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[Deadly Cyclone]

Wow, this thread is a win. I love astronomy and almost majored in it, but alas there are no jobs. Astronomy is amazing.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Whats the sotry with Virgin galactic? Are they ever gonna start sending people on trips? What seems to be the hold up with that?

 

[AndersTheSwede]

Whats the sotry with Virgin galactic? Are they ever gonna start sending people on trips? What seems to be the hold up with that?

They are building the ships. SpaceShip Two is much larger.

 

[fallout]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/takk28/cl0024dark_hst_big.jpg

Whats the blue glow around it? It's huge.

Light exists in all spectra, and various filters can be used to enhance that. The blue glow is actually just background noise and interstellar medium, but the image was taken with that filter in place to enhance the galaxies that you see.

 

[Windu]

Cassini's continued mission - April 20th, 2009

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is now a nearly a year into its extended mission, called Cassini Equinox (after its initial 4-year mission ended in June, 2008). The spacecraft continues to operate in good health, returning amazing images of Saturn, its ring system and moons, and providing new information and science on a regular basis. The mission's name, "Equinox" comes from the upcoming Saturnian equinox in August, 2009, when its equator (and rings) will point directly toward the Sun. The Equinox mission runs through September of 2010, with the possibility of further extensions beyond that. Collected here are 24 more intriguing images from our ringed neighbor.

This natural color mosaic was acquired by the Cassini spacecraft as it soared 39 degrees above the unilluminated side of Saturn's rings. Little light makes its way through the rings to be scattered in Cassini's direction in this viewing geometry, making the rings appear somewhat dark compared to the reflective surface of Saturn (120,536 km/74,898 mi across). The view combines 45 images taken over the course of about two hours, as Cassini scanned across the entire main ring system. The images in this view were obtained on May 9, 2007 at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/SSI)

Pan, a small ring-embedded moon (28 km/17 mi wide) coasts into view from behind Saturn. The view of the rings is distorted near Saturn by the planet's upper atmosphere. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.8 million km (1.1 million mi) from Pan. Image scale is 11 km (7 mi) per pixel on Pan. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Rhea (1,528 km/949 mi wide) drifts in front of Saturn. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 576,000 km (358,000 mi) from Rhea. Image scale is 3 km (2 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Cassini peers through Saturn's delicate, translucent inner C ring to see the diffuse yellow-blue limb of Saturn's atmosphere. The image was taken on April 25, 2008 at a distance of approximately 1.5 million km (913,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 8 km (5 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Rhea passes in front of Saturn's larger, hazy moon Titan (which is lit from behind by the sun) in June of 2006. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

This mosaic of two Cassini images shows Pan and Prometheus creating features in nearby rings. Pan (28 km/17 mi wide), in the Encke Gap at left, is trailed by a series of edge waves in the outer boundary of the gap. Prometheus (86 km/53 mi wide) just touches the inner edge of Saturn's F ring at right, and is followed by a series of dark channels in the ring. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.2 million km (746,000 mi) from Pan and Prometheus. Image scale is 7 km (5 mi) per pixel on both moons. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

This image was taken during Cassini's close approach to the moon Iapetus in Sept. 2007. The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007 with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 3,870 km (2,400 mi) from Iapetus. Image scale is 230 meters (755 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Cassini tracks the shepherd moon Prometheus as it orbits Saturn. Prometheus is just about to pass behind the planet, and a faint streamer of ring material lies below and to the right of Prometheus (86 km/53 mi wide), in the faint, inner strand of the F ring. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.3 million km (804,000 mi) from Prometheus. Image scale is 8 km (5 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Saturn's high north is a seething cauldron of activity filled with roiling cloud bands and swirling vortices. A corner of the north polar hexagon is seen at upper left. The image was taken on Aug. 25, 2008 at a distance of approximately 541,000 km (336,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 29 km (18 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Numerous stars provide a serene background in this view of Enceladus captured by the Cassini spacecraft while the moon was in eclipse, within Saturn's shadow. The view looks up at Enceladus' south pole. The image was taken on Oct. 9, 2008 at a distance of approximately 83,000 km (52,000 mi) from Enceladus. Image scale is 5 km (3 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

In this image of the F ring, taken shortly after its ring particles encountered the shepherd moon Prometheus, the disruption to the ring caused by the moon is evident. The bright core of the ring and its neighboring faint strands show kinks where the moon's gravity has altered the orbits of the ring particles. The image was taken on Oct. 23, 2008 at a distance of approximately 444,000 km (276,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 2 km (1 mile) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Dark irregular patterns dot the bright outer B ring just left of the large Huygens Gap in the center of this image from Cassini. Cassini scientists speculate that these features are likely the result of transient gravitational clumping. The outer edge of the B ring is anchored and sculpted by a powerful gravitational resonance with the moon, Mimas (396 km/246 mi wide). The mutual gravity between particles may pull them into clumps as they are periodically forced closely together by the action of Mimas. The image was taken on Dec. 8, 2008 at a distance of approximately 710,000 km (441,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 4 km (2 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

