The Astronomy Thread
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Edaw
Parody
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Two planets will form a 'smiley face' with the moon on April 25. Here's where to look.
A rare 'smiley face' triple conjunction is coming to Earth's morning skies on April 25, when Venus, Saturn and the crescent moon form a celestial smirk near the horizon.
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Any idea how long it takes to get clearer images? Or is that not possible with this platform?
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Guessing the more data you get the more detail you can pull out. The app itself is 'ok' but if you want more you have to work on it. Used to list the apps I use to process but this time got lazy and guessed people don't really care. These were each about 2 hours of images stacked. Since search works you can go back and look at where I did them before to see there is more detail. The scope is what it is , but it was only $500.
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I still remember the stats you posted, plus the software...well most of it anyways. Been humming and hawing on picking one up since Xmas.
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They released a smaller one, not sure on cost but I think it's cheaper. Good (not tariff piss match) pricing as if you don't like it you don't feel like you got burned. Been there , done that.
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Kharzette
Watcher of Overs
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Lotsa cuts, the charts are 20 min in
I'm ok with most of that but why did homeland get a 65% boost? I may be wrong but isn't that an entirely useless and redundant agency? Aren't they the ones that spent billions buying up all the ammo supply to stick it all in warehouses to rot, thus making us even less "secure"?
They obviously aren't doing anything about the borders. Seems like a waste of money.
I'm ok with most of that but why did homeland get a 65% boost? I may be wrong but isn't that an entirely useless and redundant agency? Aren't they the ones that spent billions buying up all the ammo supply to stick it all in warehouses to rot, thus making us even less "secure"?
They obviously aren't doing anything about the borders. Seems like a waste of money.
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ToeMissile
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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DHS was formed by consolidating a bunch of other agencies that were separate pre-911.
List of incorporated agencies:
| Original agency | Original department | New agency or office after transfer |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Customs Service | Treasury | U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement |
| Immigration and Naturalization Service | Justice | U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services |
| Federal Protective Service | General Services Administration | Management Directorate |
| Transportation Security Administration | Transportation | Transportation Security Administration |
| Federal Law Enforcement Training Center | Treasury | Federal Law Enforcement Training Center |
| Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (part) | Agriculture | U.S. Customs and Border Protection |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency | none | Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) |
| Strategic National Stockpile | Health and Human Services | Originally assigned to FEMA, Returned to HHS, July 2004 |
| National Disaster Medical System | Health and Human Services | Originally assigned to FEMA, Returned to HHS, August 2006 |
| Nuclear Incident Response Team | Energy | Responsibilities distributed within FEMA |
| Domestic Emergency Support Team | Justice | Responsibilities distributed within FEMA |
| Center for Domestic Preparedness | Justice (FBI) | Responsibilities distributed within FEMA |
| CBRN Countermeasures Programs | Energy | Science & Technology Directorate |
| Environmental Measurements Laboratory | Energy | Science & Technology Directorate |
| National Biological Warfare Defense Analysis Center | Defense | Science & Technology Directorate |
| Plum Island Animal Disease Center | Agriculture | Science & Technology Directorate |
| Federal Computer Incident Response Center | General Services Administration | US-CERT, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Preparedness Directorate (now CISA) |
| National Communications System | Defense | Office of Cybersecurity and Communications National Programs and Predaredness Directorate |
| National Infrastructure Protection Center | Justice (FBI) | Office of Operations Coordination Office of Infrastructure Protection |
| Energy Security and Assurance Program | Energy | Office of Infrastructure Protection |
| U.S. Coast Guard | Transportation | U.S. Coast Guard |
| U.S. Secret Service | Treasury | U.S. Secret Service |
No idea about the ammo stockpiling.
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ToeMissile
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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SLS whatever, I don't think many people cared about that bloated project
I'm most concerned with the massive cuts to space science - that covers everything from telescopes to unmanned probes. That means the exoplanet specific telescope they have planned might get cut, or Dragonfly might get cut, or something else. There's no reason to cut NASA's already anemic budget so heavily.
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Chanur
Shit Posting Professional
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I hate to see space stuff canceled but it's hard to get upset about cancelling something 10-20 years after it was announced and never worked.
Instead we should partner with SpaceX and give them 100B in investments or what ever . In exchange for technology sharing.
Instead we should partner with SpaceX and give them 100B in investments or what ever . In exchange for technology sharing.
Furry
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We dumped a retarded amount of money into SLS and they did not deliver results. We should have dragged that program out back to get shot long ago. SpaceX's superheavy is a much better investment.
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Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Starship is still a questionmark despite some successes and it feels like a lot of NASA's ambitious lunar plans really rely on that working out since a) its hypothetical cargo capacity vs. launch cost makes a lunar habitat a much more economical endeavor b) Starship (or a version of it) is supposed to be the lunar lander right now
Superheavy would make sense in the near term as a potential SLS replacement in so far as getting astronauts to the moon, but you still need the lander and it would require significantly more missions to get adequate resources to the moon to make a habitat
I'm also 100% for more manned stuff, but they shouldn't be gutting space science so heavily for that.
Superheavy would make sense in the near term as a potential SLS replacement in so far as getting astronauts to the moon, but you still need the lander and it would require significantly more missions to get adequate resources to the moon to make a habitat
I'm also 100% for more manned stuff, but they shouldn't be gutting space science so heavily for that.
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Lambourne
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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SLS seems like a black hole for money and time. The Trump-1 era plan was to have a man and woman on the moon by 2024. The Artemis II mission mentioned for 2022 there hasn't happened yet and as it stands might happen in 2026 with maybe a crewed landing in 2027.
I don't think they are doing themselves any favors in calling it a race against China, it puts all sorts of pressure on the system and calling it a race also means you lose face when you lose. It turns "China puts man on Moon 60 years after US" into "China beats US to Moon" or "China lands man on Moon shortly after US did so for the first time in 60 years".
Source for the above text:
I don't think they are doing themselves any favors in calling it a race against China, it puts all sorts of pressure on the system and calling it a race also means you lose face when you lose. It turns "China puts man on Moon 60 years after US" into "China beats US to Moon" or "China lands man on Moon shortly after US did so for the first time in 60 years".
Source for the above text:
To the Moon in Five Years: Understanding NASA’s Artemis Program - Aerospace Security
In 2019, the Trump Administration released NASA's revised FY2020 budget and the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon by 2024.
aerospace.csis.org
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Sanrith Descartes
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
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We sent men to the moon in the 60's and yet we can't figure out how to send them back. This is the type of shit that feeds conspiracy theories.
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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There is a reason why it's called the Senate Launch System.
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Cybsled
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Apollo was canceled because 1) it was extremely expensive 2) We won the race 3) the public lost interest. Most stations didn't even bother to broadcast the final lunar mission live. Nixon basically doomed human manned flights to LEO for the next 30 years when he decided to go all in on the Shuttle program instead. Granted, the Shuttle did sound attractive on paper, but it wasn't nearly as reusable as a complete launch system as advertised.
The only reason there has been renewed interest in the moon lately is the discovery of water ice (which makes any lunar habitat significantly more viable if we can extract water on site), space mining interest, the aging ISS, and of course competition with China.
Edaw
Parody
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Could our solar system have 9 planets after all? Astronomers may have confirmed possible existence.
Our solar system may have a ninth planet after all, following the declassification of Pluto nearly two decades ago, researchers say.
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