Spot the Space Station

[gratus fermentatio]

Thought some of you might be interested in the Perseids, Mars & Saturn...
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/astronomy-podcast-for-august-2016/
Regards, GF.

 

[unionrdr]

Speaking of the Perseids, they should be at their height 11-13th. I was just sitting here wondering if the " fireworks" setting on my Canon Powershot SX500 IS would be good for shooting them? Like to get some astronomical shots for some videos/wall pics, etc this year. They say it'll be a decade before we see'em again?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Speaking of the Perseids, they should be at their height 11-13th. I was just sitting here wondering if the " fireworks" setting on my Canon Powershot SX500 IS would be good for shooting them? Like to get some astronomical shots for some videos/wall pics, etc this year. They say it'll be a decade before we see'em again?

The Perseids happen every summer, they're an annual meteor shower. Some years are better than others & sometimes the moon makes it difficult to see them, but they're there every summer. You might find this helpful:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astr...e-perseids-how-to-photograph-a-meteor-shower/
Regards, GF.

 

[unionrdr]

Thanks for the link. Good info on camera setup...

 

[bob1852]

Perseid has been pretty kick ass tonight. Wish I had set up the camera...

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Perseid has been pretty kick ass tonight. Wish I had set up the camera...

I'd swear this isn't the first time you've said this.

 

[Staestc]

I saw one Perseid meteor last night. There's just too much stray light here. Raining tonight, which is awesome in north Texas in August, but ruled out Perseids for tonight and tomorrow. Bummer.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Not the ISS, but those of you wanting to see/photograph a total solar eclipse (in the continental USA) will have a really good chance to do so next year. Make your viewing plans early, the good spots/hotels fill up fast.
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016...tunning-solar-eclipse-darkens-middle-america/
Regards, GF.

 

[passedpawn]

Clearwater's not going to turn the lights off. But I'd like to visit a pace that has. I was sitting on a little island on the west coast of FL a couple of years ago and it was very dark and the milky way was right there. My son and I sat in chairs and watched until the skeeters had their fill from our legs. Saw some shooting stars that night too.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whg3GNZEeRk[/ame]

 

[unionrdr]

There are spots in WV we drive through at night with views like that. Gotta get a new car so we can trip around & shoot some pics...

 

[passedpawn]

If you look out at the night sky, Betelgeuse is shining bright just west of Orions belt. It's the orange star.


Betelgeuse is 100.000 times as bright as our star. That's pretty impressive. Also, consider it's over 500 light years away. So that light was created, and started its travel to your eyes, while Christoper Columbus was still alive.

 

[snowveil]

If you look out at the night sky, Betelgeuse is shining bright just west of Orions belt. It's the orange star.


Betelgeuse is 100.000 times as bright as our star. That's pretty impressive. Also, consider it's over 500 light years away. So that light was created, and started its travel to your eyes, while Christoper Columbus was still alive.

Makes me think of the poster I've got upstairs

View attachment 1484796214766.jpg

 

[Fedora]

If you look out at the night sky, Betelgeuse is shining bright just west of Orions belt. It's the orange star.


Betelgeuse is 100.000 times as bright as our star. That's pretty impressive. Also, consider it's over 500 light years away. So that light was created, and started its travel to your eyes, while Christoper Columbus was still alive.

Way too cloudy tonight.

The ISS passed over this morning before I went to work but it was overcast and foggy. Couldn't see anything.

Guess I'll say that star's name three times and hope it appears tomorrow.

 

[Fedora]

Clear skies tonight. My son and I marveled at Beetlejuice and contemplated the distance the light had traveled. Kinda blew both our minds.

Also spotted a few constellations we follow. We don't get too nerdy about it but we like watching the stars.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, one of the cooler 'Droid apps is Google Sky.
I had no idea how many named constellations there were right in front of my eyes...

Cheers!

 

[LAHammer]

I use Sky Guide on iPhone and it amazes as well

 

[kombat]

Clear skies tonight. My son and I marveled at Beetlejuice and contemplated the distance the light had traveled. Kinda blew both our minds.

