The Astronomy Thread

Borzak · Jul 6, 2024

Kajiimagi said:
NGC-4656 Hockey Stick or Crowbar Galaxy. 30 million light-years from earth.

View attachment 535417

Looks good. I'm going to order one soon as I check my tablet to make sure the app works on it. I'm sure it will it's a Samsung but I need to dig it out to be sure. Soon as I get back from the Mayo clinic next week, did notice it's $50 more on Amazon compared to order it from Astronomics, the only other place I looked. Too bad I didn't have an appointment earlier when they were really having the northern lights. I saw them in AK but they were pretty tame while I was there.

Aaron · Jul 8, 2024

Decided to look up all the people who have ventured further than LEO and found out that it's pretty depressing to think about it. They are all born in an 8 year period from 1928 to 1936. The youngest person that has been past LEO is Thomas Mattingly, born in 1936 (and died in 2023). The youngest person still alive is Rusty Schweickart born Oct 25 1935, though Charles Duke is a few weeks older (both 88), and Harison Schmitt a few months (89). There are 8 people still alive who have seen the Earth from a distance with their own eyes. Not quite what most of the world expected would be the case in our current year if you think back to the expectations people had back in the late 60s and early 70s.

Still, one hopes that a new crop will soon start to see the Earth from afar. BTW perhaps this line of thinking has come about by me listening to the audiobook of James A. Mitchener's Space which details the chronical of the US's early space program. Good book. Paints a completely different picture of life in the USA than we are used to here.

Lenardo · Jul 8, 2024

i want seestar to make something bigger with a better sensor
the sensor is only 2 MP for 500 bucks it is great for what it does.

i would like it to be upgraded to a larger size for the sensor and the aperture.

say in the 12 MP or higher for the sensor and if the aperture was offered at say 80 107 or 130 mm
would be a killer item imo, depending on how much it was.

Kajiimagi · Jul 8, 2024

I really love my seestar. I had a 12" Meade telescope that I paid $4k pre-covid dollars for. It was too much telescope for my skill level. Had to sell it in 2022 when I had back surgery #7.

I got an S50 for my birthday and I've loved it. I was just looking at a gallery on gizmodo.com of space pics and turned out I'd shot a few of them too. Not as good for sure (this was pro equipment) but my little $500 beast could show you the details.

Yeah I'm sure ZWO will do an update / new model and as long as they don't get stupid with the cost I'll get one too.

EDIT: added pic of 12" scope

MusicForFish · Jul 9, 2024

One of you guys give me a response for this dude for why the water isn't free floating out of that glass? The retarded comment about force has already been dunked hard.

Captain Suave · Jul 9, 2024

MusicForFish said:
One of you guys give me a response for this dude for why the water isn't free floating out of that glass? The retarded comment about force has already been dunked hard.

"“Water molecules like to stick to glass and also to other water molecules more than they like to disperse in the air,” Jordan Bimm, a postdoctoral researcher and space historian at the University of Chicago, told the AP. “So if there is no external force, water remains in ‘clumps’ in the weightless environment, and in this case inside the glass.”

He added that surface tension — a property of a liquid’s surface that helps define its shape and allows it to resist external forces — “also works to help maintain the static shape and presents the illusion of how water would act on the ground.”

A separate video posted on Weibo, a social media platform popular in China, in June 2022 by China’s manned space program shows behind-the-scenes footage of the Shenzhou-13 crew preparing for their livestream lesson by carefully pouring water into the glass through a straw so that it stays in place. It also clearly shows strips adhering the glass to the table."

Video of water in a glass on China’s space station is scientifically sound, not proof of ‘deception’

A compilation of footage filmed aboard Tiangong, the Chinese space station, has raised suspicion online about its actual location, thanks to the glass of water.

apnews.com

Burns · Jul 9, 2024

MusicForFish said:
One of you guys give me a response for this dude for why the water isn't free floating out of that glass? The retarded comment about force has already been dunked hard.

When he's so thoroughly stupefied, why do you need more proof? Why are you still reading these fucking people and subjecting us to their retardation. Your schtick with this shit is getting thin when it spills over from the other threads where we are prepared for that idiocy, if we so choose to read it.

Also, I guess he has never had a drink in a car or an airplane, not to mention the speed we are all moving around the sun, which is in turn, moving around the galactic center, which is in turn moving around the center of gravity of our local cluster, which is in turn moving around the center of the super cluster, which is in turn moving...

Kajiimagi · Jul 9, 2024

NGC-4631 The Whale Galaxy
Approx. 30 million light years away from earth.

Processed with Siril, Starnet++, and GraXpert.

