Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED) - Part 1

[Yowza]

And your point would be...?

LOL... For the sake of musing (As a result, I did edit my post but didn't realize you replied yet I swear). What got me going is I keep reading "alien" and "humanity" over and over again while reading through this thread so wanted to have fun with developing a thought.

Alien, Humanity, Nothingness, Somethingness so on and so forth...

The point is there is no point. Purpose is behind sentience if not the question is why?

 

[Yowza]

What is truly alien?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

alien | Definition of alien in English by Oxford Dictionaries

Any other questions?

 

[Yowza]

Of course the simple answer is a living creature not of this planet and will be content if scientists can at least satisfy the definition that way. .

A sentience within nothingness/empty space that is totally apart from humanity I suppose could be 1 definition of alien. A pure nothingness surrounding the echo of one's earthly existence perhaps can also make a human's existence alien eventually too in some sense?

Where are the aliens will be the continuous question humanity always asks itself until contact is made in 1 sense or another.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

We get it. You're high.

 

[Yowza]

alien | Definition of alien in English by Oxford Dictionaries

Any other questions?

When will contact be made to truly point out what is an alien so as to avoid having an identity crisis?

 

[Yowza]

We get it. You're high.

Well, haven't ate very well today and blood sugar probably bit off from too much candy. Overall, just having fun before have to go to bed but I have read up on some books here and there. Always questions more so than answers to the point where I might as well be if think about too much.
Will humanity reach an existential crisis at some point I suppose is another question.

 

[jolldan]

I shall look out for it passing Odym.

 

[Dr.]

Even in color, the Moon is black & white.

 

[Teelie]

You can only tell it is color by looking at the stripe of colors on that probe. It's just barely got some blue, green and an orangish color to it.

 

[Venom'sDad]

Farout

 

[NewYorkSpider]

Now we have two interstellar probes...

Voyager 2 probe 'leaves Solar System'

I find this so fascinating how far they've gone out. I look forward to hearing in the future where they are.

 

[Dr.]

Winter Solstice! - the shortest day of the year.*

But not the day of the earliest sunset and the latest sunrise. The earliest sunset actually happened several days ago**; and since then, sunsets have been getting (ever so slightly) later. Meanwhile, even though the days are getting longer overall, sunrises continue to occur at later and later times. And this will only stop and reverse around the first week in January. At which point, the days get longer from - as it were - both directions.

* In the Northern Hemisphere; it’s the longest day of the year in the Southern.
** The actual number of days varies, depending on latitude.

Explanation here:

Year's Earliest Sunset Not on the Winter Solstice

 

[Yowza]

The universe continuously expands ever thinner as the spacetime fabric begins to wear and the lights in the sky become ever dimmer.

A future in which radio signals are still echoing light years away from the barren rock that was once earth through a vast dark alien nothingness. Where is the somethingness?

 

[Dr.]

50 years ago today… the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the Moon. And it’s also the anniversary of the famous “Earthrise” photograph. NASA just posted a video recreation of that event:

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

Happy anniversary to Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders!

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

A Day On MARS - Aakash Gautam Courtesy: Morning Sunrise- NASA/JPL/University of Arizona Noon- NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University Evening Sunset- NASA Night- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

You Are Here! - Infographic created by Aakash Gautam.

 

[Dr.]

Left is first image of 2014 MU69 - aka “Ultima Thule” - taken from about 800,000 km away. Right is artist conception showing the axis of rotation.

NASA photo, sourced from CNN

But according to Phil Plait (the “bad astronomer”) it still isn’t certain whether Ultima Thule is bowling pin shaped or two separate bodies in very tight orbit. Better pictures are due in the next day or so.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

First ever landing on the far side of the moon

China mission lands on Moon's far side

 

[Yowza]

Left is first image of 2014 MU69 - aka “Ultima Thule” - taken from about 800,000 km away. Right is artist conception showing the axis of rotation.

NASA photo, sourced from CNN

But according to Phil Plait (the “bad astronomer”) it still isn’t certain whether Ultima Thule is bowling pin shaped or two separate bodies in very tight orbit. Better pictures are due in the next day or so.

NASA says Ultima Thule looks like a snowman. You see BB-8, fancy cheese

Can it be a... Friend coming into focus?

He says through never ending silence that it's cold out here but just wants to be left alone. His name is Mr. Frosty. There's a stillness all around him...

An imploded compass with meaningless direction in the ever expansive present of ever constant death. Reality or is there?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

 

[Micromind]

First ever landing on the far side of the moon

China mission lands on Moon's far side

Great achievement !

Best Photos From China's Far Side Moon Landing | Smart News | Smithsonian

Yutu-2 rover leaves the Chang'e-4 lander and rolls across the surface of the Lunar far side.

Yutu-2 sets off on its inaugural journey.

 

[Micromind]

I can't... this is too hilarious but awsme.



Turns Out NASA Creates Posters For Every Space Mission And They’re Hilariously Awkward

 

[Flash525]

What is truly alien?

Depends on the circumstances; if we one day take to vast space travel and land on another populated world, we'd be (by definition) the aliens.