Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
- juckster
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat.
Plenty of meteors hitting us at the moment, with them due to peak over the next few days.
Am I right that Comet ISON is not going to be as spectacular as first thought ?
Am I right that Comet ISON is not going to be as spectacular as first thought ?
- Zimmerman
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Lunar Eclipse
there used to be a stargazing type thread, but i just cant find it!
Anyway, a lunar eclipse is due tonight (in the UK).
Starts 22:50 until midnight.
Moon will turn red apparently.
Anyway, a lunar eclipse is due tonight (in the UK).
Starts 22:50 until midnight.
Moon will turn red apparently.
Last edited by Zimmerman on 18 Oct 2013, 22:54, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: found it… someone had moved it to the Science forum
Reason: found it… someone had moved it to the Science forum
- Spinynorman
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Re: Lunar Eclipse
Just been out to have a look and our Moons been pinched.
- hornet
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Looking forward to a potentially spectacular comet in our pre-dawn skies in early December.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013 ... s-december
http://www.cometison2013.co.uk/
Watched a program about comet Ison the other night. Apparently there are 3 potential outcomes to its close shave with the Sun. One of which will result in a comet to rival the previous brightest comet from recent history (sometime in the 1960s).
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013 ... s-december
http://www.cometison2013.co.uk/
Watched a program about comet Ison the other night. Apparently there are 3 potential outcomes to its close shave with the Sun. One of which will result in a comet to rival the previous brightest comet from recent history (sometime in the 1960s).
- hornet
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Further searching has found this disappointing article.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/26/tech/ ... on-update/
Looks like Ison may be breaking up
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/26/tech/ ... on-update/
Looks like Ison may be breaking up
- stevejtr
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25143861" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So much for the comet of the century. More like it's electrical store namesake
So much for the comet of the century. More like it's electrical store namesake
- hornet
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Yep, all broken up. Never mind.
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
There's a massive bright star in the fly at the moment. Is it mercury? I seem to think its there each November (although usually closer to the moon).
Maybe it's leading me to baby Jesus... Should I follow it?
Maybe it's leading me to baby Jesus... Should I follow it?
- murf
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Bono?Zimmerman wrote:There's a massive bright star in the fly at the moment.
- llama
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Ison may have survived
http://news.sky.com/story/1174976/comet ... h-with-sun" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://news.sky.com/story/1174976/comet ... h-with-sun" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Damn these fat fingers!murf wrote:Bono?Zimmerman wrote:There's a massive bright star in the fly at the moment.
- RomynPG
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
This is quite cool...
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pix ... ystem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The moon is a pixel - everything else to scale - use the right arrow to scroll or click the planet icons at the top.
I made it a few minutes past Jupiter on the arrow key - but had to short cut to the planets after that.
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
(I'm always impressed by how small (relative to the distances involved) the Sun is and how on a hot day you can feel to heat from it ... that it's been burning for a few billion years and is only halfway through it's life .... just incredible)
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pix ... ystem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The moon is a pixel - everything else to scale - use the right arrow to scroll or click the planet icons at the top.
I made it a few minutes past Jupiter on the arrow key - but had to short cut to the planets after that.
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
(I'm always impressed by how small (relative to the distances involved) the Sun is and how on a hot day you can feel to heat from it ... that it's been burning for a few billion years and is only halfway through it's life .... just incredible)
- ctibbits
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Awesome! My telescope has been collecting dust recently. Anyone know of something good to see in the near future? I hear Saturn will be visible later this month but if I remember correctly it is low on the horizon and won't be visible from my perspective.RomynPG wrote:This is quite cool...
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pix ... ystem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The moon is a pixel - everything else to scale - use the right arrow to scroll or click the planet icons at the top.
I made it a few minutes past Jupiter on the arrow key - but had to short cut to the planets after that.
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
(I'm always impressed by how small (relative to the distances involved) the Sun is and how on a hot day you can feel to heat from it ... that it's been burning for a few billion years and is only halfway through it's life .... just incredible)
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
ahhhhh…. if only;
There was a massive asteroid passing last night closer to us than the moon.
There was a massive asteroid passing last night closer to us than the moon.