The terminator engulfs Penelope (foreground), one of the largest craters on Saturn's moon, Tethys. The image was taken on Nov. 24, 2008 at a distance of approximately 62,000 km (38,000 mi) from Tethys. Image scale is 366 meters (1,202 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Against a background of muted atmospheric bands in Saturn's northern hemisphere, Mimas forges onward in its orbit around the Ringed Planet. Aside from the large crater Herschel, all features on Mimas are named after people and places in Arthurian legend or the legends of the Titans. In fact, the largest crater near the terminator in this view is named Arthur (64 km, 40 mi across). The image was taken on Nov. 26, 2008 at a distance of approximately 915,000 km (569,000 mi) from Mimas. Image scale is 5 km (3 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Small, battered Epimetheus before Saturn's A and F rings, and and smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 km/3,200 mi wide) beyond. The color information in the colorized view is artificial: it is derived from red, green and blue images taken at nearly the same time and phase angle as the clear filter image. This color information was overlaid onto a previously released clear filter view in order to approximate the scene as it might appear to human eyes. The view was acquired on April 28, 2006, at a distance of approximately 667,000 km (415,000 mi) from Epimetheus and 1.8 million km (1.1 million mi) from Titan. The image scale is 4 km (2 mi) per pixel on Epimetheus and 11 km (7 mi) per pixel on Titan. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Half an hour after Prometheus tore into Saturn's F ring, Cassini snapped this image just as the moon was creating a new streamer in the ring. The dark pattern shaped like an upside down check mark in the lower left of the image is Prometheus and its shadow. The potato shaped moon can just be seen coming back out of the ring. The moon's handiwork also is apparent in two previous streamer-channel formations on the right of the image. The darkest streamer-channel stretching from the top right to the center of the image shows Prometheus' previous apoapse passage about 15 hours earlier. Prometheus (86 km/53 mi across) dips into the inner edge of the F ring when it reaches apoapse, its farthest point from Saturn. At apoapse, the moon's gravity pulls out particles of the ring into a streamer. As Prometheus moves back toward periapse - its orbit's closest point to the planet - the streamer gets longer. Then, as Prometheus moves back toward apoapse, the streamer breaks apart which results in a dark channel. This streamer-channel cycle repeats once every orbit. The image was taken on Jan. 14, 2009 at a distance of approximately 555,000 km (345,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 3 km (2 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

This bizarre scene shows the cloud-streaked limb of Saturn in front of the planet's B ring. The ring's image is warped near the limb by the diffuse gas in Saturn's upper atmosphere. The image was taken on June 24, 2008 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light, at a distance of approximately 657,000 km (408,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 4 km (2 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Cassini looks toward Rhea's cratered, icy landscape with the dark line of Saturn's ringplane and the planet's murky atmosphere as a background. Rhea is Saturn's second-largest moon, at 1,528 km (949 mi) across. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired on July 17, 2007 at a distance of approximately 1.2 million km (770,000 mi) from Rhea. Image scale is 7 km (5 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

This image of Saturn's rings and the shadow of nearby Mimas was taken on April 08, 2009. The rings are now oriented nearly edge-on toward the Sun, and very long moon shadows frequently drape across them. Interesting to note in this image are the various jagged shadows along the outer edge of the B ring. Scientists are closely studying this phenomenon now, and a preliminary hypothesis suggests that the shadows are of clumpy, disturbed ring material, stretching up to 3 km above the ring plane - contrasted with an estimated normal ring thickness of only 10 meters or so. (The ring-shaped mark at right is a camera artifact) (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Cassini peers through the fine, smoke-sized ice particles of Saturn's F ring toward the cratered face of Mimas (396 km/246 mi wide). The F ring's core is dense enough to completely block the light from Mimas. The image was taken on Nov. 18, 2007 at a distance of approximately 772,000 km (480,000 mi) from Mimas. Image scale is 5 km (3 mi) per pixel on the moon. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Gray Mimas appears to hover above the colorful rings. The large crater seen on the right side of the moon is named for William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired on Sept. 9, 2007 at a distance of approximately 3.151 million km (1.958 million mi) from Mimas. Image scale is 19 km (12 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Saturn is seen through the thick smoggy haze of Titan's upper atmosphere in this December, 2005 image. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 25,404 kilometers (15,785 mi) from Titan. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

The shadow of Tethys drifts across the face of Saturn. Nearby, shadows of the planet's rings form a darkened band above the equator. The image was taken on Oct. 1, 2008 at a distance of approximately 615,000 km (382,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 37 km (23 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

Saturn's northern hemisphere is seen here against its nested rings. The rings have been brightened relative to the planet to enhance visibility. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 24, 2009 at a distance of approximately 866,000 km (538,000 mi) from Saturn. Image scale is 38 km (24 mi) per pixel. (NASA/JPL/SSI) #

 

[Windu]

Enceladus up close - October 24th, 2008 (some of these images may have already been posted. You will just have to suffer through the pain of seeing them again.)

Saturn's tiny, icy moon Enceladus has recently been visited by NASA's Cassini orbiter on several very close approaches - once coming within a mere 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the surface. Scientists are learning a great deal about this curious little moon. Only about 500 kilometers wide (310 miles), it is very active, emitting internal heat, churning its surface, and - through cryovolcanism - ejecting masses of microscopic ice particles into Saturnian orbit. Cassini has been orbiting Saturn for over 4 years now, and has provided some amazing views of tiny Enceladus, some collected here. Another close flyby is scheduled for Halloween, October 31st.

