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Space: The Final Frontier

F

fallout

Member
Hootie said:
Oh god somebody please say this is wrong...or something. :lol
Click to expand...
Actually, it's not the only thing that can kill us! If you look at the error calculations on the distance of the star Betelgeuse, it actually might be within range to kill us all when it goes supernova.

The universe is beautiful and hostile.

Mr Pockets said:
Don't we normally view things years after they happen?
Click to expand...
Well, light is the fastest speed there is and it's a finite speed (300,000 km/s). That's why we have a unit called a "light-year" (ly). If something is 10 ly away, it took 10 years for the light to travel that distance. This is actually a pretty common thing in local space travel. A signal to the moon takes a few seconds, I think. A signal to the Sun would take around 8 minutes. And it's all because of the speed of light being a constant.

Anyway, you're correct, but we (and by "we", I mean the astronomical community) generally avoid talking like that, unless there's some need to bring it up, because it does get kind of confusing.
 
F

Future Trunks

lemme tell you something son, this guy is SO FARKING HUGE HE'LL FLEX AND DESTROY THE SUN no shit
AndersTheSwede said:
That NASA's engineers where able to get a design so flawed from the beginning flying at all is amazing. The two failures that have happened where actually not failures of the Shuttle itself, but one of its boosters failing and detaching pulling the Shuttle out of its slipstream and causing it to disintegrate instantly (Challenger wasn't an explosion), and the other was a peace of foam from its external tank falling and punching a hole in the wing.

The Shuttle itself, as a single vehicle, has never failed.
Click to expand...

Do you mean "Orbiter?" Otherwise, I'm quite confused as the Shuttle is the entire vehicle (ET, SRBs, and Orbiter). EDIT: Although, casually, "Shuttle" is used in place of "Orbiter." But for what you're claiming, Orbiter should be used.

"...(Challenger wasn't an explosion)" Ehhh...I would specify that Challenger wasn't destroyed in the explosion, but was actually "thrown" outward. And that the orbiter was ripped apart due to extreme forces that exceeded the vehicle's structural load limits. It's kinda semantic, since the Challenger Accident did involve an explosion, but the Challenger orbiter didn't blow up.....per se.

Interesting and fairly comprehensive post by the way.

It uses the big ass rocket + 2 of those smaller white ones and then dumps em. (money wasted there)
Click to expand...

The SRBs are retrieved at sea, refurbished, and reused on future flights. The External Tank, for obvious reasons (it burns up on re-entry), is not reused. But yeah, getting the Orbiter in space isn't cost effective regardless.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Comet over California

Click For Bigger Image

Still gracing northern skies, a fading Comet Holmes lies at the top edge of this colorful skyview, recorded on March 4. The reddish emission nebula below it is NGC 1499, also known as the California Nebula for its resemblance to the outline of the state on the US west coast. Of course, the two cosmic clouds by chance lie along nearly the same line-of-sight and so only appear to be close together and of similar size. The California Nebula is actually about 100 light-years long and 1,500 light-years away, drifting through the Orion Arm of our spiral Milky Way Galaxy. Comet Holmes is about 20 light-seconds in diameter, sweeping through our solar system a mere 25 light-minutes away, beyond the orbit of Mars. The molecules of the comet's gaseous coma fluoresce in sunlight. The California Nebula's glow is characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons, originally stripped away (ionized) by ultraviolet starlight. Providing the energetic starlight is Xi Persei, the prominent star below the nebula.
Click to expand...
 
L

Laurentius

Member
Antimatter said:
Image looking in towards the center of the Milky Way, and that's only a fraction of the stars in it.
Click for 1916x1967



I'll keep searching around to see if I can find this in a higher resolution.
Click to expand...

You know, there's been literally dozens and dozens of mindblowing pictures in this thread. But I honestly think that one is my favorite. My breath is literally taken away every time I look at it.
 
