The Astronomy Thread
- Thread starter Araxen
- Start date
Rockets always turn eastwards because it's more efficient to achieve orbital speeds in the direction of Earth's rotation.
Oldbased
> Than U
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Jesus man even your congrats are a bit gay. This was a screaming success flight.
Booster returned and with exception of engines not fully firing at the last minute, total success in delivering Starship to orbit, full engine burn for duration, hot staging, and even guiding it back down for landing entry. The final burn/relight is not a massive deal as they got dozens more planned losses either way to work on that. They will not be recovered/land even if perfect so they are taking those losses either way.
On the Starship side, they got the reentry profiles they wanted and the heat data from the plasma flows and all engines ignited and performed as expected. Complete and total success.
It appears it was VERY low on fuel on the burning land burn for the booster and I have to wonder if the v2 of Starship booster coming later this year that is even bigger will solve that. Also the prop load/fueling went as planned too which means refueling is a go!
Also, SpaceX just put the largest ship into LEO in mankinds history. Knocking the shuttle the fuk out.
Booster returned and with exception of engines not fully firing at the last minute, total success in delivering Starship to orbit, full engine burn for duration, hot staging, and even guiding it back down for landing entry. The final burn/relight is not a massive deal as they got dozens more planned losses either way to work on that. They will not be recovered/land even if perfect so they are taking those losses either way.
On the Starship side, they got the reentry profiles they wanted and the heat data from the plasma flows and all engines ignited and performed as expected. Complete and total success.
It appears it was VERY low on fuel on the burning land burn for the booster and I have to wonder if the v2 of Starship booster coming later this year that is even bigger will solve that. Also the prop load/fueling went as planned too which means refueling is a go!
Also, SpaceX just put the largest ship into LEO in mankinds history. Knocking the shuttle the fuk out.
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The fact that they not only have the technology to livestream an experimental rocket launch but the balls to do so is pretty awesome. The reentry footage was wild.
SpaceX's own feed with better commentary:
SpaceX's own feed with better commentary:
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Aaron
Goonsquad Officer
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The pictures make it look like the thing was riveted together by a drunk - but talented - farmboy in his barn, rather than some of the most cutting edge piece of technology mankind has ever created. Reminds me a bit of the Soviet space station in Armageddon.
The PEZ Dispenser: Starship's Payload Deployment System
Starship is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle, and if all goes well, it will eventually carry some pretty large payloads. However, there are numerous hurdles to overcome with a reusable vehicle of thi...ringwatchers.com
That said, if I did get an invitation to ride in it, I'd take it. But that says more about how little I value my future than how much I trust this engineering!
Lambourne
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Looked about normal to me, it needs very little fuel for the landing since at that point it has burned almost all of the fuel mass. The booster weights 3600 tons at launch and only 200 of that is the vehicle, the rest is all fuel/oxygen. Basically just an empty barrel falling from the sky, the atmosphere already slows it down to a few hundred mph, you only need a short burn to slow that to zero.
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Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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The concept of a bajillion dollar skyscraper burning thousands of tons of fuel and trying to land on empty like my dumbass rolling into the gas station with the engine choking out because there's no gasoline left is fantastic.
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Burns
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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Not sure if this has been posted before. A nova release, from one binary star feeding of it's second, is predicted to happen in the next 6 months:
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My structural design guy is taking Monday off to go to Burlington VT for the eclipse. I'll just watch outside work I have a solar filter for my telescope or I might try a pinhole box setup
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Got the Canon 7d w/ homemade solar filter that I used before. Got solar glasses for the wife & me.
Got this new toy and played with the solar tracking today.
I'm in Southern Nevada so I won't get a total but I'm ready as I can be.
Also btw this ZWO Seestar is pretty fucking lit. Need the bad/cold/windy weather to go away so I can play with night shots. Looking forward to taking it to Dante's View in Death Valley in my near future.
Got this new toy and played with the solar tracking today.
I'm in Southern Nevada so I won't get a total but I'm ready as I can be.
Also btw this ZWO Seestar is pretty fucking lit. Need the bad/cold/windy weather to go away so I can play with night shots. Looking forward to taking it to Dante's View in Death Valley in my near future.
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Burns
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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The 7 day forecast is rather inaccurate but still sucks for anyone that took a vacation to see it. This is a wet time of year for everywhere in the totality, so plenty of people will get screwed by weather, no mater what.
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That (and still doing fucking chemo) are part of the reason I didn't even try getting a place in the 100% path. It would majorly suck to do all that and the weather bite you in the ass. Hope it works out well for everyone though.
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I'm taking the family to Indianapolis to see it, but I'm also visiting friends and family in Chicago this week so it's no huge loss if it's cloudy.
There's also a phenomenon where the lower atmospheric temperature due to the eclipse causes pressure changes that make clouds evaporate, so that can help.
Why Clouds Vanish During Solar Eclipses
New research explains the science behind the sudden disappearance of fluffy cumulus clouds during a solar eclipse.
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Cybsled
Avatar of War Slayer
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I’ve read articles that state so long as the clouds aren’t really low/thick, then you can still get a cool light show.
But ya, 7 forecast is only so reliable - one thing that makes me nervous is it is like a straight week of rain leading up to the eclipse. Currently shows eclipse day clear, but that could easily change to shit
But ya, 7 forecast is only so reliable - one thing that makes me nervous is it is like a straight week of rain leading up to the eclipse. Currently shows eclipse day clear, but that could easily change to shit
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Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
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Oops.
arstechnica.com
www.space.com
Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida
NASA collected the item to confirm whether it came from the International Space Station.
5,800 pounds of batteries tossed off the ISS in 2021 will fall to Earth today
"Luminous phenomena or the perception of a sonic boom are possible."
Cybsled
Avatar of War Slayer
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White House wants Moon to have its own time zone
The US government has asked Nasa to develop a way to keep track of time on the Moon.
www.bbc.com
They may want to rethink that abbreviation though since it is ripe for misuse lol
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so the "Meteor shower" over CA last night might have been the batteries?
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