starting August 10, .... Supermoon battle.... The meteors from the Perseids will be traveling over 93,000 miles (150,000 kilometers) per hour before burning up in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and giving us a bright display as they race across the night sky.
Probably the best time to view the Perseids is the first half of August because by the middle of the month the bright glare from the Full Moon will overshadow the light of the meteor shower. The Moon becomes full on August 10. However, astronomers think it will be still be quite a show -- seeing a Full Moon and very bright fireballs in the same night sky.
Astronomers are calling this a Supermoon because it is a Full Moon and is at perigee (its closest point on its orbit around the Earth; which occurs on August 10), which makes it appear about 30 percent brighter than normal because it is about 14 percent closer than during regular Full Moons.
Therefore, the first week of August is probably the best time to view the Perseid meteor shower. At that time, only a sliver of the Moon is visible, which allows the Perseid fireballs to shine bright in the night sky.
Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910) first identified that the comet is associated with the Perseid meteor shower in 1866.
Unmanned cargo rocket destined for the space station just blew up off the coast of Virginia. Footage link isn't currently available but it is best described as "Boom goes the dynamite"
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,717
Saw some footage out of St. Louis but can't get the link to work now. Looked pretty bad. A lot of money up in smoke there.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Funny how there is so little coverage for the most expensive fireworks show of the year. Maybe NASA should start a rumor that ebola was on board the flight.
The Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2 that disintegrated at 50,000 feet ... the fact that one of the pilots survived is bat shit crazy.
The break-up led to three coinciding invasive events: sudden deceleration forces, the creation of high velocity projectiles – debris – surrounding the pilots, and a decompression event. The pilots wore simple oxygen masks without pressure suits, so their bodies withstood a split second change from cabin pressure of 1 atmosphere to that of a near-vacuum pressure. Any or all three events at breakup were responsible for the pilots’ losing consciousness within seconds if not immediately.
Peter Seilbold woke up at 20,000 feet still strapped to his chair as was able to get out of it and deploy his parachute. Can you imagine waking up and find yourself falling towards earth while strapped to a chair?
Also, what do you do if you are one of the millionaires that put money down to buy a seat for a future flight?
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hedonist
standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
Jason, I think I'd shit myself if coming to in that situation...and can't imagine the mental aftermath of it all.
I wonder if the folks on the fly list agreed that their funds (or deposits?) are non-refundable. Still, even if this didn't happen they'd be taking a huge risk.
Jason, I think I'd shit myself if coming to in that situation...and can't imagine the mental aftermath of it all.
I wonder if the folks on the fly list agreed that their funds (or deposits?) are non-refundable. Still, even if this didn't happen they'd be taking a huge risk.
The sad thing is that both pilots families were very close friends. Even though Peter survived, I'm sure the survivors guilt will haunt him for some time.
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,717
I just had this picture of a group of people talking about their belief in the wonders and benefits of space exploration and some guy walking in and only hearing the words, "space exploration" and that guy saying, "Yeah, man, what a freaking waste of money and resources," and suddenly having the room become dead still for a few moments and then having all kids of shit being thrown at the guy accompanied by cursing and...
...OK, hey wait a minute. It's just a scenario, it's just... it's just...
OWW! STOP IT! OWW!
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
The Virgin Galactic Space Ship 2 that disintegrated at 50,000 feet ... the fact that one of the pilots survived is bat shit crazy.
The break-up led to three coinciding invasive events: sudden deceleration forces, the creation of high velocity projectiles – debris – surrounding the pilots, and a decompression event. The pilots wore simple oxygen masks without pressure suits, so their bodies withstood a split second change from cabin pressure of 1 atmosphere to that of a near-vacuum pressure. Any or all three events at breakup were responsible for the pilots’ losing consciousness within seconds if not immediately.
Peter Seilbold woke up at 20,000 feet still strapped to his chair as was able to get out of it and deploy his parachute. Can you imagine waking up and find yourself falling towards earth while strapped to a chair?
It would be a scene from a Hollywood movie with me screaming like a little kid for my mommy!
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,717
Will somebody please explain to me the justification for landing a space craft on a comet? I'm not simply being a curmudgeon here, I really and truly just don't get it.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Will somebody please explain to me the justification for landing a space craft on a comet? I'm not simply being a curmudgeon here, I really and truly just don't get it.
Listen up you old miser! Space exploration isn't no boondoggle, it's f'real science in it's purest form! No, really I don't know why they did it...I have seen the idea of mining comets and asteroids in science fiction, and of course there is that Bruce Willis movie about the arm-a-geddy-on... Maybe it was a practice run for Apophos! That makes sense in a kooky way, they redid their calculations and Apophos is set to collide with us so they are gonna land a craft on it and nudge it out of our path.
Monkey Driven, Call this Living?
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hedonist
standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
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The meteors from the Perseids will be traveling over 93,000 miles (150,000 kilometers) per hour before burning up in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and giving us a bright display as they race across the night sky.
Probably the best time to view the Perseids is the first half of August because by the middle of the month the bright glare from the Full Moon will overshadow the light of the meteor shower. The Moon becomes full on August 10. However, astronomers think it will be still be quite a show -- seeing a Full Moon and very bright fireballs in the same night sky.
Astronomers are calling this a Supermoon because it is a Full Moon and is at perigee (its closest point on its orbit around the Earth; which occurs on August 10), which makes it appear about 30 percent brighter than normal because it is about 14 percent closer than during regular Full Moons.
Therefore, the first week of August is probably the best time to view the Perseid meteor shower. At that time, only a sliver of the Moon is visible, which allows the Perseid fireballs to shine bright in the night sky.
Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (1835-1910) first identified that the comet is associated with the Perseid meteor shower in 1866.
thanks for posting.
The break-up led to three coinciding invasive events: sudden deceleration forces, the creation of high velocity projectiles – debris – surrounding the pilots, and a decompression event. The pilots wore simple oxygen masks without pressure suits, so their bodies withstood a split second change from cabin pressure of 1 atmosphere to that of a near-vacuum pressure. Any or all three events at breakup were responsible for the pilots’ losing consciousness within seconds if not immediately.
Peter Seilbold woke up at 20,000 feet still strapped to his chair as was able to get out of it and deploy his parachute. Can you imagine waking up and find yourself falling towards earth while strapped to a chair?
I wonder if the folks on the fly list agreed that their funds (or deposits?) are non-refundable. Still, even if this didn't happen they'd be taking a huge risk.
And then there's this - amazing! We've come a long way, baby.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/philae-spacecraft-makes-historic-landing-on-comet/ar-AA7M71Q?ocid=HPCDHP
...OK, hey wait a minute. It's just a scenario, it's just... it's just...
OWW! STOP IT! OWW!
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/what-does-a-comet-sound-like-rosetta-records-haunting-song-1.2101440
No, really I don't know why they did it...I have seen the idea of mining comets and asteroids in science fiction, and of course there is that Bruce Willis movie about the arm-a-geddy-on... Maybe it was a practice run for Apophos! That makes sense in a kooky way, they redid their calculations and Apophos is set to collide with us so they are gonna land a craft on it and nudge it out of our path.
Also, I guess the reason for this exercise would be similar to exploring other planets?
Just heard the craft lost contact with the comet either physically or functionally.