UltimaPooh
Member
Where can I watch these episodes online?
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Space: The Final Frontier
- Thread starter Windu
- Start date
Melchiah
Member
http://dvice.com/archives/2011/03/giant-chamber-o.php
Giant chamber on the moon discovered, perfect for a future base
The Indian Space Research Organization has discovered a massive underground chamber near the moon's equator, one that would be perfect for housing a moon base. A moon base!
Discovered by the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, this chamber is more than one mile long and 393 feet wide. There would be lots of benefits of building a moon base in there, mainly for protection from the nastiness of the surface of the moon. It'd provide a nearly constant temperature of -4 degrees Fahrenheit, unlike the surface, which fluctuates between 266 degrees and -292 degrees. And it would provide protection from radiation, micro-meteor impacts and dust.
Escape Goat
Member
Most likely bases will be underground so as to avoid cosmic rays, meteorites and what not. This is a cool find.
Maklershed
Member
That is awesome.
Naked Snake
Member
We've found the Moon's asshole.
Escape Goat
Member
Naked Snake said:
Odd you went directly to asshole, Snake.
Escape Goat
Member
speedpop said:
The moon has an inny.
Um, my first suggestion would be to get out with a pair of binoculars. You'd be surprised at what you can see just with them. It will also help you to learn the sky. Astronomy can be an incredibly frustrating, especially with larger telescopes, so diving in without knowing much can really turn people off the hobby.Darklord said:I thought I'd ask in here seeing as it's space related(and this is where all the nerds are). I always wanted to get a telescope. Anyone here have one and any tips on what to look for or avoid when buying one? I want a good one, not a $4000 one but I'll fork out a bit.
If you're really set on diving in, though (it's rare that I'm able to talk people out of it), go for a Dobsonian telescope. They're affordable and relatively easy to use.
Also, check your local area for astronomy clubs. Many of them are geared to helping out newcomers. For instance, our own club has a scope-loaner program.
fallout said:
I've actually used binoculars but they are so shaky(I guess I could use a stand but...whatever), and I never thought they were THAT good. I mean the moons looks great but that's kinda it. I've heard with telescopes you can see things like the rings of Saturn and a lot of galaxies, ect. That's what I want to see.
Well, in a dark sky, you can see the Andromeda galaxy with binoculars and it actually looks kind of neat (in fact, you can see it with your naked eye). I guess it's partially about knowing which objects to look for.Darklord said:
I'm partially concerned that astronomy may not offer the views you are looking for, but if you're really curious, I still suggest the following:
- Check your area for local astronomy clubs.
- These astronomy clubs tend to host Star Parties, which can be a great way to learn.
- Short of spending a good chunk of money on a fancy go-to scope, a dobsonian is the best bang for your buck when it comes to telescope size (i.e., light gathering capability).
Neverender
Member
Can anyone recommend some good science/space documentaries? I've watched Cosmos, Wonders of the Solar System, Through the Wormhole... A couple with Jim Al-Khalili that I really enjoyed. I often find ones about space that seem really interesting always have these really dramatic tones with generic history channel-like voiceovers... anything a little more serious in tone?
Remember that tomorrow at 21:00 GMT on BBC Two and BBC HD starts the new documental series presented by Professor Brian Cox; Wonders of the Universe, with its first episode (from a total of 4) titled 'Destiny':
A hardcover book from this series is already available for purchase at BBC Shop, it is also possible to pre-order now the DVD & Blu-ray as a standalone or in a pack with Wonders of the Solar System included:
http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/wonders
Wonders of the Universe, Series Trailer - BBC Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTP9WQJBIXA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zf9dhWonders of the Universe said:
A hardcover book from this series is already available for purchase at BBC Shop, it is also possible to pre-order now the DVD & Blu-ray as a standalone or in a pack with Wonders of the Solar System included:
http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/wonders
Wonders of the Universe, Series Trailer - BBC Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTP9WQJBIXA
TOP SHOTTA
Member
Psssssst. Hey. Over here...Neverender said:
I am mostly with you. If they get too new-age or too super-theoretical, I lose interest. I was really looking forward to "Through the Wormhole". It fell flat, for me.
