Space!

Fed up talking videogames? Why?
User avatar
Squinty
Member
Joined in 2009
Location: Norn Oirland

PostRe: Space
by Squinty » Mon May 12, 2014 7:32 pm

That looks pretty good.

User avatar
That
Dr. Nyaaa~!
Dr. Nyaaa~!
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by That » Tue May 13, 2014 8:58 pm

Aye, I've seen Europa Report too. It was really good - a touch fantastical in places, but I literally watched it in a group of physicists, biologists and engineers, so I feel it was a bit unfair for us to pick holes between us!

Image
User avatar
Alvin Flummux
Member
Joined in 2008
Contact:

PostRe: Space
by Alvin Flummux » Thu May 15, 2014 10:03 pm

Best photo yet of an exo-planet:

Image

It's just a few small pixels, but the image above marks a giant leap for our capacity to explore worlds beyond the influence of the sun. Taken with the Gemini Planet Imager, recently fitted to the Gemini South telescope in Chile, the bright dot represents Beta Pictoris b, one of the most famous planets beyond the solar system.

The larger circle, looking like the freeze frame of a drop of water after it has landed on a pond, is centred on the star Beta Pictoris itself, after its light was subtracted so that it would not overwhelm the planet itself. The Planet Imager was specifically designed for such work, with “Advanced adaptive optics, diffraction control, a near-infrared spectrograph, and an imaging polarimeter” according to the team that took this image.

The twenty one institutions that came together to make the image possible hailed the photo as “an order of magnitude better than conventional adaptive optics imagers” . They also claim that the measurements taken in the process allow “a factor of three improvement of most parameters” in regard to understanding Beta Pictoris b's orbit.

Beta Pictoris lies 63.4 light years away, close to Canopus in our skies (and thus not visible from northern latitudes). It is very young by the standards of stars, an estimated 12 million years old, and consequently one of our best opportunities to witness the formation of planets. It still has large clouds of gas and dust surrounding it that are expected to eventually condense.

However, planetary formation is well underway, with an object 4-11 times the mass of Jupiter thought to be herding comets together. Naturally such a system attracts plenty of interest from astronomers, and recently discoveries have been coming thick and fast. Just two weeks ago the length of a day on Beta Pictoris b was measured at eight hours, the first time this has been done outside our solar system.

Back in 2008 Beta Pictoris B was one of the first planets beyond the solar system to be directly observed, rather than being detected through its effect on light from its parent star.

While this image lacks the dramatic wings of gas seen in the previous previous one (see below) we can see the planet Beta Pictoris B with much greater clarity. Although it looks as though it is almost touching its parents star this is a product of the angle at which was are seeing them. In fact the star and planet are separated by the same distance as Saturn and the sun. This makes it a relatively easy target for the Gemini Planet Imager, which will now be turned towards other objects.

Future targets will be harder, however. Very young planets such as Beta Pictoris b are bright in the infrared part of the spectrum as they are still hot from the release of gravitational potential energy as they accumulate.

The finding was announced in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where the tantalizing prospect of a possible planetary transit in 2017 is revealed. Unfortunately, the chance of this event is put at just 4%, but should it occur would provide great prospects for learning more about this system.

Read more at http://www.iflscience.com/space/best-ph ... dOX7XLI.99


http://www.iflscience.com/space/best-ph ... -exoplanet

:wub:

User avatar
Mini E
Doctor
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by Mini E » Wed May 28, 2014 8:56 pm


FlippinChicken
Member
Joined in 2012

PostRe: Space
by FlippinChicken » Wed May 28, 2014 9:15 pm

Always blows my mind watching Soyuz launches and suchlike.

Here I am - just muted Britain's Got Talent and changed into my pyjamas - watching three guys high-five each other as they soar into orbit in less than 10 minutes.

1) Space :datass:
2) What the hell am I doing with my life? :fp:

Image
User avatar
Sprouty
Member
Joined in 2008
AKA: SillySprout

PostRe: Space
by Sprouty » Wed Aug 06, 2014 6:42 pm

So, Rosetta has closed in on the comet it's been chasing for the last ten years. There are some awesome pics from this, which is one of the most exciting projects in Space Exploration at the moment in my opinion, with it's aim being too discover the building blocks of our galaxy, which is pretty big stuff really!

Image

http://io9.com/first-close-up-photos-of ... 1616987871?