Ring shadows line the face of distant Saturn, providing a backdrop for the brilliant, white sphere of Enceladus. This image looks toward the leading side of Enceladus. North is up. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 291,000 kilometers (181,000 miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The tortured surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus and its fascinating ongoing geologic activity tell the story of the ancient and present struggles of one tiny world. The enhanced color view of Enceladus seen here is largely of the southern hemisphere. The south polar terrain is marked by a striking set of "blue" fractures and encircled by a conspicuous and continuous chain of folds and ridges. This mosaic was created from 21 false-color frames taken during the Cassini spacecraft's close approaches to Enceladus on March 9 and July 14, 2005. Images taken using filters sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and infrared light were combined to create the individual frames. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

The shadowed side of Enceladus, seen from 1.9 million kilometers away on September 15, 2006. The plume of microscopic ice particles being ejected from the surface of the moon is clearly visible isn the scattered sunlight. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute) #

This image, taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008 captures a region near the Cairo Sulcus on Enceladus' south polar terrain that is littered with blocks of ice. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera from a distance of approximately 1,288 kilometers (800 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Image scale is approximately 10 meters (33 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

The cratered limb of Enceladus, seen on March 12, 2008 from approximately 34,435 kilometers away. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Sister Moons separated by rings and some distance. Saturn's rings cut across a scene ruled by Titan's globe-encircling haze, lit up by the distant Sun and interrupted only by the small, closer moon Enceladus. The scattered light around planet-sized Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) makes the moon's solid surface visible in silhouette, giant compared to Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across). The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Enceladus seen high (in an orbit of about 237,378 kilometers or 147,500 miles) above Saturn's atmosphere on February 16, 2005. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Icy surface jets hurl tiny particles of ice far into space above Enceladus, seen on November 27, 2005. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

This sequence of 12 frames was taken over a span of about 45 minutes on March 12, 2008. In that brief time, Cassini covered almost 40,000 kilometers in its approach to a flyby encounter with Enceladus. The overexposure and smearing of the images gives a hint of the raw speed involved - 14.4 km/sec (or 32,211 mph). Shortly after this sequence, at its closest, Casini approached within 52 km (32.3 miles) of the surface of Enceladus. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Icy craters seen on the surface of Enceladus on March 12, 2008 from a distance of 31,856 kilometers. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute) #

This image was taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008. Cairo Sulcus is crossing the southern part of the image. The terrain is littered with blocks of ice. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 11, 2008, a distance of approximately 2,446 kilometers (1,396 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Image scale is approximately 18 meters (59 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Enceladus seen lit by both the Sun and reflected sunlight from Saturn and its rings on March 22, 2006, from a distance of 1,303,447 kilometers. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

A single young crater dimples the rumpled surface of Enceladus in this image taken on March 12, 2008 from 30,136 kilometers away. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

The active surface jets on Enceladus collectively form a brilliant, extended plume that is made visible as sunlight scatters among the microscopic particles of ice. The plume is more easily seen with the Sun directly, or almost directly, behind Enceladus, as is the case here. The moon's surface is lit here by reflected light from Saturn. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 17, 2008. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 235,000 kilometers (146,000 miles) from Enceladus, with a scale of 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

During its very close flyby on March 9, 2005, the Cassini spacecraft captured this false-color view of Saturn's moon Enceladus, which shows the wide variety of this icy moon's geology. Subtle differences in color may indicate different ice properties, such as grain sizes, that will help unravel the sequence of geologic events leading to the current strange landscape. This false-color view is a composite of individual frames obtained using filters sensitive to green and infrared light. The view has been processed to accentuate subtle color differences. The atmosphere of Saturn forms the background of this scene (its color has been rendered gray to allow the moon to stand out). The Sun illuminates Enceladus from the left, leaving part of it in shadow and blocking out part of the view of Saturn. Resolution in the image is about 560 meters (1,800 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

The hazy atmosphere of massive Titan forms a crescent far in the distance behid tiny Endceladus on February 05, 2006. Enceladus lies approximately 4,126,232 kilometers away from Cassini in this image. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

This image was taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008. Cairo Sulcus is shown crossing the lower left portion of the image. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 11, 2008, a distance of approximately 3,027 kilometers (1,881 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Image scale is approximately 20 meters (66 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

A chain of fractured craters seen along the terminator on Enceladus on March 09, 2005. The camera was approximately 17,256 kilometers away. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Cassini imaging scientists used views like this one to help them identify the source locations for individual jets spurting ice particles, water vapor and trace organic compounds from the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Their study identifies eight source locations, all on the prominent tiger stripe fractures, or sulci, in the moon's south polar region. This false-color view was created by combining three clear filter images, then it was specially processed to enhance the individual jets that compose the plume. Some artifacts due to the processing are present in the image. The final product was colored as blue for dramatic effect. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 27, 2005 at a distance of approximately 148,000 kilometers (92,000 miles) from Enceladus. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

A deep fractured canyon in the icy surface of Enceladus dominates this image, taken on October 09, 2008 from approximately 39,384 kilometers away. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Enceladus hangs like a single bright pearl against the golden-brown canvas of Saturn and its icy rings. Visible on Saturn is the region where daylight gives way to dusk. Above, the rings throw thin shadows onto the planet. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were taken using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 17, 2006 at a distance of approximately 200,000 kilometers (100,000 miles) from Enceladus. The image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

At least two distinct jets are seen spraying a mist of fine particles from the south polar region of Enceladus. The particles in the plume scatter sunlight most effectively at high Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft angles, or phase angles, making the plumes appear bright. This image shows the night side of Saturn and the active moon against dark sky. Some smearing from overexposure is evident. The image was acquired in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus and 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn. The image was taken at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 159 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

