# Astronomy



## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

*.*

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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

MCB, I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a boy of 9, at the time of Sputnik I. I was told that I had poor eyesight and was afraid of heights, and that might make it difficult to be an astronaut. I then wanted to be an astronomer, but was told that my being poor in math and physics, along with poor eyesight, might make it difficult to become an astronomer. Whatever, I still love astronomy.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

You can live the dream through your Doxies who can soar into space like a team of little Muttniks!


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"You can live the dream through your Doxies who can soar into space like a team of little Muttniks!" A fine idea, Macfury.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

To be out of the light pollution of Toronto and the GTA! 

To bad that the University of Toronto is closing the David Dunlap Observatory. I went there once with my Father when I was a child. It is being closed primarily because of light pollution.

When I started my university carrier I wanted to be a Physicist. I didn't succeed. Some of my friends wanted to be Astronomers but they couldn't find work in their field of interest after graduating. Fewer kids these days are interested in the night sky because they can't see any thing. How many members of this forum have seen the Milky Way?

MazterCBlazter & Dr. G. and others, how good is the night sky where you live? Dr. G. must have some issues with the weather in his part of the world!


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

"Dr. G. must have some issues with the weather in his part of the world!" St.John's does not suffer from pollution, but we do get night fog and mist quite often, as well as lots of cloud cover. Still, light pollution is not a major problem, and when the stars are out they are really out.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

If I'm lucky I'll be able to go to my sister's cottage and see the stars this summer. I need to introduce my sons to the night sky.

What are some of your best viewing stories?

Mine is seeing comet Hale-Bopp while flying, mid-Atlantic, from Toronto to London. It was quite a sight.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

I recall going out and looking for Sputnik when I was a boy. That's when I became hooked on space.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

The total darkness of an Icefields Parkway Highway lookout point a few km south of Jasper is the perfect perch at high altitude to sit and watch satellites of all kinds track across the night sky.

It is one of the reasons I make an annual trip to the national park. Most people have no idea what "dark" really is these days. They are so accustomed to "light pollution" from birth that they know not the beauty of the nighttime sky.

The night skies in rural Saskatchewan are also as black as can be and afford the wonder of the skies to be seen by the naked eye. Add my telescope to that location and the views are to die for when star gazing.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

All things being relative, even getting a couple of hours outside of the COTU proves to be immeasurably more breathtaking for night skies than where I am right now. That said, the most captivating skies I've seen were in the Ontario north, deep in the bush, miles and miles away from places like Kapuskasing, Manitouwadge, Upsala .... the Northern Lights were incredible.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Well, this seems like a good thread in which to recommend the amazing, free astronomy program Stellarium!


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

I've checked out Stellarium. What cool package.

I've found this link on two recent meteors. You might enjoy these really short videos.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Played with Stellarium a bit, also.

Very interesting and has captivated the chillens, too. Not bad for beta software.

Makes me want to pick up a decent 'scope for astrophotography...


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

Tried astrophotography once; I totally a total failed at it. Possibly, in this digital age, it would be easier. I have heard that Canon makes some particularly good camera's for astrophotography.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Have a cousin who has been an astrophotographer for some time now. His first setup was an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain and a Canon Rebel. He produced some pretty decent images from that (about 4 years ago).

I know that he's recently moved to a 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain but I'm not sure what camera body he's using. He always wanted to try one of our 1D MkII's to see what kind of difference they made but we never did connect.

He attends the Saskatchewan Summer Star Party every year. One of these years I'm going to make the time to attend.


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

While Victoria is more "light polluted" than it once was, it's still pretty dark compared to most of the bigger cities mentioned.

You don't have to travel far out of town to get a beautiful sky -- even just to the old Centre of the Universe telescope, for example -- but spend some time on the west coast of this island (places like Tofino and Ucluelet) and you'll actually see *bands of the galaxy* on the right night.


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## Guest (Jan 21, 2009)

The best night skies I've had the chance to see where waaayyy up north Manitoba. Drove out about an hour outside Thompson on a night when there was a big show of northern lights. It was truly breathtaking. Would have loved to have a telescope when I was up there!

