Re: tOfficial Astronomy Thread

[AvgMSUJoe]

You saw me standing alone...

[The Pantry]

Tonight is the super blue moon. No, the moon won't look blue. It's called blue because of the expression "once in a blue moon", or when it a full moon happens twice in a month or 4x in a season. The next super blue moon will be in 2037. Saturn will also be visible about 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon.

Super blue moon visible Wednesday night. How to see it in Michigan

Quite a shocker it's supposed to be clear here this evening.

[tGreenWay]

Tonight is the super blue moon. No, the moon won't look blue. It's called blue because of the expression "once in a blue moon", or when it a full moon happens twice in a month or 4x in a season. The next super blue moon will be in 2037. Saturn will also be visible about 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon.

Super blue moon visible Wednesday night. How to see it in Michigan

I’m all about celestial events but that article lost me real quick.

[Floyd Robertson]

Tonight is the super blue moon. No, the moon won't look blue. It's called blue because of the expression "once in a blue moon", or when it a full moon happens twice in a month or 4x in a season. The next super blue moon will be in 2037. Saturn will also be visible about 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon.

Super blue moon visible Wednesday night. How to see it in Michigan

I’m all about celestial events but that article lost me real quick.

Bridge is great but don't expect it to be Scientific American.

[The Pantry]

Clear. Won't get the full effect...a lot of trees.

[Floyd Robertson]

https://www.wilx.com/news/national/2023/09/06/across-northern-hemisphere-nows-time-catch-new-comet-before-it-vanishes-400-years/?fbclid=IwAR1nds1W6x2fr-Uwq2fIu4nFnzAlMZ4R0jnsLE3K_ijTDIiJaYlzVOlG-20

Comets are cool.

[steveschneider]

Saw a satellite train the other night. Blech!

Last thing I want to think about when I look up at the stars is Elon Musk or Starlink.

[Zurn]

Saw a satellite train the other night. Blech!

Last thing I want to think about when I look up at the stars is Elon Musk or Starlink.

Then don't look up to see the ISS.  American astronauts get there on SpaceX and the thing is supplied, in part, by SpaceX.

Also don't pay attention to upcoming Artemis moon missions as SpaceX is building the lunar lander.

[Zurn]

Speaking of the ISS.

Sign up at spotthestation.nasa.gov and they will send you a text for the day and time that you can see the ISS at your location. Very cool.

[Trapper Gus]

Saw a satellite train the other night. Blech!

Last thing I want to think about when I look up at the stars is Elon Musk or Starlink.

Then don't look up to see the ISS.  American astronauts get there on SpaceX and the thing is supplied, in part, by SpaceX.

Also don't pay attention to upcoming Artemis moon missions as SpaceX is building the lunar lander.

And Space X is being muchly funded by the US government.

[DWags]

Wife casually says, “at 8:33 tonight star link satellite will be visible in macomb county going west to east”. These pictures don’t do it Justice. It was really cool. Very big.

[tGreenWay]

Wife casually says, “at 8:33 tonight star link satellite will be visible in macomb county going west to east”. These pictures don’t do it Justice. It was really cool. Very big.

Just wait until elon starts running ads from space. It’s going to pollute our skies.

[AvgMSUJoe]

Just wait until elon starts running ads from space. It’s going to pollute our skies.

Speaking of, last Tuesday I was driving up 75 later at night and around Holly there was a huge drone display in the sky... freaky when not expecting it. I could see floating billboards being a thing sooner enough.

[NigelUno]

Wife casually says, “at 8:33 tonight star link satellite will be visible in macomb county going west to east”. These pictures don’t do it Justice. It was really cool. Very big.

Pretty cool.

[I.B. Fine]

Saw the Starlink 'train' in Italy a couple of weeks ago for the first time, over Lake Erie this past weekend, pretty crazy to think how far things have come for someone that used to wait until 5:00 Sunday to make long distance calls....

[Jake from State Farm]

Saw the Starlink 'train' in Italy a couple of weeks ago for the first time, over Lake Erie this past weekend, pretty crazy to think how far things have come for someone that used to wait until 5:00 Sunday to make long distance calls....

Right after we moved from Lansing to St Johns the phone bill got up to around $350 from kids calling friends. Phone company got bought out and I never received another bill from them.

