The Astronomy Thread

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Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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HUDmr2i.jpg
Gotta love that cultural affirmative action with the modern naming scheme for celestial bodies.
 
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Melvin

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Gotta love that cultural affirmative action with the modern naming scheme for celestial bodies.

Modern science is advanced enough to detect this nearly featureless object the size of an aircraft carrier even though it was traveling 59,000 miles per hour and 15+ million miles away. This object has been been traveling through interstellar space for millions of years. It has existed longer than the human race. You really think it's relevant that your butt hurts about it being given a Hawaiian name by the team of scientists in Hawaii that discovered it? I thought I was setting the bar so low when I took care of the obvious "LOL itz aliens" joke that nobody could possibly say anything stupider than that. But nope, I was wrong.
 
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Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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Lots of recent major astronomical discoveries get Hawaiian names. You find it, you name it.

It could be worse; they could get Chilean names :)
 
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Palum

what Suineg set it to
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Well the Hawaiian Judiciary has final authority on the naming of all celestial bodies.
 
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Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Modern science is advanced enough to detect this nearly featureless object the size of an aircraft carrier even though it was traveling 59,000 miles per hour and 15+ million miles away. This object has been been traveling through interstellar space for millions of years. It has existed longer than the human race. You really think it's relevant that your butt hurts about it being given a Hawaiian name by the team of scientists in Hawaii that discovered it? I thought I was setting the bar so low when I took care of the obvious "LOL itz aliens" joke that nobody could possibly say anything stupider than that. But nope, I was wrong.
You mean that telescope designed by non-Hawaiians and paid for by non-Hawaiians? Probably staffed non-Hawaiians?

This shit has been going on for a while;

90377 Sedna - Wikipedia
 
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Araxen

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Bacteria found on the outside of the International Space station could be alien life, says cosmonaut

"Bacteria that had not been there during the launch of the ISS module were found on the swabs," Mr. Shkaplerov told TASS Russian News Agency. "So they have flown from somewhere in space and settled on the outside hull." He made it clear that "it seems, there is no danger," and that scientists are doing more work to find out what they are. The Independent writes, "Finding bacteria that came from somewhere other than Earth would be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of science -- but much more must be done before such a claim is made."
 
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Ukerric

Bearded Ape
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The title (vs the content of the article) is very facepalm-worthy

picard-facepalm.jpg
 
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meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.
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Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years - SpaceRef

Voyager 1, NASA's farthest and fastest spacecraft, is the only human-made object in interstellar space, the environment between the stars. The spacecraft, which has been flying for 40 years, relies on small devices called thrusters to orient itself so it can communicate with Earth. These thrusters fire in tiny pulses, or "puffs," lasting mere milliseconds, to subtly rotate the spacecraft so that its antenna points at our planet. Now, the Voyager team is able to use a set of four backup thrusters, dormant since 1980.

"With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years," said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Since 2014, engineers have noticed that the thrusters Voyager 1 has been using to orient the spacecraft, called "attitude control thrusters," have been degrading. Over time, the thrusters require more puffs to give off the same amount of energy. At 13 billion miles from Earth, there's no mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up.

The Voyager team assembled a group of propulsion experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, to study the problem. Chris Jones, Robert Shotwell, Carl Guernsey and Todd Barber analyzed options and predicted how the spacecraft would respond in different scenarios. They agreed on an unusual solution: Try giving the job of orientation to a set of thrusters that had been asleep for 37 years.​
 
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