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Space: The Final Frontier

N

noah111

Still Alive
FunkyMunkey said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0

Saw this on reddit by someone who is understandably frustrated with NASAs subprime effort towards social media. Great use of Sagan's voice and pure poetry. He/She should honestly advertise for them, I'd love seeing this before a movie or something.
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Beautiful, so many well done videos on YT with Sagan's voice in them, this is definitely one of those. His vid description is also worth reading, couldn't agree more.

However, someone in the comments put it adequately;
NASA - The Frontier Is Everywhere - 1,180 views

Monkey smells finger - 1,214,092 views

Space is a lot further away then we think...
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L

Lucky Forward

Member
110112-Apollo12-Playmate-auction-photo-hmed-745a.bmp


Apollo 12 'Playboy' stowaway to be auctioned

We've heard about the contraband corned beef sandwich aboard Gemini 3 in 1965.

We also remember the first song ever performed in space was "Jingle Bells" — using bells and a harmonica smuggled aboard Gemini 6 the same year.

And now, from the Department Of Launching Stuff Into Space Without Permission, comes a racy tale of the fourth member of Apollo 12 who flew to the moon and back in 1969: Playboy Playmate August 1967, DeDe Lind.

Of course, Lind didn't personally stow away on the Command Module Yankee Clipper, but in the spirit of high jinx, a topless picture of her from a 1969 calendar was affixed to the inside of a spacecraft locker prior to launch (cropped version pictured here), unbeknownst to the Apollo crew.

While orbiting the moon, monitoring Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean as they explored the lunar surface below, third crew member Richard Gordon might have been feeling a little lonely. So it was a pleasant surprise to find DeDe's picture, a mission memento he has treasured for over 40 years, stuck to the back of a cue card with Velcro.

"This cue card, which flew with me to the moon, has been in my sole possession and part of my personal space collection since my return from the moon in 1969 aboard America's second lunar landing mission, and it remains one of the all-time greatest Apollo era astronaut 'Gotcha's!" Gordon describes in paperwork accompanying the calendar page for an upcoming auction.

DeDe's photo, plus other space memorabilia dating from the early U.S. space program to the shuttle era, are part of a special space auction being held by RR Auctions. Bidding is set to begin on Jan. 13.
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L

Lucky Forward

Member
Clevinger said:
That just gave me the horrible mental image of cum floating around in zero gravity, and the poor astronaut who's chasing after it with a tissue.
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It gave me the mental image of the action/reaction of a zero-g ejaculation sending him flying backwards across the capsule.
 
Z

Zapages

Member
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and University of Hawaii (UH) have discovered 16 close-knit pairs of supermassive black holes in merging galaxies.

These black-hole pairs, also called binaries, are about a hundred to a thousand times closer together than most that have been observed before, providing astronomers a glimpse into how these behemoths and their host galaxies merge—a crucial part of understanding the evolution of the universe. Although few similarly close pairs have been seen previously, this is the largest population of such objects observed as the result of a systematic search.

"This is a very nice confirmation of theoretical predictions," says S. George Djorgovski, professor of astronomy, who will present the results at the conference. "These close pairs are a missing link between the wide binary systems seen previously and the merging black-hole pairs at even smaller separations that we believe must be there."

As the universe has evolved, galaxies have collided and merged to form larger ones. Nearly every one—or perhaps all—of these large galaxies contains a giant black hole at its center, with a mass millions—or even billions—of times higher than the sun’s. Material such as interstellar gas falls into the black hole, producing enough energy to outshine galaxies composed of a hundred billion stars. The hot gas and black hole form an active galactic nucleus, the brightest and most distant of which are called quasars. The prodigious energy output of active galactic nuclei can affect the evolution of galaxies themselves.

While galaxies merge, so should their central black holes, producing an even more massive black hole in the nucleus of the resulting galaxy. Such collisions are expected to generate bursts of gravitational waves, which have yet to be detected. Some merging galaxies should contain pairs of active nuclei, indicating the presence of supermassive black holes on their way to coalescing. Until now, astronomers have generally observed only widely separated pairs—binary quasars—which are typically hundreds of thousands of light-years apart.

"If our understanding of structure formation in the universe is correct, closer pairs of active nuclei must exist," adds Adam Myers, a research scientist at UIUC and one of the coauthors. "However, they would be hard to discern in typical images blurred by Earth's atmosphere."

The solution was to use Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics, a technique that enables astronomers to remove the atmospheric blur and capture images as sharp as those taken from space. One such system is deployed on the W. M. Keck Observatory's 10-meter telescopes on Mauna Kea.

The astronomers selected their targets using spectra of known galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In the SDSS images, the galaxies are unresolved, appearing as single objects instead of binaries. To find potential pairs, the astronomers identified targets with double sets of emission lines—a key feature that suggests the existence of two active nuclei.

