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Thread: Space and astronomy

  1. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by S281Saleen160 View Post
    Yo thats nice! I want one.
    Wait for Black Friday. I got it for about half price last BF.

  2. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by raisedbywolves View Post
    Wait for Black Friday. I got it for about half price last BF.
    How long before they say black friday is racist?

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    Junior Member DemiLovatto's Avatar
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    Jupiter (and comparison of angular sizes with Mars and Saturn)
    Celestron NexStar 8 SE telescope
    Barlow GSO 2x lens, 1.25 "
    Atmospheric dispersion corrector ZWO NEW ADC 1.25 "
    Canon EOS 800D camera

  4. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by DemiLovatto View Post


    Jupiter (and comparison of angular sizes with Mars and Saturn)
    Celestron NexStar 8 SE telescope
    Barlow GSO 2x lens, 1.25 "
    Atmospheric dispersion corrector ZWO NEW ADC 1.25 "
    Canon EOS 800D camera
    Very nice! This is the telescope and lens I have, I haven't tried astrophotography yet, but hope to soon. Would love to see any other pics you have! Welcome to MDS!

  5. #55
    Moderator Bewitchingstorm's Avatar
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    Wow, Demi, that is amazing!

  6. #56
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Watched the Space Station fly over last night from a cornfield in Iowa. Very nice.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

  7. #57
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    https://ktla.com/news/local-news/pom...tay-long-term/



    A Southern California native made history this week as the first Black astronaut to work at the International Space Station as a long-term crew member.

    Victor Glover, who was born in Pomona and graduated from Ontario High School in 1994, arrived at the NASA outpost on Tuesday as part of SpaceX’s second crew launch. The 44-year-old Navy commander and pilot is the only space rookie of the four-member crew, who’s staying at the station for six months.

    For NASA, the mission begins regular crew rotations at the space station with the help of a private company’s spacecraft.

    Glover was chosen as an astronaut in 2013 while he served as a legislative fellow at the U.S. Senate.

    Asked about his career trajectory in an interview released by NASA, Glover noted his experience at Ontario High School.

    “It goes way back,” he said. “So high school athlete, love being part of a small high-performing team, wrestling and football. [I] was fortunate to wrestle in college while pursuing my engineering education.”

    He graduated from the California Polytechnic Statue University, San Lus Obispo in 1999 before earning three master’s degrees between 2007 and 2010 at the Edwards Air Force Base in California, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.

    Glover said he originally wanted to be a Navy SEAL.

    “I wind up deciding to go into aviation and learn to fly,” he said.

    Black astronauts have made short stays at the space station before, according to The New York Times, but Glover is the first one to join a crew for an extended stay.

    “It is bittersweet because I’ve had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,” he said of the milestone in a recent interview with The Christian Chronicle. “I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.”

    Over the summer, as Americans protested on the streets following the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Glover spoke about racial injustice on Twitter.

    In response to a question about astronauts sticking to space, he explained: “Remember who is doing space. People are. As we address extreme weather and pandemic disease, we will understand and overcome racism and bigotry so we can safely and together do space. Thanks for asking.”

    Glover has four children with his wife, Dionna Odom of Berkeley, according to NASA. His mother still lives in Southern California, and his father and stepmother reside in Prosper, Texas.
    Congrats to Victor Glover!

  9. #59
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Thanks for this, I didn't know about the Conjunction.

    We were out watching the Space Station the other night, and I pointed out Saturn and Mars to my neighbors. It would have been great to have a telescope.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

  10. #60
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    I stayed up till 1am after watching the Sunday night NFL game and finishing my book, and I stood outside looking up until my neck hurt, and I never saw a single meteor.

    To be fair though, as soon as we walked outside the night before I saw a really bright one shoot across the sky. Hubby will be here tonight, so I'm going to see if he will stay up late and we can try it again tonight.

  11. #61
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    Fingers crossed that I finally get clear skies for the triple conjuncture. I missed out on most astrology events in November and December. I caught the ISS and spacelink a few times but that’s about it.

