The Space Thread

[Red Lead]

[YOUTUBE]RiGeqsGjhoY[/YOUTUBE]

[Red Lead]

NASA's new hunt for black holes begins today — watch it live here

[Lucky Pierre]

The perseid meteor shower is on tonight - should see them by looking north east about 11 o'clock.

[Dougie Do'ins]

Horizon on BBC 2 ? How Big Is The Universe ?

 

Anyone else watching this ? Amazing stuff.

[Redder Lurtz]

The perseid meteor shower is on tonight - should see them by looking north east about 11 o'clock.

 

Lurtz Junior and I watched the aftermath of that meteor shower while camping in the Dales. Never seen a meteorite or shooting star in my life and we saw about 15. Brilliant to see.

[gumps]

Just watched that Horizon prog. Truly mind-boggling in scale.

 

So the Universe is infinite now? But they are also looking at multi universe collisions? Is this not contradictory?

 

Hard to get my head round this sometimes.

[Lucky Pierre]

What do we all reckon the NASA announcement is?

[Guest davelfc]

What do we all reckon the NASA announcement is?

 

Was this the one from a few weeks ago? They calmed everyone down a bit and I think it will be something predictable and boring.

 

There's no way NASA would ever announce something that would shake the world, that kind of stuff they don't think we're capable of dealing with.

 

Members of NASA's Curiosity team are expected to give an update on its mission to Mars on Monday, Dec. 3, at noon.

 

The announcement will be delivered at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The Huffington Post will have live streaming video of the announcement and provide live updates.

 

Rumors about a big discovery circulated after chief Curiosity scientist John Grotzinger was quoted by NPR as saying that a rover instrument responsible for detecting organic compounds had recently gathered data "for the history books."

 

However, NASA downplayed any wishful thinking in a statement Friday.

 

"Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect," officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote. "At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics."

 

JPL officials added that the announcement would "be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil."

 

Curiosity Rover Announcement Expected Monday; NASA To Give Mars Mission Update

[Redder Lurtz]

What's been going on with the moon recently? Not seen it tonight yet but Friday & Saturday it was huge and, well, red-yellowish - I think.*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I'm colourblind so it could have been fucking anything but it wasn't itself.

[Spy Bee]

NASA - NASA Mars Rover Fully Analyzes First Soil Samples

 

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has used its full array of instruments to analyze Martian soil for the first time, and found a complex chemistry within the Martian soil. Water and sulfur and chlorine-containing substances, among other ingredients, showed up in samples Curiosity's arm delivered to an analytical laboratory inside the rover.

 

Detection of the substances during this early phase of the mission demonstrates the laboratory's capability to analyze diverse soil and rock samples over the next two years. Scientists also have been verifying the capabilities of the rover's instruments....

[Lucky Pierre]

What's been going on with the moon recently? Not seen it tonight yet but Friday & Saturday it was huge and, well, red-yellowish - I think.*

 

*I'm colourblind so it could have been fucking anything but it wasn't itself.

 

I don't know but Jupiter has been camped next to it for a few days. Did anyone manage to get a look at the 3 aligned planets Saturday morning?

[Magic Sponge]

What's been going on with the moon recently? Not seen it tonight yet but Friday & Saturday it was huge and' date=' well, red-yellowish - I think.*

 

*I'm colourblind so it could have been fucking anything but it wasn't itself.[/quote']

 

It's called a Harvest Moon. It's quite common.

 

Chris is right, Jupiter will be in clear up in the Northern hemisphere for a good few months yet.

[Mr. Beast]

[YOUTUBE]ZP7K9SycELA[/YOUTUBE]

[Red Phoenix]

Thought some of you might like this :

 

0jHsq36_NTU

[Red Phoenix]

This too :

 

RKFO2_4QY0Y

[Mr. Beast]

this is well worth a watch:

 

OVERVIEW on Vimeo

 

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

 

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

 

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.

[DJLJ]

ULAS J1120+0641 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

The biggest structure in the world. Actually it is so big that we need to start to calculating differently.

 

Astronomen entdecken die größte Struktur im Universum Wissen Nachrichten / HAZ - Hannoversche Allgemeine

 

And a second thing, booooooo:

http:

//www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414223,00.asp

 

White House: Sorry, We're Not Creating a Death Star

 

Sorry, nerds. The White House has denied your petition to create a Death Star. Yes, seriously.

 

"The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon," Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget, wrote in response to a White House petition.

 

Let's back up. The White House website has a section known as We the People, which allows Americans to create petitions on whatever they please - from gun control to deporting Piers Morgan. If a petition gathers at least 25,000 signatures, the White House is obligated to reply.

 

In November, one such petition requested that the Obama administration "secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016."

 

"By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense," the petition concluded.

 

The petition gathered more than 34,000 signatures, and today, we finally got our answer. Unfortunately, it's bad news. In a response titled, "This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For," Shawcross denied the American people a Death Star primarily because of its cost - and interplanetary niceties.

 

"The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it," he wrote.

 

Also, "the Administration does not support blowing up planets," he revealed. "Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?"

 

Those who are disappointed with the decision, however, might want to look to the sky to the International Space Station, he suggested. "Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations," Shawcross wrote.

 

And let's not forget a little Mars rover named Curiosity, and the future adventures of private space firms like SpaceX, he said.

 

"We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers," Shawcross wrote.

 

Shawcross concluded by encouraging petitioners to explore a career in science. "Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force," he wrote.

 

thats it, Obama has lost all support from me!

[Lucky Pierre]

It's Perseid time of year again - I've just seen one a few minutes ago.

[manwiththestick]

Seen the ISS pass just after 11pm, there are loads of passes throughout August and the perseid meteors will be very prominent at the end of the month.

[VladimirIlyich]

So we are going to see a few meteors and comets,weather permitting over the next few weeks?

[Red Phoenix]

Thought some of you might like this :

 

[md1892]

 

 

Earth from Beyond Saturn Taken by Cassini on July 19 2013

[Section_31]

Fucking hell, I'd love to get that as a print.

[Remmie]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/video-sun-has-flipped-upside-down-as-new-magnetic-cycle-begins-9029378.html

[md1892]

Fucking hell, I'd love to get that as a print.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia17171.html#.UsQmZ_RdXG8

 

Or try the science photo library