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The Astronomy Thread
- Thread starter Araxen
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Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!
Go here and give us your nominations!Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
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meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Boeing Starliner fails to reach ISS, an error with time tracking on their crew capsule resulted in thrusters not firing when they should have to put it in the proper orbit.
If it was crewed, astronauts may have been able to take control and attempt to correct the error.
Capsule wasn't lost or anything, just in the wrong orbit and they'll now bring it back down instead of it going to ISS.
www.dw.com
If it was crewed, astronauts may have been able to take control and attempt to correct the error.
Capsule wasn't lost or anything, just in the wrong orbit and they'll now bring it back down instead of it going to ISS.
Boeing Starliner fails, will return to Earth – DW – 12/20/2019
Boeing's Starliner astronaut capsule will return to Earth after an unsuccessful test flight. The glitch deals a blow to NASA's plan to stop reliance on Russia.
www.dw.com
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Mudcrush Durtfeet
Hungry Ogre
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Boeing fucks it up again.
www.cnbc.com
"Bridenstine also speculated that were NASA astronauts actually on board, they would “absolutely” have “been safe,” and that they probably could’ve assisted and overcome the automation error encountered via manual control to save the mission."
'Probably'...
In a different article, it was reported that a NASA administrator said 'a lot of things went right'.
Can NASA kiss Boeing's ass any harder?
Any bets on whether NASA will declare it 'essentially' a success?
Boeing Starliner fails key NASA mission as autonomous flight system malfunctions
It was the latest setback for the aerospace giant after the 737 Max production delays.
"Bridenstine also speculated that were NASA astronauts actually on board, they would “absolutely” have “been safe,” and that they probably could’ve assisted and overcome the automation error encountered via manual control to save the mission."
'Probably'...
In a different article, it was reported that a NASA administrator said 'a lot of things went right'.
Can NASA kiss Boeing's ass any harder?
Any bets on whether NASA will declare it 'essentially' a success?
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Big Phoenix
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Boeing... software... sounds legit.
I liked the articles just before the launch, where Bridenstine was quoted saying "This is NASA's Christmas gift to America!"
And no need of another test, of course.
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Mudcrush Durtfeet
Hungry Ogre
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meStevo
I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Lots of eager speculation about what this means.
www.nationalgeographic.com
Since October Betelgeuse has faded from one of the 10 brightest stars in the sky to just inside the top 20.
Most agree that it's probably not a big deal, as Betelgeuse is a variable, and has established cycles. As the article mentioned, 2 of it's cycles may have overlapped at their lowest points causing this particularly noticeable dimming event. There are other symptoms we'd likely see if this was a precursor to a super nova, but as this article concludes... if this drags on for a longer than explainable period then 'all bets are off'.
Because I'm a dork and thought this cloud looked like a star destroyer, here's a shot of Orion the other night
A giant star is acting strange, and astronomers are buzzing
The red giant Betelgeuse is the dimmest seen in years, prompting some speculation that the star is about to explode. Here's what we know.
www.nationalgeographic.com
Since October Betelgeuse has faded from one of the 10 brightest stars in the sky to just inside the top 20.
Most agree that it's probably not a big deal, as Betelgeuse is a variable, and has established cycles. As the article mentioned, 2 of it's cycles may have overlapped at their lowest points causing this particularly noticeable dimming event. There are other symptoms we'd likely see if this was a precursor to a super nova, but as this article concludes... if this drags on for a longer than explainable period then 'all bets are off'.
Because I'm a dork and thought this cloud looked like a star destroyer, here's a shot of Orion the other night
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Why? At 600 LY, a supernova isn't dangerous. The estimated range at which a supernova could trigger a mass extinction is estimated between 100 and 50 LY. At 150 LY, you'd get the equivalent of a couple CT-scans per year, which might get an uptick in cancer rates. At 600LY, it's totally negligible (remember: effects diminish at an inverse square from distance).
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Hekotat
FoH nuclear response team
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Maybe I'm thinking of a different star then. I thought that was the one that was close enough to fuck our shit up.
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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There's maybe two "dangerous" stars that could cause meaningful damage to the biosphere, but not on the order of an ELE.
List of supernova candidates - Wikipedia
Lambourne
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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The one that's been in the media is WR104, because it's also likely to go supernova "soon". Although much further away than Betelgeuse, it could trigger a gamma ray burst and its axis of rotation (along which the burst would eminate) is pointed in our direction.
I read Phil Plait's "Death from the Skies" a few years ago, it's a fun read all about the dangers the cosmos could send our way. Also has a pretty good explanation about how supernovas work, I liked that's a bit more in depth than the average popular science doc, but still simple enough to understand without a degree in physics.
TL;DR is that it's all extremely unlikely and mostly impossible to defend against, so you're better off worrying about the things on Earth that you can affect.
I read Phil Plait's "Death from the Skies" a few years ago, it's a fun read all about the dangers the cosmos could send our way. Also has a pretty good explanation about how supernovas work, I liked that's a bit more in depth than the average popular science doc, but still simple enough to understand without a degree in physics.
TL;DR is that it's all extremely unlikely and mostly impossible to defend against, so you're better off worrying about the things on Earth that you can affect.
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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