Fun fact about Betelgeuse: If it were sitting where our sun is, we'd be inside of it. It's so massive that its surface would extend out past the asteroid belt, and completely engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

 

[passedpawn]

Fun fact about Betelgeuse: If it were sitting where our sun is, we'd be inside of it. It's so massive that its surface would extend out past the asteroid belt, and completely engulf Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Right. My nifty star app told me it's diameter is the size of Mars' orbit (something like that).

 

[passedpawn]

Today, 51 years ago (1966), our civilization made the first contact with another planet. The USSR's Venera reached the surface of Venus. USSR would focus on that planet, while the US would point their ambitions to the moon, and planets farther away from the sun than our own.

 

[kombat]

Any astrophotographers here? I bought a telescope (Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ) and the T-adapter and T-mount to attach my camera to it. My plan was to try to get some decent photos using the photo stacking technique. I downloaded and installed Deep Sky Stacker, but the first (and so far only) time I've tried it, it does all the processing, then says it will only use one of the 10 photos I've uploaded. I've played with the "star threshold" to no avail. The photos I used were 10 photos, 2.5 seconds each. I didn't do any dark frames. Even at 2.5 seconds, I was getting some star trails - do I need to take much shorter photos? More photos? Do I really need those dark frames? Is there some other setting I'm missing? Anyone have any insight into this stuff? I'm very new to it all.

 

[passedpawn]

Favorite space movies (Top 5). I think this order is correct, but might change tomorrow. I love all of them.

Contact
2001: A Space Oddity
Moon
Europa Report
The Martian

 

[Homercidal]

Favorite space movies (Top 5). I think this order is correct, but might change tomorrow. I love all of them.

Contact
2001: A Space Oddity
Moon
Europa Report
The Martian

Good list! I have plenty more, but they generally fall in the "Comedy" category.

Speaking of which, did David Bowie make the second movie on your list?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Get your cameras ready & schedule some time off, here comes the total solar eclipse of 2017!
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/total-solar-eclipse-august-2017/#plan
Happy viewing!
Regards, GF.

 

[kombat]

Funny timing - I actually just received my EclipSmart solar filter for my (admittedly crappy) telescope yesterday. It's been overcast though, so I haven't had a chance to try it out. I'm planning on using it to photograph the eclipse later this year. It'll only be a partial from where I am, so proper optical protection is crucial.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

Any astrophotographers here? I bought a telescope (Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ) and the T-adapter and T-mount to attach my camera to it. My plan was to try to get some decent photos using the photo stacking technique. I downloaded and installed Deep Sky Stacker, but the first (and so far only) time I've tried it, it does all the processing, then says it will only use one of the 10 photos I've uploaded. I've played with the "star threshold" to no avail. The photos I used were 10 photos, 2.5 seconds each. I didn't do any dark frames. Even at 2.5 seconds, I was getting some star trails - do I need to take much shorter photos? More photos? Do I really need those dark frames? Is there some other setting I'm missing? Anyone have any insight into this stuff? I'm very new to it all.

Let me send you to the Home Brew Talk of astronomy. There are brilliant minds there that can give you help with any aspects.

http://www.astronomyforum.net/forum.php

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Live from the ISS:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload
Regards, GF.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Atmospheric tests on the east coast tonight. Should get some good 911 calls:

 

[bob1852]

Since this has become the default astronomy thread.....any good eclipse photos?

I haven't done any post processing other than cropping, but here's the progression I witnessed (DSLR solar filter).

 

[passedpawn]

Man I wish I had my act together that day. I should have done an timelapse like that.

I just worked right through it. I walked out and did a few squinty sideways glances at it, but nothing out of the ordinary here.

 

[applescrap]

Kinda bad, but I took these through cell phone lens with glasses over. Had to use flash to get pics.

View attachment 1503459046817.jpg

View attachment 1503459058014.jpg

View attachment 1503459072592.jpg

 

[gratus fermentatio]

ISS transits sun during solar eclipse:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJAdndv_0hE[/ame]

 

[passedpawn]

Goodbye Cassini. Kinda makes me sad.