This image was taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008, taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 11, 2008, a distance of approximately 4,742 kilometers (2,947 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Image scale is approximately 30 meters (98 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Wispy fingers of bright, icy material reach tens of thousands of kilometers outward from Saturn's moon Enceladus into the E ring, while the moon's active south polar jets continue to fire away. This never-before-seen structure is made visible with the sun almost directly behind the Saturn system from Cassini's vantage point. These features are very likely the result of particles injected into Saturn orbit by the Enceladus geysers: Those injected in the direction of the moon's orbital motion end up on larger, slower orbits and trail Enceladus in its orbit, and those injected into the opposite direction end up smaller, faster orbits and lead Enceladus. In addition, the configuration of wisps may hint at an interaction between Saturn's magnetosphere and the torrent of particles issuing from Enceladus. The view looks down onto Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) from about 15 degrees above the ringplane. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is visible to the right of Enceladus. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 128 kilometers (80 miles) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

During its very close flyby of Enceladus on March 9, 2005, Cassini took high resolution images of the icy moon that are helping scientists interpret the complex topography of this intriguing little world. This scene is an icy landscape that has been scored by tectonic forces. Many of the craters in this terrain have been heavily modified, such as the 10-kilometer-wide (6-mile-wide) crater near the upper right that has prominent north-south fracturing along its northeastern slope. The image was taken in visible light with the narrow angle camera from a distance of about 11,900 kilometers (7,400 miles) from Enceladus. Pixel scale in the image is 70 meters (230 feet) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

Ring shadows line the face of distant Saturn, providing a backdrop for Enceladus. This image looks toward the leading side of Enceladus. North is up. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 281,539 kilometers from Enceladus. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) #

 

[Windu]

Cassini Nears Four-year Mark - May 30th, 2008 (once again, suffer through the old ones, yes I know, its painful.)

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft is now reaching the end of its four-year prime mission (on June 30th), and about to enter into its extended mission. What a nice excuse for a retrospective of some of the great images sent back home by Cassini over the past four years.

The Sun is on the opposite side, so all of Saturn is backlit. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Swirls in Saturn's cloud-tops. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

The surface of Saturn's moon Dione, up close. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Tiny moon Janus, seen before Saturn's rings, with massive moon Titan beyond. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Saturn's moon Rhea, with Izanagi Crater at center. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Saturn's horizon seen through its thin rings. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Small moon Mimas, seen against Saturn's horizon. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

A "knot", or small disturbance in one of Saturn's outer rings. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Closeup of small, cratered moon Hyperion. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Saturn's moon Enceladus, seen just in front of Saturn. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Saturn's polar region. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mimas closeup, with rings in background. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

[Poolman]

My planet is boring.
I wanna go to space.

 

[Windu]

My planet is boring.
I wanna go to space.

http://www.expedia.com/daily/mars/flights-to-mars/

 

[super metroid]

My planet is boring.
I wanna go to space.

YOU STOLE MY AVATAR

 

[Poolman]

YOU STOLE MY AVATAR

Oh snap.

Better get your Pokemon cards out mother fucker, it's ass kicking time!



Blah, I didn't see yours. I guess I'll look around for a better BR avatar. ='(
BETTER THEN YOURS! WAY BETTER!

EDIT:
Deadpool will have to suffice for now.

 

[xBerserker]

0_o At all the saturn/moon photos. So amazing.

 

[Lost Fragment]

Why do they call that Boston Globe feature the "big picture" when there aren't any pictures big enough for even a wallpaper?

 

[Shirokun]

My jaw is on the floor at those Saturn photos. Some of those don't even look real.

 

[fallout]

That low shot of the Dione moon really stands out for me. It just looks so desolate and battered. Incredible stuff.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

Not sure if this series of documentaries has been mentioned in this thread yet, but I highly recommend them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Left_Earth



Totally awesome and very informative. I learnt lots I didn't know about the early days of journeying to space.

Nice docu but a bit one sided. Duh


I'm more fond of the BBC series The Planets. It's less discovery-like and much more in-depth. I also found the anecdotes of the involved scientists a bit more striking. The big unknown of space and the uncertainty of the first interplanetary missions are being captured wonderfully.

 

[Windu]

• Earth views from ISS

In celebration of Earth Day, NASA presents images of Earth captured by cameras aboard the International Space Station. Traveling at an approximate speed of 17,500 miles per hour, the space station orbits Earth every 90 minutes from an altitude of approximately 220 miles, and can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its crew experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets each day.

• Station crew discusses life in space with WGN Radio, Chicago and KPTV-TV, Portland, Ore.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 19 Flight Engineers Mike Barratt and Koichi Wakata discussed the progress of their mission in a series of interviews April 20, 2009, with WGN Radio, Chicago and KPTV-TV, Portland, Ore.

 

[Windu]

 

[Windu]

• Two Nasa Space Shuttles on two launch Pads for the Final Time

Following rollout of space shuttle Endeavour from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B on Friday, April 17, two shuttles were on the launch pads at the same time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Shuttle Atlantis already had been moved to Launch Pad 39A.

Endeavour will stand by at pad B in the unlikely event that a rescue mission is necessary during space shuttle Atlantis' upcoming mission to upgrade NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Atlantis is targeted to launch May 12. With the space shuttle fleet set for retirement in 2010, this is expected to be the final time two shuttles will be on the launch pads at the same time.

Video includes aerials of the shuttles on April 17, and sunrise shots and additional aerials on April 18.

Astronauts Carl J. Meade and Mark C. Lee (red strip on suit) test the new Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system some 130 nautical miles above Earth. The pair was actually performing an in-space rehearsal or demonstration of a contingency rescue using the never-before flown hardware. Meade, who here wears the small back-pack unit with its complementary chest-mounted control unit, and Lee (anchored to the Space Shuttle Discovery's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) robot arm) took turns using the SAFER hardware during their shared space walk.

Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder at Station 6 (base of North Massif) during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon. Notice the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) in the left foreground. Schmitt is the Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. This picture was taken by Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander.

