thplinth Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 https://www.newsflare.com/video/352539/spectacular-starlink-satellite-train-captured-over-switzerland Brighter than I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Jim Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Feck me is this real? https://www.newsflare.com/video/334176/dozens-of-spacex-starlink-satellites-seen-in-night-sky-over-switzerland So how much sky is going to be filled with this crap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eisegerwind Posted April 26, 2020 Share Posted April 26, 2020 (edited) I've got sky, I've got eyes, I've even got binoculars. I can see a crescent moon and a big light to the right at 45 deg .Venus? Â Edited April 26, 2020 by Eisegerwind Better thread found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 On 4/26/2020 at 9:19 PM, Eisegerwind said: I've got sky, I've got eyes, I've even got binoculars. I can see a crescent moon and a big light to the right at 45 deg .Venus? Â Yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Venus has been spectacular, brightest you'll see it all year... https://www.space.com/venus-evening-star-brightest-for-2020.html  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Watched a great Horizon last night about 30 years of the Hubble Space Telescope... https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hjpw/horizon-2020-hubble-the-wonders-of-space-revealed  The Space Shuttle was a flawed concept but it brought home how much it achieved and how badly it's missed.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted April 30, 2020 Share Posted April 30, 2020 On 4/29/2020 at 9:24 AM, Toepoke said: Watched a great Horizon last night about 30 years of the Hubble Space Telescope... https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hjpw/horizon-2020-hubble-the-wonders-of-space-revealed  The Space Shuttle was a flawed concept but it brought home how much it achieved and how badly it's missed.  The next big space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, should be launched next year. The European contribution was led by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. There are four instruments on JWST, one of them was built mostly on the top of Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 2 hours ago, biffer said: The next big space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, should be launched next year. The European contribution was led by the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. There are four instruments on JWST, one of them was built mostly on the top of Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. Is that the one that's being placed way out beyond Earth orbit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 (edited) 16 hours ago, Toepoke said: Is that the one that's being placed way out beyond Earth orbit? Yeah, it’s going to one of the Lagrange points. These are points where the sun / earth gravity balances out to the extent you can have a stable orbit so that you’re in the same position relevant to earth all the time.  JWST is at Lagrange2 which is about 900,000 miles further away from the sun than the earth is. The advantage there is that you’re permanently in the shadow of the earth, so the sun doesn’t interfere with the astronomy measurements. Edited May 1, 2020 by biffer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted May 1, 2020 Author Share Posted May 1, 2020 55 minutes ago, biffer said: Yeah, it’s going to one of the Lagrange points. These are points where the sun / earth gravity balances out to the extent you can have a stable orbit so that you’re in the same position relevant to earth all the time.  JWST is at Lagrange2 which is about 900,000 miles further away from the sun than the earth is. The advantage there is that you’re permanently in the shadow of the earth, so the sun doesn’t interfere with the astronomy measurements. Interesting cheers. I'm guessing the fact it's not geostationary will introduce some challenges communicating with it?  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 (edited) 52 minutes ago, Toepoke said: Interesting cheers. I'm guessing the fact it's not geostationary will introduce some challenges communicating with it?  Nah. As I’m sure you know, Most satellites aren’t geostationary, and something of this scale will be tracked by multiple large stations globally to ensure uninterrupted comms. Or it could use geostationary networks as relays. There’s a few ways to do it, and I’m now intrigued by which way JWST is doing it, so I’m off to check. edit - duh on my part, should have remembered NASA operates something it calls the Deep Space Network, which is a series of ground station used to make sure we have continuous comms with all deep space missions. If you think about it, the same problem applies to all of our interplanetary probes, so this network has been in place for decades. A form of it was used for the Apollo missions. Edited May 1, 2020 by biffer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 Not only does a universal constant seem annoyingly inconstant at the outer fringes of the cosmos, it occurs in only one direction, which is downright weird. Â Those looking forward to a day when science's Grand Unifying Theory of Everything could be worn on a t-shirt may have to wait a little longer as astrophysicists continue to find hints that one of the cosmological constants is not so constant after all. In a paper published in Science Advances, scientists from UNSW Sydney reported that four new measurements of light emitted from a quasar 13 billion light years away reaffirm past studies that found tiny variations in the fine structure constant. Â https://phys.org/news/2020-04-laws-nature-downright-weird-constant.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biffer Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 5 hours ago, phart said: Not only does a universal constant seem annoyingly inconstant at the outer fringes of the cosmos, it occurs in only one direction, which is downright weird.  Those looking forward to a day when science's Grand Unifying Theory of Everything could be worn on a t-shirt may have to wait a little longer as astrophysicists continue to find hints that one of the cosmological constants is not so constant after all. In a paper published in Science Advances, scientists from UNSW Sydney reported that four new measurements of light emitted from a quasar 13 billion light years away reaffirm past studies that found tiny variations in the fine structure constant.  https://phys.org/news/2020-04-laws-nature-downright-weird-constant.html See, now this is cool and interesting stuff which challenges the theories of fundamental physics. Rather than some of the preschool stuff that’s been on this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ger intae them Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 ..... speaking of which, scotty’s big torch in the sky looks like it’s switched to an LED bulb.... plus new Duracell’s...... it’s self-illuminating beautifully tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Looks like the SpaceX launch is going ahead tonight. Might be able to see it from the UK. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/30/21272529/spacex-launch-watch-live-stream-crew-dragon-nasa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Bongo Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 Bit of an awkward day for the Flat Earthers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave78 Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 7 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said: Bit of an awkward day for the Flat Earthers Was it though? I was out (twice, at 15 mins after launch, and also 10.15pm when i read i could see the rocket)....and saw NOTHING. Also, the landing of the booster 'conveniently' lost signal during touchdown. FLAT EARTH CONFIRMED. SPACE IS FAKE!   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted May 30, 2020 Share Posted May 30, 2020 I couldn't see it either which probably means it didn't happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 The sky was still too bright up here at 10:15 to see it unfortunately.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slasher Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Definitely visible in Holytown. I could post a pic but it's on the kids phone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 Docking with the ISS shortly... Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 https://www.ias.edu/press-releases/2020/dark-matter-axion-origin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 https://getpocket.com/explore/item/a-new-theory-on-why-we-haven-t-found-aliens-yet?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 1 hour ago, phart said: https://getpocket.com/explore/item/a-new-theory-on-why-we-haven-t-found-aliens-yet?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huddersfield Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 Anyone had any luck seeing Comet NEOWISE? We’ve not had a clear night here since I don’t know when, so no luck for me so far but I keep trying   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.