Space Science and Astronomy thread



Just saw a decent sized meteor on the way into work this morning. 6:45am and it appeared roughly in the centre of the sky heading west and burnt out around around 10 to 15 degrees above the horizon.

I’ve seen meteor showers several times, but never a single meteor of this size and brightness in the sky. A sight to behold.
 
mux said:
Ah mate it fascinates me. I don't know how people aren't amazed by what's up there. It's mind bogglingly brilliant.
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I do think the sky is one of the most beautiful things there is. All the stuff you can see in the night sky, the various stages of the moon, but also the changing colours. Cycling home the other night when going over a high point, the sky was a pale blue but with bands of purple on the horizon. However in the west the sun had just gone down and the horizon west was a deep burnt orange. It was fantastic.

I have not seen art that can make me stop and say "wow" like I can at the sky and that just happens.
 
DaveH said:
I do think the sky is one of the most beautiful things there is. All the stuff you can see in the night sky, the various stages of the moon, but also the changing colours. Cycling home the other night when going over a high point, the sky was a pale blue but with bands of purple on the horizon. However in the west the sun had just gone down and the horizon west was a deep burnt orange. It was fantastic.

I have not seen art that can make me stop and say "wow" like I can at the sky and that just happens.
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All for free too.
 
Went on the High Force Star Safari last night, that I saw advertised on Go Stargazing website.

If you already know a little bit about the night sky, I wouldn't bother going. It felt like it was pitched at people who've never looked at the sky before.

It's like a production line with a new group every hour. You wait in the pub, then get shown into a small room with a projector. A man with a monotone voice talks for about 45 mins and shows you some slides. He showed us how to find Orion, Pleiades, Polaris, the big dipper (irritated me that he referred to it as this and not it's proper name!) He spent a long time telling us the Greek myths etc., of how these constellations got their names. There was a section on the zodiac with some fun slides showing traits of your star sign then a section on some TransPennine Express adverts where they'd renamed constellations after local landmarks and features. Eg: Orion became Alan Shearer for Newcastle. I wasn't really interested in either of these sections. He ended by showing us some pictures from the Hubble telescope and said there's a lot more space out there waiting to be discovered but didn't expand on that.

We went outside to go down to the waterfall but it was cloudy and not even the moon was visible. Another man just led down to the waterfall, gave us five mins to take a few pictures and then led us back up the path again.

I appreciate they cannot control the weather and they cannot guarantee you will see stars, however, I did expect a contingency plan. When it was cloudy at Kielder and we couldn't see anything outside, they had pre-prepared slides and talked through what we would be looking at if it was clear.

It cost £74 for me and the bairn, plus an hours drive each way. Came away feeling like I've wasted my money ☹️
 
becs said:
Went on the High Force Star Safari last night, that I saw advertised on Go Stargazing website.

If you already know a little bit about the night sky, I wouldn't bother going. It felt like it was pitched at people who've never looked at the sky before.

It's like a production line with a new group every hour. You wait in the pub, then get shown into a small room with a projector. A man with a monotone voice talks for about 45 mins and shows you some slides. He showed us how to find Orion, Pleiades, Polaris, the big dipper (irritated me that he referred to it as this and not it's proper name!) He spent a long time telling us the Greek myths etc., of how these constellations got their names. There was a section on the zodiac with some fun slides showing traits of your star sign then a section on some TransPennine Express adverts where they'd renamed constellations after local landmarks and features. Eg: Orion became Alan Shearer for Newcastle. I wasn't really interested in either of these sections. He ended by showing us some pictures from the Hubble telescope and said there's a lot more space out there waiting to be discovered but didn't expand on that.

We went outside to go down to the waterfall but it was cloudy and not even the moon was visible. Another man just led down to the waterfall, gave us five mins to take a few pictures and then led us back up the path again.

I appreciate they cannot control the weather and they cannot guarantee you will see stars, however, I did expect a contingency plan. When it was cloudy at Kielder and we couldn't see anything outside, they had pre-prepared slides and talked through what we would be looking at if it was clear.

It cost £74 for me and the bairn, plus an hours drive each way. Came away feeling like I've wasted my money ☹️
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Someone I know went with her family a couple of weeks ago and said that some of the things the bloke was saying was incorrect. Her fella is like an amateur astronomer and said most of it was so basic or just not true. So a similar experience to you Becs.
 
becs said:
Went on the High Force Star Safari last night, that I saw advertised on Go Stargazing website.

If you already know a little bit about the night sky, I wouldn't bother going. It felt like it was pitched at people who've never looked at the sky before.

