Author Topic: Space exploration thread - Unexpected Rapid Disassembly in the launch area.  (Read 310752 times)

Offline FiSh77

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2240 on: November 10, 2019, 09:43:15 pm »
Mercury will transit the sun tomorrow, you should be able to see it from just after 12.35pm for around 3 and a half hours depending on conditions, sunset time and all that bollocks, it's the only naked eye planet I've never seen and don't really have the gear for right now so would love it if someone got some decent pics of the transit, yeah I could look on the internet at some pics captured from observatories but nothing beats that moment when you see or capture something on your own equipment 

Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2241 on: November 13, 2019, 10:52:12 pm »
Hayabusa2 has been a nice feather in JAXA's hat. It's coming back to Earth to drop samples off and go on to another adventure.

https://www.dw.com/en/hayabusa2-probe-leaves-ryugu-asteroid-heads-home/a-51230906
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Offline Ray K

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2242 on: December 20, 2019, 01:42:46 pm »
Not a good month or year for Boeing. Their new Starliner spacecraft set off for the ISS on a test flight today, and after an initially successful launch it failed to reach the correct orbital height and missed the ISS due to a separation issue and abandoned it's rendezvous.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2019, 01:51:03 pm by Ray K »
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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2243 on: January 1, 2020, 08:00:11 pm »
If all goes well SLS should launch the second half of this year carrying Artemis 1 on a 25 day mission involving a week in lunar orbit.  It will test new radiation protective technologies, including a "vest" designed to do the same job as a radiation shelter.  Two dummy astronauts will be used to test radiation exposure during the mission.
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Offline Andy @ Allerton!

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2244 on: January 3, 2020, 07:25:16 pm »
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/as-betelgeuse-dims-dramatically-astronomers-scratch-their-heads?utm_source=dscfb&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dscfb

As Betelgeuse Dims Dramatically, Astronomers Scratch Their Heads

One of the night sky's brightest stars is now the faintest it's been in a century. Astronomers aren't sure what it mean

Over the last few weeks, Betelgeuse, the bright reddish star in the constellation Orion, has dimmed to the faintest it's been in a century. Astronomers have been buzzing with excitement about the event, discussing the star over social media and speculating what might be going on.

The big question on everyone’s mind is whether the star is about to go supernova and explode. That’s probably not what’s about to happen, astronomers say, but they’re still excited to be witnessing behavior they’ve never seen from Betelgeuse before. There’s a lot that astronomers still don’t know about the variable behavior of supergiant stars like Betelgeuse, so any strange activity is a chance to learn more about the lives of stars. 
A Fading Supergiant

For over a century, astronomers have watched Betelgeuse brighten and dim again and again. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, a star late in its life that has expanded to an enormous size. Bubbles of material rise from inside the star to its surface and sink back down, changing the mix of hotter and cooler stuff on the star’s surface. These changes make Betelgeuse appear brighter and fainter over time.

For about 25 years, Richard Wasatonic, an astronomer at Villanova University, has measured the brightness of Betelgeuse with a 10-inch-diameter telescope in his backyard. He's worked with another Villanova astronomer named Edward Guinan, as well as an amateur astronomer named Thomas Calderwood. In October, they noticed that Betelgeuse was getting fainter again. By early December, they realized that Betelgeuse had gotten fainter than it had in the past 25 years and put out a post on a site known as The Astronomer’s Telegram to alert other astronomers.

“It kept getting fainter,” Guinan said. “Every night, it was fainter than the previous night, and I said, ‘Well, it has to stop soon.’ And it hasn’t.”

On Dec. 23, they posted an update. Betelgeuse had gotten fainter still, and it was now the faintest it has been in the last century or so — for as long as astronomers have been able to measure its brightness with detectors rather than judging by eye. At its brightest, Betelgeuse is usually one of the six or seven brightest stars visible to humans in the night sky. By mid-December, it had dropped several places on that list, to 21st brightest.
About to Blow?

The unusual dimming episode has made some astronomers wonder whether Betelgeuse is about to go supernova. Life on Earth would be fine if Betelgeuse did explode.

Based on its mass, astronomers estimate that the supergiant will go supernova when it’s roughly 9 million years old. According to Guinan, Betelgeuse is probably between 8 million and 9 million years old now. Astronomers have recently estimated that Betelgeuse might be due for a supernova in about 100,000 years or so. When it blows, it'll be spectacular. The explosion will be about half as bright as the full moon, Guinan said. Anyone lucky enough to be around would be able to see it shine during the day for months until it fades away.

