The Astronomy Thread

CHARIS is able to isolate the reflective light from planets larger than Jupiter.

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So my guess is... resolution not so much. Spectrography, yes. Combined with information about the star and some reasoned guesses...

We're finding the gas giants directly without having to rely entirely on observed eclipses (a years long process) or detailed (also a years long process) gravitational analysis.

+1 method for detection of exoplanets. +0 in the resolution of exoplanets. +0 in the scale of exoplanets thus confirmed. Directly at least. With this much information maybe you can deduce the presence of smaller unobservable planets... through a process of years long observation and gravitational analysis.

What Is Dark Matter? Prime Candidate Gets Profiled

The search for elusive dark matter may have just gotten a big boost.

Scientists have calculated the predicted mass of the axion, a hypothetical particle that some astronomers think may be the main constituent of dark matter. The new finding should greatly aid the hunt for axions, and could therefore help solve the longstanding dark-matter mystery, study team members said.

Full moon tonight while the moon is the closest it's been to earth since the 40's. Not sure if a human can tell the difference but it's a pretty bright moon.

Borzak said:

Full moon tonight while the moon is the closest it's been to earth since the 40's. Not sure if a human can tell the difference but it's a pretty bright moon.

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Global Mooning strikes again. I wish the moon deniers would get a clue.

Borzak said:

Full moon tonight while the moon is the closest it's been to earth since the 40's. Not sure if a human can tell the difference but it's a pretty bright moon.

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Yeah it was very noticeably brighter. It caught my eye immediately.

Tortfeasor said:

Yeah it was very noticeably brighter. It caught my eye immediately.

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What happened to your stretched machete avatar?

The moon gets bright as fuck in winter.

But that's mostly just because the air has less water in it and shit. I noticed it was bright, but couldn't say if it was brighter. I've seen it about that bright in december/january.

You really notice a full moon if you go someplace without artificial lighting, not to say this super moon wasn't the brightest for actual reasons. Its honestly a remarkable experience to be far from people lights on both a new moon, and full moon. The darkness is unreal, but the amount of light the full moon casts is equally impressive.

SpaceX filing to launch global internet satellite cabal.

SpaceX just asked permission to launch 4,425 satellites — more than orbit Earth today

Lifted from the article above.

Here are some more details directly from SpaceX's filing, which are notable:

• High capacity: Each satellite in the SpaceX System provides aggregate downlink capacity to users ranging from 17 to 23 Gbps, depending on the gain of the user terminal involved. Assuming an average of 20 Gbps, the 1600 satellites in the Initial Deployment would have a total aggregate capacity of 32 Tbps. SpaceX will periodically improve the satellites over the course of the multi-year deployment of the system, which may further increase capacity.
• High adaptability: The system leverages phased array technology to dynamically steer a large pool of beams to focus capacity where it is needed. Optical inter-satellite links permit flexible routing of traffic on-orbit. Further, the constellation ensures that frequencies can be reused effectively across different satellites to enhance the flexibility and capacity and robustness of the overall system.
• Broadband services: The system will be able to provide broadband service at speeds of up to 1 Gbps per end user. The system's use of low-Earth orbits will allow it to target latencies of approximately 25-35 ms.
• Worldwide coverage: With deployment of the first 800 satellites, the system will be able to provide U.S. and international broadband connectivity; when fully deployed, the system will add capacity and availability at the equator and poles for truly global coverage.
• Low cost: SpaceX is designing the overall system from the ground up with cost- effectiveness and reliability in mind, from the design and manufacturing of the space and ground-based elements, to the launch and deployment of the system using SpaceX launch services, development of the user terminals, and end-user subscription rates.
• Ease of use: SpaceX's phased-array user antenna design will allow for a low-profile user terminal that is easy to mount and operate on walls or roofs.
• The satellites will last between 5 years and 7 years and decay within a year after that.

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Pretty interesting.

Only 5-7 year duration for all of them seems like a ton of effort for not enough payoff.

Malakriss said:

Only 5-7 year duration for all of them seems like a ton of effort for not enough payoff.

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Presumably they might replace satellites, or someone would?

Dandain said:

SpaceX filing to launch global internet satellite cabal.

SpaceX just asked permission to launch 4,425 satellites — more than orbit Earth today

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You're basically talking 2-3 launches per day to replace your satellite fleet every 5-7 years. I don't see how that is financially achievable.

On further reading, mass-wise at least, a single F9 rocket could lift nearly 60 in one go. Assuming they could fit that many inside a single vehicle. Doubtful, the article I'm reading says they would be about the size of a compact car, but I'd guess they could fit several at least in a single launch.

Skanda said:

You're basically talking 2-3 launches per day to replace your satellite fleet every 5-7 years. I don't see how that is financially achievable.

On further reading, mass-wise at least, a single F9 rocket could lift nearly 60 in one go. Assuming they could fit that many inside a single vehicle. Doubtful, the article I'm reading says they would be about the size of a compact car, but I'd guess they could fit several at least in a single launch.

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Falcon heavy could do 120+, as high as 140 but I left some room there for whatever will have to hold those satellites and deploy them. The ITS Booster (First stage mars launcher) could do 750+ per launch, which makes this sound almost reasonable. It'll be pretty fucking cool to be able to go anywhere in the world and have high speed internet access.

NASA seeing strange blue spheres.

NASA cameras capture huge blue spherical object | Daily Mail Online

Though it may just be the Sun and NASA cameras are going fubar (HT reddit).

Clearly some kind of temporal space anomaly.