Backdropped against the blue and white Earth, 130 nautical miles below, astronaut Mark C. Lee test the new Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system. The scen was captured with a 70mm handheld Hasselblad camera with a 30mm lens attached.

During STS-57 extravehicular activity (EVA), Mission Specialist (MS) and Payload Commander (PLC) G. David Low (foreground) and MS3 Peter J.K. Wisoff work along the port side sill longeron in the payload bay (PLB) of the Earth-orbiting Endeavour, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 105. Low will secure a portable foot restraint (PFR) (manipulator foot restraint (MFR)) to the remote manipulator system (RMS) end effector (deployed behind the two astronauts) using a PFR attachment device (PAD). This EVA, designated Detailed Test Objective (DTO) 1210, included evaluation of procedures being developed to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on mission STS-61 in December 1993. Visible in OV-105's PLB are (front to back) the SPACEHAB-01 module (Commercial Middeck Augmentation Module (CMAM)), the Superhelium Onorbit Transfer (SHOOT) liquid helium dewar assembly, and the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) spacecraft. The scene is backdropped against the Earth's surface.

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II, mission specialist, participates in a extravehicular activity (EVA), a few meters away from the cabin of the shuttle Challenger. He is using a nitrogen-propelled hand-controlled manned maneuvering unit (MMU). He is performing this EVA without being tethered to the shuttle. Below him can be seen a cloud view of the earth (27017);

Orbiting Earth at an altitude of 356 nautical miles perched atop a foot restraint on Endeavour's Remote Manipulator System (RMS) arm, Astronauts F. Story Musgrave (top) and Jeffrey A. Hoffman wrap up the final of five STS-61 space walks. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) sits just above the payload bay. The west coast of Australia forms the backdrop.

Backdropped against a massive wall of white clouds 130 nautical miles below, astronaut Mark C. Lee floats freely as he tests the new Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) system. The image was exposed with a 35mm camera from the shirt-sleeve environment of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

 

[Hootie]

I'd love to contribute to this thread but it seems Windu is quite on top of that :lol

Keep it up! This is mind-blowingly interesting.

 

[Windu]

The more the merrier.

 

[subzero9285]

Most Earth like planet ever discovered

Astronomers have unveiled the lightest exoplanet ever detected and, in the same distant solar system, the first "serious candidate" for a world with abundant liquid water, both conditions essential for supporting life.

"I would put the two discoveries on an equal footing," said Thierry Forveille, an astronomer at the Grenoble Observatory in France and a co-author of the study released on Tuesday.

"The holy grail of exoplanet research is to find a planet that combines both, the approximate mass of Earth and conditions favourable for water. Here we have each separately, but we are getting closer," he told AFP by phone.

The newly detected smaller body, dubbed Gliese 581 "e", has a mass only twice that of Earth.

This makes it the smallest of the nearly 350 exoplanets found so far, and means it probably has a rocky surface not unlike our own.

Beyond a certain size, exoplanets become giant balls of toxic gas, similar to Jupiter.

Nearby Gliese 581 "d" is seven times heavier than our planet, and the composition of its surface is unknown.

But new calculations -- made possible by the discovery of "e" -- show that the larger planet is squarely within the so-called "habitable zone," neither too far nor too close to the star around which it orbits to support life.

"Gliese 581 d is probably too massive to be make only of rocky material, but we can speculate that it is an icy planet that has migrated closer to its star," said co-author Stephane Udry, a professor at Geneva University.

"It could even be covered by a large and deep ocean -- it is the first serious 'waterworld' candidate," he said in a statement.

With an orbit only 3.15 days long, Gliese e orbits close to its star and is almost certainly a white-hot, fiery mass.

The new findings, slated for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, were obtained using the most successful low-mass-exoplanet hunter in the world, the HARPS spectrograph attached to the 3.6-metre ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile.

Gliese 581, located some 20.5 light-years distant in the constellation Libra, falls into the category of low-mass, red dwarf stars, around which low-mass planets in the habitable zone are most likely to be found.

One light-year is roughly equivalent to 9.5 trillion kilometres (6 trillion miles).

Distant planets, even big ones, are too small to be directly observed, and can only be detected by measuring their impact on the movement of the stars they orbit.

The first exoplanet -- 51 Pegasi b -- was detected in 1995. Almost all those discovered to date are large gas giants.

"It is amazing to see how far we have come since then," said lead researcher Michael Mayer, also of Geneva University. "The mass of Gliese 581 e is 80 times less than that of 51 Pegasi b," he said.

Planets are formed from a disc of gas and dusty debris left over from the creation of a star. Just how long this process takes is still a matter of debate.

Earth is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old, and the Sun about 100 million years older.

Link

 

[fallout]

Exoplanet hunting is really neat. It's great that they're able to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. Of course, I think they're optimism about oceans and whatnot is a high, but I applaud them for their efforts.

I'd love to contribute to this thread but it seems Windu is quite on top of that :lol

Keep it up! This is mind-blowingly interesting.

It's strange, you know ... we've had a few repeats in this thread and nobody has complained.

 

[Memphis Reigns]

Exoplanet hunting is really neat. It's great that they're able to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone. Of course, I think they're optimism about oceans and whatnot is a high, but I applaud them for their efforts.

It's strange, you know ... we've had a few repeats in this thread and nobody has complained.

a few pages back i posted a link to the Kepler website where you can kind of hunt for your own habitable planets. it was a nice fun little activity.

i am stoked to hear this news. imagine what Kepler is going to find out there.

