Dorky stuff about the Universe

12357…18

Comments

  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,297
    Jeanwah wrote:

    :) I've been waking up early and see a bright star off to the East, it must be a planet. It's really beautiful.
    That would be Venus.

    In the evening, Mars and Saturn are just above the west horizon pretty close to each other. Mars is on the left, Saturn on the right. With a pair of binoculars, you should be able to make out four of Saturn's moons.

    Webvic12_Aug21ev.jpg
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    Jason P wrote:
    That would be Venus.
    Yes! She's been shining bright. It really is a wonder to see it so clearly, especially in that sleepy-just-awake state of mind.

    (an aside - every time I hear the song "Venus" by Frankie Avalon, I'm compelled to change it to "Penis", sung loudly and con brio! Immaturity can be a blast sometimes :mrgreen: )
  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    Jason P wrote:
    Jeanwah wrote:

    :) I've been waking up early and see a bright star off to the East, it must be a planet. It's really beautiful.
    That would be Venus.

    In the evening, Mars and Saturn are just above the west horizon pretty close to each other. Mars is on the left, Saturn on the right. With a pair of binoculars, you should be able to make out four of Saturn's moons.

    Webvic12_Aug21ev.jpg
    Nice, thank you!
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,297
    Attached is a link to the Mars Rover landing in HD color. It's pretty neat.

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/curiosity-rover-landing-time-hd-224131860.html
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • mikalina
    mikalina Posts: 7,206
    Jason P wrote:
    Attached is a link to the Mars Rover landing in HD color. It's pretty neat.

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/curiosity-rover-landing-time-hd-224131860.html


    Thanks for sharing....
    ********************************************************************************************* image
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,297
    Seven new HD photos via the link. Even though it looks like Arizona, it's pretty amazing to actually see what is looks like to be on Mars.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-latest-pictures-of-mars-look-exactly-like-something-from-earth-2012-8
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    The second-to-last photo - wowza!
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,662
    hedonist wrote:
    The second-to-last photo - wowza!

    Yes! Awesome!
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • mikalina
    mikalina Posts: 7,206
    September Star of the Month: Vega

    Vega shines high overhead on August and September evenings, with a bright and beautiful radiance that can't be missed. The star made astronomical history in 1836 when it became one of the first to have its distance measured, the magnitude of the feat as impressive as the magnitude of the star itself.

    A good two centuries before the unveiling of Vega's distance, Galileo (1564-1642) actually suggested how to compute stellar distances - but lacked the technology to follow through on his own idea. In fact, the success of his "double star" method only came about after a long incubation, not to bear fruit until Wilhelm Struve (1793-1864), Friedrich Bessel (1784-1864) and Thomas Henderson's (1798-1844) individual yet nearly simultaneous triumphs in the nineteenth century.

    Galileo's proposed "double star" solution is as simple as it is ingenious. An observer watches a double star through a telescope over the course of a year, noting any change of angular distance between the pair of stars. For a sample of how the procedure works, simply walk outside on a starry night. Shut your right eye and align your finger with any star, looking at it with your left eye. Then shut your left eye, opening your right. You'll notice that your finger appears to move in relationship to that star.

    Your right eye represents the Earth's change of position after six months, and your finger shows how the nearer star is expected to shift in respect to the more distant one. If you can accurately measure this shift (parallax), then you can also calculate the nearer star's distance.
    ********************************************************************************************* image
  • mikalina
    mikalina Posts: 7,206
    The Vega Star...


    R5500277-Star_Vega_in_the_constellation_of_Lyra-SPL.jpg
    ********************************************************************************************* image
  • mikalina
    mikalina Posts: 7,206
    Jupiter is the solar system's vacuum cleaner, pulling in meteors and comets.

    Scientists estimate that if it was not for this amazing fact, the number of these objects hitting earth would be about ten thousand times greater....
    ********************************************************************************************* image
  • rollings
    rollings unknown Posts: 7,127
    mikalina wrote:
    Jupiter is the solar system's vacuum cleaner, pulling in meteors and comets.

    Scientists estimate that if it was not for this amazing fact, the number of these objects hitting earth would be about ten thousand times greater....

