Astronomical sightings thread

[UnkNuk]

What gets me about photos like the above is that they are even possible.

 

That particular galaxy is 500 million light years away.  Which means the light in that picture has been travelling for 500 million years.  And somehow it stays intact and produces an image like the one we have.  Why is that light not dispersed or blocked along the way?   How many suns and planets are between earth and that galaxy?  How is it they haven't blocked the light?  Amazing.         

[UnkNuk]

10 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

Wasn't sure which thread was best to post this into, but I suppose this is the closest to the matter (excluding perhaps the World Events Thread):

 

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/08/05/chorizo-star-french-scientist-sorry/

 

Sadly, most of the people who got the joke are the kind that probably already approach things with a critical mind, and those that are anti-science will likely point to this and say, "see, that's why science is not to be believed!!" 

 

I thought that was a pretty cool photo!   

 

(And if someone had told me it was from the JWST, I would have believed them.)

[Ghostsof1915]

On 7/11/2022 at 9:46 AM, RUPERTKBD said:

Speaking of images, I may have posted this before, but in case I haven't, this website is a repository of some very cool astronomy images. If you click on "archive" at the bottom of the page, it shows a list of previous APODs.....

 

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

 

Today's is a shot of the Andromeda Galaxy taken from the Sahara Desert:

Uhmmm....the Andromeda Galaxy by human eyes is a small blob. (It's the farthest distance we can see with the human eye)

So even if the exposure was really wide open it would not be that big in the sky. By the way its 2.5 million light years from Earth.

It's a cool picture. But not how it actually looks from the surface of the Earth.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2022 by Ghostsof1915

[RUPERTKBD]

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Uhmmm....the Andromeda Galaxy by human eyes is a small blob. (It's the farthest distance we can see with the human eye)

So even if the exposure was really wide open it would not be that big in the sky. By the way its 2.5 million light years from Earth.

It's a cool picture. But not how it actually looks from the surface of the Earth.

 

 

Yes, in the description of the photo, they point out it was zoomed in....

 

.....sorry for the confusion, but I didn't think anyone would actually believe it was otherwise....

[Ghostsof1915]

16 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Yes, in the description of the photo, they point out it was zoomed in....

 

.....sorry for the confusion, but I didn't think anyone would actually believe it was otherwise....

I was thinking wow...the Andromeda Galaxy closed a lot of distance lol. Warp Speed Galaxy!

[Ilunga]

The Perseids are back and you may be able to see the rings of Saturn with a good pair of binoculars.

 

 

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/eyes-up-for-perseid-meteor-shower-and-saturn-show/

 

 

[UnkNuk]

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/nasa-roll-out-giant-us-moon-rocket-debut-launch-2022-08-16/

 

NASA's giant U.S. moon rocket emerges for debut launch

 

Aug 16 (Reuters) - NASA's gigantic Space Launch System moon rocket, topped with an uncrewed astronaut capsule, began an hours-long crawl to its launchpad Tuesday night ahead of the behemoth's debut test flight this month.

 

The 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket is scheduled to embark on its first mission to space - without any humans - on Aug. 29. It will be a crucial, long-delayed demonstration trip to the moon for NASA's Artemis program, the United States' multibillion-dollar effort to return humans to the lunar surface as practice for future missions to Mars.

 

[JM_]

So this is freaky

 

 

[RUPERTKBD]

19 minutes ago, JM_ said:

So this is freaky

 

 

Sounds like the opening of a Pink Floyd concert....

[JM_]

41 minutes ago, RUPERTKBD said:

Sounds like the opening of a Pink Floyd concert....

yeah thats quite wild they were able to extract that sound. This is about as close as I'd like to get to one. 

[Playoff Beered]

Space telescope detects carbon dioxide on an exoplanet

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/space-telescope-detects-carbon-dioxide-on-an-exoplanet/47853230

[Gurn]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/alien-hunting-array-catches-voyager-1-signal-from-interstellar-space/ar-AA118QjJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=be90785d056b3f6096c13ef43ab437f5

 

"The Allen Telescope Array in California detected signal from the Voyager 1 probe, the NASA satellite launched 45 year ago that is currently speeding toward the outer edges of the solar system, way beyond the orbit of Pluto. 

Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a recently refurbished radio observatory near San Francisco in California dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life, made contact with the Voyager 1 probe on July 9, using 20 of its 42 dish antennas, which are each over 20 feet (6.1 meters) wide. The telescope recorded 15 minutes of data, according to a statement, which were stored on a disk. 

"The detection of Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object, with the refurbished Allen Telescope Array is an excellent display of the telescope's capabilities and strengths, and a representation of the outstanding hard work put by the ATA team since the start of the refurbishment program in 2019," the team said in the statement.

The statement didn't provide any additional information about the signal it caught. NASA has been investigating a strange glitch that has caused Voyager 1 to send back nonsense data about its location in space. NASA first reported the glitch in May, although it has not specified when the issue began. The agency is confident the spacecraft is safe because if the gibberish data were accurate, the signal from Voyager 1 wouldn't be properly pointed toward Earth.

 

Currently located about 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) away from Earth, 156 times the sun-Earth distance, Voyager 1 is still being tracked by NASA's Deep Space Network, sending a meager 160 bits per second of data back home. For comparison, a regular home broadband connection is measured in megabits per second, that is millions of bits per second.

The spacecraft, which entered what astronomers define as interstellar space 10 years ago, is measuring properties of the interstellar medium beyond the edge of the heliosphere, the bubble of plasma created by the sun that surrounds the planets.

Voyager 1 still has to fly through the Oort Cloud, a spherical disc of comets and asteroids at the farthest reaches of the solar system, more than 200 sun-Earth distances away from the sun. 

No spacecraft has ever visited the Oort Cloud and Voyager 1 will take about 300 years to get there. By then, however, the probe will long be dead as it's expected to run out of fuel to power its systems as early as 2025.

[Sharpshooter]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/27/world/nasa-artemis-launch-science-newsletter-wt-scn/index.html
 

Go Artemis Go! 

[Sharpshooter]

Artemis mission was scrubbed today due to engine issue. 
 

Launch is scheduled for Friday. 

[UnkNuk]

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/remarkably-detailed-images-of-the-sun-mark-new-era-of-solar-physics/?ftag=CAD-03-10abj4f

 

Remarkably Detailed Images of the Sun Mark 'New Era of Solar Physics'

 

It's official. The next-generation Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii is off and running. The telescope got an inauguration celebration at the end of August, and the National Solar Observatory research institute celebrated the occasion by releasing two spectacular Inouye views of our host star this week.

 

NSO calls Inouye the world's most powerful solar telescope, and it's able to observe the sun at an extreme level of detail. "A new era of solar physics is beginning," said Matt Mountain, president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in a statement.

 

[UnkNuk]

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/why-nasas-image-of-jupiters-true-colors-is-so-very-special/?ftag=CAD-03-10abj4f

 

Why NASA's Image of Jupiter's True Colors Is So Very Special

 

Nowadays, every time I view an image of something in the cosmos, I squint in suspicion before reveling in awe. I find myself questioning: Is this actually what that thing looks like? 

 

Most of the time, scientists add artistic flourishes to their space-y images. This isn't just for fun (though it is quite fun), but because a little bit of colorizing goes a long way when emphasizing raw planetary visuals or depicting cosmic light undetectable by human pupils. 

 

What this means, for us spacegazers, is that no matter how hard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope might've tried to convince us, the Carina Nebula doesn't resemble warm, melted toffee. Despite what elementary school textbooks say, Venus isn't a mustard yellow sphere. And contrary to what the Hubble Space Telescope suggests, the Veil Nebula is unfortunately not an iridescent rainbow worm. I could go on.

 

So, whenever I get to glance at an image of a realm beyond Earth I know isn't colorized, I stare a little longer than usual -- and last week we were blessed with one such marvel. 

Behold, the left side of the following image, taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft. It's approximately how Jupiter's surface would appear if we could somehow gawk at it like we admire the moon. King of the solar system, indeed.

 

[UnkNuk]

 

https://www.cnet.com/science/space/listen-to-beautiful-images-from-nasas-james-webb-telescope-turned-into-haunting-music/?ftag=CAD-03-10abj4f

 

Hear Images From NASA's James Webb Telescope Turned Into Haunting Music

 

There's been much fanfare around the first image and data releases from NASA's next-gen James Webb Space Telescope. On Wednesday, the agency gave space fans a new way to experience Webb's observations with a series of soundscapes.