By using adaptive optics on Keck, the astronomers were able to resolve close pairs of galactic nuclei, discovering 16 such binaries out of 50 targets. "The pairs we see are separated only by a few thousands of light-years—and there are probably many more to be found," says Hai Fu, a Caltech postdoctoral scholar and the lead author of the paper.

"Our results add to the growing understanding of how galaxies and their central black holes evolve," adds Lin Yan, a staff scientist at Caltech and one of the coauthors of the study.

“These results illustrate the discovery power of adaptive optics on large telescopes,” Djorgovski says. “With the upcoming Thirty Meter Telescope, we’ll be able to push our observational capabilities to see pairs with separations that are three times closer.”
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Images of some of the merging systems are available at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~george/bbh

Source - http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13396
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
Where can i find big-ass photos about space?
I mean REALLY big, preferably about the solar system (Jupiter or Saturn?).
The thing is, i wanted to make a print on canvas, that should be like 62"x 62"(a 4 cnva puzzle, not a single piece, but still one photo) so i need a really hi-res photo.. i was thinking about Jupiter, because it has great textures, but Saturn would be awesome too.
Anyway, i checked APOTD already, but they are still too small :(, any idea? What's the max resolution we've photographed these objects?
 
P

PjotrStroganov

Member
UrbanRats said:
Where can i find big-ass photos about space?
I mean REALLY big, preferably about the solar system (Jupiter or Saturn?).
The thing is, i wanted to make a print on canvas, that should be like 62"x 62"(a 4 cnva puzzle, not a single piece, but still one photo) so i need a really hi-res photo.. i was thinking about Jupiter, because it has great textures, but Saturn would be awesome too.
Anyway, i checked APOTD already, but they are still too small :(, any idea? What's the max resolution we've photographed these objects?
Click to expand...


Nasa and JPL usually have huge TIFF pics flying around.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
I need a high resolution picture, preferably free-domain, of "stars against blackness of space"... similar to what the naked eye would see if you were in space, without colorful galaxies, planets, nebulae, etc.

I want to use it as a backdrop and composite a foreground object on the image (think something like Star Wars or 2001)... Any ideas on where to look or what to search for?
 
H

hylje

Member
Hootie said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0


this is the shit that keeps me going and gives me a purpose. makes me feel like my life and our lives actually have a meaning
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Saw that yesterday. One of those meaningful videos and what could drive people forward upon this madness. Also shows how much Nasa could evolve in the area of using media to gain attention via internet society. And I do love the voice of Carl Sagan. So soothing.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
Hootie said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0


this is the shit that keeps me going and gives me a purpose. makes me feel like my life and our lives actually have a meaning
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Amazing, yes.

Also, i know i've posted this before, but it's just too great, imo, so might aswell post it again.
It's in the same vein as the one you posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hdXvMB639A
It manage to wet my eyes, really.

"Humans, like the gods of old, living in the sky".. oh, man..
 
G

GONz

Member
S

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
The Carl Sagan narrated video with Michael Marantz music over it is just incredible, no matter what footage is created by others. I think that is the 4th video I've seen using various footage but the same audio.

Wonderful to consider that not only was there a man out there who had faith in his species, but managed to fill others with that same sense of pride and respect.
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
GONz said:
These are the kind of videos that still make this thread my favorite one on the O-T. Beautiful images, awesome musics, and of course MAGNIFICENT CARL. Can someone be really as inspired about the place of Man in the universe?

Underneath, a fly-by of Rhea's surface with Saturn's ring in transit in front of Dione
http://i.imgur.com/6AcZj.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
Beautiful.. I had a weird dream last night where I could see Mercury next to the moon, and the sun (weird). I went in to call my friend and we came out and there were all these planets (mostly moons of jupiter as far I could recognize) orbiting each-other fast across the horizon. It was fucking surreal, that's what the shot above reminds me of.
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G

GONz

Member
If they can detect something like that at 2000 light-years, I can't wait to read about their future discoveries at say 50 ly.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
Naked Snake said:
Holy shit. Looks completely awesome. But the fact that it's to be deployed so far away that it can't be serviced, and knowing Hubble's history, worries me.

It's gonna be so tense when this launches and waiting to find out if things went smoothly.
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Me too, also if they fuck up, how long would it take to have another shot? :(
 
A

astroturfing

Member
Naked Snake said:
Holy shit. Looks completely awesome. But the fact that it's to be deployed so far away that it can't be serviced, and knowing Hubble's history, worries me.

