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curiousuburb
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2013-12-05, 04:40

Three new Exoplanets directly imaged

(Well... If you really dig into the details of the first and second Arxiv.org PDF maybe one of them is likely to accrete enough material to become a brown dwarf candidate)... still awesome though.

After the downer of Comet ISON's death... No pining for the fjords... No maybe death , it's nice to see something cool to cheer me up. Not that I won't try and have a last futile look for Comet ISON... if the sky is clear ... and I can still search for Comet Lovejoy

For those who prefer to look down, Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Blog urges one and all to check out this spectacular video made from time lapse pics from ISS


Quote:
Stop whatever you’re doing (unless you’re performing brain surgery) and watch this astonishing and enthralling time-lapse video, showing the Earth from space using photographs taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station:
Bonus Comet appearance in the video, too.

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

Last edited by curiousuburb : 2013-12-05 at 05:16.
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curiousuburb
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2013-12-11, 18:19

JUNO Spacecraft flyby captures cosmic pirouette of Earth-Moon system from Star Trek perspective

Click for big

Originally posted by NASA page

December 10, 2013

When NASA's Juno spacecraft flew past Earth on Oct. 9, 2013, it received a boost in speed of more than 8,800 mph (about 3.9 kilometers per second), which set it on course for a July 4, 2016, rendezvous with Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. One of Juno's sensors, a special kind of camera optimized to track faint stars, also had a unique view of the Earth-moon system. The result was an intriguing, low-resolution glimpse of what our world would look like to a visitor from afar.
"If Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise said, 'Take us home, Scotty,' this is what the crew would see," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. "In the movie, you ride aboard Juno as it approaches Earth and then soars off into the blackness of space. No previous view of our world has ever captured the heavenly waltz of Earth and moon."
The Juno Earth flyby movie is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CzBl...ature=youtu.be . The music accompaniment is an original score by Vangelis.

The cameras that took the images for the movie are located near the pointed tip of one of the spacecraft's three solar-array arms. They are part of Juno's Magnetic Field Investigation (MAG) and are normally used to determine the orientation of the magnetic sensors. These cameras look away from the sunlit side of the solar array, so as the spacecraft approached, the system's four cameras pointed toward Earth. Earth and the moon came into view when Juno was about 600,000 miles (966,000 kilometers) away -- about three times the Earth-moon separation.

During the flyby, timing was everything. Juno was traveling about twice as fast as a typical satellite, and the spacecraft itself was spinning at 2 rpm. To assemble a movie that wouldn't make viewers dizzy, the star tracker had to capture a frame each time the camera was facing Earth at exactly the right instant. The frames were sent to Earth, where they were processed into video format.

"Everything we humans are and everything we do is represented in that view," said the star tracker's designer, John Jørgensen of the Danish Technical University, near Copenhagen.


The flyby also took advantage of the chance to calibrate instruments designed to measure the Jovian magnetosphere and enlisted Ham operators from every continent who wanted to take the opportunity to send greetings to a passing spacecraft with a "HI JUNO" Program. Morse Nerd Nirvana.

Also during the flyby, Juno's Waves instrument, which is tasked with measuring radio and plasma waves in Jupiter's magnetosphere, recorded amateur radio signals. This was part of a public outreach effort involving ham radio operators from around the world. They were invited to say "HI" to Juno by coordinating radio transmissions that carried the same Morse-coded message. Operators from every continent, including Antarctica, participated. The results can be seen in this video clip: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1263 . A four-minute video depicting the efforts of a few of the amateur radio operators who participated in the event can be seen at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/?id=1262

"With the Earth flyby completed, Juno is now on course for arrival at Jupiter on July 4, 2016," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The Juno spacecraft was launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 5, 2011. Juno's launch vehicle was capable of giving the spacecraft only enough energy to reach the asteroid belt, at which point the sun's gravity pulled it back toward the inner solar system. Mission planners designed the swing by Earth as a gravity assist to increase the spacecraft's speed relative to the sun, so that it could reach Jupiter. (The spacecraft's speed relative to Earth before and after the flyby is unchanged.)