 

[kombat]

Goodbye Cassini. Kinda makes me sad.

You know what makes me sad? That every article on this topic mentions that the reason they deliberately destroyed it was to avoid risking contaminating two moons (Enceladus and Titan) that could potentially harbour life.

Except that they've already potentially contaminated Titan when they landed the Huygens probe on it in 2005.

I get that they don't want to risk contaminating Enceladus, and don't want to risk contaminating Titan further, but as an enthusiast of this kind of stuff, it bugs me that they keep implying that they're trying to keep Titan pristine, so if they ever find life on it, they can be confident it wasn't accidentally delivered there by an earlier probe. I'm sure NASA knows the difference, so I blame lazy journalism.

 

[passedpawn]

You know what makes me sad? That every article on this topic mentions that the reason they deliberately destroyed it was to avoid risking contaminating two moons (Enceladus and Titan) that could potentially harbour life.

Except that they've already potentially contaminated Titan when they landed the Huygens probe on it in 2005.

I get that they don't want to risk contaminating Enceladus, and don't want to risk contaminating Titan further, but as an enthusiast of this kind of stuff, it bugs me that they keep implying that they're trying to keep Titan pristine, so if they ever find life on it, they can be confident it wasn't accidentally delivered there by an earlier probe. I'm sure NASA knows the difference, so I blame lazy journalism.

That's really interesting.

While we do know the elements that make up our world, and we don't expect to find any new ones in our solar system, life will undoubtedly be of a very different form than what's here on earth. That's mainly because the development of life depends completely on environmental pressures, and those pressures are far different on other planets / moons. So yea, I agree, NASA shouldn't have any trouble concluding whether it's a new species or some cling-on from the space probe. I'm no scientist, but I will still guess that there's nothing to be discovered in our solar system, but more likely in another system with a Goldilocks planet.

 

[bob1852]

That's really interesting.

While we do know the elements that make up our world, and we don't expect to find any new ones in our solar system, life will undoubtedly be of a very different form than what's here on earth. That's mainly because the development of life depends completely on environmental pressures, and those pressures are far different on other planets / moons. So yea, I agree, NASA shouldn't have any trouble concluding whether it's a new species or some cling-on* from the space probe. I'm no scientist, but I will still guess that there's nothing to be discovered in our solar system, but more likely in another system with a Goldilocks planet.

*

 

[passedpawn]

*

nice selfie. maybe consider a comb-over?

 

[arturo7]

You know what makes me sad? That every article on this topic mentions that the reason they deliberately destroyed it was to avoid risking contaminating two moons (Enceladus and Titan) that could potentially harbour life.

Except that they've already potentially contaminated Titan when they landed the Huygens probe on it in 2005.

At the time Huygens landed on Titan, the prevailing science said that chances of finding life there were insignificant. This view changed, so the decision was made to scuttle Cassini.

 

[applescrap]

Eclipse pictures, err, kind of. We were laughing hard at these the other night. My wife took these at her work, these were people from her building.

View attachment 1505681242617.jpg

View attachment 1505681250778.jpg

 

[kombat]

At the time Huygens landed on Titan, the prevailing science said that chances of finding life there were insignificant. This view changed, so the decision was made to scuttle Cassini.

Hmm, that's not how I remember it. I can't find any references, but my recollection is that they chose Titan specifically because of its potential for life. The rest of the moons were mostly boring, desolate rocks, but Titan has a thick atmosphere and was overflowing with hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any references to support this, as it was quite a while ago.

 

[arturo7]

Hmm, that's not how I remember it. I can't find any references, but my recollection is that they chose Titan specifically because of its potential for life. The rest of the moons were mostly boring, desolate rocks, but Titan has a thick atmosphere and was overflowing with hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any references to support this, as it was quite a while ago.

I heard it in an interview on NPR with someone from the project team. Also googled to confirm.