This will not happen in any of these (at least not enough to bother me and I'm a real bitch):
Title - Grade
The Planets (series) - A+
Life Beyond Earth - A
When We Left Earth - The NASA Missions (series) - A+++++++ Best series I know of. Very, very serious tone. Dark, almost.
The Wonder of It All - A
The Universe (series) - A++
All of those, except for the 5th disk/season of The Universe are streaming on Netflix, right now. And they are:
1. Serious in narrator tone **
2. Of high quality
3. Doing their best with the video & imaging equipment/technology available to them when they were made *
Footnotes:
* Only The Planets is a little bit dated looking now. But I would so much rather watch a grainy, cruddy, but REAL capture of a storm on Jupiter than early CG, maybe any CG, and definitely any cartoon. If you watch a lot of these you've surely seen the cartoon ones.
**I need to watch it again but I could have sworn The Wonder of It All was just a little bit less technical than the others - without a doubt it is not as technical as When We Left Earth. Nothing I've seen is as good as When We Left Earth "The Shuttle", "Friends and Rivals" and "A Home In Space". In The Wonder of It All, I remember one part where a big, key Apollo Mission Astronaut says that Moon soil/dirt/gravel/dust is so fine that it passes through the pressure suit and some other stuff. I thought - !!!?W0W?!!! - how can that be? I thought they all were using partial shell suits by then, with liquid coolant and with a heat exchanger (which is basically like a radiator, but for marine applications and space suits apparently). I want to say the lack of a really consistent overall narrator made it a tougher go. And people really rave about it by the way. They rave here, about it. It's excellent. I'm only sending you at the A & A+ material of course.
Enjoy.
This is awesome.
Cameras on Discovery's rockets and other parts as it launches. Sound kicks in later, probably 10+ minutes in.
When they break apart.
Cameras on Discovery's rockets and other parts as it launches. Sound kicks in later, probably 10+ minutes in.
When they break apart.
Neverender
Member
Thanks so much. I will check out all of these.awesomeapproved said:
Harry_Tequila
Member
Really fantastic episode of Wonders of the Universe. I think I said 'Wow' out loud at least four or five times.
Memphis Reigns
Member
Harry_Tequila said:
Damn so does the US get this? I guess only if you have BBC. Usually "Wonders of the Solar System" is aired on the Science channel but I guess I'll miss this until the bluray.
Absolutely love anything to do with space to be honest. Their are just so many unanswered questions its unreal. I really do wish that at some point humanity put more emphasis on space exploration as in my personal opinion, whilst there is still places to be explored on earth, there is going to come a point where venturing into space is going to be inevitable for humanity. We just do not have the resources on earth to cope with the population rate increases. I highly doubt i will ever see this in my lifetime however.
Thanks for the reccomendations bro, will have to check them out
awesomeapproved said:
Thanks for the reccomendations bro, will have to check them out
Naked Snake
Member
Clevinger said:This is awesome.
Cameras on Discovery's rockets and other parts as it launches. Sound kicks in later, probably 10+ minutes in.
When they break apart.
Holy shit this is amazing. Watching the first rocket fall into the ocean was incredible. The third camera (the one with the sound) floating in space over the Earth is almost 2001 levels of awesome, then you see the other rocket floating in the distance, then the smoke trail from the launch, WOW! *goes back to watching*
Harry_Tequila
Member
Memphis Reigns said:
Quick Google search doesn't return much hope, looks like you might have to wait for the Blu-ray. It's released on April 4th though so you wont have too long to wait.
jiggle said:
I tried to watch it, it felt so dumbed down with a lot of filler material. Each episode appear to repeat a lot of information, I assume because they need to recap viewers after lengthy commercial breaks.
And after the first few seasons, it delved into increasingly speculative topics that were commercially interesting, like aliens.
Here are some good BBC episodes dealing with Space.
Prof. Brian Cox - Wonders of the Solar System
Horizon: Can we Make a Star on Earth?
Horizon: To Infinity and Beyond
Horizon: Is Everything we know about the Universe Wrong?
