The Astronomy Thread

[Desmond]

Hi,

I've been very fascinated with space and the universe since as long as I can remember. Though I could not become an astronaut or astrophysicist, I still try to keep up with whatever NASA discovers. So, I am starting this thread as a one stop news reel for all things astronomy.

Let me kick off with:

Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto

*www.nasa.gov/images/content/666714main1_pluto-5th-moon-673.jpg

A team of astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is reporting the discovery of another moon orbiting the icy dwarf planet Pluto.

The moon is estimated to be irregular in shape and 6 to 15 miles across. It is in a 58,000-mile-diameter circular orbit around Pluto that is assumed to be co-planar with the other satellites in the system.

Source

I always thought that Pluto had only one moon - Charon. I cannot understand when the remaining were discovered, other than the fifth.

 

[Rockstar11]

Nice Thread
good work

keep it up

 

[JojoTheDragon]

this i like

 

[Desmond]

Have you guys noticed anything like this on 30th June?

NASA Explains Why Clocks Will Get an Extra Second on June 30

If the day seems a little longer than usual on Saturday, June 30, 2012, that's because it will be. An extra second, or "leap" second, will be added at midnight to account for the fact that it is taking Earth longer and longer to complete one full turn—a day—or, technically, a solar day.

"The solar day is gradually getting longer because Earth's rotation is slowing down ever so slightly," says Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
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"At the time of the dinosaurs, Earth completed one rotation in about 23 hours," says MacMillan, who is a member of the VLBI team at NASA Goddard. "In the year 1820, a rotation took exactly 24 hours, or 86,400 standard seconds. Since 1820, the mean solar day has increased by about 2.5 milliseconds."

By the 1950s, scientists had already realized that some scientific measurements and technologies demanded more precise timekeeping than Earth's rotation could provide. So, in 1967, they officially changed the definition of a second. No longer was it based on the length of a day but on an extremely predictable measurement made of electromagnetic transitions in atoms of cesium. These "atomic clocks" based on cesium are accurate to one second in 1,400,000 years. Most people around the world rely on the time standard based on the cesium atom: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
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Normally, the clock would move from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 the next day. Instead, at 23:59:59 on June 30, UTC will move to 23:59:60, and then to 00:00:00 on July 1. In practice, this means that clocks in many systems will be turned off for one second.

Source

 

[Desmond]

Probability of a comet to hit Mars in 2014

A recently discovered comet will make an uncomfortably-close planetary flyby next year — but this time it’s not Earth that’s in the cosmic crosshairs.

According to preliminary orbital prediction models, comet C/2013 A1 will buzz Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. The icy interloper is thought to originate from the Oort Cloud — a hypothetical region surrounding the solar system containing countless billions of cometary nuclei that were outcast from the primordial solar system billions of years ago.

We know that the planets have been hit by comets before (re: the massive Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 that crashed into Jupiter in 1994) and Mars, in particular, will have been hit by comets in the past. It’s believed Earth’s oceans were created, in part, by water delivered by comets — cometary impacts are an inevitable part of living in this cosmic ecosystem.

Looks like Curiosity and Opportunity might end up as scrap metal.

 

[RCuber]

Looks like Curiosity and Opportunity might end up as scrap metal.

LOL I didn't get what you wrote there in the first time I read

BTW.. anyone having a telescope? i'm thinking of getting one and a moon filter, not sure if those 2-3 K ones in ebay will be of any good. moon filters are expensive

 

[Desmond]

LOL I didn't get what you wrote there in the first time I read

BTW.. anyone having a telescope? i'm thinking of getting one and a moon filter, not sure if those 2-3 K ones in ebay will be of any good. moon filters are expensive

Not me, I don't think you get good ones here in India at least.

 

[esumitkumar]

I am also interested in Astronomy..Could you please recommend me a good telescope within 10k range like for watching moon craters etc

 

[Desmond]

Dude, I ain't no salesman, I only post news here. Please research on the web and let us know what you find too.

 

[RCuber]

^^ O sumit wot you done!!!

 

[Nanducob]

Dude, I ain't no salesman, I only post news here.

Lol...He really thinks that youre the boss ! Btw nice work.