Astronomers have carefully observed the behaviors of many stars after they exploded as supernovae. But no one has had a detailed look at how a star behaves leading up to a supernova. So astronomers don’t really know whether the current dimming event is leading up to a supernova. What they do know is that it’d be pretty unlikely for the explosion to go off now when there’s so much uncertainty in their understanding of Betelgeuse’s behavior and even its age.

Guinan and his team will keep monitoring Betelgeuse, as they have been for decades. Based on Betelgeuse's past dimming and brightening patterns — the star seems to cycle in brightness both every six years or so and every 425 days — they expect that it'll get its faintest in January and then get brighter again. But they'll have to see if that's the case.

"It defies prediction," Guinan said. "It's hard to predict what it’s going to do in the future."
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Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2245 on: January 4, 2020, 08:12:43 pm »
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/y1vZ6JT1s8Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/y1vZ6JT1s8Q</a>
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2246 on: January 5, 2020, 01:01:55 am »
Family weekend at JPL and next week we start packing the rover to send it to the Cape. Go/no-go decision is still hanging n the balance.

Shit mission management, IMHO, and it's a pity that sample return and future missions depends on it...
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Offline Sangria

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2247 on: January 5, 2020, 02:01:05 am »
Family weekend at JPL and next week we start packing the rover to send it to the Cape. Go/no-go decision is still hanging n the balance.

Shit mission management, IMHO, and it's a pity that sample return and future missions depends on it...

That's a surprisingly bad review. Still, any news of Harrison Reed?
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2248 on: February 25, 2020, 05:02:27 pm »
Mars has a strange humming sound... Not known origins, could be the crater resonating, but it's curious. The first active fault line is also being slowly revealed.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/02/nasa-insight-lander-detected-humming-mars-scientists-dont-know-why/

In other news regarding the new rover, the rover is at the Cape, the sample handling hardware left for there last week, and the final sample-intimate hardware sterilization will occur at the end of March, beginning of April. Seems like the mission is a "go" at this time despite some mechanical problems with the sampling hardware; it's considered manageable so far.
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Offline PROPER crazyemlyn72

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2249 on: February 25, 2020, 11:05:58 pm »
i love it when i check into the science and tech section and theres a post from farawayred. i know its not your area of expertise, but any news of space telescopes? the JWT is the dream machine itd be great to seethat far back in time. always love your insider updates.

Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2250 on: February 26, 2020, 04:11:06 am »
i love it when i check into the science and tech section and theres a post from farawayred. i know its not your area of expertise, but any news of space telescopes? the JWT is the dream machine itd be great to seethat far back in time. always love your insider updates.
Thanks, mate! I haven't been as proactive as before as I'm losing my enthusiasm when I see the direction we're evolving to... But I hope that that's not contagious and people stay excited about space exploration!

JWST is managed by Goddard and I'm far removed from it. We contribute a detector to the mission (MIRI, Mid-Infrared Instrument) that I've been involved with, but that's all. JWST is scheduled for launch in a year from Kourou, but who knows... There had been so many delays, they've became a running joke theme. The initial cost estimate was $1bn, it's gonna be $10bn by the time of launch and was supposed to launch like a decade earlier... It's going to be the next bestest thing in space, but you never know. It's a great telescope, really well though out, but there is no fixing it like Hubble. Hubble was in earth orbit, you send repairman when you need. JWST is orbiting at the Lagrangian point; there is no going there. So, cross fingers all goes well.
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Offline PROPER crazyemlyn72

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2251 on: February 26, 2020, 02:45:26 pm »
Yeah it's mad. Beyond the moon's orbit is it? Hard to believe we can't get there and back if we had to. I suppose it's better to be ultra careful so no one fucks up. But, you know, someone always does 😭

Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2252 on: March 1, 2020, 05:12:12 pm »
Worst thing about JWST is when it runs out of coolant and or fuel. Only has something like a 10 year lifespan. Compare that to almost 30 years with Hubble.
« Last Edit: March 1, 2020, 07:19:30 pm by Red Berry »
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Offline TepidT2O

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2253 on: March 1, 2020, 05:27:00 pm »
Worst thing about JWST is when it runs out of coolant and it fuel. Only has something like a 10 year lifespan. Compare that to almost 30 years with Hubble.
The original lifespan of the Hubble wasn’t much more was it?

(I’ve looked it up.  15 years.   It’s the most incredible achievement being their for 28 years)
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Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2254 on: March 1, 2020, 07:23:08 pm »
The original lifespan of the Hubble wasn’t much more was it?

(I’ve looked it up.  15 years.   It’s the most incredible achievement being their for 28 years)

I checked the JWST and the minimum lifespan is 5 years, but hoping for 10.