 

[Windu]

Aren't the odds in our favor in finding a planet like ours?

edit: btw, we are over 100,000 views.

 

[Memphis Reigns]

Aren't the odds in our favor in finding a planet like ours?

edit: btw, we are over 100,000 views.

IF we were able to easily detect them with little effort, I think we would find, well, a lot.

Who knows, maybe there are so many Earth like planets out there that we would still have a good chance of finding dozens of them without crazy high tech.

Here is hoping that the Kepler telescope can get close to finding some. They posted the first image on the official website. http://kepler.nasa.gov/about/1stlight/ffi.html

Look at all those fucking stars.

 

[fallout]

Statistically, Kepler has a fantastic opportunity to find Earth-sized planets with orbital periods similar to ours. Best part is, we'll have excellent data to work with in just a couple of years!

 

[Windu]

That looks like soooo much fun. I want to go to space.

 

[Always-honest]

Possible Watery World Spotted Near Another Star

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/0...lanet-watery-world-spotted-near-another-star/

 

[DarkJediKnight]

I think when they discovered Gliese 581C, they thought it was a candidate until they realized it's too hot. Let's hope we can get more info on Gliese C. Perhaps one day we can develop a strong enough telescope to actually see the planet.

 

[Always-honest]

I think when they discovered Gliese 581C, they thought it was a candidate until they realized it's too hot. Let's hope we can get more info on Gliese C. Perhaps one day we can develop a strong enough telescope to actually see the planet.

you mean Gliese D ?

 

[Windu]

Click For Bigger Image:



Also, you can buy the poster too.

And click here for even more Space Shuttle Posters.

 

[Windu]

Just found this pretty cool site:

SpaceRip TV

Only watched some of the videos but pretty good so far. My favorite was this cool little video: Hulu link - Youtube link.

 

[Windu]

Found this on Digg.com

http://digg.com/space/Why_didn_t_astronauts_float_off_the_moon_Heavy_boots_Sigh

Heavy Boots

About 6-7 years ago, I was in a philosophy class at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (good science/engineering school) and the teaching assistant was explaining Descartes.

He was trying to show how things don't always happen the way we think they will and explained that, while a pen always falls when you drop it on Earth, it would just float away if you let go of it on the Moon. My jaw dropped a little. I blurted "What?!" Looking around the room, I saw that only my friend Mark and one other student looked confused by the TA's statement. The other 17 people just looked at me like "What's your problem?" "But a pen would fall if you dropped it on the Moon, just more slowly." I protested.

"No it wouldn't." the TA explained calmly, "because you're too far away from the Earth's gravity." Think. Think. Aha! "You saw the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the Moon, didn't you?"

I countered, "why didn't they float away?"

"Because they were wearing heavy boots." he responded, as if this made perfect sense (remember, this is a Philosophy TA who's had plenty of logic classes). By then I realized that we were each living in totally different worlds, and did not speak each others language, so I gave up.

As we left the room, my friend Mark was raging. "My God! How can all those people be so stupid?" I tried to be understanding. "Mark, they knew this stuff at one time, but it's not part of their basic view of the world, so they've forgotten it. Most people could probably make the same mistake."

To prove my point, we went back to our dorm room and began randomly selecting names from the campus phone book. We called about 30 people and asked each this question: 1

1. If you're standing on the Moon holding a pen, and you let go, will it
a) float away,
b) float where it is,
or c) fall to the ground?

About 47 percent got this question correct. Of the ones who got it wrong, we asked the obvious follow-up question:

2. You've seen films of the APOLLO astronauts walking around on the Moon, why didn't they fall off?

About 20 percent of the people changed their answer to the first question when they heard this one! But the most amazing part was that about half of them confidently answered, "Because they were wearing heavy boots."


MORE ON THE BURNING QUESTION OF HEAVY BOOTS

I decided to settle this question once and for all. Therefore, I put two multiple choice questions on my Physics 111 test, after the study of elementary mechanics and gravity.

13. If you are standing on the Moon, and holding a rock, and you let it go, it will:
(a) float away
(b) float where it is
(c) move sideways
(d) fall to the ground
(e) none of the above

25. When the Apollo astronauts wre on the Moon, they did not fall off because:
(a) the Earth's gravity extends to the Moon
(b) the Moon has gravity
(c) they wore heavy boots
(d) they had safety ropes
(e) they had spiked shoes

The response showed some interesting patterns! The first question was generally of average difficulty, compared with the rest of the test: 57% got it right. The second question was easier: 73% got it right. So, we need more research to explain the people who got #25 right but did not get #13 right!

The second interesting point is that these questions proved to be excellent discriminators: that is, success on these two questions proved to be an extremely good predictor of overall success on the test. On the first question, 92% of those in the upper quarter of the test score got it right; only 20% of those in the bottom quarter did. They generally chose answers (a) or (b). On the second question, 97% in the upper quarter got it right and 33% in the lower quarter did. The big popular choice of this group was (c)...33% chose heavy boots, followed closely by safety ropes at 27%.

A telling comment on the issue of fairness in teaching elementary physics: Two students asked if I was going to continue asking them about things they had never studied in the class.

Heavy Boots :lol

 

[Marvie_3]

saturn pics

Wow. Some of those pics are fuckin amazing.

 

[Crazymoogle]

Heavy Boots :lol

Unbelievable. :lol

Seriously though, I completely believe that story. Though it should have had a centrifugal force question, just for kicks. :lol

 

[Windu]

Scientist finds link between dust adhesion and the sun's angle

The first astronauts to walk on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s were inundated by sticky lunar dust that clung to their spacesuits whenever they ventured outside. Now, four decades later, a self-funded study by an Australian physicist has found a link between the dust's stickiness and the angle of the sun at the time of each moonwalk.