It's like a production line with a new group every hour. You wait in the pub, then get shown into a small room with a projector. A man with a monotone voice talks for about 45 mins and shows you some slides. He showed us how to find Orion, Pleiades, Polaris, the big dipper (irritated me that he referred to it as this and not it's proper name!) He spent a long time telling us the Greek myths etc., of how these constellations got their names. There was a section on the zodiac with some fun slides showing traits of your star sign then a section on some TransPennine Express adverts where they'd renamed constellations after local landmarks and features. Eg: Orion became Alan Shearer for Newcastle. I wasn't really interested in either of these sections. He ended by showing us some pictures from the Hubble telescope and said there's a lot more space out there waiting to be discovered but didn't expand on that.

We went outside to go down to the waterfall but it was cloudy and not even the moon was visible. Another man just led down to the waterfall, gave us five mins to take a few pictures and then led us back up the path again.

I appreciate they cannot control the weather and they cannot guarantee you will see stars, however, I did expect a contingency plan. When it was cloudy at Kielder and we couldn't see anything outside, they had pre-prepared slides and talked through what we would be looking at if it was clear.

It cost £74 for me and the bairn, plus an hours drive each way. Came away feeling like I've wasted my money ☹️
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That is crap, even if it wasn’t cloudy. It takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. If you pick a constellation and count the stars as soon as you go out then count again after 20 minutes, it makes a massive difference.

Though I guess for most to work you need 20 minutes without looking at a bright phone screen, so most tourist groups wouldn’t like it.
 
DaveH said:
That is crap, even if it wasn’t cloudy. It takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. If you pick a constellation and count the stars as soon as you go out then count again after 20 minutes, it makes a massive difference.

Though I guess for most to work you need 20 minutes without looking at a bright phone screen, so most tourist groups wouldn’t like it.
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Never knew this. Obviously phone screens and that are a no no but the 20 minute thing is interesting.
 
mux said:
Never knew this. Obviously phone screens and that are a no no but the 20 minute thing is interesting.
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Yeah, it is why I don’t like the phone point to find a star apps. They are really useful to get to know the basic constellations, but if you learn them, go out without your phone to test your memory, you see a lot more.

Any bright light will ruin your dark adapted vision. Shame my new neighbour seems to feel it is his civic duty to floodlight my garden :evil:
 
becs said:
He ended by showing us some pictures from the Hubble telescope and said there's a lot more space out there waiting to be discovered but didn't expand on that.

We went outside to go down to the waterfall but it was cloudy and not even the moon was visible. Another man just led down to the waterfall, gave us five mins to take a few pictures and then led us back up the path again.

I appreciate they cannot control the weather and they cannot guarantee you will see stars, however, I did expect a contingency plan. When it was cloudy at Kielder and we couldn't see anything outside, they had pre-prepared slides and talked through what we would be looking at if it was clear.

It cost £74 for me and the bairn, plus an hours drive each way. Came away feeling like I've wasted my money ☹️
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Unlike space itself which is expanding quite rapidly. :D

First pictures in from JWST, including a selfie.

www.space.com

Behold the 1st images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope!

They aren't the most stunning cosmic photos, but they mark a huge scientific milestone.
www.space.com www.space.com
 
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Kevj said:
Just saw a decent sized meteor on the way into work this morning. 6:45am and it appeared roughly in the centre of the sky heading west and burnt out around around 10 to 15 degrees above the horizon.

I’ve seen meteor showers several times, but never a single meteor of this size and brightness in the sky. A sight to behold.
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Didn't know they had jobs :eek:
 
becs said:
Went on the High Force Star Safari last night, that I saw advertised on Go Stargazing website.

If you already know a little bit about the night sky, I wouldn't bother going. It felt like it was pitched at people who've never looked at the sky before.

It's like a production line with a new group every hour. You wait in the pub, then get shown into a small room with a projector. A man with a monotone voice talks for about 45 mins and shows you some slides. He showed us how to find Orion, Pleiades, Polaris, the big dipper (irritated me that he referred to it as this and not it's proper name!) He spent a long time telling us the Greek myths etc., of how these constellations got their names. There was a section on the zodiac with some fun slides showing traits of your star sign then a section on some TransPennine Express adverts where they'd renamed constellations after local landmarks and features. Eg: Orion became Alan Shearer for Newcastle. I wasn't really interested in either of these sections. He ended by showing us some pictures from the Hubble telescope and said there's a lot more space out there waiting to be discovered but didn't expand on that.

We went outside to go down to the waterfall but it was cloudy and not even the moon was visible. Another man just led down to the waterfall, gave us five mins to take a few pictures and then led us back up the path again.

I appreciate they cannot control the weather and they cannot guarantee you will see stars, however, I did expect a contingency plan. When it was cloudy at Kielder and we couldn't see anything outside, they had pre-prepared slides and talked through what we would be looking at if it was clear.

It cost £74 for me and the bairn, plus an hours drive each way. Came away feeling like I've wasted my money ☹️
Click to expand...
I've been to Kielder twice. First time it was cloudy, the second time it was so foggy, you couldn't even see the trees ffs.
Driving back in the pitch black through the woods surrounded by fog was like something from a slasher film :lol:
 

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