Hubble's been within easy reach of regular maintenance so it's not a surprise really. Still, if this in-satellite refueling concept takes off then automated visits to James Webb aren't impossible, at least for basics.
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Offline TepidT2O

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2255 on: March 1, 2020, 07:28:30 pm »
I checked the JWST and the minimum lifespan is 5 years, but hoping for 10.

Hubble's been within easy reach of regular maintenance so it's not a surprise really. Still, if this in-satellite refueling concept takes off then automated visits to James Webb aren't impossible, at least for basics.
Urgh I spelled there incorrectly!

It would be the interesting to see how feasible it is to ‘refuel’ JWST even if you could get to it...

Bloody amazing though...
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Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2256 on: March 1, 2020, 08:10:05 pm »
Urgh I spelled there incorrectly!

It would be the interesting to see how feasible it is to ‘refuel’ JWST even if you could get to it...

Bloody amazing though...

;D Tut!  I didn't even notice as I was on my phone, so shame on both of us!

At the moment satellite "refuelling" is being tried by simply latching an additional satellite onto an existing one and using the additional propellant on the piggyback vehicle.

There's talk of a few years down the line for a satellite that can actually add propellant directly into feed lines, but this means opening up the sealed lines, which of course were not designed to be opened.  And I'm not sure how this would be adapted for the coolant the JWST needs to operate effectively.  Think it's liquid helium to cool its instruments.

If the lunar gateway can be established and Orion brought up to full operation by 2030ish then I suppose there's an outside chance you could send a repair team out to it.  It couldn't be any riskier than landing on an asteroid after all.
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2257 on: March 1, 2020, 08:26:32 pm »
I think that the refueling of the JWST is something that's quite feasible, but that's not the main constraint for its longevity. The instruments lifetimes are. For example, the MIRI detector operates at liquid He temperatures, which sets limits on the He leak rate from the entire system, which consists of many joints that are assembled without good access. Basically, there is a diving board hung over the instrument and a person lying on it there has to assemble all the joints with limited access and without moving sideways (where he can hit other sensitive components). It's a crazy operation and there are only two people who are trained to do it!

Once assembled, the entire system has to be leak chekced to a very low requirement. But keep in mind that He becomes far more denser at 4K than it is at 300K and, considering worst-case fluid dynamics, the He leak sensitivity at RT has to be 600 times better. It can't be done with current best instruments. So everything, the entire system, has to be checked as cols s possible. That meets the requirements, but there is no guarantee that a small undetectable leak will not limit future JWST lifetime extensions. And there is another problem with one joint that has been around for years; its easily resolvable, but the rework operation carries high risk to other already assembled equipment.

That's why lifetimes are set to have a reasonable target that will return science worthy of the price tag. You can work to verify the performance against these requirements, and you can get lucky that the mission works for longer. But Hubble had the benefits of being accessible by humans; otherwise, it would have been dead on arrival.
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Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2258 on: March 1, 2020, 11:06:44 pm »
Let's just hope they got the mirror right this time. ;D
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Offline TepidT2O

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2259 on: March 1, 2020, 11:08:32 pm »
Let's just hope they got the mirror right this time. ;D
Well that’s a story in itself. One dropped screw, one bit of paint chipped off and the calibration went awry.

Should be easier with composite mirrors though!
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2260 on: March 1, 2020, 11:19:50 pm »
Well that’s a story in itself. One dropped screw, one bit of paint chipped off and the calibration went awry.

Should be easier with composite mirrors though!
Except for the mirrors themselves... ;D

A few years ago I worked on a problem with the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. A really cool piece of engineering! The flex mirror is not fragmented, but is made of a 0.6 mm-thick flexible glass plate, a meter in diameter... It's held by 632 segmented magnets in a way that the magnetic field looks like a mushroom top. The segments in each magnet are held with epoxy, which work against the repulsive magnetic forces. If one of those failed, imagine the fragments flying everywhere!... And there are only three such mirrors, two in service one usually in repair. Leading edge science comes at a price, but the engineering marbles that facilitate it can be jaw-dropping!
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Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2261 on: March 1, 2020, 11:51:17 pm »
Except for the mirrors themselves... ;D

A few years ago I worked on a problem with the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona. A really cool piece of engineering! The flex mirror is not fragmented, but is made of a 0.6 mm-thick flexible glass plate, a meter in diameter... It's held by 632 segmented magnets in a way that the magnetic field looks like a mushroom top. The segments in each magnet are held with epoxy, which work against the repulsive magnetic forces. If one of those failed, imagine the fragments flying everywhere!... And there are only three such mirrors, two in service one usually in repair. Leading edge science comes at a price, but the engineering marbles that facilitate it can be jaw-dropping!

