Spot the Space Station

[day_trippr]

This is amazing...

https://www.space.com/space-station-spacewalking-astronauts-telescope-photo

 

[day_trippr]

On to instrument commissioning!

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-alignment-complete

 

[day_trippr]

That's a huge gain in resolution power right there

 

[passedpawn]

That's a huge gain in resolution power right there

View attachment 768657

Yes, but I wonder about the starburst in the better image. That's caused by the aperture diaphragm geometry as you close it down to reduce the light. I'd think that for space photography, it'd be wide open all the time.

 

[Konadog]

I think its something from stacking 18 seperate and different mirror photos. They can probably filter it out once Instruments Commissioning is complete.

 

[day_trippr]

My guess is they were going for maximum depth and those bright bodies just blew out their pixels...

 

[passedpawn]

My guess is they were going for maximum depth and those bright bodies just blew out their pixels...

Pixels being saturated with light won't cause patterns like that. It's an optical effect before the light reaches the sensor.

that star pattern is caused by the blades of the mechanical aperture / iris of the camera (it's not some wonderful anomaly that god bestowed upon us when we take a picture of a star ) If the aperture below was used to make a picture of some point source (and if the aperture was stopped down to f/8.0, you would have seen 7 flares around that light. Count the blades. It becomes more apparent as you close the aperture.

I'd think that anyone doing astro photography would have this iris open wide (no flares, see f/1,4 below). No irregularity in the aperture, no flares.

Yea, there's more in this life than I will ever understand, but I'm standing by what I do know now.

 

[Pkrd]

The hexagonal mirrors contribute to the spikes too.

 

[day_trippr]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/13/world/total-lunar-eclipse-may-2022-scn/index.html

 

[passedpawn]

The hexagonal mirrors contribute to the spikes too.

Ah... maybe that's the answer. Thanks.

 

[tracer bullet]

Nova's running an episode on the Webb this week. Locally for me it's on tomorrow evening (7PM Central in MN).

 

[balrog]

diaphragm geometry

hexagonal mirrors contribute to the spikes

With my Newtonian it was all about the secondary mirror supports, but my push processed Tri-x graininess coupled with questionable collimation hasty cleaning and the impatience of youth caused me many more problems than star spikes.

 

[day_trippr]

Nova's running an episode on the Webb this week. Locally for me it's on tomorrow evening (7PM Central in MN).

Yup - tomorrow portends to be a significant day for the JSWT...

Cheers!

 

[Pkrd]

JWST first image is....stunning. Look at that gravitational lensing!
High resolution here
https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7JJADTH90FR98AKKJFKSS0B.png

Where this little square is...
Explore JWST’s first image in full resolution!

 

[marc1]

Here's a link about the spikes:
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/01G529MX46J7AFK61GAMSHKSSN
You can pick a high-res version of the image to read the tiny details

 

[renstyle]

Just got all caught up... all I can say is WOW!

 

[passedpawn]

I might at some point attempt to contact the ISS by radio. Seems like a long shot, but this guy did it.

 

[passedpawn]

 

[passedpawn]

^^ forgot link

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russia...dezawv59ui9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[day_trippr]

Meh. I'm inclined to indifference. There is little chance Russia could actualize any alternative anytime soon, unless they partner with China. And "after 2024" could be close to "never"...

[edit] Et voila, a shoe hits the floor...

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ving-the-space-station-until-our-own-is-ready

 

[day_trippr]

Farewell to Nichol Nichols. She moved the needle of US broadcast standards in a positive direction...

Cheers!

 

[passedpawn]

Farewell to Nichol Nichols. She moved the needle of US broadcast standards in a positive direction...

View attachment 776585

Cheers!

I never liked the original star trek. So cheesy. SOOO cheesy.

If you're really a fan of uhuru (I think that's her name), go find the Black Mirror episode called USS Callister. Find it you must. Let me know what you think afterwards.

 

[Pkrd]

I never liked the original star trek. So cheesy. SOOO cheesy.

If you're really a fan of uhuru (I think that's her name), go find the Black Mirror episode called USS Callister. Find it you must. Let me know what you think afterwards.

That was a pretty good watch.
I've just finished discovery which is often awful but has its moments.
Strange New Worlds was reminiscent of the original and definitely one of the better Treks.

 

[Pkrd]

Some moons tonight

 

[day_trippr]

For you folks with 'scopes...

https://astronomy.com/magazine/news/2022/08/see-saturns-rings-at-their-finest

 

[Pkrd]

Yeasties hitching a ride to deep space.
Assuming SLS doesn't perform a rapid unscheduled disassembly.

Artemis I to Launch First-of-a-Kind Deep Space Biology Mission

 

[day_trippr]

I'll say right now I have no good feelings about this first SLS launch, but "The Artemis team is targeting its first two-hour launch window from 8:33 a.m. ET to 10:33 a.m. ET on Monday, August 29. There are backup launch windows on September 2 and September 5."

Good luck...

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/world/nasa-artemis-1-launch-update-scn/index.html

 

[Konadog]

Isn't this the 2nd or 3rd try already? They had to roll it back off of the launch pad last time.

Good luck is right!

 

[day_trippr]

Those were just the "light the candle" exercises, iirc.
Yeah, going "full send" doesn't seem likely to succeed right now...

 

[day_trippr]

'Zero hour' for Artemis 1: NASA's most powerful rocket to launch risky moon mission test flight. Liftoff of NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission is set for Aug. 29 at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT). CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.

https://www.space.com/artemis-1-moon-mission-nasa-zero-hour-preview