The Astronomy Thread

Ukerric · Jan 22, 2020

Cynical said:
I'm more leaning towards the thinking we wouldn't have much effect here, if say a neutron star merger happened at that distance, but the science is still new, we have no clear idea what is going on in the local area, when one of these events occurs. Are they actually having an effect on physical matter, beyond the area of the event? Or are they just blips in "spacetime" rippling the fabric of the universe, us along with it, with no real physical effect on it, but sensitive equipment can pick up the effect?

Neutron stars are very energetic and material objects. Two neutron stars merging produce a "kilonova", so-called because it's about 1000 times the effect of a normal nova. A supernova would be 10-100 times that, but it's still a very violent event if you're close.

But if something happened within Betelgeuse that was energetic enough to cause gravity waves, all bets are off regarding the size of the supernova it could produce. We might be looking at a hypernova instead... which would be bad at that distance.

ShakyJake · Jan 22, 2020

Ukerric said:
But if something happened within Betelgeuse that was energetic enough to cause gravity waves, all bets are off regarding the size of the supernova it could produce. We might be looking at a hypernova instead... which would be bad at that distance.

Gravity waves travel at the speed of light, right? So if Betelgeuse did go supernova we would've seen it by now. My guess this is an unrelated coincidence.

I went outside to look at Orion and Betelgeuse is noticeably dimmer. That's pretty wild that we can see the difference with the naked eye.

khorum · Jan 22, 2020

These insane anti-Musk people are getting insufferable. Ecocuck lawyers are harping up a 2nd-year law student's paper to get astronomers to sue the FCC to stop SpaceX's starlink deployment:

SpaceX's license to launch hundreds of internet satellites may have violated the law, experts say. Astronomers could sue the FCC.

SpaceX is planning a mega-constellation of thousands of internet satellites called Starlink. But the FCC didn't perform an environmental review.

www.businessinsider.com

The two "law experts" are actually just lawyers for a couple environmentalist PACs that love to spam NEPA complaints to stop things like gas pipelines and offshore drilling by exploiting the utterly worthless 1970 NEPA law. The Law requires federal agencies to conduct environmental impact studies before going forward for major capital projects, but the law is clear about the categorical exemptions to the impact studies. Even after the EPA and other fed agencies complete their NEPA compliance reports, these fucks spam more nitpicky environmental impact complaints to permanently bog down critical energy and infrastructure programs for shit like saving some dumb minnow or someshit.

Now they're coming after SpaceX because some butthurt astronomer got her long-exposure shot ruined by the starlink launch.

Wingz · Jan 27, 2020

This guy does some space videos that I never really see anywhere else:

meStevo · Jan 30, 2020

RIP Spitzer telescope. Final commands/signal just sent/received moments ago.

ShakyJake · Jan 30, 2020

Wingz said:
This guy does some space videos that I never really see anywhere else:

He also has another channel, "Event Horizon" where he performs interviews and such.

Another great YouTube channel is "Isaac Arthur". He has a minor speech impediment which takes some getting used to.

meStevo · Jan 31, 2020

BrutulTM · Jan 31, 2020

khorum said:
These insane anti-Musk people are getting insufferable. Ecocuck lawyers are harping up a 2nd-year law student's paper to get astronomers to sue the FCC to stop SpaceX's starlink deployment:

SpaceX's license to launch hundreds of internet satellites may have violated the law, experts say. Astronomers could sue the FCC.

SpaceX is planning a mega-constellation of thousands of internet satellites called Starlink. But the FCC didn't perform an environmental review.

www.businessinsider.com

The two "law experts" are actually just lawyers for a couple environmentalist PACs that love to spam NEPA complaints to stop things like gas pipelines and offshore drilling by exploiting the utterly worthless 1970 NEPA law. The Law requires federal agencies to conduct environmental impact studies before going forward for major capital projects, but the law is clear about the categorical exemptions to the impact studies. Even after the EPA and other fed agencies complete their NEPA compliance reports, these fucks spam more nitpicky environmental impact complaints to permanently bog down critical energy and infrastructure programs for shit like saving some dumb minnow or someshit.

Now they're coming after SpaceX because some butthurt astronomer got her long-exposure shot ruined by the starlink launch.

