Chinahand Posted April 14, 2010 Author Share Posted April 14, 2010 I really hope the sky is as clear tomorrow as it looks like it will be tonight. At the moment just after sunset you are in for a beautiful sight as Mecury and Venus shine in the twilight. You can't miss Venus - its the brightest "star" in the sky - but you can also see Mercury which is much less bright, but still unmissable a few fingers at arms length to the right of Venus. Mercury is quite difficult to spot (it is claimed Galileo [or was it Copernicus?] never saw it with his own eyes) so to have it so beautifully positioned next to Venus is quite something. The Sky at Night claimed this month that less than 1% of people on the planet had knowingly seen Mercury! But tomorrow evening this sight will be made even more beautiful by a sliver of a new moon hanging just to the right of Mercury. It should be one lovely sight. It should be visible roughtly between 9pm and 10pm. I'll be out trying to spot them - and hope others will enjoy the sight too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mæŋksmən Posted April 14, 2010 Share Posted April 14, 2010 You've got to hand it to God. He doesn't do things by halves. Nice one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted April 14, 2010 Author Share Posted April 14, 2010 After heading out to have a look I have to say Mercury has faded alot since I saw it last week. You can still see it, but its faint, and really needs a pair of binoculars to see it about an outstretched hand to the right of Venus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted April 15, 2010 Author Share Posted April 15, 2010 Well if you go out and look into the east you'll see a beautiful slender cresent moon, a bright Venus to its left, and, very indistinct and only really visible with binoculars, between the two, but a little closer to the moon, Mercury. Its a rare sight, go outside and enjoy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mæŋksmən Posted April 15, 2010 Share Posted April 15, 2010 (edited) Yes its a wonderous place alright. http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn18775/dn18775-1_300.jpg Something in there is producing an unusually regular radio signal (Image: NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA) There is something strange in the cosmic neighbourhood. An unknown object in the nearby galaxy M82 has started sending out radio waves, and the emission does not look like anything seen anywhere in the universe before. "We don't know what it is," says co-discoverer Tom Muxlow of Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics near Macclesfield, UK. The thing appeared in May last year, while Muxlow and his colleagues were monitoring an unrelated stellar explosion in M82 using the MERLIN network of radio telescopes in the UK. A bright spot of radio emission emerged over only a few days, quite rapidly in astronomical terms. Since then it has done very little except baffle astrophysicists. It certainly does not fit the pattern of radio emissions from supernovae: they usually get brighter over a few weeks and then fade away over months, with the spectrum of the radiation changing all the while. The new source has hardly changed in brightness over the course of a year, and its spectrum is steady. Warp speed Yet it does seem to be moving – and fast: its apparent sideways velocity is four times the speed of light. Such apparent "superluminal" motion has been seen before in high-speed jets of material squirted out by some black holes. The stuff in these jets is moving towards us at a slight angle and travelling at a fair fraction of the speed of light, and the effects of relativity produce a kind of optical illusion that makes the motion appear superluminal. Could the object be a black hole? It is not quite in the middle of M82, where astronomers would expect to find the kind of supermassive central black hole that most other galaxies have. Which leaves the possibility that it could be a smaller-scale "microquasar". New Scientist Edited April 15, 2010 by mæŋksmən Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted April 27, 2010 Author Share Posted April 27, 2010 I wonder if Gladys will like this image- methinks it compares well to the Pillars of Creation! More info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Watch"something" - maybe an asteroid or comet - slam into Jupiter in real time! Amazing! More Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted June 4, 2010 Author Share Posted June 4, 2010 Its now on ! That may not look much but its the equivilent of several megatonnes going off - the last time something like that happenned on earth the dinosaurs went extinct - and a couple of amateur astronomers catch it in real time - amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terse Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 The Milky Way's Big Brother Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted June 9, 2010 Share Posted June 9, 2010 (edited) I found this story quite interesting. Here's a link on US bloke using the US militarys own 'Fence' radar to track satellites - this is a good few years old now though. With some of the more recent radio receiving technology - especially SDR (one of our very own forum members writes this kind of software), it would be relatively easy to track almost any object in orbit !! Edited June 9, 2010 by matty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted November 4, 2010 Author Share Posted November 4, 2010 Astronomers observed that there was a Hexagon shaped cloud situated over the north pole of Saturn a while ago and were a bit at a loss to explain it. The New Age mob loved it and postulated all sorts of esoteric explanations from God to aliens putting a sign only a certain level of technology could observe. Now some physicists at the University of Oxford have actually tried doing some experimental science to explain it. And they came up with the below. How to get a hexagon from a really simple set up with two rotating cylinders of water. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eH8dJgJG-c Beautiful. Aint science wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinahand Posted November 7, 2010 Author Share Posted November 7, 2010 I had a PM from someone asking what astronomy websites etc I used. I have to admit that I don't use very many so wondered what other people use! I occassionally use Heavens above and Astronomy Now Both seem ok. I use star walk on my ipod. And Red Shift on my PC. I read the Bad Astronomer daily and get links and the latest astronomy news from there. Anyone got any better sites etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaApril Posted November 8, 2010 Share Posted November 8, 2010 NASA although USA is about to shut down its space shuttles. Discovery's launch has been put on hold twice this month. Astronomy Picture of the Day (If you click on 'Discover the cosmos!' link you can see past Picture of the days.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 'Space Weather' Amateur Radio Related site I use quite often - quite handy to know when astronauts are active using the kit onboard:- 'ISS Fanclub' I've spoken to three astronauts sofar and regularly use the packet radio when it is active. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty Posted November 9, 2010 Share Posted November 9, 2010 Satellite Database If you open the above link in Google Earth, it shows the catalogued satellites (& earth orbiting 'space junk')- I was quite surprised by the amount of stuff up there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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