2006-01-27, 12:18 | Link #21 | |
Paranoid Android
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Wherever you go, there you are
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Thanks! I decided to spend a little more than what I thought and will get a ETX-90AT: http://shopping.discovery.com/product-57068.html Let’s see what I can learn with this! |
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2006-02-14, 18:27 | Link #22 | |
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
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An interesting story I originally pulled off Digg.com:
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2006-03-09, 12:09 | Link #23 | |
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
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There's a report coming out today (09 March 06) that "NASA's Cassini spacecraft may have found evidence of liquid water reservoirs" on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Digg.com & Drudge Report are pushing this.
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2006-03-09, 12:47 | Link #24 |
Ace Archer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Age: 36
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Welcome to Celestia
Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy. All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit. Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects. ------- I have only recently found this and it has kept me amazed for many hours and im still going, thats that the intro from the website, i recommend any person who likes the stars and wants to explore to get this immediatley, completely free and easy to use! (im not trying to promo it, just what i think of this cool program) http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ Also, a small question, realitvely close to our solar system there is a large very unstable star that is constantly pulling itself apart and back together again, does anybody know about this star, its name or have any pics of it? lol a bit vague, i know =D |
2006-03-09, 13:03 | Link #25 | |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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As saturn's moons go, I'm more interested in mimas. It has a huge impact crater, relative to it's size, as well as 15 mile high cliffs. Both are believed to have been formed by the impact, which almost destroyed the moon. Of course, for NASA to get any funding to study something, they have to make people think there's a possibility of life either existing or having once existed there. It's really sad.
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2006-03-09, 13:43 | Link #26 | |
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Pretty... |
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2006-03-09, 14:14 | Link #27 | |
Ace Archer
Join Date: Jan 2006
Age: 36
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it is actually water or methane, because i remember one of the moons having liquid methane lakes. |
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2006-03-09, 16:13 | Link #28 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Finland
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And that question, astronomy is just my hobby, but I can't remember that there is any star like that nearby. I'm afraid, you have to be more specific, or hope that someone more knowledgeable than me comes here. Last edited by Kensuke; 2006-03-09 at 16:33. |
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2006-03-09, 19:36 | Link #29 | |
Disheartened and Retired
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 加拿大
Age: 38
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A little bit late, but regardless, The Hubble Space Telescope has released yet another ultra high resolution astronomical image. This time it is the Messier object 101 (M101), an immense spiral galaxy face on to us nearly twice the size of our Milky Way. It contains over one trillion stars and estimated about 100 billion of them are Sun-like (around spectral type G2V range). Apply Drake's equation, even with conservative subjective fractions, don't you think there just might be intelligent life on some planet orbiting around some Sun-like star? Anyways, this new extremely high resolution image is composed of over 50 individual Hubble exposures over a period of 10 years. For reasonably sized images and the full story here, or download the full size composition 15852 x 12392 pixels here and gaze in its wonder.
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2006-03-13, 21:35 | Link #30 |
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Google Maps Mars
I'm sure you're all familiar with Google Maps ... well, they've applied the same technology to the surface of Mars to some extent. Give it a spin.
-> http://www.google.com/mars/ Cheers. |
2006-03-14, 15:08 | Link #31 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Finland
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That is pretty cool, plus I hope in a year or so we have high-resolution maps of Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that just reached Mars will be able to take pictures with a resolution down to 0,3 meters from 300 km altitude (altohught it has to go throught several months of aerobraking to get it in the right orbit). It is for future manned missions.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Re...ssance_Orbiter I find it amazing that probes main computer is "only" 133 MHz, of course it has to be reliable and able to endure radiation from sun unprotected. And enjoy this 6572 x 8293 pixel picture of Enceladus. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060310.html |
2006-03-14, 22:57 | Link #32 |
Dyaus Pitar
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Toronto_Ontario
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I don't know if you guys/gals are interested in having a 3D representation of cosmic bodies but in case you do just click this link: http://www.crystalnebulae.co.uk/index.html
Pretty cool, eh? |
2006-04-11, 10:57 | Link #34 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Finland
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I have always been fascinated about planets and I was delighted that Venus Express has succesfully reached its target.
Official site Wikipedia Unlike Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, that using aerobraking to reach its orbit. Venus Express carried as much fuel as it could, and required 50-minute burn to slow the probe for orbit. |
2006-08-07, 11:19 | Link #35 |
I am mowing clowns
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Explanation: Our Sun is still very active. In the year 2000, our Sun went though Solar Maximum, the time in its 11-year cycle where the most sunspots and explosive activities occur. Sunspots, the Solar Cycle, and solar prominences are all caused by the Sun's changing magnetic field. Pictured above is a solar prominence that erupted in 2002 July, throwing electrons and ions out into the Solar System. The above image was taken in the ultraviolet light emitted by a specific type of ionized helium, a common element on the Sun. Particularly hot areas appear in white, while relatively cool areas appear in red. Our Sun should gradually quiet down until Solar Minimum occurs, and the Sun is most quiet. No one can precisely predict when Solar Minimum will occur, although some signs indicate that it has started already! » Link to actual web-site » Link to HUGE version of the above picture |
2006-08-09, 06:58 | Link #36 |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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That's an impressive pic. A truely massive prominence... I don't think I've seen one that big before. It's amazing how things like that can happen on our own sun. Though isn't the earth a bit too large there? Well it says approx. size...
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2006-08-09, 14:14 | Link #38 |
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 43
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I can hardly get a feeling of the enourmous size of our sun. I can somehow imagine it, its just very hard to not shrinken it in my mind. But there is no way for me to ever imagine the size of stars like Antares right. I see these graphics, but can I feel/imagine the dimensions? No. Its just too huge to see my imaginary self in the right size next to it. With such big objects, I totally loose imagination.
If you are confused now... what I meant is the following. Imagine you fly to the imaginary sun. Lets assume the sun is just a holographic object just a 3-dimensional image. You'ld imagine its size right, if you feel you are on the sun's surface when you actually are on the holographic surface. You'ld imagine its size wrong, if you think you are on the surface but you are actually either far away from it or have already passed it. I can imagine such a virtual flight for sun-sized objects, but with Antares-sized objects I totally loose correlations.
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Last edited by Jinto; 2006-08-10 at 03:46. |
2006-08-09, 22:11 | Link #40 | |
Aria Company
Join Date: Nov 2003
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