The Astronomy Thread
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Dandain
Trakanon Raider
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Dandain
Trakanon Raider
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There is a lot more content in the published teleconference (second link). Its worth a look.
A Whole New Jupiter: First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission
Juno Media Teleconference
A Whole New Jupiter: First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission
Juno Media Teleconference
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Araxen
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Cad
scientia potentia est
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Well yea. Just saying there's not much to do but look. Jupiter and the other gas giants are destined to be orbitally-siphoned for fuel someday and nothing more.
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Nola
Trakanon Raider
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Nola
Trakanon Raider
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Dandain
Trakanon Raider
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Solar Probe Mission Renamed to Honor Pioneering Physicist
A bit on the solar probe mission, should be some cool science coming from this one. I think this will be the fastest man made object ever, although I am not sure.
A bit on the solar probe mission, should be some cool science coming from this one. I think this will be the fastest man made object ever, although I am not sure.
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Scoresby
Trakanon Raider
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By a large margin...I had to check around after reading it would be traveling over 118 miles per second, but this looks to be legit. That's over 400,000 mph, way the hell faster than the next fastest object. Awesome!
NASA Plans To Launch A Probe Next Year To 'Touch The Sun'
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Lenas
Trump's Staff
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LIGO detects gravitational waves for the third time.
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-gravitational-insight-black-holes.html
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-gravitational-insight-black-holes.html
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spronk
FPS noob
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another article on LIGO, open incognito mode if you get ad issues
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/science/black-holes-collision-ligo-gravitational-waves.html
In the latest LIGO event, a black hole 19 times the mass of the sun and another black hole 31 times the sun’s mass, married to make a single hole of 49 solar masses. During the last frantic moments of the merger, they were shedding more energy in the form of gravitational waves than all the stars in the observable universe.
insane
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/science/black-holes-collision-ligo-gravitational-waves.html
In the latest LIGO event, a black hole 19 times the mass of the sun and another black hole 31 times the sun’s mass, married to make a single hole of 49 solar masses. During the last frantic moments of the merger, they were shedding more energy in the form of gravitational waves than all the stars in the observable universe.
insane
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Aaron
Goonsquad Officer
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Didn't even know the Chinese had a lander on the Moon! Don't think any major Western media outlet has spoken about it.
Amazing pictures though!
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iannis
Musty Nester
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Didn't even know the Chinese had a lander on the Moon! Don't think any major Western media outlet has spoken about it.
Amazing pictures though!
I remember that it was briefly mentioned. Once.
"Today china put a lander on the moon. LOL, we did that 60 years ago and ours was manned. Still though, grats I guess."
And I'm not exaggerating all that much.
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Cybsled
Avatar of War Slayer
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Didn't even know the Chinese had a lander on the Moon! Don't think any major Western media outlet has spoken about it.
Amazing pictures though!
It happened a few years ago and made it into the news. The rover died a few days after the landing, though.
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spronk
FPS noob
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Rings and asteroids may explain ‘alien megastructure’ star
It may not be aliens after all. A fresh model that might explain the so-called “alien megastructure” star evokes only natural phenomena, such as a ringed planet that puts Saturn to shame and clouds of comets that contain more mass than Jupiter. That included Fernando Ballesteros at the University of Valencia in Spain and his colleagues. Although they classify themselves as extragalactic astronomers, they couldn’t help but focus their attention a little closer to home when Tabby’s star became popular. The mystery has been the topic of debate, and now Ballesteros has come up with a solution.
The team believes a dip in 2011, which reduced the brightness of Tabby’s star by up to 15 per cent, can be explained by a massive ringed planet five times the size of Jupiter transiting in front of it. Rings would help clear up why the dip was asymmetric: if they were tilted, the leading edge might block the star’s light and the trailing edge might not.
A later dip in brightness, which actually consisted of a series of dips in 2013, can be explained by a trailing swarm of asteroids – much like the Trojan asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter.
And the latest dip, observed the week before last, can be explained by the planet passing behind the star. Surprisingly, this would also create a slight dip, because any light reflecting off the planet – albeit faint – would now be hidden from view. But the model isn’t perfect. “There are lots of problems, but at least they are only ‘scale’ problems,” says co-author Alberto Fernández-Soto at the University of Cantabria in Spain. In other words, we have seen these things before, just on much smaller scales, he says.
The planet, for example, would be so large that it could be a small star. And the swarm of asteroids would need to contain as much mass as Jupiter, though it’s not clear whether that is physically possible.
Fernández-Soto also isn’t certain whether this is the right explanation, but is sure that the star’s activity will not be explained with run-of-the-mill objects — at least not in their standard sizes. “Whatever the solution to the riddle, it’s going to be exciting,” he says.
It may not be aliens after all. A fresh model that might explain the so-called “alien megastructure” star evokes only natural phenomena, such as a ringed planet that puts Saturn to shame and clouds of comets that contain more mass than Jupiter. That included Fernando Ballesteros at the University of Valencia in Spain and his colleagues. Although they classify themselves as extragalactic astronomers, they couldn’t help but focus their attention a little closer to home when Tabby’s star became popular. The mystery has been the topic of debate, and now Ballesteros has come up with a solution.
The team believes a dip in 2011, which reduced the brightness of Tabby’s star by up to 15 per cent, can be explained by a massive ringed planet five times the size of Jupiter transiting in front of it. Rings would help clear up why the dip was asymmetric: if they were tilted, the leading edge might block the star’s light and the trailing edge might not.
A later dip in brightness, which actually consisted of a series of dips in 2013, can be explained by a trailing swarm of asteroids – much like the Trojan asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter.
And the latest dip, observed the week before last, can be explained by the planet passing behind the star. Surprisingly, this would also create a slight dip, because any light reflecting off the planet – albeit faint – would now be hidden from view. But the model isn’t perfect. “There are lots of problems, but at least they are only ‘scale’ problems,” says co-author Alberto Fernández-Soto at the University of Cantabria in Spain. In other words, we have seen these things before, just on much smaller scales, he says.
The planet, for example, would be so large that it could be a small star. And the swarm of asteroids would need to contain as much mass as Jupiter, though it’s not clear whether that is physically possible.
Fernández-Soto also isn’t certain whether this is the right explanation, but is sure that the star’s activity will not be explained with run-of-the-mill objects — at least not in their standard sizes. “Whatever the solution to the riddle, it’s going to be exciting,” he says.
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