On that same tour we also went up to Churchill Manitoba, but it was too overcast for the duration we were there to do any star gazing


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## Guest (Jan 21, 2009)

I've been lusting over this telescope for a long time ... it's ideal for astrophotography.

Celestron NexStar 4 SE Computerized Telescope

One of these years I'll get something along these lines. Right now I'm limited to mostly moon shots -- but they turn out well with the right gear! Here's my latest moon shot:










bigger sizes and photo info here:
jan 09 moon on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

After the Hubble photos on HD....I'm spoiled for life ..... and living in light polluted GTA - I'm happy if I can see Pleiades


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

MacDoc, I felt the same way growing up in New York City. This is what is so amazing about living here in St.John's. Looking out over the ocean is a magnificent sight when stargazing.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

New ehMacer _*John Morgan*_ posted (in another thread) about a useful iPod/iPhone app called "Star Walk" ($4.99) that fits this thread.


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## MazterCBlazter (Sep 13, 2008)

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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Very, very cool:

TechEBlog NASA Hyperwall Shows Outer Space Like You've Never Seen it Before





> he NASA Hyperwall-2 isn't your average multi-display setup. This one was created for "displaying images from Nasa's Spitzer Space Telescope; the quarter-of-a-billion-pixel, 128-screen, 23ft-wide LCD array is the world's highest-resolution display system."






+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.






(TechEblog)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Cool video clip, CM, especially the craters of the moon.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

It would be cooler if NASA were involved in space travel instead of watching these images on Chinese monitors.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

No way that would happen nowadays MF... too much money is already earmarked for the military budget and servicing humongous debt.

There is hope for the American private sector, though. They got it going on.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Virgin Mobile or Google will be the first to put a human on Mars, while NASA futzes around.


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## Max (Sep 26, 2002)

Too much munching at the trough for the NASA/gubbmint coterie, I'm afraid. Hardened arteries, softened resolve. That bunch is done like dinner and the American electorate is no longer on side for another great space race funded largely by the public purse.

Google racing against China... I like it.... it's just odd enough to be plausible.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Cassini Equinox Mission: 1980s Video Icon Glows on Saturn Moon*





> The highest-resolution-yet temperature map and images of Saturn's icy moon Mimas obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal surprising patterns on the surface of the small moon, including unexpected hot regions that resemble 'Pac-Man' eating a dot, and striking bands of light and dark in crater walls.
> 
> "Other moons usually grab the spotlight, but it turns out Mimas is more bizarre than we thought it was," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It has certainly given us some new puzzles."
> 
> Cassini collected the data on Feb. 13, during its closest flyby of the moon, which is marked by an enormous scar called Herschel Crater and resembles the Death Star from "Star Wars."


(JPL / NASA)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

An amazing story of an amature astronomer.

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Stunning Amateur Images Win in Astronomy Photographer of the Year Competition*




> The overall winner this year was Tom Lowe from the US, with this awe-striking image of our Milky Way. "I have to say, this pictures perfectly captures the spirit of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition," said Kukula at the awards ceremony, "with not only the beautiful composition where the tree follows the arch of the Milky Way, but also the connection between things in space and things on Earth. The Bristlecone pines that you see in the foreground are some of the oldest living things on Earth, but yet they are dwarfed by the light shining behind them that has been traveling for almost 30,000 years. It is just a beautiful concept."





> This runner-up winner in the young astronomer category was taken by *Laurent V. Joli-Coeur from Canada, who is 13 years old. *He was in attendance at the ROG for the awards ceremony, and commented that he was in the family car with his mother when he saw a beautiful solar halo through the roof. "I used my mother’s camera, a simple DLSR camera,"


(More coverage: UniverseToday / Flickr set of contest images)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Great shots, CM. Sadly, light pollution is a major problem here in North America.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Things you definitely can't see with the naked eye...*





> Beyond Neptune's orbit, roughly five billion miles from the sun, the solar system can seem like a dark, desolate place.
> 
> But like the murky depths of the ocean, the darkness hides millions of mysterious bodies—or at least, so we think.
> 
> Known collectively as trans-Neptunian objects, or TNOs, the first of this population to be discovered was Pluto in 1930. Since then we've found a thousand or so objects in Pluto's domain. Some have even been given exotic names, such as Chaos, Ixion, Quaoar, and Rhadamanthus.