These "environmental groups" are pure scum. The same sorts of people are constantly suing agricultural people as well. The group is usually made up of about 5 people, 4 lawyers and a secretary, and they make their living trumping up lawsuits against whatever industry they can get money out of and taking donations from well-meaning people who care about the environment but are too lazy to do their homework. Fucking leeches.

Mudcrush Durtfeet · Feb 7, 2020

Doesn't look good for Boening's Starliner.

NASA safety panel calls for reviews after second Starliner software problem

A NASA safety panel seeks reviews of Boeing after a software problem during a CST-100 Starliner test flight that could have led to a “catastrophic” failure.

spacenews.com

After reading this I now know why I didn't remember any in flight abort test for the Starliner. Boeing didn't do one, apparently doing it via simulation or some such. That's not very reassuring.

khorum · Feb 7, 2020

They're not due for a crewed flight soon though are they?

Mudcrush Durtfeet · Feb 7, 2020

Who knows?

MusicForFish · Feb 7, 2020

khorum said:
They're not due for a crewed flight soon though are they?

It was supposed to be in the second half of this year.

Ukerric · Feb 8, 2020

MusicForFish said:
It was supposed to be in the second half of this year.

At this point, NASA has asked for the same in-depth review of the way Boeing operate that they did on SpaceX. When you add the 737Max software woes to the two mission-critical bugs found, it paints a picture of systemic bad practices.

(you know it will be found that both dev and Q&A are subcontracted to the lowest bidder in India, right?)

Also, it has to be noted that all the "If only there had been people on board, it would have been a success" proclamations at the press conference after the test now resonate hollow: they already knew they had to patch the software in emergency before landing the craft, and that's possibly not something that would have happened (the full software review) if there had been manual intervention ("okay, gratz guys for your reflexes, we'll check that once you all land back").

So that's why the Congress committee absolutely wanted to smash that bill forcing NASA to spend a shitton of money through Boeing. They knew Boeing is one review away from being kicked out of the entire space program.

khorum · Feb 8, 2020

I mean those would be separate teams. Entirely separate divisions in fact.

If anything the most fishy thing about Starliner is that SNC's Dream Chaser space plane is ALREADY AWARDED the contracts for five CRS-2 missions as early as 2021---and it's gonna be running on ULA's Vulcan for all five missions. Whatever niche Starliner was hoping to fill has already been filled both on the Spacex and ULA sides.

Mudcrush Durtfeet · Feb 9, 2020

It's supposed to do cargo missions, didn't find anything saying it was intended to take humans anywhere. The launch date seems to be reliant on Blue Origins BE-4 engine being available, which is really unknown at this time. Also the Vulcan rocket being available, and also the craft itself being ready.

I'm not counting on it launching next year, as ULA is involved (which is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed or somesuch).

khorum · Feb 9, 2020

They have to use the Blue Origin BE-4s because they didn't buy enough of the Russian RD-180 engines before the sanctions hit LOL. I haven't heard much about it since they signed that deal a few years ago though.

The BE-4 is supposed to be pretty fancy though. Full-cycle methalox engine like the raptor.

Oldbased · Feb 9, 2020

NorthRop had to scrub the launch a few minutes ago to non nominal readings minutes before launch. While not super uncommon, good to see all those taxpayer billions being spent on extra cocaine this way. SpaceX would have already delivered it via car to the ISS.

Mudcrush Durtfeet · Feb 13, 2020

khorum said:
They have to use the Blue Origin BE-4s because they didn't buy enough of the Russian RD-180 engines before the sanctions hit LOL. I haven't heard much about it since they signed that deal a few years ago though.

The BE-4 is supposed to be pretty fancy though. Full-cycle methalox engine like the raptor.

It is like the Raptor in that sense, but it is not full flow like the Raptor is. Still hasn't actually lifted a rocket either, so dunno if they'll make the 2021 date. As of early 2019 the info I found suggested that BO had hit a roadblock at 70% of rated thrust for BE-4 and were perhaps back to the drawing board. Info about it in detail is scarce I think.

Kirun · Feb 13, 2020

meStevo said:
View attachment 246869

Gorgeous image. Reminds me of my dirt-star after a night of .25 cent hotwings.

Pops · Feb 14, 2020

To the moon.

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