The silly neighbourhood vegetable.
User avatar
Sprouty
Member
Joined in 2008
AKA: SillySprout

PostRe: Space
by Sprouty » Wed Aug 06, 2014 7:09 pm

Just found an awesome pic on bbc news


Image
Image

The silly neighbourhood vegetable.
User avatar
Lotus
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by Lotus » Tue Nov 11, 2014 11:14 pm

Livestream of the comet landing: http://new.livestream.com/ESA/cometlanding

Touchdown/confirmation expected about 4pm tomorrow.

Worth watching the stream for the music alone. They've just been playing the theme tune from Star Trek: TNG. :slol:

User avatar
Rightey
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by Rightey » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:36 am

The go ahead has been given :shock:


Not a lot going on in the stream other than that though, just three guys staring at computer monitors.

also why are the backs of their chairs so high?

Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.

Image
User avatar
Rightey
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by Rightey » Wed Nov 12, 2014 2:38 am

Breaking news:

One of the guys appears to be eating something, possibly a sandwich.

Image

Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.

Image
User avatar
massimo
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by massimo » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:46 am

So…we're landing a probe on a lump of rock hurtling through space? Nice. :wub:

User avatar
Alvin Flummux
Member
Joined in 2008
Contact:

PostRe: Space
by Alvin Flummux » Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:44 pm

In other space news, Russia, last month, launched a rocket into space... but nobody outside the mission can say for sure what its payload was. There are fears circulating that Russia may be preemptively weaponizing its space capability. Given the country's comeback since 2000, its fears over American ambitions to tighten the NATO noose around its neck via former Soviet countries (and its desire to prevent more Cold War-style encirclement), and its efforts to restore its image among former satellite states (the South Ossetia/Georgia situation comes to mind) would it really be that big of a surprise if they have launched a satellite killer?

Western Space Agencies Are Tracking What Could Be A Russian Satellite Killer

The US military's space defense command, or NORAD, is tracking an orbiting object that analysts speculate might be designed to fix — or attack — other satellites.

Governments keep tabs (and so can you) on what's floating in low orbit, which is why NORAD initially labeled the object as space debris.

But in May, Russia's government told the United Nations that a launch made last Christmas Day had sent four satellites into orbit, instead of the trio that is typically set up in a single launch.

That could explain the provenance of the mystery object, which is moving toward other Russian assets in space before potentially revealing its function. "It could have a number of functions, some civilian and some military," space security expert Patricia Lewis told the Financial Times.

One of the possible military uses was the launch of "kinetic pellets which shoot out at another satellite," Lewis said. In wars of the future, it might be advantageous — though very publicly hostile — to take out a rival nation's eyes.

In 2012, anonymous sources told Reuters, US intelligence completed a report analyzing "the growing vulnerability of US satellites that provide secure military communications, warn about enemy missile launches, and provide precise targeting coordinates."

Killing satellites is something both the US and the Soviet Union tested in the 1980s but had let go until testing by China led to the US doing the same (and making the report).

In 2007, China destroyed one of its own, aging weather satellites with an anti-satellite device mounted on a ballistic missile. The result was a proliferation of space debris that, as depicted in a fictional scenario in last year's blockbuster "Gravity," poses a danger to other satellites.

The US followed suit the next year by destroying a spy satellite — one that was already out of commission — simply by ramming a missile into it; no explosive was used. At the time, the Pentagon specified that resulting debris would burn upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The difference here, of course, is that Russia's experiment could involve an asset with more longevity, rather than a missile used just once. If it is indeed a weapon, it could lend new urgency to the previously tentative race to weaponize not just air, land, and sea, but space as well.


http://www.businessinsider.com/us-track ... er-2014-11

User avatar
Sprouty
Member
Joined in 2008
AKA: SillySprout

PostRe: Space
by Sprouty » Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:39 pm

Wow, that story is pretty scary Alvin! I'm sure that other governments have similar plans, if not already launched similar themselves. I really hope that we never witness a war which escalates to those sorts of weapons being used.

Rosetta found organic material on the comet. That means that (the building blocks for) life on Earth probably came from a comet. Another slap in the face of religions around the globe. Surely the only remaining great scientific discovery is now actual life on another planet? Brian Cox's Human Universe was a brilliant series, but for me I was suprised to hear him say that he does not expect us to discover other civilizations in the Milky Way. I really hope he's wrong...