(National Geographic)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

Planetary behemoth Jupiter will shine bigger and brighter September 21 than it has in almost 50 years. That's when it lies at opposition, putting it directly opposite the Sun in Earth's sky. On the 21st, the jovian giant will rise at sunset, set at sunrise, and remain visible all night.


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

Dr.G. said:


> Planetary behemoth Jupiter will shine bigger and brighter September 21 than it has in almost 50 years. That's when it lies at opposition, putting it directly opposite the Sun in Earth's sky. On the 21st, the jovian giant will rise at sunset, set at sunrise, and remain visible all night.


Now to hope for a clear sky and that I remember it, so that I can show the kids. 

Thanks for telling us.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

...and don't forget that Saturday (18 Sept 2010) is International Observe the Moon Night!



> International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) was inspired by you. You, and people just like you, who are curious about the Moon and would like to find out more about Earth's nearest neighbor. On August 1, 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Education and Public Outreach (EPO) team celebrated LRO's successful journey to and orbital insertion around the Moon by hosting a public outreach event called "We're at the Moon!" at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. That same night, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) EPO teams hosted a similar event at Ames Research Center (ARC) in Moffett Field, CA called "National Observe the Moon Night" as part of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). The goal of both of these events was similar: engage the local public and amateur astronomer communities in an event to raise awareness of NASA's involvement in lunar research and exploration.


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

bgw said:


> Now to hope for a clear sky and that I remember it, so that I can show the kids.
> 
> Thanks for telling us.


It's a great sight, bgw. Bonne chance, mon ami.


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## Kazak (Jan 19, 2004)

CubaMark said:


> *Things you definitely can't see with the naked eye...*
> More cool stuff, CM. Thanks.


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

If your in the GTA the weather is good, go outside and take a look at Jupiter and the Moon. For those with binoculars Uranus can be seen too. Both are just below the Moon right now.


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## BigDL (Apr 16, 2003)

Sometimes it is sooo hard to resist a good setup.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Quite the headline....*

*Could Chance for Life on Gliese 581g Actually Be “100%”?*





> The announcement yesterday of the discovery of the closest Earth-sized planet found so far that also exists in the habitable zone around its star is certainly exciting (read our previous article for all the details). Gliese 581g is surely a potential habitable planet where liquid water could exist on the planet‘s surface, and many are touting the old adage of where’s there’s water, there’s life. However, some quotes from one of the scientists involved in the discovery might be feeding some wild speculation about the potential for life on this extrasolar planet and elsewhere.
> 
> “Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent,” said discoverer and astronomer Steven Vogt during a press briefing yesterday. “I have almost no doubt about it.”


(Universe Today)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Another step in the eternal voyage of discovery or just how strange is the universe...*

*Bubbles of Energy Are Found in Galaxy*





> A group of scientists working with data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope said Tuesday that they had discovered two bubbles of energy erupting from the center of the Milky Way galaxy.





> “Wow,” said David Spergel, an astrophysicist at Princeton who was not involved in the work.
> 
> “And we think we know a lot about our own galaxy,” Dr. Spergel added, noting that the bubbles were almost as big as the galaxy and yet unsuspected until now.
> 
> Jon Morse, head of astrophysics at NASA headquarters, said, “This shows again that the universe is full of surprises.”


(NY Times)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

A nice bit of astronomical poetry...

This is our universe, can you comprehend it? [VIDEO]


M


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Venus is viewable in daylight during the month of December!*

*Venus Visible In the Daytime Sky*



> Spotting Venus in the daytime will put you in an exclusive club: the handful of folks around the world who've ever seen a planet besides our own during daylight.


To help you locate Venus, download the recently-updated to v. 0.10.6 Stellarium (excellent free astronomy program).

(Space.com)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Huh - I had no idea that the last post in this 3+year-old thread would be so relevant to what I'm posting today:*

*Astrophoto: Crescent Venus in the Afternoon*




_In December, we challenged our readers to try and see Venus during the daytime. 

Sharin Ahmad from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia started off the new year by nailing this awesome picture of a crescent Venus at just after noon local time today (January 2, 2014). 

