Astronomy and Space

[basementer]

The opposite error: a couple of years ago, a friend said that they'd seen Mars near the moon during a lunar eclipse. I replied that I remembered not seeing it, so to speak, and guessed if they'd seen something red nearby it might have been Antares.
In checking, I found out for the first time where the name of the star Antares comes from. It's anti-Ares, the rival of Mars. Obvs really.

[Grumble]

I saw two shooting stars tonight. My first two. Very bright - not loads brighter than the stars but the brightest things I could see, really fast - much fast than satellites or planes, absolutely no mistaking them for anything else. They went in the same direction about a minute or so apart. Didn’t see any more, but it was a genuine, literal, thrill.

[monkey]

I saw two shooting stars tonight. My first two. Very bright - not loads brighter than the stars but the brightest things I could see, really fast - much fast than satellites or planes, absolutely no mistaking them for anything else. They went in the same direction about a minute or so apart. Didn’t see any more, but it was a genuine, literal, thrill.

Geminids innit. It's cloudy here and even if it wasn't, there's a lot of light pollution, so don't think I'll see much, even if I try.

[Gfamily]

I saw two shooting stars tonight. My first two. Very bright - not loads brighter than the stars but the brightest things I could see, really fast - much fast than satellites or planes, absolutely no mistaking them for anything else. They went in the same direction about a minute or so apart. Didn’t see any more, but it was a genuine, literal, thrill.

It's the time of year for the Geminids meteor shower, so that sounds very likely.
Interestingly*, the Geminids are not associated with a comet, but with an asteroid, the Earth orbit crossing asteroid Phaethon.

[Grumble]

Thought they might be Geminids, wish I’d seen more than two. I was between trees a lot of the time.

[dyqik]

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array has been down since October due to a cyber attack
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/1 ... 212a/full/

[Grumble]

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array has been down since October due to a cyber attack
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/1 ... 212a/full/

How large can a millimetre get anyway?

[dyqik]

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array has been down since October due to a cyber attack
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/1 ... 212a/full/

How large can a millimetre get anyway?

Depends how close it is.

[Gfamily]

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array has been down since October due to a cyber attack
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/1 ... 212a/full/

How large can a mill ftimetre get anyway?

Depends how close it is.

Also, how fast it's going away from you

[dyqik]

SPIDER, a CMB balloon experiment, finally managed to launch from McMurdo today.

[shpalman]

the first satellites launched from British soil failed to reach orbit

Back in Cornwall spectators did a “conga” dance around a replica of the rocket at the perimeter of the spaceport

[Grumble]

the first satellites launched from British soil failed to reach orbit

Back in Cornwall spectators did a “conga” dance around a replica of the rocket at the perimeter of the spaceport

Saying they were launched from British soil is stretching a point. To my mind they aren’t launched until they drop off the plane.

[lpm]

Who gives a f.ck. It's like we're in the 1950s and Britain is pretending it's in the space race. We need to acclimatise fast to being a pathetic country without healthcare, law courts and social welfare. "Don't look down at the queue for the food bank, look up at a British Rocket."

[tenchboy]

Sims she do stop at Cambourne after all.

[Gfamily]

You'll have likely seen the doctored photo that Grant Shapps tweeted where ex PM Johnson had been airbrushed out

@garius, the author of The Brexit Tapes offered a free copy to the best version of the image...

tweet 1.jpg (27.81 KiB) Viewed 765 times

https://twitter.com/garius/status/1612775552305201153

The best I've seen so far

Tweet 2.jpg (65.92 KiB) Viewed 765 times

]

[Gfamily]

If you have a pair of 'eclipse glasses' (made specifically for watching eclipses), the Sun is currently featuring a Sunspot that is about 4x the diameter of the Earth, which makes it just about visible without magnification.
Don't try looking with the naked eye.

If you don't have a suitable pair, you can use a pair of binoculars to project an image of the Sun onto white card - there should be multiple sunspots visible.


My image using a filtered telescope from a couple of days ago.

Sunspot.jpg (227.24 KiB) Viewed 679 times

[Martin Y]

Ooh. Nice. For context, what portion of the sun's diameter are we seeing there?

[Gfamily]

Ooh. Nice. For context, what portion of the sun's diameter are we seeing there?

The image is about 1/5 the sun's diameter. I've realised that the Spot shown isn't actually the one that was naked eye.
Which was about twice the width of the one above.

AR 3190.png (92.57 KiB) Viewed 596 times

[tenchboy]

Has anyone been out for a look at the comet yet?

comet.png (314.12 KiB) Viewed 517 times

[Gfamily]

Has anyone been out for a look at the comet yet?

comet.png

MrsG and I saw it last Thursday just after midnight. Used binoculars (required), couldn't make out any colour, nor a tail, but the fuzzy patch was about 1/3 degree across.

[basementer]

Near Polaris? That would explain why it hasn't made the news in my area.

[shpalman]

I haven't been out to look for it since the nights which would be clear enough are too f.cking cold for going outside.

[Martin Y]

Nipped out with binoculars. Located a definite smudge. Didn't hang around long enough for my night vision to improve as shivering is incompatible with holding binoculars steady.

[Gfamily]

Got a good evening at Astrofarm France (run by a friend, it offers holidays for Astronomers). Got a few images of a variety of things over a couple of hours yesterday
Including this of the Comet - cold but worth it

COMET Affinity 1000px.jpg (227.92 KiB) Viewed 375 times

[Pishwish]

A Progress (cargo) spacecraft attached to the ISS has developed a coolant leak, apparently similar to the leak that affected the most recent Soyuz spacecraft sent to the ISS. Quality control would seem to be the most likely cause.