It's gonna be so tense when this launches and waiting to find out if things went smoothly.
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i read from NewScientist that they basically did not have enough funds to test everything properly.. so there is a huge risk it might fail :/ truly a sad day if something goes wrong.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
astroturfing said:
i read from NewScientist that they basically did not have enough funds to test everything properly.. so there is a huge risk it might fail :/ truly a sad day if something goes wrong.
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The fuck?! SMH
 
T

TOP SHOTTA

Member
DISCLAIMER: I am writing this disclaimer after reading my whole post. Sorry folks, I am all over the place. Yes it's science, yes it's complex, but I am dumb and have no editor. I tried my best, I clarified where I could, but I recognize it could be made shorter. I couldn't figure out how to tighten it up and still ask the question properly. Sorry if it's 400 words of pure headache.

I have always found the idea of naturally occurring geometric shapes/patterns/objects (other than spheres) to be mind boggling. Ever stopped for a moment to think about it?

There are of course snowflakes, crystals and fractals (all of which I believe use the fractal mechanism), but I am wondering about even more basic shapes like triangles, squares circles and the 3 dimensional versions of each. In nature it could be relatively meaningless, and easily explained by the right science, but the thought of it is so bizarre in terms of bringing science and, at least intelligent design (avoiding using the word religion there, so intelligent design is my puss-out way to say it) together in some very difficult to articulate manner. For the record I am not a religious guy.

I''m even more interested in the idea when it comes to space. The movie Contact winks at mathematics with the signal being sent via a sequence of Prime Numbers, but does not talk about geometry. The book goes even further than the movie with that theme but does not go far enough in my opinion. To me, when it comes to space, geometry and mathematics are almost inextricably linked.

For example, I understand why spheres exist for the most part - even disks (and I know they're not typically "perfect" in terms of measurements, but they're close enough for the purpose of this conversation and what I am leading to here). Several types of gravity cause spheres and oblate spheroids, and they are the initial phase of most large round objects, but what about planetary ring systems? I read somewhere that Saturn is almost perfectly centered in it's ring system. A really interesting process happens in the formation of a ring system and it's crazy fast.

Anyway, are there any others that you've heard or read about? Is there any other process that you folks know of which can cause a "shape" to be formed? What causes them? What if we were somehow able to prove geometry or even mathematics more broadly, as a naturally occurring phenomena in nature, it would forever forward be seen some kind of incredible rosetta stone.

Weirdest one I've ever heard of is this huge storm at Saturn's north pole - it's an octagon. It has so many astronomers scratching their heads, and I can't fathom how something like that exists. It's been raging for a long time too, it isn't a flash in the pan thing. I have no clue how it hasn't received more attention.

This has of course sent me on a bunch of 20-30-tab Wikipedia/Google super search benders and have found only a few examples of naturally occurring geometric objects, fractal-based stuff aside, that storm thing wins hands down. Is it an enlarged version of something we already know about? I find to be so bizarre, so fascinating. Do you guys know anything about this type of phenomena in space or elsewhere? Sorry for the long post.
 
D

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has constructed the first portrait of our solar system by combining 34 images taken by the spacecraft’s Wide Angle Camera on Nov. 3 and 16, 2010. The mosaic, pieced together over a period of a few weeks, comprises all of the planets except for Uranus and Neptune, which were too faint to detect. On March 17, 2011, MESSENGER may become the first probe ever to orbit Mercury. Scientists hope orbital observations will provide new answers to how Earth-like planets, like Mercury, are assembled and evolve.
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517613main_solar_system_full.jpg
 
S

-Stranger-

Junior Member
What a great thread! i find it interesting to think where we will be in terms of space exploration in 100-200 years time. Sad though i wouldn't be around to see it all.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
-Stranger- said:
What a great thread! i find it interesting to think where we will be in terms of space exploration in 100-200 years time. Sad though i wouldn't be around to see it all.
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Ray Kurzweil would tell you otherwise ;)
 
Schrade

Schrade

Member
This is so awesome. I downloaded the entire 550 meg TIF image and scrolled around in it. Man, so beautiful.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/341-Nearside-Spectacular!.html

Zoomable Image: http://wms.lroc.asu.edu/lroc_browse/view/wac_nearside

1400x1400 image with labels of the different areas on the moon: http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/lroc_wac_nearside_noslew_anot.png

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/02/22/the-extraordinary-face-of-the-moon/
Discover Magazine Blog said:
The extraordinary face of the Moon

Seen the full Moon lately? Maybe you have, but I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never seen it like this:

2mequdv.jpg


Sure, that may just look like another full Moon picture, but it’s much more extraordinary than that: it’s one of the highest resolution pictures of the entire near side of the Moon ever compiled!

This is actually a mosaic of about 1300 separate images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Wide-Angle Camera — the total size is a whopping 24,000 x 24,000 pixels, producing a resolution of about 145 meters/pixel. The full-size version is a monster 550 Mb TIF file (seriously, don’t grab that one unless you need it!), and you can get a more palatable 1400 x 1400 pixel version with labels, too.