#SeestarS50

Kajiimagi · Jul 12, 2024

IC-1318 The Butterfly Nebula Approx. 1800-2000 light years from earth.

Processed using Siril,Starnet++, and GraXpert

Using a Seestar S50

Borzak · Jul 13, 2024

Meade and Orion Cease Operations — Maybe

Two well-known telescope suppliers have come to an end.

skyandtelescope.org

Rumors are swirling after two former giants in the astronomy industry closed their doors earlier this week. Pretty sure Orion is just an importer that specifies stuff and brands them their own.

Kajiimagi · Jul 13, 2024

Borzak said:
Meade and Orion Cease Operations — Maybe

Two well-known telescope suppliers have come to an end.

skyandtelescope.org

Rumors are swirling after two former giants in the astronomy industry closed their doors earlier this week. Pretty sure Orion is just an importer that specifies stuff and brands them their own.

Well that really sucks if true. I looked it up on google news and that one article is the only mention , which is weird but amateur astronomy has always been pretty niche.

Borzak · Jul 14, 2024

I don't know, cloudynights.com forum has locked all discussion on the topic, but who knows they are owned by astronomics. I know Orion has issues as of late and Meade since their lawsuit.

Borzak · Jul 16, 2024

ZWO is having a sale. Their seestar s50 down to $449 from $499.

Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope - Discovery Astrophotography with ZWO ASTRO

The Seestar smart telescope is a compact body that integrates a telescope, electronic focuser, dedicated astronomy camera, ASIAIR, alt-azimuth mount, dew heater, and filter wheel, all weighing only 2.5kg. For a beginner telescope in astronomy or for an experienced astrophotographer, this...

www.zwoastro.com

Kajiimagi · Jul 16, 2024

Borzak said:
ZWO is having a sale. Their seestar s50 down to $449 from $499.

Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope - Discovery Astrophotography with ZWO ASTRO

The Seestar smart telescope is a compact body that integrates a telescope, electronic focuser, dedicated astronomy camera, ASIAIR, alt-azimuth mount, dew heater, and filter wheel, all weighing only 2.5kg. For a beginner telescope in astronomy or for an experienced astrophotographer, this...

www.zwoastro.com

Just logged on to post this.

Araxen · Jul 19, 2024

They found pure sulfur on Mars which wasn't expected at all.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Discovers a Surprise in a Martian Rock - NASA

Among several recent findings, the rover has found rocks made of pure sulfur — a first on the Red Planet.

www.nasa.gov

Kajiimagi · Jul 20, 2024

NGC-5907 Sprial galaxy approx. 50 million light years from earth

Processed using Siril, Starnet++, GIMP, and GraXpert using a ZWO Seestar S50

For a laugh, bring up the histogram of this image, that's me stumbling my way through GIMP. Pretty sad but I'm getting there.

Cybsled · Jul 26, 2024

Extremely interesting

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Scientists Find Intriguing Mars Rock

The six-wheeled geologist found a fascinating rock that has some indications it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago, but further research is needed.

www.jpl.nasa.gov

Kajiimagi · Aug 1, 2024

Decided to take another run at the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula - (Messier 16), 6.7-7K light years from earth.
NASA - Hubble & Web telescopes did it better but my little $500 wonder did a good job too. It punches WAY above it's belt.

Processed using Siril, Starnet++, GraXpert, & GIMP - all 100% free software.

Imaged on a ZWO Seestar S50

Captain Suave · Aug 1, 2024

Had dinner with my cousin from SpaceX the other night. Seems like Musk's threat to move the headquarters to Texas from CA is mostly hot air and will just entail changing the address on the corporate paperwork. No offices, employees, equipment, etc, are being relocated.

He had some details on the precise failure of the booster they lost a few weeks ago. Apparently there was either a loose clamp or some compressed insulation that allowed a pipe to vibrate and suffer a joint/seal failure. This pipe carried liquid oxygen to a sensor measuring pressure in an engine component. The leaking pipe exhausted liquid oxygen over an adjacent pipe, causing its contents to freeze. This second pipe carried some kind of ignition accelerant compound to the engine, so when they went to re-light the stage for the return burn the flow was blocked and they ended up with an excess of methox in the engine bell. Eventually the clog melted and the igniter arrived, but at that point there was too much reactant and everything exploded. Oops.

Apparently the solution that satisfied the FAA was simply to remove the pressure sensor.

Cybsled · Aug 2, 2024

JPL and Vandenburg military base where they do launches from are there, so makes no sense to relocate (especially since they do many military contracts).

The Astronomy Thread

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