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The Space Thread


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Saw a little bit in Bootle, before the cloud covered it entirely.

 

Very disappointed not to hear dogs howling, or see people running around like headless chickens screaming "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

Nobody worries about the apocalypse any more. 2012 (the year AND the film) was such a fucking let down that, in the immortal words of Roger Daltrey, we won't get fooled again.

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Not quite end of the earth stuff but we got a pretty good show as the moon passed across the sun just after 9.30. We had a pretty clear sky as the moon first moved across it casting massive shadows and as the eclipse increased some light cloud passed in front of it allowing you to look at it directly. And then it was all over

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All the people in my work were going mental at the windows with their phones & ipads so I just sat at my desk doing work.

 

I hate 'joining in' at work.

That behaviour is ok when people bring their babies into work but it was genuinely interesting. Where we were we were looking out onto a playing field where this bloke was mowing the grass. Never once did he look up during the entire thing. Brilliant

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That behaviour is ok when people bring their babies into work but it was genuinely interesting. Where we were we were looking out onto a playing field where this bloke was mowing the grass. Never once did he look up during the entire thing. Brilliant

 

I wanted to see it, I just don't like all the shite banter that goes along with it in an office.

 

I can see the rooftops of George Street from my desk & there were a load of photographers up there getting pictures, I was happy enough watching them in the distance.

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7a8605fab97a90712e2678cdb443fd63.jpg

 

Not quite end of the earth stuff but we got a pretty good show as the moon passed across the sun just after 9.30. We had a pretty clear sky as the moon first moved across it casting massive shadows and as the eclipse increased some light cloud passed in front of it allowing you to look at it directly. And then it was all over

 

Is that Tellytubbies?

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  • 5 weeks later...

Not going to post the individual photos as some will already be in here, plus there's some fascinating descriptions with each photo. It's well worth clicking on the link. Awe inspiring stuff.

Hubble at 25: the best images from the space telescope - in pictures

As the Hubble space telescope gets ready to celebrate 25 years since its launch, we look back at some of the iconic images it has produced


http://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2015/apr/21/hubble-at-25-the-best-images-from-the-space-telescope?

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  • 1 month later...

Mornin'

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33126885

 

The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth.

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November.

It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat.

The comet has since moved nearer to the sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos.

An account linked to the probe tweeted the message, "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?"

On its blog, Esa said Philae had contacted Earth, via Rosetta, for 85 seconds in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.

"Philae is doing very well. It has an operating temperature of -35C and has 24 watts available," said Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec.

Scientists say they now waiting for the next contact.

ESA scientist Mark McCaughrean told the BBC: "It's been a long seven months, and to be quite honest we weren't sure it would happen - there are a lot of very happy people around Europe at the moment."

Philae was carrying large amounts of data that scientists hoped to download once they made contact again, he said.

"I think we're optimistic now that it's awake that we'll have several months of scientific data to pore over," he added.

This is one of the most astonishing moments in space exploration and the grins on the faces of the scientists and engineers are totally justified, says BBC science editor David Shukman.

For the first time, we will have a hitchhiker riding on a comet and describing what happens to a comet as it heats up on its journey through space, he adds.

When Philae first sent back images of its landing location, researchers could see it was in a dark ditch. The Sun was obscured by a high wall, limiting the amount of light that could reach the robot's solar panels.

Scientists knew they only had a limited amount of time - about 60 hours - to gather data before the robot's battery ran flat.

But the calculations also indicated that Philae's mission might not be over for good when the juice did eventually run dry. The comet is currently moving in towards the Sun, and the intensity of light falling on Philae, engineers suggested, could be sufficient in time to re-boot the machine.

And so it has proved. There is some relief also, because the very low temperatures endured by the lander in recent months could have done irreparable damage to some of the circuitry.

The fact that both the computer and transmitter have fired up indicate that the engineering has stood up remarkably well to what must have been really quite extreme conditions. Scientists must now hope they can get enough power into Philae to carry out a full range of experiments.

One ambition not fulfilled before the robot went to sleep was to try to drill into the comet, to examine its chemical make-up. This will become a priority,

Philae is designed to analyse ice and rock on the comet.

The Rosetta probe took 10 years to reach the comet, and the lander - about the size of a washing-machine - bounced at least a kilometre when it touched down.

Before it lost power, Philae sent images of its surroundings which showed it was in a type of ditch with high walls blocking sunlight from its solar panels.

Its exact location on the comet has since been a mystery.

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I'd love to know how they arrive at the mind-boggling scales involved here; "Yeah there's the Camel Toe Nebula - it's 35 billion light years across and weighs as much as 75.437 x 10-89 billion Milky Ways". 

 

And this: A big 'ole:

Philae is, apparently, the size of a washing machine and it bounced a kilometre.

 

I can get my head around those sort of scales.

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