The new research, which drew on the personal files and paper charts of physicist Brian O'Brien of Perth, suggests that future lunar astronauts may have greater problems with dust adhesion in the middle half of the day than NASA's Apollo missions faced in the early morning.

"Dust is the number one environmental hazard on the moon, yet its movements and adhesive properties are little understood," said O'Brien, who was the principal investigator for the Dust Detector Experiment on several Apollo lunar landing missions between 1969 and 1970. His new research will be detailed in the Geophysical Research Letters.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Sticky science

The new study points out that the electrostatic adhesive forces of dust decreases as sunlight on the moon decreases. Furthermore, O'Brien believes that some sort of lunar shack for on-duty moonwalkers may be mandatory to provide for a sunlight-thwarting, dust-free working environment.

"It follows that on future lunar expeditions, powerful electrostatic adhesion of lunar dust during the middle half of each lunar day could cause greater dust problems than experienced by Apollo astronauts," he relates.

This model by O'Brien infers that Apollo astronaut problems from clinging dust, at solar elevations much less than 45 degrees, may have been driven by other forces. Mechanical bonding properties intrinsic to lunar dust, he suggests, could explain partial success by moonwalkers in shedding gear of dust with "moon brushes."

Detecting moon dust

Invented by O'Brien, the matchbox-sized detectors for the DDE study were planted on the moon during the Apollo 11, 12, 14 and 15 missions. O'Brien carried out that work while serving as a professor of space science at Rice University in Houston, Texas, from 1963 to 1968.

O'Brien was one of seven scientists chosen by NASA from 90 applicants to provide sophisticated instruments in remote scientific stations deployed by Apollo astronauts. While another of his projects, the Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment, was lost on Apollo 13, it was deployed during the Apollo 14 moon landing mission.

It turns out that NASA had misplaced its computer tapes of the experimental data but O'Brien preserved his copies.

"I started to revisit the personal Dust Detector Experiment (DDE) data in 2007 after learning in late 2006 that the sole source of data was with me," he told SPACE.com.

Spray of debris

In another finding by O'Brien, Apollo 11's DDE made the first measurements suggesting that rocket exhaust caused significant contamination of deployed equipment.

Apollo 11's dust detectors, O'Brien said, showed the impact of rocket exhaust spit out from the departure of the Eagle lunar module's ascent stage. This stage was the home, hotel and vehicle back into lunar orbit for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and a key step in returning them to home planet Earth.

Eagle's liftoff from Tranquility Base caused quite a stir, environmentally speaking.

There was significant contamination of astronaut-deployed hardware by kicked-up lunar material. So much so that the spray of debris caused by the departing rocket motor led to the overheating and early failure of Apollo 11's Passive Seismic Experiment - the first major scientific experiment put on the moon by human hands.

A lesson learned here is where best to place equipment given future landings and takeoffs of moon vehicles. For Apollo 11's DDE, it was deployed roughly 55 feet (17 meters) away from the Eagle lander.

"Such damage was a foreseen possibility... accepted on this first mission in interests of astronaut safety. These benchmark measurements on the moon appear unused and unreferenced in theoretical modeling of effects of rocket exhausts," O'Brien explains.

Considering NASA's plan to return humans to the lunar surface for longer stints, there's another lesson underscored by O'Brien's work. That is, the need to better preserve, dust off, and revisit Apollo data.

 

[Tom_Cody]

Found this on Digg.com

http://digg.com/space/Why_didn_t_astronauts_float_off_the_moon_Heavy_boots_Sigh

Heavy Boots :lol

Michael Bay tells a story on this topic on the commentary track for Armageddon. They discovered this exact issue while researching sample audiences' understanding of basic physics in space. I guess this might explain why he was ultimately so unconcerned about scientific accuracy.

 

[AndersTheSwede]

The farthest object ever recorded was discovered last week:

An explosion so powerful it was seen clear across the visible universe was recorded in gamma-radiation last week by NASA's orbiting Swift Observatory. Farther than any known galaxy, quasar, or optical supernova, the gamma-ray burst recorded last week was clocked at redshift 8.2, making it the farthest explosion of any type yet detected. Occurring only 630 million years after the Big Bang, GRB 090423 detonated so early that astronomers had no direct evidence that anything explodable even existed back then. The faint infrared afterglow of GRB 090423 was recovered by large ground telescopes within minutes of being discovered. The afterglow is circled in the above picture taken by the large Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii, USA. An exciting possibility is that this gamma-ray burst occurred in one of the very first generation of stars and announced the birth of an early black hole. Surely, GRB 090423 provides unique data from a relatively unexplored epoch in our universe and a distant beacon from which the intervening universe can be studied.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090429.html

 

[DarkJediKnight]

The farthest object ever recorded was discovered last week:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090429.html

Awesome!

 

[Averon]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17052-nasa-may-abandon-plans-for-moon-base.html

So, what was the whole point of the Constellation program then?

NASA is so goddamn worthless nowadays. America's only hope is that the sight of rival nations like China and India establishing a presence in space will finally give the politicans the political will and power NASA needs to actually do something instead of twiddling their thumbs.

 

[fallout]

The major problem with going to the Moon is that it's incredibly expensive. I imagine that establishing a base on the Moon would be even more incredibly expensive. When you consider how over-budget and delayed the construction of the International Space Station has been, you can kind of understand the trepidation of establishing a Moon base. They probably don't want the funding pulled out from underneath them while they're in the middle of building the damn thing, when they could be using that funding to get to Mars. I think NASA just wants to make sure that it gets the most out of its small budget.