    This isn't actually true as it has also been surmised that Jupiter attracts comets & meteors towards the inner solar system and has even been known to fling a thing or more at earth.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weeki ... erbye.html
    “I really question this idea,” said Brian G. Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, referring to Jupiter as our guardian planet. As the former director of the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, he has spent his career keeping track of wayward objects, particularly comets, in the solar system.

    Jupiter is just as much a menace as a savior, he said. The big planet throws a lot of comets out of the solar system, but it also throws them in.
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,297
    rollings wrote:
    mikalina wrote:
    Jupiter is the solar system's vacuum cleaner, pulling in meteors and comets.

    Scientists estimate that if it was not for this amazing fact, the number of these objects hitting earth would be about ten thousand times greater....

    This isn't actually true as it has also been surmised that Jupiter attracts comets & meteors towards the inner solar system and has even been known to fling a thing or more at earth.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weeki ... erbye.html
    “I really question this idea,” said Brian G. Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, referring to Jupiter as our guardian planet. As the former director of the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, he has spent his career keeping track of wayward objects, particularly comets, in the solar system.

    Jupiter is just as much a menace as a savior, he said. The big planet throws a lot of comets out of the solar system, but it also throws them in.
    both of you are correct. in the end, Jupiter has a null effect on earth. It protects from comets, but can also sling object inward.

    but I'll give Jupiter the upper hand as we have witnessed and recorded multiple "earth killing" impacts during my lifetime. Considering it's been 65 million years since earth has been hit, I'm happy Jupiter exists.
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • eeriepadave
    eeriepadave West Chester, PA Posts: 43,182
    545942_522502481112543_1941128812_n.jpg
    8/28/98- Camden, NJ
    10/31/09- Philly
    5/21/10- NYC
    9/2/12- Philly, PA
    7/19/13- Wrigley
    10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
    10/21/13- Philly, PA
    10/22/13- Philly, PA
    10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
    4/28/16- Philly, PA
    4/29/16- Philly, PA
    5/1/16- NYC
    5/2/16- NYC
    9/2/18- Boston, MA
    9/4/18- Boston, MA
    9/14/22- Camden, NJ
    9/7/24- Philly, PA
    9/9/24- Philly, PA
    Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly. PA
    Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
    RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
  • rollings
    rollings unknown Posts: 7,127
    Jason P wrote:
    Jupiter has a null effect on earth.

    site your source
  • rollings
    rollings unknown Posts: 7,127
    If-Jupiter-were-as-close-to-Earth-as-the-Moon.gif


    Scientists estimate that if our own moon were the size of Jupiter, mankind as we know it would not be able to survive on planet earth due to extinction of the species via nightly heart attacks.
  • mikalina
    mikalina Posts: 7,206
    Most stars come in multiples...

    It might look like all the stars are out there, all by themselves, but many come in pairs. These are binary stars, where two stars orbit a common center of gravity. And there are other systems out there with 3, 4 and even more stars. Just think of the beautiful sunrises you’d experience waking up on a world with 4 stars around it....
    ********************************************************************************************* image
  • moretonbayfig
    moretonbayfig Australia Posts: 805
    Modern astronomy meets the world's oldest cultural understanding of the skies...
    (The artwork and dreaming stories are absolutely beautiful and well worth a look)

    lgarijiri Project

    Ilgarijiri means “things belonging to the sky” in the Wajarri language.

    This is a collaborative project between Aboriginal artists from or residing in the Mid West of Western Australia (Yamaji Country), via the Yamaji Art cooperative in Geraldton, and radio astronomers from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), based in Perth, Western Australia.

    The intent of this meeting was for Aboriginal Artists to work with scientists using the world’s leading astronomy equipment, bringing together the world’s oldest continuing cultural understanding of the sky, its stories and the world’s state-of-the-art astronomical technology.

    The trip to Mullewa and Boolardy Station inspired the works on display, and captured the imagination of other artists in the region. We are pleased to present all works submitted for the exhibition on this site.

    This exhibition presents two different world views of the sky, and the universe – the stars, and the space between them.

    http://astronomy.curtin.edu.au/ilgarijiri/
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,297
    rollings wrote:
    Jason P wrote:
    Jupiter has a null effect on earth.

    site your source
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070827-jupiter-comets_2.html
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!
  • rollings
    rollings unknown Posts: 7,127
    The eternal living essence of the universe explained in a poignant 89-second video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G18jhC3b53A

Categories