The Space and Astronomy Thread

I was looking for information on the Geminid meteor shower (due to peak on 14th December, but the Moon is close to full then too) and found this site -

https://in-the-sky.org/newsindex.php?feed=dfan


It looks good generally but the Astronomical Calendar (it is on the drop down arrow from the News tab) is very handy. The calendar can be set to different locations and to include all events or just those visible to the naked eye, with binoculars, and various sized telescopes.


Dave
 
Excellent resource, thanks!
 
RIP :(
 
It really is the end of an era, only (I think) Buzz Aldrin left of the early astronauts now.
 
Now a death of someone that actually interested me. Vera Rubin was hugely influential in work leading to the discovery of dark matter.

Story.
 
StewartR said:
If the star brightens to the 2nd magnitude, as they're suggesting, it will hardly 'light up the sky'.
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Very true and the New Scientist article was one of less sensationalist reports. The Telegraph said that for six months the star "will be one of the brightest in the sky"!

Dave
 
Tringa said:
The Telegraph said that for six months the star "will be one of the brightest in the sky"!
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Well, if you live in a town there are probably about 500 stars visible to the naked eye and if you live out in the sticks there might be 5000. But Polaris is about the 48th brightest, so anything as bright as Polaris would be in the top 10% for urban observers and in the top 1% for rural observers. Either way that's "one of the brightest in the sky", sort of.
 
There's going to be another armageddon on Monday 7:47 A.M. EST. Wait, Monday just gone. You missed it. Did you duck?
A Sneaky Asteroid Buzzed By Earth Yesterday
Oh well. There'll be another armageddon along before we know it. Lets hope, next time, they let us know in good time so we can start worrying about it.
 
Glad to see SpaceX recovering from their last accident in style, perfect landing of the first stage rocket on Just Read The Instructions.
 
I just watched a documentary about him the other week, he was very honest about how the notoriety of having been on the moon and the way he handled it lead to the breakup of his first marriage.

RIP
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Gene Cernan has died. Another moonwalker gone :(
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Pretty much on schedule according to XKCD. It'll be a VERY sad day if the number ever drops to zero.

65_years.png


Of the six who are still with us, Aldrin and Young are 86, Bean and Scott are 84, Schmitt and Duke are 81.
 
StewartR said:
Of the six who are still with us, Aldrin and Young are 86, Bean and Scott are 84, Schmitt and Duke are 81.
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I just saw Buzz Aldrin on a porridge oats advert on TV. I hope I look as healthy as he does when I'm 86.
 
StewartR said:
I just saw Buzz Aldrin on a porridge oats advert on TV. I hope I look as healthy as he does when I'm 86.
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He was recently evacuated from Antarctica because of a health scare. I think he's been looking very frail recently. I think I said so a few pages back.
 
Works ok for me Ian.

That said I think you need to be logged in to Facebook.
 
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