    RBW- nice telescope! I’ve been looking at some binoculars for night sky viewing but they’re so expensive.

  12. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lilbirdie View Post
    Fingers crossed that I finally get clear skies for the triple conjuncture. I missed out on most astrology events in November and December. I caught the ISS and spacelink a few times but that’s about it.

    RBW- nice telescope! I’ve been looking at some binoculars for night sky viewing but they’re so expensive.
    Thanks! I lucked out and caught it on a Black Friday sale in late 2019. Now, due to COVID and people wanting to do things at home, telescope (and related paraphernalia) have gone through the roof!

    I missed most of the the good events in November and December too. It's just been too cloudy. I did get to see the conjecture of Saturn and Jupiter a couple of days after the closest day. It was really cool!

  13. #63
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    I have telescope envy.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

  14. #64
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    Quote Originally Posted by KimTisha View Post
    I have telescope envy.
    I have tried using my telescope a couple of times and been very frustrated. Last night we finally figured out a little more about it and I got to see all kinds of craters on the moon and looked at all the colors of Sirius. I was about to give up on the telescope, but that got me back in. It was so cool to look at the impacts and craters on the moon in high def 3-D! None of the planets were visible at the time we were looking, but I can't wait to see Saturn now that we know how to make it work properly.

  15. #65
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Next stop: Astrophotography!
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

  16. #66
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    Quote Originally Posted by KimTisha View Post
    Next stop: Astrophotography!
    Hubby is already spec-ing out what he wants. He's more into photography and stuff, so I'm leaving it up to him.

  17. #67
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    https://www.khon2.com/news/national/...ck-succession/

    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After hurtling hundreds of millions of miles through space since last summer, three robotic explorers are ready to hit the brakes at Mars.

    The stakes — and anxiety — are sky high.

    The United Arab Emirates’ orbiter reaches Mars on Tuesday, followed less than 24 hours later by China’s orbiter-rover combo. NASA’s rover, the cosmic caboose, will arrive on the scene a week later, on Feb. 18, to collect rocks for return to Earth — a key step in determining whether life ever existed at Mars.

    Both the UAE and China are newcomers at Mars, where more than half of Earth’s emissaries have failed. China’s first Mars mission, a joint effort with Russia in 2011, never made it past Earth’s orbit.

    “We are quite excited as engineers and scientists, at the same time quite stressed and happy, worried, scared,” said Omran Sharaf, project manager for the UAE.

    All three spacecraft rocketed away within days of one another last July, during an Earth-to-Mars launch window that occurs only every two years. That’s why their arrivals are also close together.

    Called Amal, or Hope in Arabic, the Gulf nation’s spacecraft is seeking an especially high orbit — 13,500 by 27,000 miles high (22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers) — all the better to monitor the Martian weather.

    China’s duo — called Tianwen-1, or “Quest for Heavenly Truth” — will remain paired in orbit until May, when the rover separates to descend to the dusty, ruddy surface. If all goes well, it will be only the second country to land successfully on the red planet.

    The U.S. rover Perseverance, by contrast, will dive in straight away for a harrowing sky-crane touchdown similar to the Curiosity rover’s grand Martian entrance in 2012. The odds are in NASA’s favor: It’s nailed eight of its nine attempted Mars landings.

    Despite their differences — the 1-ton Perseverance is larger and more elaborate than the Tianwen-1 rover — both will prowl for signs of ancient microscopic life.

    Perseverance’s $3 billion mission is the first leg in a U.S.-European effort to bring Mars samples to Earth in the next decade.

    “To say we’re pumped about it, well that would be a huge understatement,” said Lori Glaze, NASA’s planetary science director.

    Perseverance is aiming for an ancient river delta that seems a logical spot for once harboring life. This landing zone in Jezero Crater is so treacherous that NASA nixed it for Curiosity, but so tantalizing that scientists are keen to get hold of its rocks.

    “When the scientists take a look at a site like Jezero Crater, they see the promise, right?” said Al Chen, who’s in charge of the entry, descent and landing team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “When I look at Jezero, I see danger. There’s danger everywhere.”