[MiamiSpartan]

The Starlink and other mini satellites are a major problem.  They're having a detrimental effect on astronomers' abilities to study space, and it's only in its infancy.

[Other Teams Pursuing That]

The Starlink and other mini satellites are a major problem.  They're having a detrimental effect on astronomers' abilities to study space, and it's only in its infancy.

Link?

[Jake from State Farm]

The Starlink and other mini satellites are a major problem.  They're having a detrimental effect on astronomers' abilities to study space, and it's only in its infancy.

No More Astronomy Photobombs? SpaceX Shows Off Starlink Satellite 'Mirror Film'

The 'dielectric mirror film' on the second-gen Starlink satellites is designed to scatter sunlight away from Earth, preventing interference with ground-based astronomy.

Looks like a we'll see (or not see)

[tGreenWay]

Just wait until elon starts running ads from space. It’s going to pollute our skies.

Speaking of, last Tuesday I was driving up 75 later at night and around Holly there was a huge drone display in the sky... freaky when not expecting it. I could see floating billboards being a thing sooner enough.

Oh, yay.

[tGreenWay]

https://interestingengineering.com/science/upcoming-northern-lights-to-be-the-strongest-in-20-years

[MiamiSpartan]

The Starlink and other mini satellites are a major problem.  They're having a detrimental effect on astronomers' abilities to study space, and it's only in its infancy.

No More Astronomy Photobombs? SpaceX Shows Off Starlink Satellite 'Mirror Film'

The 'dielectric mirror film' on the second-gen Starlink satellites is designed to scatter sunlight away from Earth, preventing interference with ground-based astronomy.

Looks like a we'll see (or not see)

That would definitely help with the light pollution if it pans out. However, thats only part of the concern. That just affects visual light, but radio astronomy can also be affected, as a recent study indicates that the Starlinks are leaking electromagnetic radiation.

And there is the concern over the number of satellites and potential collisions. Currently Starlink is approaching 5,000 satellites, with SpaceX already receiving approval to fly 12,000, and have filed paperwork for authorization on an additional 30,000. To give that some context, in all of human history, only about 15,000 satellites have been deployed (including SpaceX's current 5,000). Other companies fly their own mini satellites, as well, and many others have plans to.

This is interesting:

According to computer models, at that time, Starlink satellites were involved every week in about 1,600 encounters between two spacecraft closer than 0.6 miles (1 kilometer). That's about 50% of all such incidents. This number rises with every new batch of satellites launched into space. By the time Starlink deploys all 12,000 satellites of its first-generation constellation it could reach 90%, Lewis said.

That, and a lot of other good info (pros, cons, and unknown) is in this link if anyone is interested: https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html

[AvgMSUJoe]

Speaking of, last Tuesday I was driving up 75 later at night and around Holly there was a huge drone display in the sky... freaky when not expecting it. I could see floating billboards being a thing sooner enough.

Oh, yay.

So it appears there is a test area over that way...

[Floyd Robertson]

The only thing I can think of in that area that is operating this time of year that might have a drone show is Groveland Oaks (Oakland County Park).

I mean, the Renaissance Festival is close by, but a drone show would freak out the people of that time.

[Trapper Gus]

https://www.mlive.com/life/2023/10/got-your-glasses-when-to-catch-2-solar-eclipses-in-michigan.html

[Floyd Robertson]

October skywatching: See ‘Ring of Fire’ eclipse, fall meteor shower, bright planets

[The Pantry]

I get the feeling it's not going to clear up in time for the eclipse

[Nordic]

https://www.mlive.com/life/2023/11/2023s-strongest-meteor-shower-now-active-when-to-see-hundreds-of-shooting-stars.html?outputType=amp

This year’s Geminids meteor shower began on Nov. 19 and will increase in intensity to its peak, which will occur overnight between Dec. 13 and 14, according to the American Meteor Society. The shower will then decrease in intensity until it wraps up Dec. 24.

[Trapper Gus]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/26/world/november-full-beaver-moon-scn/index.html

[MiamiSpartan]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/26/world/november-full-beaver-moon-scn/index.html

Beaver Moon, In honor of the hiring of Coach Smith.

[The Pantry]

Supposed to get cloudier here through the evening but will give it a look anyway.

Strong geomagnetic storm heading toward Earth increasing chances for vivid Northern Lights farther south

[MiamiSpartan]

We are back on the moon (or Hollywood has faked it if you prefer) for the first time since 1972.