C

C.Dark.DN

Banned
Hootie said:
Oh god somebody please say this is wrong...or something. :lol
Click to expand...
"Further research would be required to determine if we are exactly in line with the axis of the system – but even if we are, we probably still have hundreds of thousands of years to come up with a solution, said Tuthill.
"
 
M

MrHicks

Banned
this thread is depressing
earth and everything on it (yes even humans) is so insignificant when you look at it:lol
 
H

Hootie

Member
DeathNote said:
"Further research would be required to determine if we are exactly in line with the axis of the system – but even if we are, we probably still have hundreds of thousands of years to come up with a solution, said Tuthill.
"
Click to expand...

Yeah a few minutes after posting that I read the entire article. Crisis averted...for now.
 
A

AdventureRacing

Member
MrHicks said:
this thread is depressing
earth and everything on it (yes even humans) is so insignificant when you look at it:lol
Click to expand...

Perhaps, that is one way of looking at it. At the same time, despite staring off into the abyss earth remains (to our knowledge) the only place in the universe that harbors life as well as intelligent life forms such as ourselves. It is home to such a beautiful and diverse range of organisms which i think is too often taken for granted.

So while i am excited and amazed by some of the pictures in this thread it in no way diminishes what we have here on earth. If anything i find this thread to be inspiring, it is entirely feasible that we are the only intelligent life in the universe which is a very humbling notion.

These pictures demonstrate to me how lucky i am to be alive and make me appreciate even better what i have. So maybe when people are viewing these images I'd suggest that rather than feeling it makes us insignificant it instead shows how unique and wonderful our planet really is.

p.s I don't really think we're alone in the universe but just the idea of it seems incredible to me.

Also that image looking into the middle of the milky way is incredible. Definitely my favorite so far.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
M104 Hubble Remix

Click For Bigger Image

The striking spiral galaxy M104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust. Seen in silhouette against a bright bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lanes lends a hat-like appearance to the galaxy in optical images suggesting the more popular moniker, The Sombrero Galaxy. Here, Hubble Space Telescope archival image data has been reprocessed to create this alternative look at the well-known galaxy. The newly developed processing improves the visibility of details otherwise lost in overwhelming glare, in this case allowing features of the galaxy's dust lanes to be followed well into the bright central region. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster.
Click to expand...
 
A

AndersTheSwede

Member
Future Trunks said:
Do you mean "Orbiter?" Otherwise, I'm quite confused as the Shuttle is the entire vehicle (ET, SRBs, and Orbiter). EDIT: Although, casually, "Shuttle" is used in place of "Orbiter." But for what you're claiming, Orbiter should be used.

"...(Challenger wasn't an explosion)" Ehhh...I would specify that Challenger wasn't destroyed in the explosion, but was actually "thrown" outward. And that the orbiter was ripped apart due to extreme forces that exceeded the vehicle's structural load limits. It's kinda semantic, since the Challenger Accident did involve an explosion, but the Challenger orbiter didn't blow up.....per se.
Click to expand...

Yes, the proper terminology would be the Orbiter. But Shuttle is cooler. :D

Well, to the best of my knowledge (and I certainly could be wrong, I don't work for NASA), there wasn't any explosion at all. The o-ring failure in the SRB caused flame to shoot out and weaken its connecting joint, then the Shuttle hit a massive bit of wind-shear (if they hadn't hit this Challenger would have made it into orbit), pulling the SRB away causing the Shuttle system to slide out of its slipstream and be ripped apart.

The massive cloud that erupts was actually the fuel in the main tank turning into vapor when exposed to the air as the tank disintegrated.

The sad part in all this is that the crew compartment was not destroyed instantly as it's extra reinforced. There is actually video of it shooting out of the cloud, and the G-forces weren't enough to kill them inside, NASA got readings of at least two people using oxygen masks indicating at least some of the crew was conscious. Until it impacted the ocean... :(
 
Insane Metal

Insane Metal

Member
Teknoman said:
More good news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7282385.stm

Giant telescope opens both eyes

"LBT has 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope

The world's most powerful optical telescope has opened both of its eyes.
Astronomers at the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona have released the first images taken using its two giant 8m diameter mirrors."
Click to expand...

Holy fucking fuck!

Too bad it´s not in the outerspace like Hubble is, that would make a HUGE difference for the images captured by it.
 
