* The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread *

NeilF · 9 Jan 2014 at 22:09

The $6m Dan said:
Gemini Planetry Imager/

I'd not heard about this, but it sounds like great progress is being made in exoplanet photography. I'm looking forward to seeing more great images.
This should really help better our understanding of solar system formation.

Trying to work out - Is that a planet with a ring around it, or is it a star with a planetary forming ring around it. If that is actually a planet, that is absolutely astounding, and frankly I can'y believe it!

Macro · 10 Jan 2014 at 17:26

Worldwide Telescope V5 released today for those interested...

Worldwide Telescope V5 released today for those interested...

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/

Mr Badger · 10 Jan 2014 at 17:32

Black hole's 'big meal' could spark fireworks

(posting here to ensure compliance)

Black hole's 'big meal' could spark fireworks report the BBC - but why is a story about Sagittarius A* filed under "news/world-middle-east"???

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25678737

The $6m Dan · 11 Jan 2014 at 14:04

NeilFawcett said:
Trying to work out - Is that a planet with a ring around it, or is it a star with a planetary forming ring around it. If that is actually a planet, that is absolutely astounding, and frankly I can'y believe it!

It's a star at the centre with a dust ring around it that is forming into a planet.

Gogl · 11 Jan 2014 at 20:46

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but I'm tempted to get this, I'm quite curious about the Russian space program during the space race era.

It's odd that the books are $50 (~£30) when the Kickstarter is to enable the book to be released at $39.95 (~£25), but I guess they are signed by bookplate.

Promo for the book:

Cosimo · 14 Jan 2014 at 13:15

Ten years ago, on 14 January 2004, Mars Express took its very first images of Mars in colour and in 3D.

To mark the occasion, the team produced a fly-through movie of the ancient flood plain Kasei Valles. The movie is based on the 67-image mosaic released as part of the ten-years-since-launch celebrations in June 2013. See http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Spa....

The scene spans 987 km in the north--south direction, 19--36°N, and 1550 km in the east--west direction (280--310°E). It covers 1.55 million square kilometres, an area equivalent to the size of Mongolia.

Kasei Valles is one of the largest outflow channel systems on Mars, created during dramatic flood events. From source to sink, it extends some 3000 km and descends 3 km.

Kasei Valles splits into two main branches that hug a broad island of fractured terrain -- Sacra Mensa -- rising 2 km above the channels that swerve around it. While weaker materials succumbed to the erosive power of the fast-flowing water, this hardier outcrop has stood the test of time.

Slightly further downstream, the flood waters did their best to erase the 100 km-wide Sharonov crater, crumpling its walls to the south. Around Sharonov many small streamlined islands form teardrop shapes rising from the riverbed as water swept around these natural obstacles.

The Planetary Science and Remote Sensing Group at Freie Universität Berlin produced the movie. The processing of the High Resolution Stereo Camera image data was carried out at the DLR German Aerospace Center.

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) / Music: Crabtambour

Cosimo · 15 Jan 2014 at 11:35

BananaDunka · 15 Jan 2014 at 13:43

Starting this spring, famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is reviving the late Carl Sagan’s popular PBS television series as Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. The new series will be broadcast on Fox and the National Geographic Channel on the same night, continuing Sagan’s “epic exploration of our place in the universe,” re-inventing celebrated elements of the legendary original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination.

Trailer and article.

Should be good.

And a 28min interview with the man himself.

timbob · 16 Jan 2014 at 18:55

mehuk said:
What winds me up is all these meteors that supposedly hit all the planets and moons etc millions of years ago... Yet now, not a thing! How can that happen? Surely we should still be getting hit?

Look up the Late Heavy Bombardment - a phase in the development of the solar system

Spook187 · 16 Jan 2014 at 19:17

Was driving to Newcastle on the A69 this week and seen one the best meteors i have ever seen, broke up into loads of pieces

BananaDunka · 17 Jan 2014 at 10:29

Earth-sized planets can support life at least ten times farther away from stars than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Aberdeen and the University of St Andrews.

Article from here.

Edit*

The current habitable zone for our solar system extends out as far as Mars, but this re-drawn habitable zone would see the zone extend out further than Jupiter and Saturn. The findings also suggest that many of the so-called “rogue” planets drifting around in complete darkness could actually be habitable.

Cool!

NeilF · 17 Jan 2014 at 10:32

Spook187 said:
Was driving to Newcastle on the A69 this week and seen one the best meteors i have ever seen, broke up into loads of pieces

No official report?

Sonea Fifer · 17 Jan 2014 at 10:39

I wonder if any of the ocuk forumites interested in astronomy would be so good as to identify the large bright star I've managed to capture in my picture below please?

The shot was taken 11/01/2014 looking south towards Edinburgh from OS grid reference NT190852 if that's any help. I've already asked a few FB friends with an interest in amateur astronomy but I'm getting conflicting information ranging from Jupiter to Betelgeuse to the north star. :confused:

Many thanks

Cosimo · 17 Jan 2014 at 12:20

timbob · 17 Jan 2014 at 18:06

Sonea Fifer said:
I wonder if any of the ocuk forumites interested in astronomy would be so good as to identify the large bright star I've managed to capture in my picture below please?

The shot was taken 11/01/2014 looking south towards Edinburgh from OS grid reference NT190852 if that's any help. I've already asked a few FB friends with an interest in amateur astronomy but I'm getting conflicting information ranging from Jupiter to Betelgeuse to the north star.

Many thanks

Im 99% sure it'll be Sirius

It's the brightest star in the sky, it's blue and it's low in the south at the moment. Jupiter is very nearly overhead these days and Betelgeuse would have come out red/orange (as well as being significantly higher for most of the evening).

[edit] Having double checked the fainter stars you've also captured, it is definitely Sirius.

Spook187 · 17 Jan 2014 at 18:11

NeilFawcett said:
No official report?

Heh it was only one, the report comes from myself

Sonea Fifer · 17 Jan 2014 at 18:33

timbob said:
Im 99% sure it'll be Sirius

It's the brightest star in the sky, it's blue and it's low in the south at the moment. Jupiter is very nearly overhead these days and Betelgeuse would have come out red/orange (as well as being significantly higher for most of the evening).

[edit] Having double checked the fainter stars you've also captured, it is definitely Sirius.

Thank you very much for that Timbob

Cosimo · 17 Jan 2014 at 18:37

Sonea Fifer said:
Thank you very much for that Timbob

You should download Stellarium:

http://www.stellarium.org/

It will help you identify what you see in the night sky.

Sonea Fifer · 17 Jan 2014 at 18:47

Cosimo said:
You should download Stellarium:

http://www.stellarium.org/

It will help you identify what you see in the night sky.

Thanks also Cosimo - I've now got it downloading

Cosimo · 18 Jan 2014 at 10:35

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