Space Science and Astronomy thread



On Wednesday next week, the first vehicle to transport humans from American soil to the ISS since 2011 will take off. The last one was STS-135 when the Space Shuttle Atlantis took off

Demo-2 crew arrives at Kennedy for first U.S. crew launch since 2011 - NASASpaceFlight.com

The vehicle is now upright on the pad. There is be some tests and a static fire in advance of the launch which I believe is 8.30pm on May 27th. This is the first use of this booster, as is per the NASA contract for commercial crew vehicles, it will be landed on the barge (of course I still love you) a few hundred miles into the Atlantic and then used for other launches in the future.
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Crew Dragon Demo-2 - Wikipedia

Elon Musk maybe absolutely nuts, but what he has achieved from having 8 staff in 2002 to less than 18 years later launching Americans to the ISS is pretty impressive.

Also, there will be another falcon heavy launch later this year for the American military, likely side boosters landing on the two barges in the Atlantic and the centre core being expended. It goes against the SpaceX reusability philosophy, but they haven't had much success with landing that core and it free's up some extra payload capacity.
Falcon Heavy set for design validation milestone before late 2020 launch – Spaceflight Now
 
flattards.
:lol::lol::lol:
The one I’m most excited about is at the end of the year, a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on the 21st December. They will be appearing closer to each other all year, but by mid December, both will appear in the same telescope field of view giving the opportunity to image both together. By the 21st they will look like one massive bright star in the western sky shortly after sunset. Just with an ordinary camera there should be some great sunset pictures as it shines bright in the orange and purple bands you get on the horizon.
This should indeed be worth seeing, but you know it's gonna be cloudy. Did you catch the Jupiter/Uranus one about 10 years ago?
This would be amazing to see, but ‘soon’ in astronomical terms means ‘maybe in the next 100,000 years’.
It may have already happened.
If it moves further south, it increases our chances of seeing aurora. I have only seen it once, very faint from York. I live in the south now, so have very little chance, though this picture was taken from near where I live (not by me):
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I saw an amazing one from the A19 driving north one time. I think it must have been 2000 or 2001, April, and had to pull over to see what the glow was. Does anybody else remember this?
Sunderland AS even has equipment you can borrow free of charge, as long as you pay your subs. £10 per year for unemployed, student or under 16's; £15 per year if you're working. Not much and you get to use the observatories with beginners workshops and lectures too. Hope this helps.
Does Jeff Lashley still run that? I knew him when I used to go to South Shields AS in 1980.
I wonder how many other life forms in the universe have just discovered a planet called earth?
None.
 
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Another set (7th) of 60 starlink sats going up tonight at 2.25am. I can't see as many being up or watching this one. This booster is to be used for the 5th time and the aim is for it to land on the newly refurbished barge, just read the instruction, it will be the first time they have landed a booster 5 times if it does.
more information on space flight now

stream

Also, the booster from the Dargon 2 flight is now back at the dock and being unloaded from the OCISLY
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Another set (7th) of 60 starlink sats going up tonight at 2.25am. I can't see as many being up or watching this one. This booster is to be used for the 5th time and the aim is for it to land on the newly refurbished barge, just read the instruction, it will be the first time they have landed a booster 5 times if it does.
more information on space flight now

stream

Also, the booster from the Dargon 2 flight is now back at the dock and being unloaded from the OCISLY


are they doing another tonight??
 
Another successful launch and perfect landing for the 5th time for this booster. Baring in mind that means other companies would have dropped 5 of them into the sea at this point, so not only is this good for the massive cost-saving but also better for the environment than other options.
 
Another bunch of starlink sats going up in the morning, the target time is 10.20am.

Only 58 this time. That frees up space for 3 small satellites to rideshare on the way up. The idea behind this is that it is a very cheap way to put a small satellite into orbit. If you are paying for a solo launch using older rockets it would be $100+ million, it's closer to $1million since falcon9 is so much cheaper and you're sharing the ride with others.

This is the 3th launch of this booster, Falcon 9’s first stage previously supported Dragon’s 19th and 20th resupply missions to the International Space Station, and it will land on the barge Of Course I Still Love You. Both of the fairings have previously flown before on different missions, they cost roughly $1 million each, so recovery and reused is worthwhile.

stream
5 mins to launch.
 
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