The images were taken over the course of two weeks in December 2010. LRO is in a polar orbit around the Moon — think of it as moving in a north/south direction over the surface instead of east/west. Over time, as the Moon rotates underneath it, LRO can see the entire surface of the Moon. As it does this, the angle of sunlight changes, so care had to be taken when creating this mosaic to make it appear seamless; otherwise shadows would appear to jump suddenly from point to point. If you look carefully you’ll see where shadows point in different directions, but it still looks pretty natural.

But it’s not: when you see the full Moon from Earth, that means the Sun is shining straight down on the Moon — the Earth is essentially directly between the Moon and Sun. That means you don’t see any shadows on the surface when the Moon is full. Pictures of it taken from Earth look flat in that case, because our eyes and brains look to shadows to sense the topographical relief — the ups and downs in the surface. But this image shows those shadows, making it a unique view of the full Moon.

But it’s also one of the highest resolution image ever made too! You can appreciate that if you look at the full-res 145 meters/pixel zoom-and-panable version, which is simply extraordinary. From the Earth, the sharpest view we can get when taking pictures of the Moon is limited by the roiling air above our heads; the smallest features we can see are roughly a kilometer or so across (sometimes it can be better when the air is steady, but not by a whole lot). Even if we pointed Hubble at the Moon the best it can do is about 200 meters. And even then it would take a lot of images to cover the entire lunar surface.

The only way to get better pictures is to go to the Moon! And that’s why these LRO images are so cool. Other missions have gone to the Moon, such as Clementine, the Lunar Orbiters, and Chandrayaan-1. These all produced high-resolution images as well, comparable and in some ways superior to what LRO has done. But it’s actually a bit difficult to find images from those missions put together into one, easy-to-view picture, though.

I downloaded the ginormous TIF image, and wow, scanning it is amazing. I saw crater chains (like in the image inset above; I suspect that actually formed from material ejected from an impact just off the frame to the upper right), cliffs, rilles, and tons of other amazing details. I’ve spent a lot of time at the eyepiece looking at the Moon, but I’ve never seen it like this. The detail is amazing, and the shadowing provides a sense of depth you just can’t get when observing the full Moon from home. It’s beautiful.

And if your brain is still intact after all that, I’ll note that the camera used to take this mosaic weighs only 900 grams — 2 pounds! And it would fit in the palm of your hand.

Amazing. And that’s all it took to get — wait for it, wait for it — the full Moonty.

So my advice: take a little time and peruse the zoomable version online, and pretend you’re floating over the lunar surface*. And remember: one day people will get to see this not on their computers, but by the simple act of turning their heads and looking out their window.
Click to expand...
 
T

TacticalFox88

Banned
I know this makes sense in my head, but here goes nothing. We always talk about going *across* the universe in a straight path and what not. But what about *down*? Like say you go into space, point the ship downwards, and hit the thrust assuming it's advanced and all that jazz. Would there be anything? Are we a "Moon" to some other planet that we can't see?
 
N

Neverender

Member
TacticalFox88 said:
I know this makes sense in my head, but here goes nothing. We always talk about going *across* the universe in a straight path and what not. But what about *down*? Like say you go into space, point the ship downwards, and hit the thrust assuming it's advanced and all that jazz. Would there be anything? Are we a "Moon" to some other planet that we can't see?
Click to expand...

There is no real 'down' once you're in space. Down, up, left and right are all relative terms.
 
J

Juanadams

Banned
So who all is going to the 2nd to last Shuttle launch on thursday?

I'm gonna be taking the day off from school to drive down and take some photographs of it, I'm pretty excited.
 
U

UrbanRats

Member
TacticalFox88 said:
I know this makes sense in my head, but here goes nothing. We always talk about going *across* the universe in a straight path and what not. But what about *down*? Like say you go into space, point the ship downwards, and hit the thrust assuming it's advanced and all that jazz. Would there be anything? Are we a "Moon" to some other planet that we can't see?
Click to expand...
It's not like everything is on the same horizontal plane.
Boot up Celestia. :)
 
K

KarmaCow

Member
TacticalFox88 said:
I know this makes sense in my head, but here goes nothing. We always talk about going *across* the universe in a straight path and what not. But what about *down*? Like say you go into space, point the ship downwards, and hit the thrust assuming it's advanced and all that jazz. Would there be anything? Are we a "Moon" to some other planet that we can't see?
Click to expand...

Do you mean say we exist on a surface of a sphere, instead of traveling across the surface, we go into the sphere? I think that would mean moving in a dimension that we can't perceive, like the Flatland person trying to move 'up'.

Otherwise I'm not sure what you mean. 'Down' isn't some definite direction.
 
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