It certainly sucks, but given all that, I think it's understandable.

 

[half a moon]

edit: beaten.




http://www.newscientist.com/article...moon-base.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid.

NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020 and building a permanent base there. But some space analysts and advocacy groups like the Planetary Society have urged the agency to cancel plans for a permanent moon base, carry out shorter moon missions instead, and focus on getting astronauts to Mars.

Under Scolese's predecessor, Mike Griffin, the agency held firm to its moon base plans. But the comments by Scolese, who will lead NASA until President Barack Obama nominates the next administrator, suggest a shift in the agency's direction. He spoke to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies of the House Committee on Appropriations.

Scolese was asked repeatedly whether NASA could still make it to the moon by 2020 under the proposed 2010 budget, but failed to give a clear yes or no, and his answers suggested the agency's plans were in flux.


Short trips:

"We were looking at an outpost on the moon, as the basis for that [2020] estimate and that one is being revisited," he said. "It will probably be less than an outpost on the moon, but where it fits between sorties, single trips, to the moon to various parts and an outpost is really going to be dependent on the studies that we're going to be doing."

"Recall [that] the Vision [for Space Exploration] was not just to go to the moon as it was in Apollo, it was to utilise space to go on to Mars and to go to other places," he added. "We've demonstrated over the last several years that with multiple flights we can build a very complex system reliably – the space station – involving multiple nations…and we'll need something like that if we're going to go to Mars."

Scolese's further comments hinted that the agency's plans might shift to include a greater emphasis on destinations beyond the moon. "So what I would like to see from NASA over time is an architecture that…will give us flexibility for taking humans beyond low-Earth orbit and allowing us to have options for what we can do at the moon as well as other destinations…[like] Mars or an asteroid…so that there are options on what we do in 2020," he said.

Vague answers:

Scolese's vague answers on whether NASA believed it could meet its 2020 moon deadline, as well as similarly unclear answers from Doug Cooke, NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems, left the subcommittee's chair, congressman Alan Mollohan, wondering whether the agency had been given new directions.

"Does the 2010 budget request impact in any way our target – is this so complicated – our target of getting to the moon by 2020?" he asked. "Is there any consideration being given within the organisation to not attempting to meet the 2020 moon [return]…is there any reconsideration of going there? What is going on here?"

Cooke replied: "The direction that we have is to continue to pursue the 2020 date," but added that the agency was still assessing how the 2010 budget might affect that.

Some clarification about any shift in NASA's goals and priorities could come in early May, when the Obama administration's detailed 2010 budget proposal for NASA is set to be released.

 

[Averon]

The major problem with going to the Moon is that it's incredibly expensive. I imagine that establishing a base on the Moon would be even more incredibly expensive. When you consider how over-budget and delayed the construction of the International Space Station has been, you can kind of understand the trepidation of establishing a Moon base. They probably don't want the funding pulled out from underneath them while they're in the middle of building the damn thing, when they could be using that funding to get to Mars. I think NASA just wants to make sure that it gets the most out of its small budget.

It certainly sucks, but given all that, I think it's understandable.

I agree with what you're saying, but its still so frustrating to see happen. All this talk and planning with the Constellation program, and it was all for nothing, it seems. As you said, cost will always be a inhibiting factors concerning human space exploration until we find some new and cost effective method to get into LEO without it costing half a billion dollars to do so. I'm leaning toward some sort of space elevator, but who know how long it'll take for that to be even technically feasible.

 

[Windu]

 

[fallout]

I agree with what you're saying, but its still so frustrating to see happen. All this talk and planning with the Constellation program, and it was all for nothing, it seems.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong. It disappoints me too. I'm just throwing some rationalization into an otherwise shitty situation.

As you said, cost will always be a inhibiting factors concerning human space exploration until we find some new and cost effective method to get into LEO without it costing half a billion dollars to do so. I'm leaning toward some sort of space elevator, but who know how long it'll take for that to be even technically feasible.

Well, here's hoping.

 

[Windu]

• Video of Virgin Galactic’s Test Flight
• Virgin Galactic Website

 

[fallout]

APOD posted this today and it's absolutely spectacular. Click the image below for a larger version.

Explanation: NGC 4631 is a big beautiful spiral galaxy. Seen edge-on, it lies only 25 million light-years away in the well-trained northern constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy's slightly distorted wedge shape suggests to some a cosmic herring and to others its popular moniker, The Whale Galaxy. Either way, it is similar in size to our own Milky Way. In this gorgeous color image, the galaxy's yellowish core, dark dust clouds, bright blue star clusters, and red star forming regions are easy to spot. A companion galaxy, the small elliptical NGC 4627, is just above the Whale Galaxy. Out of view, off the lower edge of the picture lies another distorted galaxy, hockey stick-shaped NGC 4656. The distortions and mingling trails of gas and dust detected at other wavelengths suggest that all three galaxies have had close encounters with each other in their past. The Whale Galaxy is also known to have spouted a halo of hot gas glowing in x-rays.

Source.

 

[kkaabboomm]

• Video of Virgin Galactic’s Test Flight
• Virgin Galactic Website

that plane is sweet. i love how both cockpits use the same controls/software as SS2, allowing pilots to 'train' for SS2 while flying, and saving them lots of money for simulators, cockpit controls and software development.

it's going to fly over the NM spaceport construction thing next month, word is. should be fun

 

[Windu]

Click For Bigger Image: