Space Science and Astronomy thread

A little heads up that tonight around 6:16pm, the Moon and Venus will be close to each other in the west, and the ISS will pass very close to them both. Will be cool to see and possibly photograph if you have a tripod and perhaps a 10-20 second exposure.
We enjoyed it cheers. 👍

Bang goes the old Santa's sleigh story mind.
 


Maybe a bit late notice but, theres a public Moon watch event at the Cygnus Observatory this Saturday, Feb 1st. Situated within the grounds of Washington Wildfowl Trust, its home to Sunderland AS. It starts 19:00 where Society members will give all the advice you need with telescopes of all shapes & sizes. Under 18's must be accompanied by an adult. Theres plenty of free parking and tea/coffee etc. Just go to their Facebook page for details or www.eventbrite.co.uk (type Sunderland Astronomical Society in the search) or www.sunderlandastro.com The event is free but you need a ticket. Good luck and have fun. Oh: wear warm clothing . . .
 
Huge bright light in the western skyline, anyone know what is is. Watched it for a while earlier on before it got cloudy and at first I was convinced it was a plane as it was so bright but then never moved. Never thought it was a star as so bright.
 
Huge bright light in the western skyline, anyone know what is is. Watched it for a while earlier on before it got cloudy and at first I was convinced it was a plane as it was so bright but then never moved. Never thought it was a star as so bright.

probably Venus mate, photo would help

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Was never much interested in planets and science in primary school, loved physics in secondary then lost all interest when i left but got reet back into it all as i got older, would love a decent beginners telescope if anyone got any recommendations, probably between £150-200 range, what could i expect to see with that? Or is it worth paying a bit extra £300 would be most i could afford out owa that and our lass (nee chance) would kick reet off, what could i see with a £300 scope that i couldn’t with a 150 quid one, or are they both similar, cheers
 
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probably Venus mate, photo would help

Logon or register to see this image

Was never much interested in planets and science in primary school, loved physics in secondary then lost all interest when i left but got reet back into it all as i got older, would love a decent beginners telescope if anyone got any recommendations, probably between £150-200 range, what could i expect to see with that? Or is it worth paying a bit extra £300 would be most i could afford out owa that and our lass (nee chance) would kick reet off, what could i see with a £300 scope that i couldn’t with a 150 quid one, or are they both similar, cheers
There are two basic types of telescope: refractors, which use lenses, and reflectors, which use mirrors to form an image in the eyepiece. Lenses are more difficult and more expensive to produce whereas mirrors are cheaper and easier to produce, so to keep your cost down, you would be better off buying a reflecting telescope. To be more precise a Newtonian reflector, named after Sir Isaac Newton who (apparently) invented the optical system. A ten inch diameter mirror costs roughly the same as a four inch lens. What you need is the largest aperture (or largest diameter) lens or mirror you can afford, so go for the reflector. The larger the mirror, the more light you can capture from celestial objects thus giving more detail. The Newtonian reflector uses a system of two mirrors and an eyepiece. The large (primary mirror) is situated at the bottom of a tube and the second mirror is located near the top of the tube and angled at 45 degrees. Light from the object travels down the tube, is reflected back up to the second mirror and is directed to the eyepiece which is at the top of the tube. This also makes for a more comfortable observing position. Next the telescope mount. You don't need an 'equatorial' mount unless you want to take photographs.
 
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probably Venus mate, photo would help

Logon or register to see this image

Was never much interested in planets and science in primary school, loved physics in secondary then lost all interest when i left but got reet back into it all as i got older, would love a decent beginners telescope if anyone got any recommendations, probably between £150-200 range, what could i expect to see with that? Or is it worth paying a bit extra £300 would be most i could afford out owa that and our lass (nee chance) would kick reet off, what could i see with a £300 scope that i couldn’t with a 150 quid one, or are they both similar, cheers
Another consideration to the above is a 'GoTo' scope. This is an electronic driven mount where you put what you want to see into a handset and the telescope moves to put it in view. It helps you find and get to know interesting objects. However on a budget you end up paying more for the mount and get a smaller scope.

I would see if there are any local astronomy clubs. If you go to one of their meets, they will probably have a range of scopes for you to try.
 
Continued from above. If you're just starting out, photography is a long way off. All you need for visual observing is what we call a Dobsonian mount which is very easy to set up and use. Look up "Dobsonian reflector" on the web and you'll see what I mean. You will also need 3 or 4 eyepieces and are usually supplied with the telescope. Using different eyepieces give you different magnifications. Buy the largest telescope you can afford: ie; the one with the largest mirror. Eg: 6 inch, 10 inch or 12 inch. There are many dealers in the UK for new, but theres a load on Ebay (buyer beware). Any astronomer worth their salt usually take very good care of their telescopes so 2nd hand is good in most cases. With a 6 inch you'll see loads of detail on the Moon, some detail on planets as far out as Saturn, globular and open clusters, nebulae and a few of the brighter galaxies which appear as a grey smudge (for want of a better word). What you wont see is images full of bright colour. This is usually a let down for some folks as they expect too much. Get back to me if you need any more advice. No probs. But I strongly recommend that you contact your local astronomical society. If you're in Sunderland go to www.sunderlandastro.com or see their FB page. If not, they'll be able to point you in the right direction. Damn good bunch: they'll help you any way they can. Good luck and clear skies 😎
 
cygnus capsule being sent to the ISS in the next 10 mins


quite a small rocket. It is oldspace so the full lot will end up in the bin once used.
a small delay, its a very narrow window of roughly 5minutes for launch with it going to the ISS, if there is an issue causing a longer delay the ISS will be out of range so scrub for the following day.
Full abort.
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full abort due to unknown reasons at the moment.
 
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cygnus capsule being sent to the ISS in the next 10 mins


quite a small rocket. It is oldspace so the full lot will end up in the bin once used.
a small delay, its a very narrow window of roughly 5minutes for launch with it going to the ISS, if there is an issue causing a longer delay the ISS will be out of range so scrub for the following day.
After all these years, Northrop & Grumman haven't got very far. As you say, 'oldspace'. Light blue touch paper and retire. At least the ISS is still up there.
 
After all these years, Northrop & Grumman haven't got very far. As you say, 'oldspace'. Light blue touch paper and retire. At least the ISS is still up there.

to be honest, I have only really got interested in the last few years since spacex got on the scene and started landing boosters. But from doing that I have also learnt about the companies that have contracts going back far longer have been operating. To be honest, I don't know how the ISS is still going, it is so political it is unreal, look at the SLS, parts made in this state because this senator voted for it then ships to the other side of the country to make more parts because another senator voted for it all to get jobs in their state.

I am quite left-leaning in my political views, but that is absolutely nuts and has lead to the SLS being a disaster before it's even finished being built.
 
to be honest, I have only really got interested in the last few years since spacex got on the scene and started landing boosters. But from doing that I have also learnt about the companies that have contracts going back far longer have been operating. To be honest, I don't know how the ISS is still going, it is so political it is unreal, look at the SLS, parts made in this state because this senator voted for it then ships to the other side of the country to make more parts because another senator voted for it all to get jobs in their state.

I am quite left-leaning in my political views, but that is absolutely nuts and has lead to the SLS being a disaster before it's even finished being built.
Yeah. Now you know why we left Europe. Legal bribes, left, right and centre. But politics aside; at least the US is doing something, as is Russia and India etc. The best we have in the UK is Bonfire Night (5th November Guy Fawkes, fireworks and all that). :D🎇🧨🎆
 
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The interesting little coincidence there is that the planet is classed as relatively close in astronomy terms as it is 'only' 124 light years away. If you had to draw a map of human influence on the galaxy, or a bubble around the earth then the most distant physical objects are the Voyager probes just beyond the classified edge of our solar system.

However if someone was monitoring radio waves then the very first radio waves by Marconi (lower power so the alien intelligence would need to have something very sensitive to read) would be the absolute maximum size of that bubble of influence - they would be our first steps at being even vaguely detectable as an intelligent, advanced species. Marconi invented and sent the first transmissions in 1896, which was 124 years ago.
 
The interesting little coincidence there is that the planet is classed as relatively close in astronomy terms as it is 'only' 124 light years away. If you had to draw a map of human influence on the galaxy, or a bubble around the earth then the most distant physical objects are the Voyager probes just beyond the classified edge of our solar system.

However if someone was monitoring radio waves then the very first radio waves by Marconi (lower power so the alien intelligence would need to have something very sensitive to read) would be the absolute maximum size of that bubble of influence - they would be our first steps at being even vaguely detectable as an intelligent, advanced species. Marconi invented and sent the first transmissions in 1896, which was 124 years ago.


I wonder how many other life forms in the universe have just discovered a planet called earth?
 

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