After Juno arrives and enters into orbit around Jupiter in 2016, the spacecraft will circle the planet 33 times, from pole to pole, and use its collection of science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover. Scientists will learn about Jupiter's origins, internal structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief from his wife, but the goddess Juno used her special powers to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature.


Waaaaay cool. Love watching the orbital duet... even in low res... Moon may only appear as a pixel when it's really almost a quarter the size of Earth, but you really get a sense of how wide the orbit is to scale.

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

Last edited by curiousuburb : 2013-12-11 at 18:47.
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Moogs
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2013-12-12, 09:56

Good stuff Sir Burb.
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Moogs
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2013-12-12, 15:36

Mmmm. Milky Way.

http://www.milkywayproject.org
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Moogs
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2013-12-15, 14:23

Bruce Dickinson has confirmed that China has decided to "Explore the space!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25393826

It's no surprise what they found.

Spoiler (click to toggle):

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Moogs
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2014-01-09, 17:02

Hubble still alive and kicking, finds the deepest galaxy cluster ever imaged (blueish arcs are galaxies whose light is being "lensed" by a more nearby cluster).



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25648219



Also, all cosmologists are now 1% ers.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25663810

...into the light of a dark black night.
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curiousuburb
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2014-01-11, 18:07

Interesting.

Coincidentally (or not), BBC just finished a new series of Stargazing LIVE, where among other things, they claimed audience participation/citizen science helped discover 50 new Candidate Gravitational Lensing Galaxies, including one more than 11 Billion Light Years away.

And if that doesn't float your nerdly curiousity boat...

XKCD does Physics "What-Ifs"

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.
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drewprops
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2014-01-12, 23:59

Please forgive if this tour of the space station has already been posted, my dad sent it to me and it was so enjoyable I thought I'd share

http://youtu.be/doN4t5NKW-k



...

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Moogs
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2014-01-20, 11:12

Quasar-illuminated filaments of the "cosmic web". Kinda makes you feel like you're just a speck of coagulated spice in a cosmic soup, eh? Lends more credence to my "we are navel lint" theory.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-en...nment-25809967


...into the light of a dark black night.
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Moogs
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2014-01-21, 15:09

And the sun said "let there be water".

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/...-solar-system/
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Moogs
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2014-02-19, 11:29

Neutron Star Express. Sometimes supernovas act like catapults it would seem... this puppy is traveling at a rate of millions of km per hour, and trailing a massive energy jet. Let's hope for a star-star collision and additional supernova.

http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/febru.../#.UwO5SHk49jQ


...into the light of a dark black night.
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curiousuburb
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2014-02-19, 20:27

APOD presents... The Earth*

* or at least a modified Little Planet projection of part of it... Click pic for details

Click here for alternate Flickr sizes

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

Last edited by curiousuburb : 2014-02-19 at 20:43.
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Moogs
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2014-02-26, 19:07

Kepler ass-kicking... it's a thing.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26362433
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Moogs
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2014-03-18, 20:24

Turns out "extraterrestial life" on Mars... is probably from earth... if we ever find any.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25201572

Maybe even as far-flung as the Jupiter system!

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Quagmire
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2014-04-15, 22:21

Cassini has documented a new moon currently forming within Saturn's rings.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0414180358.htm

giggity
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Quagmire
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2014-04-16, 10:43

And in other news, SpaceX has officially signed a 20 year lease for LC-39A.

Interesting enough, SpaceX will build a new hangar near 39A for assembly of the rocket instead of using the VAB.

It looks like the Shuttle structure( with modifications of course) still on 39A will be used to integrate the cargo with the rocket.

SpaceX expects to now launch the Falcon Heavy from 39A instead of Vandenberg like originally planned next year.

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1404.../#.U06jGF6W5yc

giggity
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Moogs
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2014-04-20, 14:28

Good to see some sort of progress being made on new launch vehicle infrastructure.
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Elysium
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2014-08-05, 15:49

Exciting times are here again. Rosetta (ESA Comet mission) is slated to go into orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. If successful, this would be the first spacecraft to do so.

