Astronomy and Space

[basementer]

Rather nice grouping of the crescent moon above Jupiter and Saturn this evening.

[Gfamily]

Rather nice grouping of the crescent moon above Jupiter and Saturn this evening.

Keep an eye out on the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday - the closest they've been since 1623 - but that was too close to the Sun to have been visible, so the closest visible conjunction since 4th March 1226 (25th Feb Old Calendar).

[shpalman]

The weather's being sh.t and the conjunction is happening in the wrong bit of sky for me to be able to see anything from here anyway.

[snoozeofreason]

Rather nice grouping of the crescent moon above Jupiter and Saturn this evening.

Keep an eye out on the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday - the closest they've been since 1623 - but that was too close to the Sun to have been visible, so the closest visible conjunction since 4th March 1226 (25th Feb Old Calendar).

Due to the time of year, any discussion of this on the media is accompanied by a mandatory attempt to link it to the star of Bethlehem. No one points out that people in the classical era were perfectly capable of working out where the planets would appear in the sky, so any genuinely wise man from the east would have just gone "Ahem, I think you'll find that this 'mysterious star' is actually a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn."

[JQH]

The weather's being sh.t and the conjunction is happening in the wrong bit of sky for me to be able to see anything from here anyway.

I need to chop down a few trees and demolish a tower block.

[shpalman]

Rather nice grouping of the crescent moon above Jupiter and Saturn this evening.

Keep an eye out on the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on Monday - the closest they've been since 1623 - but that was too close to the Sun to have been visible, so the closest visible conjunction since 4th March 1226 (25th Feb Old Calendar).

Due to the time of year, any discussion of this on the media is accompanied by a mandatory attempt to link it to the star of Bethlehem. No one points out that people in the classical era were perfectly capable of working out where the planets would appear in the sky, so any genuinely wise man from the east would have just gone "Ahem, I think you'll find that this 'mysterious star' is actually a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn."

The whole thing about the star and the wise men was made up by whoever wrote the gospel of Matthew, along with the whole thing about Herod killing all the children under two years old, to make Jesus seem more important to his target audience.

But a wise man from the east would have noticed the conjunction of two wandering stars to be particularly portentious in terms of probably having to make changes at work but be ready for a surprise in your love life or something.

[Chris Preston]

Saw the conjunction last night, just after sunset. Jupiter and Saturn were one point of light to the naked eye, but easy separated with binoculars.

[basementer]

I've seen them! The sky was clear briefly before they set - Saturn in the background with visible rings, and Jupiter with two crisp Galilean moons all together in the same field of view. "Once in a lifetime" is an understatement.

[Gfamily]

We saw them on Sunday, through binoculars and a small telescope at 52x magnification.

If I make it to my 101st birthday, there's another decent conjunction of the two in April 2060 (just over 1 degree apart).

[Gfamily]

It seems that SpaceX has plans for its next launcher to 'be caught by the launch tower' rather than having its own landing legs.
Given the precision they seem to be achieving with their landings so far, this doesn't seem unreasonable, but it does show how much they have achieved in changing what can be done.

It's even being suggested that they could have a turn-around time of hours between landing and re-launching.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/30/elon- ... unch-tower

[dyqik]

It seems that SpaceX has plans for its next launcher to 'be caught by the launch tower' rather than having its own landing legs.
Given the precision they seem to be achieving with their landings so far, this doesn't seem unreasonable, but it does show how much they have achieved in changing what can be done.

It's even being suggested that they could have a turn-around time of hours between landing and re-launching.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/30/elon- ... unch-tower

It could be even faster with a post bag/train system and a trampoline.

[shpalman]

This is a photo of the sun taken at night.

[basementer]

This is a photo of the sun taken at night.

I think they faked the colour, it's really monochrome.

[Allo V Psycho]

This is a photo of the sun taken at night.

That is very cool indeed (no pun intended). Thanks for that.
AvP

[Gfamily]

I'm not exactly sure how the image was created, but there's some detail here...
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest ... of-the-sun

It's a very low resolution image though - the neutrino source in the Sun subtends an angle of about only about 3 arc minutes (1/20th of a degree), whereas the 'image of the source' subtends about 30 degrees.

Fascinating fact - the energy generation per cubic metre in the Sun is less than the heat energy generated in a well managed compost heap.

[bjn]

I'm not exactly sure how the image was created, but there's some detail here...
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest ... of-the-sun

It's a very low resolution image though - the neutrino source in the Sun subtends an angle of about only about 3 arc minutes (1/20th of a degree), whereas the 'image of the source' subtends about 30 degrees.

Fascinating fact - the energy generation per cubic metre in the Sun is less than the heat energy generated in a well managed compost heap.

The volume to surface area thing works wonders.

[Gfamily]

ICYMI

New Shepard had a test launch yesterday - filmed by a drone from above.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1350084147935494144

[Grumble]

Anyone else watching the test fire? Of the new NASA engines

[Grumble]

They actually fired, but cut it short. Ah well. I guess it’s a step on the road.

[Gfamily]

I don't know who here has seen Luke Jerram's amazing "Museum of the Moon" and "Gaia" artworks (7 metre globes of the Moon and Earth respectively).

Anyhow, he's now* produced a Mars globe. Can't wait to see it.

It's being promoted by UK Space at the Natural History Museum in advance of the landing of Perseverance mission on the Moon

JL Mars.jpg (79.11 KiB) Viewed 17515 times

* ETA - apparently - this was 'now' in 2019

[Grumble]

I don't know who here has seen Luke Jerram's amazing "Museum of the Moon" and "Gaia" artworks (7 metre globes of the Moon and Earth respectively).

Anyhow, he's now* produced a Mars globe. Can't wait to see it.

It's being promoted by UK Space at the Natural History Museum in advance of the landing of Perseverance mission on the Moon

JL Mars.jpg

* ETA - apparently - this was 'now' in 2019

Is Perseverance going to the moon now?

[Gfamily]

I don't know who here has seen Luke Jerram's amazing "Museum of the Moon" and "Gaia" artworks (7 metre globes of the Moon and Earth respectively).

Anyhow, he's now* produced a Mars globe. Can't wait to see it.

It's being promoted by UK Space at the Natural History Museum in advance of the landing of Perseverance mission on Mars

JL Mars.jpg

* ETA - apparently - this was 'now' in 2019

Is Perseverance going to the moon now?

No idea what you mean

[Grumble]

[Martin Y]

I'm not going to Mars. It's about to be eaten by that giant space-whale skellington.

[Gfamily]

SpaceX's SN9 lining up for a 10km altitude lift off and return - I assume they are hoping for some time today...
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/02 ... clearance/