    Steep cliffs, deep pits and fields of rocks could cripple or doom Perseverance, following its seven-minute atmospheric plunge. With an 11 1/2-minute communication lag each way, the rover will be on its own, unable to rely on flight controllers. Amal and Tianwen-1 will also need to operate autonomously while maneuvering into orbit.

    Until Perseverance, NASA sought out flat, boring terrain on which to land — “one giant parking lot,” Chen said. That’s what China’s Tianwen-1 rover will be shooting for in Mars’ Utopia Planitia.

    NASA is upping its game thanks to new navigation technology designed to guide the rover to a safe spot. The spacecraft also has a slew of cameras and microphones to capture the sights and sounds of descent and landing, a Martian first.

    Faster than previous Mars vehicles but still moving at a glacial pace, the six-wheeled Perseverance will drive across Jezero, collecting core samples of the most enticing rocks and gravel. The rover will set the samples aside for retrieval by a fetch rover launching in 2026.

    Under an elaborate plan still being worked out by NASA and the European Space Agency, the geologic treasure would arrive on Earth in the early 2030s. Scientists contend it’s the only way to ascertain whether life flourished on a wet, watery Mars 3 billion to 4 billion years ago.

    NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, considers it “one of the hardest things ever done by humanity and certainly in space science.”

    The U.S. is still the only country to successfully land on Mars, beginning with the 1976 Vikings. Two spacecraft are still active on the surface: Curiosity and InSight.

    Smashed Russian and European spacecraft litter the Martian landscape, meanwhile, along with NASA’s failed Mars Polar Lander from 1999.

    Getting into orbit around Mars is less complicated, but still no easy matter, with about a dozen spacecraft falling short. Mars fly-bys were the rage in the 1960s and most failed; NASA’s Mariner 4 was the first to succeed in 1965.

    Six spacecraft currently are operating around Mars: three from the U.S., two from Europe and one from India. The UAE hopes to make it seven with its $200-plus million mission.

    The UAE is especially proud that Amal was designed and built by its own citizens, who partnered with the University of Colorado at Boulder and other U.S. institutions, not simply purchased from abroad. Its arrival at Mars coincides with this year’s 50th anniversary of the country’s founding.

    “Starting off the year with this milestone is something very important for the people” of the UAE, said Sharaf.

    China, hasn’t divulged much in advance. Even the spacecraft’s exact arrival time on Wednesday has yet to be announced.

    The China Academy of Space Technology’s Ye Peijian noted that Tianwen-1 has three objectives: orbiting the planet, landing and releasing the rover. If successful, he said in a statement “it will become the world’s first Mars expedition accomplishing all three goals with one probe.”

    The coronavirus pandemic has complicated each step of each spacecraft’s 300 million-mile (480 million-kilometer) journey to Mars. It even kept the European and Russian space agencies’ joint Mars mission grounded until the next launch window in 2022.

    The flight control rooms will contain fewer people on the big day, with staff spread over a wider area and working from home. Desks have dividers and partitions. Masks and social distancing are mandatory.

    Perseverance’s deputy project manager Matt Wallace, who’s working his fifth Mars rover mission, said the pandemic won’t dampen the mood come landing day.

    “I don’t think COVID’s going to be able to stop us from jumping up and down, and fist-bumping,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot of happy people no matter what, once we get this thing on the surface safely.”

    ___

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  19. #69
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    This is today's Space-X launch with the astronauts on it. The boosters are separating in this pic and the whole rocket is creating a shockwave. My husband took this today while walking into work.


  20. #70
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    So you guys know I'm an International Space Station geek, right? I watch it go over every chance I get, stand there and wave to it like a lunatic.

    Well, I've got my neighbor Mare doing it now, and if it's going to be visible for a while, we sit in chairs outside and I fix us a gin & tonic so we can be Ground Controllers and supervise the mission from here on Earth. A few months back, another neighbor joined us, and the group slowly grew. Tonight, eight of us were out there waving to the space station.


    It has become a little neighborhood tradition and I love it.

    It pays to have old neighbors with nothing better to do than go along with my crazy schemes.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

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