Dorky stuff about the Universe

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.




http://youtu.be/JkKzMAzT5fs

Last time was kind of a stinker where we are. This one better live up to the hype

lazloblue said:

Good Stuff Mikalina!!

thanks for posting.

Thank you....

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"

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.

Jason P said:

It's amazing that we still are using 1960'ish methods of putting payloads into outer space.

Truly! You'd think they've have discovered the Super Slingshot by now, haha!

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?

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.

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