That's utterly amazing!  We can do something like that but fall into a panic over a poxy virus where all we can do is wash our hands!  ;D
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2262 on: March 13, 2020, 12:11:29 am »
ExoMars mission delayed due to COVID-19

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/exomars-rosalind-franklin-rover-2022-launch-coronavirus-scn-trnd/index.html

I truly hope that NASA will follow with the COVID-19 excuse to delay the Mars 2020 as well. It's a shit show...
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Offline kavah

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2263 on: March 13, 2020, 05:33:05 am »
Apollo 13 podcast on has started on the BBC

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2/episodes/downloads


Offline The Gulleysucker

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2264 on: March 20, 2020, 05:59:05 pm »
First there was pestilence, and great woe swept the land.... and then a bright light appeared in the firmament...



I don't do polite so fuck yoursalf with your stupid accusations...

Right you fuckwit I will show you why you are talking out of your fat arse...

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Offline RedSince86

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2265 on: March 28, 2020, 08:51:40 pm »
Moon and Venus Conjunction tonight.

Luckily clear skies and i'm sure the lack of air pollution in the UK will give everyone a good sight of it.
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Offline LOKKO

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2266 on: March 29, 2020, 09:52:25 pm »
Glad I got most of the landscape astrophotography shots I wanted before the starlink satellites went up sky is going to be full of them in a years time

Offline Red Beret

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2267 on: April 2, 2020, 09:54:25 pm »
Scott Manley talks asteroids.


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Offline reddebs

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2268 on: April 7, 2020, 10:14:04 pm »
Anyone managed to get a good view of tonight's pink supermoon?

It's not that good here so far as I got a better look at the one this morning.

I managed to get this on my phone.

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2269 on: April 9, 2020, 09:13:14 am »
I got a couple of shots... i planned a photo of it rising over some apartments but the Nikon p900 i lent was crap in low light so ended.up.with just this

Offline reddebs

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2270 on: April 9, 2020, 09:33:08 am »
I got a couple of shots... i planned a photo of it rising over some apartments but the Nikon p900 i lent was crap in low light so ended.up.with just this
Great pic mate [emoji54]

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2271 on: April 13, 2020, 05:15:06 pm »
Worth remembering the Apollo 13 ordeal 50 years ago when on April 14, 1970 they reported the now infamous "Houston, we have a problem"
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Apollo13-wehaveaproblem.ogg

And it's a shame that there was no mentioning at all in the U.S. media of the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, the first man in space...
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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2272 on: May 7, 2020, 01:44:19 am »


New image captures 'impossible' view of the moon's surface

   
You've never seen the moon like in this 'all terminator' image (and you never will).

Shadows creep down the banks of every crater on the near-side of the moon, highlighting the pockmarked face of Earth's gravitationally-bound buddy with a clarity never before seen.

According to photographer Andrew McCarthy, who posted the stunning image to his Instagram in April, there's a simple explanation for the unprecedented level of detail in his work — this lunar view is actually "impossible."

"This moon might look a little funny to you, and that's because it is an impossible scene," McCarthy wrote on Instagram. "From two weeks of images of the waxing moon, I took the section of the picture that has the most contrast … aligned and blended them to show the rich texture across the entire surface."

The high-contrast section of the moon that McCarthy referred to is called the "lunar terminator" — the long line in the sand (or regolith, if you prefer) that divides the moon’s Earth-facing side between darkness and light. This terminator line moves around constantly depending on the phase of the moon, revealing or concealing new sections of the lunar surface each day as the satellite moves in and out of Earth’s shadow. Because the terminator line heightens the contrast between the light and dark sides of the moon’s face, shadows look elongated and intensified in craters closest to the terminator.

With this in mind, McCarthy trained his camera on the craters closest to the lunar terminator every night for two weeks as the moon waxed toward complete illumination. By the time the moon was full, McCarthy had a series of high-contrast, high-definition photos of every crater on the moon's Earth-facing side. Blending them into a single composite image was "exhausting," he wrote, but ultimately resulted in the gorgeously detailed shot seen above — an image that McCarthy calls the "all terminator" moon.

This impossible composite can't really be considered a true photograph of the moon, but the finished whole certainly amounts to more than the sum of its shady-cratered parts.

https://www.livescience.com/amp/terminator-moon-composite-image.html



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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2273 on: May 7, 2020, 12:24:48 pm »
That's stunning!

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2274 on: May 7, 2020, 10:50:56 pm »

New image captures 'impossible' view of the moon's surface

   
You've never seen the moon like in this 'all terminator' image (and you never will).