I hope they can successfully pull this off in anticipation of the Philae lander attempt in November.

Formerly known as cynical_rock
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curiousuburb
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2014-08-06, 03:25

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysium View Post
Exciting times are here again. Rosetta (ESA Comet mission) is slated to go into orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. If successful, this would be the first spacecraft to do so.

I hope they can successfully pull this off in anticipation of the Philae lander attempt in November.
*cough* The ESA site has a live stream** of the rendezvous for most of the day.

There's been some minor hoohah about the trickle-feed nature of ESA's image release policy in comparison to those used to NASA's "as live" style. ESA claims it is to allow researchers first crack at any discoveries, which sounds reasonable...

I mention it so your expectations are (re)calibrated as necessary in advance of the event.

Go Rosetta!

Edit:

** Stream requires Flash

As of Aug 4, this was the nav cam view...
IMG Source: Bad Astronomy

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.

Last edited by curiousuburb : 2014-08-06 at 04:03.
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curiousuburb
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2014-08-06, 12:34

Sweet new details from the OSIRIS Camera
via ESA Flickr feed

Stunning close up detail focusing on a smooth region on the ‘base’ of the ‘body’ section of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image was taken by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera and downloaded today, 6 August. The image clearly shows a range of features, including boulders, craters and steep cliffs.

The image was taken from a distance of 130 km and the image resolution is 2.4 metres per pixel.

Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.
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Quagmire
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2014-10-28, 18:55

CRS-3 explodes on launch. Probably the same defect that caused the engine to fail during a test firing back in May.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL5eddt-iAo

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/us/nas...html?hpt=hp_t1

giggity
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Quagmire
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2014-10-31, 13:56

Bad week for space flight. First with Antares launch failure now SpaceShip Two has crashed which is a manned vehicle with the condition of the pilots unknown.

Quote:
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo had taken off at 12:19 p.m. ET from Mojave, California for what the company was calling a "Halloween treat."

But less than an hour later, the company tweeted that something had gone wrong. The vehicle was manned, the company said in a statement provided to NBC News, but the fate of the pilots is unknown.
http://mashable.com/2014/10/31/virgi...rce=feedburner

giggity
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Dave
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2014-10-31, 19:29

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quagmire View Post
Bad week for space flight. First with Antares launch failure now SpaceShip Two has crashed which is a manned vehicle with the condition of the pilots unknown.



http://mashable.com/2014/10/31/virgi...rce=feedburner
Last I heard, one pilot had died and the other was in critical condition

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Moogs
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2014-10-31, 22:57

Sad but a good reminder to people this stuff is not trivial. New tech does not mean we can just expect to do whatever we want without a human cost.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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Moogs
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2014-11-06, 10:10

This is a great find / discovery. Visual proof of our planetary formation theory. If I'd worked harder at maths in the days of my youth, I could've been an astronomer / cosmologist and help discover stuff like this. FML.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29932609


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Elysium
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2014-11-11, 14:00

Quote:
Originally Posted by Elysium View Post
I hope they can successfully pull this off in anticipation of the Philae lander attempt in November.
So the Philae attempt is tomorrow. ESA "Live" Stream

Probe starts descent at ~0900 GMT with hopeful confirmation of touchdown at 1600 GMT.
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drewprops
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2014-11-12, 01:41

Here's the Livestream that I found tonight....

http://new.livestream.com/ESA/cometlanding

...about 2 hours before final separation... should hit sometime tomorrow around 11am EST (as I understand it).

Parochial idiot that I am, I keep giggling at the team's accents.

You nutty Europeans!



...

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curiousuburb
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2014-11-12, 09:05

Go Philae Go.. or should that be

Stick Philae Stick!
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Dorian Gray
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2014-11-12, 09:44

Nice to see you, curiousuburb.

This idea of landing on a comet sounds incredibly far-fetched, doesn’t it. Fingers crossed!
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Moogs
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2014-11-12, 10:11

Glad to see some of you guys were thinking the same as me. Glad to see no reason to bump the thread. Unfortunately I'm going to miss it... live anyway.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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