Any Astronomy Buffs Here?

DevilHorse said:
An interesting occurrence will occur tonight (12/11/2023) when our view of Betelgeuse (famous star in Orion) is eclipsed by an Asteroid in our solar system:
https://www.space.com/asteroid-eclipse-betelgeuse-december-2023

The event will start at 8pm EDT according to the article.

Although Orion is nearby (galactically speaking), and is in the same arm of the Milky Way as our solar system, I didn't realize that Betelgeuse is so close to our ecliptic. Although it should have been somewhat obvious; anyone who looks at the night/morning sky will note that Orion is spread over the same 'line in the sky' that we view our planets. Betelgeuse is 'only' 7 degrees off the ecliptic. For comparison, the plane of our moon's orbit is only 5 degrees relative to the ecliptic. FYI, our ecliptic is at a 60 degree angle with the Milky Way's galactic plane.

Adding to this situation is that Betelgeuse has recently been known to have variations in brightness.

Most interesting.

Larry
DevilHorse
Click to expand...

In case anyone was interested in how the eclipsing of Betelgeuse went:
https://earthsky.org/space/betelgeuse-will-dim-disappear-asteroid-leona-dec-11-12-2023/

Larry
DevilHorse
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
Crazy video out of China of a Long March 3B booster falling from the sky after delivering two satellites to orbit. Almost landed on top of a house.

https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4983261660976801#&video

Story here.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...n&cvid=9000aa09b0154e2a9a20dddc499d4fd0&ei=54
Click to expand...

Is this the 'rain' of a new chinese dynasty?

I suppose it is the time of year to put another log on the fire.

Elon is slightly ahead on sticking the landing.

Thanks for that unusual video.

Larry
DevilHorse
 
Asteroid Apophis

I heard about Asteroid Apophis on a science program I watched.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1747715085206704210

The asteroid is expected to buzz the earth (1/5-1/10th of the distance between the earth and the moon - 20,000 miles). This even is due in about 5 years, April 13, 2029. It will be visible to the naked eye.

This (Near Earth) asteroid, discovered in 2004, visits earth about every 6 or 7 years. It visited in 2021 and will again (after 2029) in 2036. It is worth noting that the orbital path MAY bring it even closer to earth in 2068. At one point, NASA considered that there was a small chance of impact with the earth in 2068. But improved calculations suggest that it will not threaten us for the next 100 years. Nonetheless, the value of the DART mission to Didymos has enhanced value in light of this near/long term threat.

Apophis is about 330 meters (1100 feet) in size, but is not of the hard rock or metal core variety of asteroids; it appears to be loosely pack crud that is tooling around the solar system.

What are you doing in 5 years and 3 months.

Larry
DevilHorse
 
DevilHorse said:
Apparently Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter, has completed its mission. At the end of its most recent flight a couple of helicopter blades were damaged:
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/
Ingenuity had a fantastic run (3 years) and will set the stage for even better 'space' helicopters in the future.

Larry
DevilHorse
Click to expand...

From the article:

“Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.”

Impressive.
 
OldPhiKap said:
From the article:

“Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.”

Impressive.
Click to expand...

Go engineeers, go!

I hate when missions finally end, even when they've long outlived expectations. :(
 
OldPhiKap said:
From the article:

“Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.”

Impressive.
Click to expand...

Word on the street is that the 72 flights encompassed a flight distance of 11 miles.

Larry
DevilHorse
 
DevilHorse said:
Apparently Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter, has completed its mission. At the end of its most recent flight a couple of helicopter blades were damaged:
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/
Ingenuity had a fantastic run (3 years) and will set the stage for even better 'space' helicopters in the future.

Larry
DevilHorse
Click to expand...

This makes me incredibly sad. I may have mentioned it before, but the main CPU that powered Ingenuity was one that my team designed (for phones, not for space helicopters). A little piece of my work was flying on Mars, and now it is no more.

This was always going to happen eventually, and I'm very appreciative that it happened after 72 flights rather than the 5 that were originally planned.
 
BlueDevil2K said:
This makes me incredibly sad. I may have mentioned it before, but the main CPU that powered Ingenuity was one that my team designed (for phones, not for space helicopters). A little piece of my work was flying on Mars, and now it is no more.

This was always going to happen eventually, and I'm very appreciative that it happened after 72 flights rather than the 5 that were originally planned.
Click to expand...

If you did, I missed it. That's so awesome! Very few people leave an interplanetary legacy.
 
More JWST

On the evening news they showed 19 spiral galaxies from the JWST:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...-images-james-webb-space-telescope-180983685/

I also watched a JWST related show on PBS yesterday:
https://www.pbs.org/video/new-eye-on-the-universe-zvzqn1/

One of the interesting things in the show was how they color these pictures from the JWST; it's just after the 21 minute mark. The cameras are all outside the visible light spectrum, so the coloring is artificial and adds new perspective to the pictures. Since infrared light is heat, and is more visible through dust, new star formation is easier to see.

Larry
DevilHorse
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top