep the star's light out.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Nov 15, 2018 10:26 pm

Massive impact crater beneath Greenland could explain Ice Age climate swing

The serendipitous discovery may just be the best evidence yet of a meteorite causing the mysterious, 1,000-year period known as Younger Dryas.

Most of Earth’s surface has been plotted, mapped and measured. And along the way, scientists have turned up a plethora of craters big and small. But there was always one major crater missing.

12,800 years ago, during the Pleistocene, Earth was warming up from its last Ice Age. Temperatures slowly rose while glaciers retreated, that is, until something major happened that triggered a cold snap big enough to leave its mark on the geologic record. Over the course of just decades – the blink of an eye in geological timescales – the planet cooled somewhere between 3 and 11 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 6 degrees Celsius). The resulting period is known as the Younger Dryas, a mysterious 1000-year blip in history.

Many scientists have suggested – with evidence – that the Younger Dryas was triggered by a meteorite impact. But others have held out, suggesting that volcanic eruptions or, what seems to be the leading favorite, some sort of massive freshwater flood temporarily disrupted climate cycles based out of the North Atlantic. But the main reason scientists have been slow to accept the impact hypothesis is simple: There’s just no crater.

But research out today in the open-access journal Science Advances suggests that maybe we haven’t looked everywhere.

The work, led by Kurt Kjær, professor at the Natural History Museum of Denmark and University of Copenhagen, describes a previously overlooked, 19-mile-wide crater that’s been hiding in plain sight in northwest Greenland’s Hiawatha Glacier. In fact, it’s only about 150 miles from Thule Air Base – the U.S.’s northernmost Air Force base and the place where NASA’s IceBridge planes took flight. You can see about a third of the crater’s rounded outline on Google Earth.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/11/m ... mate-swing

Topography under Hiawatha glacier in Greenland, mapped with airborne radar data (1997 to 2014, NASA; 2016 Alfred Wegener Institute). Black triangles and purple circles are elevated peaks around the rim and center. Dotted red lines and black circles show locations of additional sampling.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:35 am

Bennu Full Rotation at 200 Pixels

This set of images shows the asteroid Bennu rotating for one full revolution. Over a four-hour and 11-minute period on Nov. 2, the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft acquired a 2.5-millisecond image for every 10 degrees of the asteroid’s rotation. At the time of imaging, Bennu was approximately 122 miles (197 km) from the spacecraft, and appeared approximately 200 pixels wide in PolyCam’s frame.

Date Taken: Nov. 2, 2018
Instrument Used: OCAMS (PolyCam)
Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:24 pm

Magellanic clouds:

St Mark's Church in Taumutu, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 4:10 am

The next Mars mission is set to land soon:

InSight: Nasa's Mars mission on target for landing

InSight aims to be the first mission to take a detailed look inside the Red Planet. It will use British and French seismometers to listen for earthquakes, or rather "Marsquakes".

These vibrations will help trace the interior rock layers - from the crust to the core.

"An earthquake is almost like a little flashbulb," explains InSight chief scientist Bruce Banerdt. "It illuminates the inside of the planet with seismic waves, and the seismometer is like a camera that picks up those waves and helps put together a picture. Pixel by pixel we get to put together a 3D picture of the inside of a planet."

We have earthquakes on the Earth because it's geologically active. Techtonic plates moving over a hot liquid Mantle. Is that true for Mars too? I mean, clearly there is a volcano on Mars, but I wonder when was the last time it was active.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:33 am

All good reasons to do this.

Listy would not approve.

On the other hand, fuck Listy with ed's dick.

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 11:23 am

Listy certainly approves! Why wouldn't I?

I am a bit curious how they're going to burrow that heat probe 16 feet.

Not that I'm 100% opposed to the other hand.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 3:45 pm

Oh shit! I thought you were opposed to all the jazz we've been sending to Mars as a waste of money. Apologies, I must be confusing you with someone else.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 4:57 pm

I think the money would be better spent on a project to blow up Mars! It would send a message to any possible space invaders that we are both powerful and crazy, and that they'd best leave us alone!