There was about a 10+ minute delay after when it should have landed and when they actually got communication from it.

Reminder that a few months ago Russia had a probe crash on the moon.

Space flight is hard.

[Travis of the Cosmos]

I’m an Aries :)

[Trapper Gus]

We are back on the moon (or Hollywood has faked it if you prefer) for the first time since 1972.

There was about a 10+ minute delay after when it should have landed and when they actually got communication from it.

Reminder that a few months ago Russia had a probe crash on the moon.

Space flight is hard.

They should send up a bulldozer to make a flat place to land before they try to land.

[Trapper Gus]

Scientists have confirmed what became of a star that exploded in a stunning supernova visible to Earth more than three decades ago: It morphed into a neutron star, one of the oddest objects in the universe.

In 1987, a star in a nearby galaxy went supernova and its fiery demise was detected in Earth’s nighttime sky with the naked eye for months. Scientists figured when its core collapsed, the remnants would turn into one of two things: a black hole, where nothing escapes; or a neutron star, the most dense object in the universe besides a black hole.

The trouble was there was so much debris, astronomers couldn’t see past the dust. But NASA’s Webb Space Telescope cut through the clutter by peering in infrared light and saw two telltale chemical signatures — argon and sulfur — of a pulsing super-hot neutron star, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

https://apnews.com/article/supernova-explosion-neutron-star-black-hole-26dce19f08868e4a1a5d59cbd03349d3

[Nordic]

We are back on the moon (or Hollywood has faked it if you prefer) for the first time since 1972.

There was about a 10+ minute delay after when it should have landed and when they actually got communication from it.

Reminder that a few months ago Russia had a probe crash on the moon.

Space flight is hard.

The news said that was in prep for dudes/dudettes going there in 2 years?

Interesting that Russia, Japan and US all have renewed interest in landing shit on the moon again. China is supposedly launching something in May.

[DWags]

We are back on the moon (or Hollywood has faked it if you prefer) for the first time since 1972.

There was about a 10+ minute delay after when it should have landed and when they actually got communication from it.

Reminder that a few months ago Russia had a probe crash on the moon.

Space flight is hard.

The news said that was in prep for dudes/dudettes going there in 2 years?

Interesting that Russia, Japan and US all have renewed interest in landing shit on the moon again. China is supposedly launching something in May.

We need to bring some dirt up there and grow plants. I believe Maritime law says that if you grow a plant you have officially colonized it Fuck those other countries

[Trapper Gus]

Is there any economics that makes sense with a few people on the moon?

I don't think so, even the "cheaper" rockets Musk is using are dam expensive.

It's not like there is some sort of unobtanium on the moon that is worth trillions.

Onward to Mars is an excuse, but the same comment about Mars applies. There is nothing there that is worth the cost.

Using the space programs to seed technical development for earth economy products (or military purpose) is all I can see that it is good for.

[Jake from State Farm]

Is there any economics that makes sense with a few people on the moon?

I don't think so, even the "cheaper" rockets Musk is using are dam expensive.

It's not like there is some sort of unobtanium on the moon that is worth trillions.

Onward to Mars is an excuse, but the same comment about Mars applies.  There is nothing there that is worth the cost.

Using the space programs to seed technical development for earth economy products (or military purpose) is all I can see that it is good for.

If they find enough water they can use it for fuel. Much cheaper to launch a rocket fully loaded with fuel from the moon than it is from earth.

[Trapper Gus]

Is there any economics that makes sense with a few people on the moon?

I don't think so, even the "cheaper" rockets Musk is using are dam expensive.

It's not like there is some sort of unobtanium on the moon that is worth trillions.

Onward to Mars is an excuse, but the same comment about Mars applies.  There is nothing there that is worth the cost.

Using the space programs to seed technical development for earth economy products (or military purpose) is all I can see that it is good for.

If they find enough water they can use it for fuel. Much cheaper to launch a rocket fully loaded with fuel from the moon than it is from earth.

Other than science I don't see the purpose.  Don't get me wrong, I love science and that is purpose enough, but the moon is just another space station, though harder to get to than the ISS.

On going to Mars, once the material has been lifted out of the gravity well that we live on, the need to assemble it on the moon is questionable, and adds another gravity lift, from the moon, into the trip.

edit - okay, if the fuel can be made on the moon there is an advantage.

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