Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED)

[jaguarr]

This is the perfect thread to tell my favorite Star Trek joke in:

Ohhhhh! To your battlestations! The Klingon's are invading Uranus!!!!





(I didn't say it was a GOOD joke. ).

jag

 

[Elijya]

Yup, APOD rules

Here's something a little closer to home, it's call an Analemma, it's the path the sun traces across the sky if you take a picture of it at the same time of day every day for a year from the same spot. A better explanation is here http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070617.html

 

[Super Kal]

now this thread I can really truly get into... I've always been fascinated by astronomy

my most favorite object in the sky:

Messier Object 31 (Andromeda Galaxy)

 

[Elijya]

You might want to clarify what you're posting for other viewers, not everyone's gonna recognize Andromeda.

 

[Super Kal]

The stuff that they find in outer space is just so incredibly amazing, it literally boggles my mind


Spiral Galaxy Messier Object 81

Eagle Head Nebula

NGC 908 (spiral galaxy)

 

[Whiskey Tango]

The Horsehead Nebula
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070527.html

 

[Super Kal]

that can be found in the Orion Nebula (M42)
http://www.galaxyphoto.com/high_res/jw_orion_ccd_film_sword.jpg

lol, yeah, don't count on me posting it in here

 

[Arcturus]

Excellent thread! I love Astronomy, it's a personal hobby and interest of mine. I have a deep interest of galaxies, stars, planets, and everything about the universe, all the facts and mysteries.

It's good to see others at this site who share the same interest!

 

[Elijya]

Here's a picture of the sun set.... on mars

 

[Elijya]

And here's M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy. It's eating it's neighbor.

 

[Super Kal]

To really appreciate V838, you need the time lapse pictures

that stuns me... it looks like an enormous wormhole .

 

[Elijya]

you mean, like a wormhole as portrayed in movies?

 

[Super Kal]

I was thinking more along the lines of DS9 actually...

 

[Elijya]

I thought you meant DS9 too, but didn't want to presume you were a trekkie

 

[redmarvel]

NASA's new toilet to turn urine into drinking water

NASA has agreed to buy a Russian space toilet for $19 million US that filters urine into drinkable water.

 

[uchiha_itachi]

nice... lol

 

[redmarvel]

Happy Red Planet - "On the Net"

Five different missions are beaming data back to Earth.

Perhaps the most celebrated is the Mars Exploration Rover Mission <http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html> which is now in its fourth year on Mars. It has been one of our most spectacular successes in space. You will recall that when the twin Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed on Mars in January 2004 NASA’s scientists and engineers were hoping their mission would last at least ninety sols, or Martian days. The Martian day <http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24> is 24.66 hours long. The rovers have now exceeded what NASA engineers jokingly refer to as their “warranty” by more than twelve times. Spirit has driven seven kilometers across the Martian surface and Opportunity has logged ten kilometers. Together they have taken more than one hundred and seventy thousand photographs.

Mars Global Surveyor <http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs> is the oldest of the robots studying Mars, arriving in 1997. It circles the planet in a polar orbit every two hours, four hundred kilometers above the surface. Its longevity has led to the discovery of strong evidence that water still flows from time to time on Mars. Comparison of photographs of a gully taken in 2001, and again in 2005, show a new deposit of materials that appears to have been carried downslope by a transient flood.

Mars Odyssey,<http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/index.html> was designed to map the chemical and mineral composition of the Martian surface. It has led to the discovery of vast amounts of water ice just beneath the surface at the polar caps. Odyssey has also mapped the radiation environment on Mars and has served as a relay for Spirit and Opportunity, sending 85 percent of the data from the rovers to Earth.

Mars Express <http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html> is the European Space Agency’s Mars probe. In addition to providing high-resolution imaging and mineralogical mapping of the surface, it is also investigating the atmosphere of Mars and is making the first radar sounding measurements of the ionosphere and subsurface structure of the planet. As planned, the Mars Express mission was also to have included a lander called the Beagle 2. Alas, the Beagle never called home after landing on Mars and was declared lost. Images taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggest that the lander came down hard in a crater on Isidis Planitia.

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter <http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/main/index.html> or try <http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mro> is the newcomer on the Mars block, arriving in March of 2006. Its task is to uncover the history of water on Mars, using an array of instruments: a high-resolution camera, imaging spectrometer, context camera, ground-penetrating radar, atmospheric sounder, global color camera, radio and accelerometers.

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine - August 2007 - For the full Article follow the link below

http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0708/Onthenet.shtml

 

[Arkady Rossovich]

I wonder..what is the largest galaxy ever seen in pictures?

 

[Mike_D202]

I just dont understand why NASA doesnt build something like this:

Instead of something that looks like it was built in a garage.

 

[AhabTheArab]

remember to aim your eyes to the sky when it gets very dark tonight. the yearly meteor shower will be visible, and with a new moon, there will be no light to block the show. that is unless you live close to a city, with all the light disturbance and what not, you are **** outta luck.

they will be easily seen from anywhere on the planet, look towards the North East and you will spot a red dot, that is known as Mars.

sure its nerdy, but you rarely get to see them with such force as you will tonight.

 

[Super Kal]

the Antennae Galaxies

 

[Arcturus]

remember to aim your eyes to the sky when it gets very dark tonight. the yearly meteor shower will be visible, and with a new moon, there will be no light to block the show. that is unless you live close to a city, with all the light disturbance and what not, you are **** outta luck.

they will be easily seen from anywhere on the planet, look towards the North East and you will spot a red dot, that is known as Mars.

sure its nerdy, but you rarely get to see them with such force as you will tonight.

Why is it nerdy?

IMO, Astronomy is wonderful and I appreciate it. I always look to the sky whenever I can and wonder about the universe around us.

 

[Super Kal]

this is Messier Object 101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, located in the Ursa Major constellation...




it's 170,000 light years across... nearly twice the size of the Milky Way Galaxy



that's a huge b***h!

 

[Arcturus]

That's such an amazing picture, and to think that there are so many galaxies out there with so many stars, with the potential of so many planets orbiting those stars, i'm more then positive there has to be other life out there. One can wonder.

 

[Super Kal]

it's hard to grasp how enormous these galaxies are from these pics...