Shadows creep down the banks of every crater on the near-side of the moon, highlighting the pockmarked face of Earth's gravitationally-bound buddy with a clarity never before seen.

According to photographer Andrew McCarthy, who posted the stunning image to his Instagram in April, there's a simple explanation for the unprecedented level of detail in his work — this lunar view is actually "impossible."

"This moon might look a little funny to you, and that's because it is an impossible scene," McCarthy wrote on Instagram. "From two weeks of images of the waxing moon, I took the section of the picture that has the most contrast … aligned and blended them to show the rich texture across the entire surface."

The high-contrast section of the moon that McCarthy referred to is called the "lunar terminator" — the long line in the sand (or regolith, if you prefer) that divides the moon’s Earth-facing side between darkness and light. This terminator line moves around constantly depending on the phase of the moon, revealing or concealing new sections of the lunar surface each day as the satellite moves in and out of Earth’s shadow. Because the terminator line heightens the contrast between the light and dark sides of the moon’s face, shadows look elongated and intensified in craters closest to the terminator.

With this in mind, McCarthy trained his camera on the craters closest to the lunar terminator every night for two weeks as the moon waxed toward complete illumination. By the time the moon was full, McCarthy had a series of high-contrast, high-definition photos of every crater on the moon's Earth-facing side. Blending them into a single composite image was "exhausting," he wrote, but ultimately resulted in the gorgeously detailed shot seen above — an image that McCarthy calls the "all terminator" moon.

This impossible composite can't really be considered a true photograph of the moon, but the finished whole certainly amounts to more than the sum of its shady-cratered parts.

https://www.livescience.com/amp/terminator-moon-composite-image.html




Wowzers
Quote from: tubby on Today at 12:45:53 pm

They both went in high, that's factually correct, both tried to play the ball at height.  Doku with his foot, Mac Allister with his chest.

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2275 on: May 11, 2020, 12:22:51 am »
Any ideas what this is?

Mate filmed it tonight over Huyton.

https://twitter.com/mrmackjnr/status/1259618436151468033?s=21

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2276 on: May 11, 2020, 12:32:35 am »
Any ideas what this is?

Mate filmed it tonight over Huyton.

https://twitter.com/mrmackjnr/status/1259618436151468033?s=21


Looks like one of the Tesla crackpots satellites
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Offline farawayred

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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2278 on: May 12, 2020, 06:08:43 am »
The Mars 2020 sample cash hardware flew this morning to Florida to get integrated with the rover, right on schedule for the July launch. Mechanism problems persist, but nothing we can't recover from (so far). Hopefully all goes well...

Amazing how smooth things move in these COVID times with less than 10% supporting personnel available on lab...
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Re: Space exploration thread
« Reply #2279 on: May 13, 2020, 07:59:44 am »

Scientists have created the highest-resolution photos of Jupiter ever captured from the ground, including this gorgeous infrared photo created by stacking a large number of exposures.

Researchers at the NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) spent three years capturing observations using a selection-and-stacking technique called “lucky imaging” using the Gemini North telescope on Hawaii’s Maunakea (a dormant volcano).

The photo above was created by shooting 9 “pointings” from the observatory with 38 exposures captured for each pointing. The sharpest 10% of each set was selected and stacked to create a sharp image of 1/9th of Jupiter’s full disk. Those 9 pieces are then combined to create the full view of the gas giant.

“Even though it only takes a few seconds for Gemini to create each image in a lucky imaging set, completing all 38 exposures in a set can take minutes — long enough for features to rotate noticeably across the disk,” the observatory writes. “In order to compare and combine the images, they are first mapped to their actual latitude and longitude on Jupiter, using the limb, or edge of the disk, as a reference.

“Once the mosaics are compiled into a full disk, the final images are some of the highest-resolution infrared views of Jupiter ever taken from the ground.”

“The Gemini data were critical because they allowed us to probe deeply into Jupiter’s clouds on a regular schedule,” says team lead Michael Wong of UC Berkeley. “We used a very powerful technique called lucky imaging. […] These images rival the view from space.”

When compared with optical and ultraviolet images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, the infrared Gemini photos helped confirm that the dark spots in the famous Great Red Spot on Jupiter — a ginormous storm — are actually holes in the clouds rather than darker-colored clouds.

“It’s kind of like a jack-o-lantern,” Wong says. “You see bright infrared light coming from cloud-free areas, but where there are clouds, it’s really dark in the infrared.”

https://petapixel.com/2020/05/12/this-is-an-infrared-photo-of-jupiter/