Z

Zyzyxxz

Member
when the hell are we gonna get a Hubble Space Telescope Ver.2?!

The images that it brought to me as a child still wow me today
 
D

Dr_Cogent

Banned
AdventureRacing said:
p.s I don't really think we're alone in the universe but just the idea of it seems incredible to me.
Click to expand...

I personally think we are alone in the universe, but no one can know anything for sure. It's certainly a possibility.

Carl Sagan certainly seemed to think that there was other intelligent life out there. The thing is, if there is, it would take practically an eternity for them to get to us or us to get to them.

Cosmos is such a great show. I suggest it to anyone who loves this sort of stuff.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Planets Align Over Australian Radio Telescope Array

Click For Bigger Image

Last week, Mercury, Venus, and the Moon all appeared close together in Earth's sky. This picturesque conjunction was caught on camera behind elements of the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) near the town of Narrabri in rural New South Wales. The ATCA consists of six radio telescopes in total, each one larger than a house. Together they form one of the highest resolution measurement devices in the world. Impressive planetary conjunctions occur every few years. Involving the brightest objects in the night sky, this alignment was easy to spot just before sunrise. In the picture, taken on the morning of March 6, Mercury is the highest of the three bright celestial beacons.
Click to expand...
 
H

Hootie

Member
Verdre said:
James Webb Space Telescope
Click to expand...

Simulated pic of what it will be able to do:

600px-Jwst_simulation.jpg


Holy SHIT.
 
H

Hootie

Member
Shorty said:
I want to explore all of this and learn about every secret it holds.
:( Will never happen
Click to expand...

Aww, now I'm depressed. =(

Fuck you Universe! Why do you have to be so goddamn big?!
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Just freeze yourself and wait until the time is right to unfreeze, problem solved. :lol
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
did someone post a high-res version of that Mars avalanche? If not then here it is:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0803/avalanche_hirise_big.jpg

What caused this sudden cloud of dust on Mars? An avalanche! The first avalanche imaged in progress on another planet was recorded last month on Mars by NASA's robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Visible in the above picture, digitally rescaled, are several layers of white ice thawing over red rock, with darker colors toward the right indicated Martian soil that mixed with lesser amounts of ice. As the cliff of over 700 meters high was thawing, falling ice crashed down raising plumes of ice and dust so thick they cast visible shadows. The scarp has slopes with grades greater than 60 degrees. The entire scene is illuminated from the upper right by the Sun. A thaw occurs each spring in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, as the warming climate causes solid carbon dioxide ice to sublimate directly to vapor. Studying such avalanches allows planetary geologists to better understand soil configurations on Mars.
Click to expand...
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
The fact every single point of light in this picture is a galaxy....

Hootie said:
Simulated pic of what it will be able to do:

600px-Jwst_simulation.jpg


Holy SHIT.
Click to expand...

...and each galaxy they're likely filled with stars like this ...

Antimatter said:
Image looking in towards the center of the Milky Way, and that's only a fraction of the stars in it.
Click for 1916x1967



I'll keep searching around to see if I can find this in a higher resolution.
Click to expand...

....and despite what the picture suggests, most stars are trillions upon trillions of miles apart....

*head explodes*
 
S

Sibylus

Banned
Question for people far more familiar with the laws of physics than I am:

Hypothetically, there's a future culture that can manipulate wormholes for the use of travel and data transmission. Would the "data wormholes" have far "steeper" mouths than wormholes used by manned ships? Would the "data wormholes" then facilitate a much faster "shortcut" through space than ones used by ships? (I'm reasoning that data could survive the journey far, far easier than any ship could)
 
G

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
HomerSimpson-Man said:
The fact every single point of light in this picture is a galaxy....



...and each galaxy they're likely filled with stars like this ...



....and despite what the picture suggests, most stars are trillions upon trillions of miles apart....

*head explodes*
Click to expand...
*reconstructs head*
 
H

Hootie

Member
Wow, the Colonizing Space episode of "The Universe" was amazing...I really hope we decide to terraform the shit out of Mars. I don't see any problems with it considering we have to get off this planet and find a new place to live. I'd give up my entire life savings to travel to Mars...

