The Astronomy Discussion Thread

[Casshern]

Could someone please post the 18000x18000 image of the orion nebula in the OP on rapid share or something? It's not hosted on the hubble webpage any more

[Kensuke]

Originally Posted by Sol//Aris

Could someone please post the 18000x18000 image of the orion nebula in the OP on rapid share or something? It's not hosted on the hubble webpage any more

A little late, but I found this site. Largest image size is nearly 400 MB!
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0601a.html

Originally Posted by Kinny Riddle

China's not that far behind in lunar exploration either. The Chang'e 1 lunar probe is currently on orbit over Earth, picking up speed before setting off for the Moon as well by next Wednesday 31st October. It'll reach the Moon on 5-6 November. Though it'll be in a different orbit from Kaguya, so they won't hit each other.

Chinese lunar probe enters moon's orbit

There are total of four satellites orbiting Moon right now, China's Chang'e 1 and Japan's Kaguya, and its two sub-satellites. Next year there will be at least two Moon probe launches, one by India and the other by United States.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Space exploration looks pretty fun, but that's not probably gonna be happening in our life time.

Originally Posted by Kensuke

A little late, but I found this site. Largest image size is nearly 400 MB!
http://www.spacetelescope.org/images...heic0601a.html

That is one terribly large image >.<

[Oppius]

I heard the Apollo missions in 1960's and 1970's are hoax and I hope the Chinese probe will prove that right.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Amex_Yohko

I heard the Apollo missions in 1960's and 1970's are hoax and I hope the Chinese probe will prove that right.

Both side have strong evidence, so it's rather hard to believe in one or the other. The only true fact is that the Lunar landing is supported and believed in more than the hoax.

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

Both side have strong evidence, so it's rather hard to believe in one or the other. The only true fact is that the Lunar landing is supported and believed in more than the hoax.

No, the whole hoax camp have no evidence at all. You seem to forget that we left stuff on the moon. Most notibly, a laser reflector used to this day to make measurements on the exact distance between the earth and moon. If we didn't go to the moon, how did it get there? Not to mention all the other stuff we left that could be seen with a sufficently powerful telescope.

This site debunks a lot of specific claims.

Though the possibility of Chinese astronauts visiting the landing sites is part of the reason we want to beat them back to the moon. That way we can set up a fence and charge admission rather than let them visit these sites for free.

[innominate]

Aren't there other moon probes apart from the Apollo series? xD Luna series?

Anyway, this' a bit late, but more from chandra:

Two Supermassive Black Holes in Same Galaxy
http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/02_...ss_111902.html

[Kensuke]

Spirit and Opportunity, time to find a good hiding place:
Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit

The scientists, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, put the chances that it will hit the Red Planet on Jan. 30 at about 1 in 75.

A 1-in-75 shot is "wildly unusual," said Steve Chesley, an astronomer with the Near-Earth Object office, which routinely tracks about 5,000 objects in Earth's neighborhood.

"We're used to dealing with odds like one-in-a-million," Chesley said. "Something with a one-in-a-hundred chance makes us sit up straight in our chairs."

The asteroid, designated 2007 WD5, is about 160 feet across, which puts it in the range of the space rock that exploded over Siberia. That explosion, the largest impact event in recent history, felled 80 million trees over 830 square miles.

...

"Normally, we're rooting against the asteroid," when it has Earth in its cross hairs, Chesley said. "This time we're rooting for the asteroid to hit."

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Kensuke

Spirit and Opportunity, time to find a good hiding place:
Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit

I hope it does hit mars. It would be a great chance to observe the effects of an astroid strike on a rocky planet. Who know, it might spark world governments to pay a bit more money to find near earth astroids that may pose a threat in time to do something about them. Unfortuantely it's not an extinction event sized astroid, so if it hits it'll probably have the opposite effect and convince governments that any threat of an astroid strike is mere hype and cause them to cut any funding for programs to find near earth astroids...

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

Both side have strong evidence, so it's rather hard to believe in one or the other. The only true fact is that the Lunar landing is supported and believed in more than the hoax.

I'm sorry but this is complete and utter bull on the level of the Hollow Earth theory. You can bounce lasers off of the landing site equipment and several countries have done high resolution photography of the landing site zones. We have freaking dirt and rocks that were not formed on this planet.