“The usual cloudy Kuala Lumpur sky is teasing me again, giving me crystal blue sky today!” Shahrin said via email.

Based on SkySafari, Venus was about 3.2% illuminated, and about 15 degrees from Sun.
Equipment: Skywatcher 120ED (F=1800mm), and IMG132E video camera.


Read more: Astrophoto: Crescent Venus in the Afternoon_​
(UniverseToday)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*This is abso-frakkin'-lutely incredible!*



*The Best Baby Picture Ever of a Planetary System*

_Astronomers have taken the best picture yet of a planetary system being born. The image, taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the high-altitude desert in Chile, reveals a planet-forming disk of gas around a young, sun-like star, in great detail.

“The first time I saw this image, I thought it was actually probably a simulation—it was way too good,” said Tony Beasley, director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in a video accompanying a press release. The NRAO helps operate ALMA.

The disk has gaps and rings that are carved out by nascent planets—features that have only been modeled in computer simulations. The star, named HL Tau, is 450 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. It’s only about a million years old—remarkably young to be already giving birth to planets._

(Wired)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Here's our solar system in approximate scale, for comparison (outermost ring is Neptune's orbit... and there's lots beyond that, so it all depends where you want to draw the line):*



(Autour du Ciel)

Here's an interesting comment posted to the Wired store linked above:



> pjcamp fractalsphere • 8 hours ago
> 
> About 145 AU diameter, about 450 light years distant. You can find this sort of thing in the online catalog of circumstellar disks.
> 
> Compared to the solar system is a tricky thing -- what do you consider to be the edge? Neptune's orbit? That's at 30 AU. The Kuiper belt? That's at about 30 to 55 AU. The Oort cloud? That starts at around 5000 AU and extends out to 100,000 at which point the Sun's gravitational field is weaker than nearby stars.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

An era coming to an end.

Out of fuel, Messenger spacecraft will slam into Mercury



> The NASA spacecraft that launched in 2004 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and became the first to orbit Mercury in 2011 is on course to crash into the planet's surface April 30 at more than 8,700 mph.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

FeXL said:


> An era coming to an end.
> 
> Out of fuel, Messenger spacecraft will slam into Mercury


Yep - and Messenger has done some pretty cool science.


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Further on Ceres.

Closest look yet at Ceres’ bright spots



> The Dawn spacecraft – which has now completed its first mapping orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres – acquired these closest-yet images of the mysterious bright spots on Ceres, known as Spot 5, on May 3 and 4, 2015. The distance from Ceres was 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometers). In this view, the brightest spots within a crater in Ceres’ northern hemisphere are revealed to be composed of many smaller spots. As of now, their exact nature remains unknown.


The number of craters is amazing.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Huh - I was expecting the next series of images to resolve those white spots... nice to have a mystery


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Kepler Orrery IV*





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.






_All of the Kepler multi-planet systems (1705 planets in 685 systems as of 24 November 2015) on the same scale as the Solar System (the dashed lines). The size of the orbits are all to scale, but the size of the planets are not. For example, Jupiter is actually 11x larger than Earth, but that scale makes Earth-size planets almost invisible (or Jupiters annoyingly large). The orbits are all synchronized such that Kepler observed a planet transit every time it hits an angle of 0 degrees (the 3 o'clock position on a clock)._​
(Imgur)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*This is a little bit mind-blowing.*

*Teen looks to stars to find lost Mayan city*








A teenager from Quebec has discovered a hidden Mayan city, an accomplishment that proves his own theory that links the location of ancient cities with the position of the stars.

William Gadoury, 15, has received accolades by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency, and his discovery is about to be disseminated in a scientific journal.

Passionate about the lost Mayan civilizations for several years, Gadoury analyzed 22 Mayan constellations and *realized that if he connected on a map the stars of the constellations, the shape of each corresponded to the position of 117 Mayan cities.* No scientist before had ever found such a correlation between the stars and the location of the Mayan cities.

Gadoury’s genius, however, was to analyze a 23rd constellation. It contained three stars and only two cities matched. According to his theory, it should point to a 118th Mayan city in a remote and inaccessible location near the coast in Belize, in the southern Yucatán Peninsula.