The silly neighbourhood vegetable.
User avatar
Octoroc
Emeritus
Emeritus
Joined in 2008
Location: Blighty

PostRe: Space
by Octoroc » Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:10 am

Every spy satellite ever launched has been an "undisclosed payload". The Boeing X-37B landed in October after two years in orbit. No one's saying what it was doing up there.

When the Soviets launched Sputnik the US military spent quite some time trying to decode the signal. Eventually they realised it was:

beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep...

So far this year, I have eaten NO mince pies.
User avatar
Alvin Flummux
Member
Joined in 2008
Contact:

PostRe: Space
by Alvin Flummux » Mon Nov 24, 2014 1:23 am

It could have been nothing but bags of dicks, for all we know.

Russia is a resurgent power, however, and if it can demonstrate that American/NATO superiority in space is easily overcome, those European nations caught between Germany and Russia over the next few years are going to have to reevaluate their positions.

User avatar
Moggy
"Special"
Joined in 2008
AKA: Moggy

PostRe: Space
by Moggy » Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:48 am

[iup=3621305]SillySprout[/iup] wrote: Surely the only remaining great scientific discovery is now actual life on another planet? Brian Cox's Human Universe was a brilliant series, but for me I was suprised to hear him say that he does not expect us to discover other civilizations in the Milky Way. I really hope he's wrong...[/color]


I think Brian Cox is probably correct. The galaxy is so vast our only real hope of finding other civilisations is to pick up radio signals from other planets. We have only been able to send/receive radio signals for the last 100 or so years, other civilisations might have died out 150 years ago or are 1000 years away from being able to use radio signals. They might be sending them now but none of our radio telescopes are looking in the right direction.

I would love it if we could find proof of intelligent life (or any life!) but the odds are not really in our favour.

User avatar
False
COOL DUDE
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by False » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:10 am

[iup=3621435]Moggy[/iup] wrote:We have only been able to send/receive radio signals for the last 100 or so years, other civilisations might have died out 150 years ago or are 1000 years away from being able to use radio signals.


It doesnt matter how 'close' they are to us in conventional timescales, as you have to consider the time it takes for a signal to travel. Radio waves are fast - but not that fast.

Then you have to consider that any properly advanced space faring civilisation probably isnt using radio anymore. And why would they be using radio now to listen for other people?

Image
User avatar
Moggy
"Special"
Joined in 2008
AKA: Moggy

PostRe: Space
by Moggy » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:32 am

[iup=3621478]Falsey[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3621435]Moggy[/iup] wrote:We have only been able to send/receive radio signals for the last 100 or so years, other civilisations might have died out 150 years ago or are 1000 years away from being able to use radio signals.


It doesnt matter how 'close' they are to us in conventional timescales, as you have to consider the time it takes for a signal to travel. Radio waves are fast - but not that fast.

Then you have to consider that any properly advanced space faring civilisation probably isnt using radio anymore. And why would they be using radio now to listen for other people?


Yeah I worded that badly (it was early). I mean that if a civilisation was 50 light years away died out 150 years ago, we would have missed their signal if we are looking in that direction now.

I agree that other advanced civilisations probably aren’t using radio (and maybe never did!). If they do, they might be thinking like us and are wondering if there is anybody else out there and so scan the radio wavelengths to see if they can pick anything up. Or they might just not give a gooseberry fool if there are other intelligent beings out there.

User avatar
False
COOL DUDE
Joined in 2008

PostRe: Space
by False » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:39 am

Cool beans :)

Fwiw, from my perspective I think the best we or any other occupied planet could reasonably hope for is that we pick up some sort of signal from a long dead race a long way away. The distances and timescales involved with the whole universe thing are so vast that just 'finding' another intelligent, friendly, technologically similar bunch of things are infinitely small. At least an old signal of something intelligent and long gone would serve to put things into perspective a little.

Image
User avatar
Moggy
"Special"
Joined in 2008
AKA: Moggy

PostRe: Space
by Moggy » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:56 am

It might be best for everyone if they were an extinct civilisation. Otherwise we will probably all be forced into the Starship Troopers force to go on a 100,000 year voyage across the galaxy to destroy the evil aliens that dared to bombard us with radio signals. ;)


Return to “Stuff”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: addsy087, Met, Rich, Tsunade and 289 guests