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Thu Nov 22, 2018 5:29 pm

sparks wrote: ↑Thu Nov 22, 2018 3:45 pm Oh shit! I thought you were opposed to all the jazz we've been sending to Mars as a waste of money. Apologies, I must be confusing you with someone else.

Yea, you must be. I'm against sending meatbags.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:20 am

Clearly alien.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:44 am

Remember Rama: we should be ready for the next two ones.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:46 am

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sat Nov 24, 2018 1:53 am

Witness wrote: ↑Fri Nov 23, 2018 12:44 am Remember Rama: we should be ready for the next two ones.

Yep. Two observation ships, then the battle cruiser!

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:38 pm

Someone set us up the protomolecule.

--J.D.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Nov 25, 2018 10:34 pm

The dramatic music they added is a little cheesy but the video itself is quite good. Watching in full screen recommended.

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Wed Nov 28, 2018 2:17 am

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/ ... en/576583/

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:14 am

NASA's Mars Landing Sites, including InSight

Insight's first image:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Tue Dec 04, 2018 2:00 am

To contribute to AC's toilet humor:

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 4:39 am

https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/07/liste ... ht-lander/

Sound of Martian wind. First recording of sound from Mars.

Also a selfie:

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:41 am

Here’s why China’s launch to the far side of the Moon is a big deal

This may be a precursor for a space race back to the Moon.

Late last week, China launched an ambitious mission that will send a lander and rover to the far side of the Moon. This Chang'e-4 spacecraft represents a significant achievement for China, as no other nation has ever softly landed a rover on the side of the Moon facing away from Earth.

If successful, this mission will carry out several lines of important scientific research on the still somewhat unknown far side of the Moon. However, the launch and landing of Chang'e-4 also helps to reveal the full scope of China's spaceflight ambitions and how the space program furthers the country's ambitious geopolitical goals. In this post, we try to unpack some of the implications.

What happened?

On Saturday morning (local time in China) a Long March 3B rocket sent a 4-ton lander and a 140kg rover into space, and then this Chang'e-4 spacecraft performed a trans-lunar injection to send it flying toward the Moon. The spacecraft should reach lunar orbit on Wednesday.

China has not said when it will attempt to land on the far side of the Moon, but observers speculate the attempt will likely occur the first three days of January. Before this landing takes place, Chang'e-4 will have to link up with the Queqiao relay spacecraft, which will have line-of-sight communications with both the lander, which is expected to set down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, as well as Earth.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/12 ... important/

No Moon pictures yet.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 3:14 am

Wonder what they expect to find/are looking for/hoping to find that would be worth this kind of economic expenditure. Hell, the only good reason to aim for the far side is Gary Larson comics and a great view of the Cosmos without all the bullshit EM pollution coming from the Earth.

Witness · Post by **Witness** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 4:19 am

The Chinese are getting into the Murican spirit: because we can (and fuck you)
The far side is practically unknown, and very different from the near one: scientific thingies to explore
That's where the UFOs, the lizard people, the Nazis and Elvis Presley hide
It's the ideal spot for misanthropists
Confucius said: when the sage points at the moon, the fool tries to see what's behind it

Not enough reasons for you, sparks?

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 5:23 am

I suppose so but I never took them for economically challenged, and by that I mean that when we (USA!USA!!) went to the moon, the best and first reason to do it was international prestige and to show those fuckin' commies who the hell ran the fucking show. A goal worthy of all the money spent and lives lost.

Now, our Chinese comrades are going after the far side and it's a given that they have the money to do so since they're not sending a human(s). I guess what I can't buy is that they're doing it just because they're curious.

Call me suspicious, but I'm thinking there's an ulterior motive here. And it has nothing to do with the dipshit notion of launching missiles. They're after something.

My money is on the (presumed on my part) fact that they don't want to be left out of what's happening on Mars. Far side of the moon would be a good starting point for them.

Need an EpIC!! LEveL conspiracy theory? Governments worldwide know that we're fucked due to climate change and those with the money and technical ability are unwilling to allow a Mars Settlement Gap!!11Eleventy