Next I'm going to see someone quoting Velokosky as a reputable source -- sheesh. Real science is interesting enough without inventing false and pseudoscience.

[Defron]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

I hope it does hit mars. It would be a great chance to observe the effects of an astroid strike on a rocky planet. Who know, it might spark world governments to pay a bit more money to find near earth astroids that may pose a threat in time to do something about them. Unfortuantely it's not an extinction event sized astroid, so if it hits it'll probably have the opposite effect and convince governments that any threat of an astroid strike is mere hype and cause them to cut any funding for programs to find near earth astroids...

Not to mention the massive amount of data we will collect, the last (and IIRC only) major impact we saw was when the shoemaker-levy comet hit Jupiter. This is the first big one we will have seen hit a rocky planet.

[Kensuke]

Originally Posted by Defron

Not to mention the massive amount of data we will collect, the last (and IIRC only) major impact we saw was when the shoemaker-levy comet hit Jupiter. This is the first big one we will have seen hit a rocky planet.

Indeed, in addition to the two rovers on surface, there is three probes orbiting Mars right now, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. I don't know can they change their orbit so that they will see the actual impact, and not just the crater, even thought that alone would be enough for a huge amount of data about meteor impacts (well, if it actually hits Mars, the chance is, after all, just 1 in 75).

More about this asteroid:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_WD5

[innominate]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

I hope it does hit mars. It would be a great chance to observe the effects of an astroid strike on a rocky planet.

Originally Posted by Defron

Not to mention the massive amount of data we will collect, the last (and IIRC only) major impact we saw was when the shoemaker-levy comet hit Jupiter. This is the first big one we will have seen hit a rocky planet.

A-ah! When I first heard that I thought the asteroid was large enough to create a giant impact. Sadly, after reading wikipedia, it doesn't seem large enough =)

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by innominate

A-ah! When I first heard that I thought the asteroid was large enough to create a giant impact. Sadly, after reading wikipedia, it doesn't seem large enough =)

It should still be a decent sized one. Sure it's no where near the scale of the one that supposedly hit the earth 65 million years ago, but a 15 megaton astroid strike will make a nice sized crater. If it hits, it'll be a great chance to collect data.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'm sorry but this is complete and utter bull on the level of the Hollow Earth theory. You can bounce lasers off of the landing site equipment and several countries have done high resolution photography of the landing site zones. We have freaking dirt and rocks that were not formed on this planet.

Next I'm going to see someone quoting Velokosky as a reputable source -- sheesh. Real science is interesting enough without inventing false and pseudoscience.

I'm missing out on some information then >.<

--

First of all, would debris from Mars actually reach us?

[Defron]

Originally Posted by innominate

A-ah! When I first heard that I thought the asteroid was large enough to create a giant impact. Sadly, after reading wikipedia, it doesn't seem large enough =)

Yeah, not huge, but still, in par with the one that hit Siberia in 1906, it will still give us a nice insight on impacts. (if it actually happens, I read that the chance might decrease to 1/150)

[anti-random]

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

I'm missing out on some information then >.<

--

First of all, would debris from Mars actually reach us?

Hell no. The debris shouldn't pass Mars' escape velocity.

I thought this was pretty cool. THe' Death Star Galaxy" black hole released a massive wave of rays at a neighbouring galaxy.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ch...ws/07-139.html

[Defron]

Originally Posted by anti-random

I thought this was pretty cool. THe' Death Star Galaxy" black hole released a massive wave of rays at a neighbouring galaxy.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ch...ws/07-139.html

I actually was talking with some people about that a while ago.
Its a shame we didn't get to see it actually start hitting the galaxy.

[anti-random]

Yeah, that a bit hard considering that particles and even light take vast amounts of time to travel the distance, so it probably will hit the galaxy but not in our life time.

[Defron]

Originally Posted by anti-random

Yeah, that a bit hard considering that particles and even light take vast amounts of time to travel the distance, so it probably will hit the galaxy but not in our life time.

I thought it already hit the galaxy.

Features seen in the Very Large Array and Chandra images indicate that the jet began impacting the galaxy about one million years ago, a small fraction of the system's lifetime

Also the Mars impact is now 1 in 25