- WilBert
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Gutted I missed this last week. Had my phone downstairs when a mate texted me. A few miles from home
http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/28/uk-treate ... w-4338977/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/28/uk-treate ... w-4338977/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- WilBert
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Great find, and that is just our solar system no wonder astronauts go all religious.RomynPG wrote:
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
- unc.si.
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Somewhere in there it says that if the Proton of a Hydrogen atom was scaled up to the size of the sun, you'd need 12 of those charts to represent the average distance to its electron. That's pretty mind blowing tbhRomynPG wrote:This is quite cool...
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pix ... ystem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The moon is a pixel - everything else to scale - use the right arrow to scroll or click the planet icons at the top.
I made it a few minutes past Jupiter on the arrow key - but had to short cut to the planets after that.
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
(I'm always impressed by how small (relative to the distances involved) the Sun is and how on a hot day you can feel to heat from it ... that it's been burning for a few billion years and is only halfway through it's life .... just incredible)
- unc.si.
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
and right at the end it says you'd need to scroll through another 6,771 of those maps before you see anything else
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Its all just mind blowing. Impossible to imagine the distances (or the sizes).RomynPG wrote:This is quite cool...
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pix ... ystem.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The moon is a pixel - everything else to scale - use the right arrow to scroll or click the planet icons at the top.
I made it a few minutes past Jupiter on the arrow key - but had to short cut to the planets after that.
Well worth being patient and scrolling - really gives a good feel for how vast everything is.
(I'm always impressed by how small (relative to the distances involved) the Sun is and how on a hot day you can feel to heat from it ... that it's been burning for a few billion years and is only halfway through it's life .... just incredible)
-
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
And there's no way 'we are alone'!
- ctibbits
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Supposed to be a full Lunar Eclipse here tomorrow night. Im not sure if it will be visible for you in the UK or not but wanted to make sure you knew about it just in case it was.
- bloggie
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Some say it isn't.This says it is:
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/uk/london" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/uk/london" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Looks like it will be below the horizon for us?
- ctibbits
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
I'll see if i can get some good pics with my telescope
- murf
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
A new moon is a virtual lunar eclipse isn't it and that happens every 28 days.
A full eclipse will hardly be any different. Or have I missed something. ...
A full eclipse will hardly be any different. Or have I missed something. ...
- bloggie
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
The moon's orbit around the Earth is inclined about 5 deg to the Earth's orbit around the sun. Since the moon only appears half a degree wide, you can understand that most of the time that 5 deg mismatch causes the moon to not align perfectly every time.
Depending on the date, the full moon can be anything up to 5 deg too high or 5 deg too low to completely line up.
However, the lunar eclipse is much more frequent than the solar eclipse, simply because the Earth's shadow (which eclipses the full moon) is much larger than the moon's shadow (which eclipses the sun during new moon).
https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/i ... 051AANJgcN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Depending on the date, the full moon can be anything up to 5 deg too high or 5 deg too low to completely line up.
However, the lunar eclipse is much more frequent than the solar eclipse, simply because the Earth's shadow (which eclipses the full moon) is much larger than the moon's shadow (which eclipses the sun during new moon).
https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/i ... 051AANJgcN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- ctibbits
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
A new moon is dark while the lunar eclipse will have the moon take on a reddish hue. Last one I saw was pretty spectacular.murf wrote:A new moon is a virtual lunar eclipse isn't it and that happens every 28 days.
A full eclipse will hardly be any different. Or have I missed something. ...
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
The lyrid meteor shower is upon us... should peak Tuesday night.
http://www.darkskytelescopehire.co.uk/2 ... -uk-skies/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pretty much ALWAYS cloudy when one if these showers is due.
http://www.darkskytelescopehire.co.uk/2 ... -uk-skies/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pretty much ALWAYS cloudy when one if these showers is due.
- Zimmerman
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
The ISS has past over the last couple of nights... I guess tomorrow might be too early (still light)?
- Mav3rick
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Re: Look to the East tonight... Plus other astronomy chat
Speaking of the ISS, there's a live video feed from it at the moment, showing Earth from it's cameras in real time. Pretty cool, especially as you can watch it go from the light to the dark side of Earth and back again.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronom ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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