Also, i do not know if anyone has mentioned this so sorry if its repeat info but a new series of Wonders of the Solar System was broadcast tonight (Sunday March 6th) on BBC.
Its on iplayer now for anyone who can access it. I have no doubt it will be on youtube or something of the like in the next few days though
Its on iplayer now for anyone who can access it. I have no doubt it will be on youtube or something of the like in the next few days though
Escape Goat
Member
Deku said:
They ran out of material fast. After season 2 they started to get into really weird hypothetical issues like "How many ways can the earth die?" or "Most dangerous places in the universe"
Dr Zhivago
Member
700th episode of The Sky At Night right now.
Patrick Moore has met Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin & Neil Armstrong. First flight to the Moon in one lifetime.
Patrick Moore has met Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin & Neil Armstrong. First flight to the Moon in one lifetime.
I never knew about this, but it's really, really cool.
There's this foundation called the X Prize Foundation which is going to give a $20 million prize to the first private company who sends a rover to the Moon. They had a previous competition where they gave so many million to the first private inventor of a working sub-orbital plane, which Virgin Galactic began using as a base for their own space tourism.
Anyways, only a few of the companies participating seem serious and viable, with one looking really good named Astrobotic. Just recently they booked a flight on one of SpaceX's rockets to get their rover to the moon. The deadline for the prize is 2015.
I've also been reading a lot about the smaller companies like Armadillo Aerospace (John Carmack's company) and all the progress they've made recently. It's pretty exciting.
There's this foundation called the X Prize Foundation which is going to give a $20 million prize to the first private company who sends a rover to the Moon. They had a previous competition where they gave so many million to the first private inventor of a working sub-orbital plane, which Virgin Galactic began using as a base for their own space tourism.
Anyways, only a few of the companies participating seem serious and viable, with one looking really good named Astrobotic. Just recently they booked a flight on one of SpaceX's rockets to get their rover to the moon. The deadline for the prize is 2015.
I've also been reading a lot about the smaller companies like Armadillo Aerospace (John Carmack's company) and all the progress they've made recently. It's pretty exciting.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
I just watched the first episode of the Wonders of the Universe.
What a disappointment, I was really looking forward to it as well. They have taken science out of the series which they managed to avoid doing in the first series Wonders of the Solar System.
What a disappointment, I was really looking forward to it as well. They have taken science out of the series which they managed to avoid doing in the first series Wonders of the Solar System.
Clevinger said:This is awesome.
Cameras on Discovery's rockets and other parts as it launches. Sound kicks in later, probably 10+ minutes in.
When they break apart.
Amazing. Great find. Going to watch it again.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Found on the Bad Astronomy blog.
Escape Goat
Member
Saturn's ice-shrouded moon Enceladus is pumping out more heat from its southern pole than all the hot springs at Yellowstone, and scientists are at a loss to explain it.
The prodigious outpouring of energy significantly boosts the likelihood that an ocean of liquid is sealed beneath the moon's icy surface. Water, in turn, is considered a key ingredient for life.
The new data isn't enough to nail down how large an ocean might exist on Enceladus, or its location beneath the ice.
It does, however, make computer models hard to explain if Enceladus lacks liquid water, lead researcher Carly Howett of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., told Discovery News.
For a long time, scientists thought tidal interactions with neighbor satellites and Saturn would account for about 1.1 gigawatts of energy pumping out of Enceladus. Heat from the natural decay of radioactive materials inside the moon would add another 0.3 gigawatts.
New research from the Cassini spacecraft, however, shows Enceladus is giving off closer to 14 gigawatts.
"This is a huge amount of energy that we don't understand," Howett said.
Scientists have known since 2005 that the southern polar region of Enceladus is geologically active, with the hub of activity centered on four 80-mile long, one-mile wide trenches, known as "tiger stripes." Huge plumes of ice particles and water vapor, sprinkled with organic particles, are shooting out into space from the fissures.
"The whole water thing, the eruption of the water is fascinating," Cassini scientist John Pearl of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland told Discovery News. "It's the plumes that give you an awful lot of information about the possibility of an ocean. There's some source of energy that's driving these things."