In 2005, the forest in this particular area was devastated by fire, making Mayan ruins more visible to satellite photographs. Analyses from satellites from various space agencies have revealed that there was indeed a pyramid and thirty buildings at the precise location identified by the young man. Not only has he discovered a new Mayan city, but it is one of the five largest on record.​







(YucatanExpatLife / see also the Telegraph UK for details)


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

An amazing story, Mark. :clap::clap::clap:


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Dr.G. said:


> An amazing story, Mark. :clap::clap::clap:


.....or maybe not so much? 

*Experts Doubt That a Teen Found a Lost Maya City*








As the remarkable story went viral yesterday, a number of experts spoke out, saying it’s highly unlikely that these features are those of a forgotten Maya settlement.

* * *​
... they argue that the Maya people, though good astronomers, probably did not choose to settle in areas based on the positions of the stars.

“I applaud the young kid’s effort, and it’s exciting to see such interest in the ancient Maya and remote sensing technology in such a young person,” said Thomas Garrison, an anthropologist at the University of Southern California: Dornsife and an expert in remote sensing. “However, ground-truthing is the key to remote sensing research. You have to be able to confirm what you are identifying in a satellite image or other type of scene.”

Google Earth and satellite photos show what looks to be a cluster of structures. Or, as some experts contest, a “relic milpa”.

In this particular instance, Garrison says the rectangular nature of the feature and the secondary vegetation growing back within it are “clear signs” of a relic milpa. A milpa is a crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica,...

* * *​
David Stuart, an anthropologist from the Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas at Austin agrees, but his words were less kind. At his Facebook page he referred to Gadoury’s work as “junk science.”

“Seeing such patterns is a rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are the stars,” he wrote. “The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but it’s an old fallow cornfield, or milpa.”

* * *​
Based on these expert reactions, it seems unlikely that this Canadian teen’s green rectangles are lost Maya structures. But as Garrison pointed out, only a ground-based expedition to the area will confirm things one way or another. At the same time, while Gadoury’s enthusiasm and creativity should continue to warrant praise, the contributions of the Canadian Space Agency and from Armand LaRocque, the University of New Brunswick professor who corroborated the Gadoury’s research, deserve further scrutiny.

We’ve reached out to Gadoury, the Canadian Space Agency, as well as LaRocque for comment and will update this post if we hear back.​(Gizmodo)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*What a truly amazing brain...*

*First universe modeling using Einstein's full theory of general relativity*










Using software that incorporates all of the field theory equations developed by Einstein as part of his general theory of relativity, research teams from Europe and the United States have started developing a model of the universe that they claim will eventually provide the most precise and detailed representation of the cosmos ever created.

* * *​
The pair of new codes are also claimed to be the first to use the complete general theory of relativity to help explain why there is a clumping of matter in some areas of space, while there is a distinct dearth of matter in others.

*Einstein's theory, despite being over 100 years old, is still the foremost and best theory of gravity that we have.* However, despite reliably predicting a range of cosmological phenomena, including the groundbreaking proof of the existence of gravity waves, *the general theory of relativity equations involved are so complex that, until now, physicists have had to use simplified versions of the theor*y when looking at the mechanisms at play in the entire universe.

(Gizmag)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Take 15 minutes and watch this.

https://vimeo.com/171954101


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Construction complete on the world's largest radio telescope in China*










With the installation of a final triangular panel on July 3, 2016, construction has been completed on the gargantuan Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in Dawodang, Kedu Town, Guizhou Province, China. Upon commencing operations in late September, the 1.5 billion yuan (US$ 180 million) FAST telescope will become the most powerful single-dish radio detector in the world.

* * *​
Dawodang, Kedu Town was eventually selected as the site of the radio telescope in no small part thanks to the presence of the surrounding mountain formation, which will act to sheild FAST's delicate instrumentation from local radio disturbances.

* * *​
"FAST will enable Chinese astronomers to jump-start many scientific goals, such as surveying the neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way, detecting faint pulsars, and listening to possible signals from other civilizations,"​
(Gizmag)


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## heavyall (Nov 2, 2012)

That's a James Bond movie waiting to happen.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

heavyall said:


> That's a James Bond movie waiting to happen.






