Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED)

[Arc-Light]

[YT]r-zt8qnTcLM[/YT]

be glad we don't get that on planet Earth

fixed it for ya....derp never mind vid isn't working anyways....

 

[Morg]

fixed it for ya....derp never mind vid isn't working anyways....

oops

a bit loopy due to the meds for this flu, fixed mine too

 

[:eek:]

New Type of Alien Planet Is a Steamy 'Waterworld'

http://www.space.com/14634-alien-planet-steamy-waterworld-gj1214b.html

 

[:eek:]

'Warp-Speed' Planets Flung Out of Galaxy on Wild Ride

http://www.space.com/15023-warp-speed-planets-light-speed.html

 

[Mike_D202]

There we go, let's just use our own stars to sling-shot us to other planets

 

[:eek:]

Billions of Habitable Alien Planets Should Exist in Our Galaxy

http://www.livescience.com/19327-billions-habitable-alien-planets-red-dwarfs.html

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Right, or they can start in the American southwest or the Gobi desert. Dubai is working on a entire city of the future, with natural cooling, no cars on the roads , where all travel is done by electric, automated vehicles underground.

The Sahara is full of underwater rivers, and at one time in human history, it housed many Great Lakes that nurtured humanity. Some say if the wobble of the Earth changes and it recieves more rain, they could spring back up again.

We have lots of room for improvement back home. I think we won't be able to be space trekkers until we find a way to harness renewable clean energy and end put an end to energy politics.

 

[:eek:]

Giant Alien Planet May Have Split into 2 Earth-Size Worlds

http://www.space.com/15467-giant-alien-planet-splits-2-worlds.html

 

[Venom'sDad]

Interesting....

 

[Bim]

Astronomers find new planet capable of supporting life

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...nd-new-planet-capable-of-supporting-life.html

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Time to ressurect this thread!!!

 

[Maximum Carnage]

http://news.yahoo.com/sun-turns-nyc-manhattanhenge-tonight-201401249.html

Manhattanhenge! Some brilliant photo-ops if you ask me. The sun looks amazing through the city-streets!

 

[Bim]

Very interesting: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...tropical-lakes-methane-cassini-space-science/

Saturn Moon Has Tropical "Great Salt Lake," Methane Marshes

Titan has equatorial oasis as large as Utah landmark, NASA craft hints.

Andrew Fazekas
for National Geographic News
Published June 13, 2012

Saturn's hazy moon Titan has a huge tropical lake and marshes of liquid methane near its equator, suggest surprising new images from a NASA spacecraft.

Titan is the only moon in the solar system to host a significant atmosphere—a roiling haze of organic molecules, which some scientists think might include the ingredients for life as we know it.

It's also the only object in the solar system, other than Earth, to have bodies of liquid on its surface—previous data from NASA's Cassini orbiter revealed hundreds of lakes near the frigid moon's poles.

With surface temperatures hovering around -297 degrees Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius), Titan is far too cold to have liquid water. Instead, the lakes are filled with liquid hydrocarbons, such as methane and ethane.

Now, for the first time, Cassini images show dark regions that appear to be pools of hydrocarbons around the moon's equator.

"We detect evidence for the presence of a tropical lake with an area of 2,400 square kilometers [927 square miles]—as large as the Great Salt Lake in Utah—with a depth of at least a meter [three feet]," said study leader Caitlin Griffith, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

"Our work also suggests the existence of a handful of smaller and shallower ponds, similar to marshes on Earth, with knee- to ankle-level depths."

Oases of Liquid Methane

Based on the polar lakes and other evidence, scientists think methane—the main component of natural gas—might play a similar role as water on Earth, cycling between the atmosphere and the surface.
But until now, Titan's lower latitudes were thought to be dry, filled mostly with rippling sand dunes.

Scientists had previously seen only hints of moistness in Titan's tropical areas. For instance, in 2004 the European Huygens lander set down near the moon's equator and captured views of what appeared to be rain runoff.

In addition, later Cassini images turned up evidence of storms in this supposedly parched region.

Still, Griffith and colleagues think the newfound lakes can't be explained by rainfall, since a number of circulation models say that significant bodies of liquid shouldn't be stable at the moon's tropics based on precipitation alone.

"Any liquid deposited in the tropical surface evaporates quickly and eventually is transported by Titan's circulation to the poles, where the large polar lakes appear," Griffith said.

"Lakes at the poles are easy to explain, but lakes in the tropics are not."
One possibility, Griffith said, is that "our detection of tropical lakes suggests that a subterranean source of methane may flood the surface and dampen the ground, in essence creating oases on Titan."

Tropical Lakes Feed Methane Cycle?

While it's unclear how long the tropical lakes might stay on Titan's surface, planetary scientist Oded Aharonson agrees that their most likely source would be subterranean.

"The possibility of persistent liquid bodies in the low latitudes ... would point to an active subsurface hydrology on Titan," said Aharonson, of the California Institute of Technology, who was not part of the study team.
In fact, Aharonson thinks the tropical lakes could be the long-sought global source of liquid hydrocarbons on Titan—the region where the compounds first bubble up to the surface to feed the moon's methane cycle.

"If the equatorial regions have subsurface methane emerging to the surface," he said, "that would be a viable source."

The tropical lakes on Titan are described in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

 

[Kane52630]

Huge Asteroid to Fly by Earth Thursday

http://news.yahoo.com/huge-asteroid-fly-earth-thursday-watch-online-212921559.html

An asteroid the size of a city block is set to fly by Earth Thursday (June 14), and you may be able to watch it happen live.

The near-Earth asteroid 2012 LZ1, which astronomers think is about 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide, will come within 14 lunar distances of Earth Thursday evening. While there's no danger of an impact on this pass, the huge space rock may come close enough to be caught on camera.

That's what the team running the Slooh Space Camera thinks, anyway. The online skywatching service will train a telescope on the Canary Islands on 2012 LZ1 and stream the footage live, beginning at 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday (0000 GMT Friday).

You can watch the asteroid flyby on Slooh's website, found here: http://events.slooh.com/

2012 LZ1 just popped onto astronomers' radar this week. It was discovered on the night of June 10-11 by Rob McNaught and his colleagues, who were peering through the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

That's scary how it was "just found" .. Smh.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

Did anyone manage to catch the Transit of Venus. It was overcast down here in south Florida.

 

[childeroland]

Overcast where I live. I had to watch a livestream.

 

[Maximum Carnage]

At least I got some sweet pairs of eclipse shades. Allows me to directly look at the sun. It looks like an orange moon.

 

[Venom'sDad]

5th Moon Discovered!!!

Wow!!!

 

[DBryan]

[YT]cZlo0wHx9bk[/YT]

YES!!!

 

[chesslover]

We come in peace.

 

[C. Lee]

Glad to see it made it down safe.

 

[Nathan]

Meh, notify me when something really exciting happens. Like actual alien contact.

 

[PemLam]

Meh, notify me when something really exciting happens. Like actual alien contact.

 

[Kane52630]

Meh, notify me when something really exciting happens. Like actual alien contact.