Space In General

[Dennisch]

ALMA image of the dust surrounding the star HD 107146. Dust in the outer reaches of the disk is thicker than in the inner regions, suggesting that a swarm of Pluto-size planetesimals is causing smaller objects to smash together. The dark ring-like structure in the middle portion of the disk may be evidence of a gap where a planet is sweeping its orbit clear of dust.


Astronomers Detect Pluto-Size Objects around a Sun-Like Star

 

[Robin]

Anyone seen the Geminids metor shower that going on every night at the moment?

I only saw one streak last night, very bright and really quick. Wish it was slightly slower so I could see it properly.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Cloudy here.

 

[CodeRedR51]

^^^ Clouds cleared out yesterday and I remembered the meteor shower on my way home as I noticed a couple streak across the sky. Before I got home I took another exit off the highway and drove back into the mountains a little to minimize light interference and sat there to watch for a bit with the sun roof open and my head sticking out the top. Saw some good ones.

 

[wfooshee]

Composite of the 15 I caught during a 48-minute period, standing on the beach of the state park here (darkest place I could think of less than 50 miles away.)



I let the intervalometer on my D7000 click away almost 650 frames during that time.

 

[Thematic]

I saw three in quick succession (less than 20 min.) on Sunday, rural area.

 

[CodeRedR51]

This is going to be epic. Any odds on them succeding first go 'round? Can't wait until Friday.

http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX launch has been delayed until the 6th of January.

 

[Thematic]

Ride the Orion back...

 

[PzR Slim]

Just spent the last couple of hours out in the observatory catching some more data of M42. Hoping to improve on last years effort with my new camera.

 

[JMoney]

Just watched Interstellar (for the second time, in fact). Its an incredible movie, now standing as my fifth-favorite all-time movie. Without a doubt the best space movie I've seen, and if anyone here is interested in space I highly recommend it. Based on the reviews is seems as though the film accurately depicted space relative to other sci/fi movies.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/spectacul...-above-the-ecliptic-pla-1675126844/+jesusdiaz

This composite is made of images that were taken by Cassini's camera system, theImaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on December 21, 2014 and received on Earth December 22, 2014. The camera was pointing toward SATURN at approximately 2,021,235 miles (3,252,862 kilometers) away, and the images were taken using the blue, methane band, and continuum band filters.

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX launch tomorrow morning, way too early for me to even consider getting up to watch it. Musk says there's a 50% chance they land on that platform in the ocean. Excited to see how it turns out.

 

[Dennisch]

 

[GT'S BiG FaN]

That is just.. Mesmerizing.

 

[niky]

Clean-up on Aisle 6. Coffee spill.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Automated Spaceport Drone Ship.

That's what SpaceX is calling the landing platform for the launch tomorrow. I love it.

 

[Thematic]

Ey ess dee ess. I guess it's better than SpaceX Automated Roving Robot

Why did I see a stretching cat in the nebula

 

[niky]

Why did I see a stretching cat in the nebula

The one that's about to pounce on Space Carp?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Launch scrubbed and moved to Friday.

 

[Swagger897]

Not sure where to share my experience but I assume this would be the best place for a meteor streaking across the sky.

About two years ago while in scouts we were on a bike trip in Alabama, specifically the Silver Comet trail (ironic a bit for the story) and after all 50+ of us had gotten back to camp, myself and a few other of my friends sat around to talk. It was quite a large field we were in and had a mountain to our south which we couldn't see over (there were some to the north but not anywhere near the size and distance from the one on the south.

Anyways, it was about 1-2 hours before sundown and we were still chatting away, when all of a sudden one of us scream...

"HEY! LOOK UP!!" It only lasted for a second or two but some object was flying through the atmosphere burning up, with a green tail and sharp bright white bulb in the front of it. You would think it was only a couple thousand feet up but I realize it was actually much more than that. The tail of it seemed to be quite long to, and I'm probably going to sound ridiculous but if it started entry after say 120,000ft then the trail took up a good distance of the sky (maybe a 5-8 mile long tail [idk if that's even realistic]).

Does anyone know what materials burn green on entry in the atmosphere? I wish I knew if it was burning before coming over the mountain but I was faced the opposite way..

 

[Dennisch]

Copper and barium have a greenish glow when burning.

There are plenty of videos to be found of green meteor tails.

Edit.

The Pillars of creation in near infra-red light

 

[Dotini]

Not sure if this goes here, or in the Aliens thread? Maybe the hoax thread would be best.

 

[Dennisch]

Looks like part of that meteor bounced off the atmosphere.

Edit.

Larger view of the earlier post. The Eagle Nebula :

In the center are the Pillars. The left of the pillars is ~4 lightyears long. Think about that.

 

[niky]

Was just on my FB feed. I'd say that the meteorite was full of water or volatiles... and outgassing would provide the corkscrew motion and the "launch" near the end.

 

[Thematic]

A newly discovered exoplanet, Kepler-438b, orbits around a red dwarf in just 35 days (or ~800 hours) and receives 40% more light (EMR) than Earth. The orbit is likely in the habitable zone. *Suppose* it has both a considerable amount of surface water and an atmosphere to make the seas possible (like Earth). Then the seasonal changes, if any, are sudden, yet not very extreme because there may not be enough time for cooling.

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2015-04 (a whole bunch)

 

[Dennisch]

As the picture says. Should be visible with binoculars. And no clouds of course. Which there are plenty of here.

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX launch now set for Saturday 4:47am EST. I'm alright with that, I think I can stay up long enough to watch it.

 

[Dennisch]

SpaceX launch now set for Saturday 4:47am EST. I'm alright with that, I think I can stay up long enough to watch it.

Is there a landing estimate?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Is there a landing estimate?

Not long after launch but they won't cover it live. Video expected by the end of the day they said.