Damn I feel inspired now, yet at the same time I'm sad that this won't happen for so long. =(
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
damn I missed that too, is it re-airing tonight?

edit: hmm a episode is on at 12 cst but its not the Colonizing Space episode. :(
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Star Forming Region LH 95

Click For Bigger Image


How do stars form? To better understand this complex and chaotic process, astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to image in unprecedented detail the star forming region LH 95 in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. Usually only the brightest, bluest, most massive stars in a star forming region are visible, but the above image was taken in such high resolution and in such specific colors that many recently formed stars that are more yellow, more dim, and less massive are also discernable. Also visible in the above scientifically colored image is a blue sheen of diffuse hydrogen gas heated by the young stars, and dark dust created by stars or during supernova explosions. Studying the locations and abundances of lower mass stars in star forming regions and around molecular clouds helps uncover what conditions were present when they formed. LH 95 spans about 150 light years and lies about 160,000 light years away toward the southern constellation of the Swordfish (Dorado.
Click to expand...
 
E

East Lake

Member
Ok, if you want to download The Hubble Space Telescope's images in a higher resolution and better quality go to hubblesite.org, you'll be able to download the uncompressed tiff images that are on there. Some of them are huge, like the 18,000 x 18,000 pixel, 385MB image here.

Also the image of the galactic center I posted earlier is from a telescope named 2MASS, and you can download the original 4100 x 5300 pixel image here.
 
H

Hootie

Member
Antimatter said:
Also the image of the galactic center I posted earlier is from a telescope named 2MASS, and you can download the original 4100 x 5300 pixel image here.
Click to expand...

Holy.....shit.

My mind is unable to fathom the amount of stars in this picture. Holy SHIT. I mean, god DAMNIT. :lol

Absolutely unfathomable. Mindblowing. Amazing. Extraordinary. Beautiful. Though-provoking. Simply astounding. There are not enough adjectives.
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Antimatter said:
Also the image of the galactic center I posted earlier is from a telescope named 2MASS, and you can download the original 4100 x 5300 pixel image here.
Click to expand...
Wow, talk about a ton of stars, I don't even know if I can count that high.
 
F

fallout

Member
Hootie said:
Holy.....shit.

My mind is unable to fathom the amount of stars in this picture. Holy SHIT. I mean, god DAMNIT. :lol
Click to expand...
Star clusters are neat. Below is M13, one of the most magnificent globular clusters. There are hundreds of thousands of stars in an area of just 160 ly across. These types of clusters are located in the halo of our galaxy and are extremely old.

m13rgb7.jpg


This is the same cluster from a wider field of view:

508471781_0a0964ed5e_b.jpg
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Sculpting the South Pillar

Click For Bigger Image

Eta Carinae, one of the most massive and unstable stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, has a profound effect on its environment. Found in the the South Pillar region of the Carina Nebula, these fantastic pillars of glowing dust and gas with embedded newborn stars were sculpted by the intense wind and radiation from Eta Carinae and other massive stars. Glowing brightly in planet Earth's southern sky, the expansive Eta Carinae Nebula is a mere 10,000 light-years distant. Still, this remarkable cosmic vista is largely obscured by nebular dust and only revealed here in penetrating infrared light by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Eta Carinae itself is off the top left of the false-color image, with the bright-tipped dust pillars pointing suggestively toward the massive star's position. The Spitzer image spans almost 200 light-years at the distance of Eta Carinae.
Click to expand...
 
W

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Endeavour into the Night

Click For Bigger Image

Blasting into a dark night sky, the Space Shuttle Endeavour began its latest journey to orbit in the early morning hours of March 11. In this stunning picture following the launch, the glare from Endeavour's three main rocket engines and flanking solid fuel booster rockets illuminates the orbiter's tail section and the large, orange external fuel tank. Embarking on mission STS-123, Endeavour left Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A, ferrying a a crew of seven astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The cargo included the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency's two-armed robotic system. Astronauts will conduct a series of space walks to install the new equipment during the 16-day mission, the longest shuttle mission to the ISS.
Click to expand...
 
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