+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*White Dwarf Lashes Red Dwarf with Mystery Ray*





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.






The star system AR Scorpii, or AR Sco for short, lies in the constellation of Scorpius, 380 light-years from Earth. It comprises a rapidly spinning white dwarf [2], the size of Earth but containing 200 000 times more mass, and a cool red dwarf companion one third the mass of the Sun [3], orbiting one another every 3.6 hours in a cosmic dance as regular as clockwork.

In a unique twist, this binary star system is exhibiting some brutal behaviour. Highly magnetic and spinning rapidly, AR Sco’s white dwarf accelerates electrons up to almost the speed of light. As these high energy particles whip through space, they release radiation in a lighthouse-like beam which lashes across the face of the cool red dwarf star, causing the entire system to brighten and fade dramatically every 1.97 minutes. These powerful pulses include radiation at radio frequencies, which has never been detected before from a white dwarf system.​
(ESO)


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

CubaMark said:


> *Construction complete on the world's largest radio telescope in China*



I do not see this as a bad thing just because it was created by the Chinese, the US has a far worse track record of using technological developments to their geopolitical advantage. It is the advancement of science and that used in a neutral way can only be a good thing.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I don't think anyone was worried about that radio telescope. It's a good thing.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Alien Megastructure? Remains of a disintegrating planet? Comet swarm? Dyson Sphere?

What the heck is going on with Tabby's Star?

The So-Called Alien Megastructure Just Got Even More Mysterious


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

heavyall said:


> That's a James Bond movie waiting to happen.





Macfury said:


> *I don't think anyone was worried *about that radio telescope. It's a good thing.


Heavyall was, at least by the tone of his post. I guess you missed that.



heavyall said:


> That's a James Bond movie waiting to happen.


And no I don't think it was a joke.

Ian Flemming movies ware always about the "good" guy vs. the "bad" guy, so no I don't think it is any stretch of imagination to think that heavyall was thinking that way.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*The 1995 Hubble Photo that Changed Astronomy*





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YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

A black moon will rise Friday night, but you aren't going to see it


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

_*Too freakin' cool, man....*_ 

*Watch planets orbit a star 129 light-years away*

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIadRr0QX_Q[/ame]

(Vox)


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

_Trying to make sense of this... _

*When the Lights Went Out in the Universe*

About 5 billion years ago, everything changed. The expansion of the universe, which had been gradually decelerating for billions of years, reversed course and entered into a period of unbridled acceleration. (It was sort of like a car that switches from decelerating to accelerating, but is still moving forward the whole time.) The unhurried, deliberate process of structure formation — the gradual buildup of ever-larger assemblies of matter from galaxies to groups to clusters — froze and began to undo itself.

Five billion years ago, a mysterious force overtook the universe. Hidden in the shadows, it lay dormant, buried underneath fields of matter and radiation. But once it uncovered itself, it worked quickly, bending the entire cosmos to its will.

Five billion years ago, dark energy awoke.

** * **​
What's going on is dark energy. Totaling 69.2 percent of the energy density of the universe, it simply behaves … strangely. Dark energy's most important property is that its density is constant. Its second most important property is that it appears to be tied to the vacuum of empty space.

Take a box, and empty out everything, removing all the matter (regular and dark), neutrinos, radiation ... everything. If you did it right, you'll have a box of pure, unadulterated vacuum — which means you'll have a box of pure dark energy. Double the size of the box, and you'll have double the dark energy.

** * **​
...as the universe expands, we continually get more empty space (vacuum) in it, so we continually get more dark energy. If you're worried that this violates some sort of principle of conservation of energy, you can rest easy tonight: The universe is a dynamic system, and the form of the conservation laws taught in Physics 101 only apply to static systems. The universe is a dynamic place, and the concept of “conservation of energy” still holds but in a more complex, noninuitive way.
(Space)​


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*Astronomers to peer into a black hole for first time with new Event Horizon Telescope*










Ever since first mentioned by Jon Michell in a letter to the Royal Society in 1783, black holes have captured the imagination of scientists, writers, filmmakers and other artists. Perhaps part of the allure is that these enigmatic objects have never actually been "seen". But this could now be about to change as an international team of astronomers is connecting a number of telescopes on Earth in the hope of making the first ever image of a black hole.