 

The tracks -- including translations of images of the Carina Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula -- use sonification to turn imagery and data into audio experiences. "Music taps into our emotional centers," said musician Matt Russo, a physics professor at the University of Toronto who worked on the project. "Our goal is to make Webb's images and data understandable through sound -- helping listeners create their own mental images."  

 

The "Cosmic Cliffs" of the Carina Nebula, a stunning celestial object full of stars, gas and dust, becomes a sparkling, symphonic palate of sound. The gas and dust have drone-like tones. The orange and red lower part of the image is melodic. Points of bright light are higher in tone.

 

 

[A couple more examples are on the web site.]

[nuckin_futz]

James Webb Space Telescope captures the best image of Neptune's rings in decades

 

Neptune and seven of its known moons (left to right: Triton, Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa). (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

 

The James Webb Space Telescope's tour of the Solar System just shed light on the most distant planet in our cosmic neighborhood. Researchers have shared the observatory's first image of Neptune, and it offers the best view of the icy world's rings in over 30 years. The picture is not only clear, but offers the first-ever look at the dust-based rings in the near-infrared spectrum. At these wavelengths, the planet doesn't look blue — it absorbs so much infrared and visible red light that it takes on a dark, ghostly appearance.

 

The image also shows seven of Neptune's 14 confirmed moons, including Triton (the 'star' at top) as well as Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa. The bright spots and streaks on the planet represent methane-ice clouds, including a swirl surrounding a vortex at the south pole. Triton's attention-grabbing look is the product of both the James Webb telescope's telltale diffraction spikes as well as a condensed nitrogen surface that typically reflects 70 percent of sunlight.

 

A closer view of Neptune and six of its moons (Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa).

 

Neptune is a particularly important target for scientists. At roughly 2.8 billion miles from the Sun, it's far enough to deal with conditions that aren't present for nearer planets, such as very low temperatures and a very long (164-year) orbit. Triton's odd retrograde orbit even suggests might be a Kuiper Belt object that succumbed to Neptune's gravitational pull.

 

This is just the start of studies using the James Webb telescope, and researchers expect to collect more observations of both Neptune and Triton within the next year. As with the recent looks at Mars and Jupiter, astronomers are only collecting preliminary data at this stage. You may have to wait a while before there are further insights that could improve our understandings of Neptune and space at large.

Edited September 21, 2022 by nuckin_futz

[RUPERTKBD]

3 minutes ago, nuckin_futz said:

James Webb Space Telescope captures the best image of Neptune's rings in decades

 

 

Neptune and seven of its known moons (left to right: Triton, Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa). (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

 

The James Webb Space Telescope's tour of the Solar System just shed light on the most distant planet in our cosmic neighborhood. Researchers have shared the observatory's first image of Neptune, and it offers the best view of the icy world's rings in over 30 years. The picture is not only clear, but offers the first-ever look at the dust-based rings in the near-infrared spectrum. At these wavelengths, the planet doesn't look blue — it absorbs so much infrared and visible red light that it takes on a dark, ghostly appearance.

 

The image also shows seven of Neptune's 14 confirmed moons, including Triton (the 'star' at top) as well as Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa. The bright spots and streaks on the planet represent methane-ice clouds, including a swirl surrounding a vortex at the south pole. Triton's attention-grabbing look is the product of both the James Webb telescope's telltale diffraction spikes as well as a condensed nitrogen surface that typically reflects 70 percent of sunlight.

 

A closer view of Neptune and six of its moons (Galatea, Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Proteus and Larissa).

 

Neptune is a particularly important target for scientists. At roughly 2.8 billion miles from the Sun, it's far enough to deal with conditions that aren't present for nearer planets, such as very low temperatures and a very long (164-year) orbit. Triton's odd retrograde orbit even suggests might be a Kuiper Belt object that succumbed to Neptune's gravitational pull.

 

This is just the start of studies using the James Webb telescope, and researchers expect to collect more observations of both Neptune and Triton within the next year. As with the recent looks at Mars and Jupiter, astronomers are only collecting preliminary data at this stage. You may have to wait a while before there are further insights that could improve our understandings of Neptune and space at large.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hmmm.....okay Futz....is this PHYS 101 or ECON 150?

[nuckin_futz]

Just now, RUPERTKBD said:

Hmmm.....okay Futz....is this PHYS 101 or ECON 150?

Caught me before I could edit. No idea how that popped in there.