Scientists theorize Enceladus' excess heat may be because the moon used to be in a different orbit that generated a fiercer gravitational tug-of-war with neighboring moons. Energy that built up in the past may be being released now.
No matter what the cause, the realization that the icy moon is pumping out as much heat as 20 coal-fired powered plants has scientists thinking.
"It's clear that whatever is producing the heat, Enceladus meets many requirements for life," Cassini scientist Larry Esposito, with the University of Colorado at Boulder, writes in Astrobiology magazine. "We know it has a liquid ocean, organics and an energy source. And to top it off, we know of organisms on Earth in similar environments."
"This result indicates episodic heating of the moon. The larger heat flow means it is easier to melt water below the surface, but Enceladus may freeze up in between. The implications are therefore mixed for life," Esposito wrote in an e-mail to Discovery News.
"When you look at things like the deep water vents, you can't help but think that something like this is going on on Enceladus," added Howett. "Why not? We see organics, high heat flows. We can postulate until kingdom come, but until we actually go there and have a look we're not going to know."
The research is published in the March 4 issue of Journal of Geophysical Research.
.
Escape Goat
Member
To add some perspective on the sheer magnitude of what Friedman is documenting, look at the dark spot below the prominence. That spot is roughly twice the size of the Earth.
Using the same specialized equipment he used in October 2010 to produce the last set of breathtaking images, Friedman looks at the deep red end of the light spectrum to capture the emissions given off by hydrogen gas in the sun's atmosphere.
He also came away with a historic glimpse of Discovery as it was docked to the International Space Station, during the space shuttle's final mission.
Friedman said he captured the event, lasting just a fifth of a second, after making an 1,800-mile drive from Buffalo, N.Y., to the Winter Star Party in West Summerland Key, Fla.
He went to the Florida gathering "for the steady skies, warm temperatures and the company of good astronomy friends." But when he learned that the International Space Station would cross paths with the sun, and that the sight would be visible 20 miles north of where the star party was being held, he felt compelled to document the flyover.
"I jumped into the car with solar imaging gear, and we got set up just in time to catch it." he said. "I underestimated the narrowness of this event. We were about 5,000 feet south of the centerline in a good location... another 500 feet and we would have missed it entirely. Lucky day!"
The Big Rig
Member
Saturn's moons are awesome.
Suck it Europa.
Suck it Europa.
Escape Goat
Member
Feel like I'm spamming Space thread but theres a lot of cool stuff being captured!
A dying star has been spotted coughing up a toxic mix of gases in a spectacular new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The newly released image shows the Westbrook Nebula, also known as PK166-06, CRL 618 and AFGL 618. The star at the nebula's core is running out of nuclear fuel, and as a result the stars unstable outer layers are puffing out a variety of nasty gases, including carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, researchers said.
At the moment, the Westbrook Nebula is what scientists call a protoplanetary nebula. As the star at the nebula's heart evolves further, it will turn into a hot, white dwarf. The gas around it will become a glowing planetary nebula, then eventually disperse, researchers said.
Planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets. The term was coined by famed astronomer Sir William Herschel to describe objects that appeared to have circular, planet-like shapes when viewed through early telescopes.
Because the protoplanetary-nebula stage is a relatively brief phase in a star's life, only a few hundred of the structures are known in the Milky Way, researchers said.
Protoplanetary nebulas are relatively cool objects, and as a result emit little visible light. This makes them very faint, posing challenges to scientists who hope to study them.
What the new Hubble picture shows, therefore, is a composite image representing the different tricks that astronomers used to unravel what's going on within this strange nebula, researchers said.
The image includes exposures in visible wavelengths, showing light reflected from the cloud of gas. These are combined with other exposures in the near-infrared range of the spectrum, showing the dim glow coming from different elements deep in the cloud itself.
Prepping the view
One of the nebulas names, AFGL 618, comes from its discovery by a precursor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The letters stand for the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, which launched a series of suborbital rockets carrying infrared telescopes in the 1970s, researchers said.
These observatories cataloged hundreds of objects that were impossible or difficult to observe from the ground. In some respects, the airborne telescopes were a proof of concept for later orbital infrared astronomical facilities, including Hubble and the European Space Agencys Herschel Space Observatory.