 

[astroutkarsh]

I am also interested in Astronomy..Could you please recommend me a good telescope within 10k range like for watching moon craters etc

I have few Links for Telescopes providers / makers, most of them are around Mumbai
1. Telescope India | Telescopes India | Manufacturers of Telescope-INDIA | Tejraj & Co. | Mumbai Astronomy Telescopes | Amateur Telescopes India | Astronomical Binoculars, Largest Telescope Manufacturer India (I am still using one Telescope from this.)
2. sky_watcher-india

I will suggest STAR TRACKER, 114/900mm AZ , Reflector Telescope -india which costs you around 7.5K.

 

[samudragupta]

Nice thread. I am very much amused and curious about our solar system and what lies beneath. Must watch documentary for beginners. The definitive guide to the milky way galaxy - YouTube

 

[desai_amogh]

There are couple of more gobrands
Telescopes, Telescope Accessories, Outdoor and Scientific Products by Celestron
sky_watcher-india
Orion Telescopes & Binoculars: Official Site - Telescope.com (Orion Telescopes) Tejraj is the official dealer for Orion in India.

 

[RCuber]

okay.. as things are getting a little heated up in here and as we are noobs in telescope( atleast some of us) lets gather some information regarding star gazing and moon gazing.

for starting I want to look at our moon and if possible spot some craters, need to figure out what lens strength we have to look for. I know that one has to use a lunar filter to clearly see the moon. lets dig in

 

[esumitkumar]

Dude, I ain't no salesman, I only post news here. Please research on the web and let us know what you find too.

Man..calm down..My question was not intended to hurt you but to seek info..Since this was astronomy thread..I thought you might have some info on telescopes since I am a complete noob in this field..If I own a car, and someone asks me which car should I take in 5-6 L budget..I can advise him..But I dont become salesman of that car

I hope you got my point

 

[axes2t2]

 

[Desmond]

Why all the butt hurt? I did not take any offense. I was suggesting that you research on the net and let its know what you find.

Jeez, flame wars...

Scientists discover that a Black Hole's edge spins at nearly the speed of light.

*www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/27/nustar_blackhole_accretiondisk568.jpg.CROP.original-original.jpg

Astronomers have directly measured the spin of a black hole for the first time by detecting the mind-bending relativistic effects that warp space-time at the very edge of its event horizon. By monitoring X-ray emissions from iron ions (iron atoms with some electrons missing) trapped in the black hole's accretion disk, the rapidly-rotating inner edge of the disk of hot material has provided direct information about how fast the black hole is spinning. Astronomers used NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) — that was launched into Earth orbit in June 2012 — and the European observatory XMM-Newton measured X-ray radiation as a tool to directly infer the spin of NGC 1365's black hole. 'What excites me is the fact that we are able to do this for the very massive black holes at the centers of galaxies but we can also make the same measurement for black holes in our galaxy ... black holes that resulted from the explosion of a star ... The fact we can extend this from billions of solar masses to 10 solar masses is pretty cool,' Fiona Harrison, professor of physics and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., and principal investigator of the NuSTAR mission, told Discovery News."

*news.discovery.com/space/galaxies/spinning-black-hole-nustar-x-rays-1302271.htm

*www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/...measure_supermassive_black_hole_rotating.html

 

[quagmire]

*apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1303/tardigrade_eyeofscience_1024.jpg

-"Explanation: Is this an alien? Probably not, but of all the animals on Earth, the tardigrade might be the best candidate. That's because tardigrades are known to be able to go for decades without food or water, to survive temperatures from near absolute zero to well above the boiling point of water, to survive pressures from near zero to well above that on ocean floors, and to survive direct exposure to dangerous radiations. The far-ranging survivability of these extremophiles was tested in 2011 outside an orbiting space shuttle. Tardigrades are so durable partly because they can repair their own DNA and reduce their body water content to a few percent. Some of these miniature water-bears almost became extraterrestrials recently when they were launched toward to the Martian moon Phobos on board the Russian mission Fobos-Grunt, but stayed terrestrial when a rocket failed and the capsule remained in Earth orbit. Tardigrades are more common than humans across most of the Earth. Pictured above in a color-enhanced electron micrograph, a millimeter-long tardigrade crawls on moss."

-Source

 

[Desmond]

Holy sh1t! That almost looks artificial....