This image was prepared from many separate exposures taken using Hubbles newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3. Exposures through a green filter were colored blue, those through a yellow/orange filter were colored green, and exposures through a filter that isolates the glow from ionized nitrogen were colored red, researchers said.
Images through filters that capture the glows from singly and doubly ionized sulfur are also shown in red. The total exposure times were about nine minutes through each filter, and the field of view is about 20 arcseconds across, researchers said.
A dying star has been spotted coughing up a toxic mix of gases in a spectacular new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope.
The newly released image shows the Westbrook Nebula, also known as PK166-06, CRL 618 and AFGL 618. The star at the nebula's core is running out of nuclear fuel, and as a result the stars unstable outer layers are puffing out a variety of nasty gases, including carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, researchers said.
At the moment, the Westbrook Nebula is what scientists call a protoplanetary nebula. As the star at the nebula's heart evolves further, it will turn into a hot, white dwarf. The gas around it will become a glowing planetary nebula, then eventually disperse, researchers said.
Planetary nebulas have nothing to do with planets. The term was coined by famed astronomer Sir William Herschel to describe objects that appeared to have circular, planet-like shapes when viewed through early telescopes.
Because the protoplanetary-nebula stage is a relatively brief phase in a star's life, only a few hundred of the structures are known in the Milky Way, researchers said.
Protoplanetary nebulas are relatively cool objects, and as a result emit little visible light. This makes them very faint, posing challenges to scientists who hope to study them.
What the new Hubble picture shows, therefore, is a composite image representing the different tricks that astronomers used to unravel what's going on within this strange nebula, researchers said.
The image includes exposures in visible wavelengths, showing light reflected from the cloud of gas. These are combined with other exposures in the near-infrared range of the spectrum, showing the dim glow coming from different elements deep in the cloud itself.
Prepping the view
One of the nebulas names, AFGL 618, comes from its discovery by a precursor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The letters stand for the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, which launched a series of suborbital rockets carrying infrared telescopes in the 1970s, researchers said.
These observatories cataloged hundreds of objects that were impossible or difficult to observe from the ground. In some respects, the airborne telescopes were a proof of concept for later orbital infrared astronomical facilities, including Hubble and the European Space Agencys Herschel Space Observatory.
This image was prepared from many separate exposures taken using Hubbles newest camera, the Wide Field Camera 3. Exposures through a green filter were colored blue, those through a yellow/orange filter were colored green, and exposures through a filter that isolates the glow from ionized nitrogen were colored red, researchers said.
Images through filters that capture the glows from singly and doubly ionized sulfur are also shown in red. The total exposure times were about nine minutes through each filter, and the field of view is about 20 arcseconds across, researchers said.
Escape Goat
Member
Alucrid said:
whoops, forgot to put it in the article. Fixed now.
ClovingWestbrook
Banned
Does anybody know when the next great comet will be visible by the naked eye? I remember seeing Comet Hyukatake back in 1996 I believe and was flabbergasted. Really would like another experience like that.
Dr Zhivago
Member
The big comets tend to be ones on million-year orbits that turn up unexpectedly.
Escape Goat
Member
Neverender
Member
Did anyone watch the second ep of Wonders of the Universe? Watched the first last week and it was nowhere near as good as Solar System. The segment about the ancient calendar structures seemed straight out of Cosmos. He even had a bit about the Pale Blue Dot photo at the end... I know that photo can't be entirely credited to Carl Sagan but Cox didn't even mention his name. Anyway, was the second ep better?
The Big Picture - Discovery
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/for_discovery_a_farewell_spin.html
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/for_discovery_a_farewell_spin.html
SneakyStephan
Banned
edit: nvm for now.
Melchiah
Member
Comet Elenin, August-October of this year. Apparently a once in an 11,100 year event.LovingSteam said:
Though I've also read that this comet may not even exist and other things about it passing within 250,000 of Earth with a possibility for collision, even though other calculations say 21 million miles (tinfoilhats). Comet was just discovered in December 2010 and apparently scientists don't really have its orbit tracked yet. It will pass within Earth's orbit, however.
But it sounds like it will be a great sight!