Black holes are regions of space inside which the pull of gravity is so strong that nothing – not even light – can escape. Their existence was predicted mathematically by Karl Schwarzchild in 1915, as a solution to equations posed in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Astronomers have had circumstantial evidence for many decades that supermassive black holes – a million to a billion times more massive than our sun – lie at the hearts of massive galaxies. That's because they can see the gravitational pull they have on stars orbiting around the galactic centre. When overfed with material from the surrounding galactic environment, they also eject detectable plumes or jets of plasma to speeds close to that of light. Last year, the LIGO experiment provided even more proof by famously detecting ripples in space-time caused by two medium-mass black holes that merged millions of years ago.

** * **​
On April 5-14 2017, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope hopes to test the fundamental theories of black-hole physics by attempting to take the first ever image of a black hole's event horizon (the point at which theory predicts nothing can escape). By connecting a global array of radio telescopes together to form the equivalent of a giant Earth-sized telescope – using a technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry and Earth-aperture synthesis – scientists will peer into the heart of our Milky Way galaxy where a black hole that is 4m times more massive than our sun – Sagittarius A* – lurks.

** * **​
The array connects nine stations spanning the globe – some individual telescopes, others collections of telescopes – in Antarctica, Chile, Hawaii, Spain, Mexico and Arizona. The "virtual telescope" has been in development for many years and the technology has been tested. However, these tests initially revealed a limited sensitivity and an angular resolution that was insufficient to probe down to the scales needed to reach the black hole. But the addition of sensitive new arrays of telescopes – including the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile and the South Pole Telescope – will give the network a much-needed boost in power. It's rather like putting on spectacles and suddenly being able to see both headlights from an oncoming car rather than a single blur of light.
(Phys.org)​


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

CubaMark said:


> On April 5-14 2017, the team behind the Event Horizon Telescope hopes to test the fundamental theories of black-hole physics by attempting to take the first ever image of a black hole's event horizon (the point at which theory predicts nothing can escape).


It's Hell. Ask Sam Neill.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Macfury said:


> It's Hell. Ask Sam Neill.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

_Liberate tutame ex inferis._


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

WOW. 

Betelgeuse captured by ALMA










This orange blob shows the nearby star Betelgeuse, as seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). This is the first time that ALMA has ever observed the surface of a star and this first attempt has resulted in the highest-resolution image of Betelgeuse available.

Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars currently known — with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun’s in the millimeter continuum. About 600 light-years away in the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the red supergiant burns brightly, causing it to have only a short life expectancy. The star is just about eight million years old, but is already on the verge of becoming a supernova. When that happens, the resulting explosion will be visible from Earth, even in broad daylight.

The star has been observed in many other wavelengths, particularly in the visible, infrared, and ultraviolet. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope astronomers discovered a vast plume of gas almost as large as our Solar System. Astronomers have also found a gigantic bubble that boils away on Betelgeuse’s surface. These features help to explain how the star is shedding gas and dust at tremendous rates (eso0927, eso1121). In this picture, ALMA observes the hot gas of the lower chromosphere of Betelgeuse at sub-millimeter wavelengths — where localised increased temperatures explain why it is not symmetric. Scientifically, ALMA can help us to understand the extended atmospheres of these hot, blazing stars.
(ESO)​


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I just cannot wrap my head around cosmic inflation. Astronomers explain it as though the fabric of space-time is akin to the surface of a balloon (in a 4D conception), and that there is not "centre" from which everything expanded. Makes no sense to me.

And then something like this comes along, which would seem to contradict inflation... how could an object billions of years older than our sun nonetheless be less than 1600 light-years from earth?

Someday maybe it'll all just "click" in my brain.... someday....


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

<Too easy, FeXL>



CubaMark said:


> Someday maybe it'll all just "click" in my brain.... someday....


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

FeXL said:


> <Too easy, FeXL>


ehMac might be a half-decent place to visit once in awhile, were it not for the mongrels ****ting all over the place....


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## FeXL (Jan 2, 2004)

Oh, agreed... 



CubaMark said:


> ehMac might be a half-decent place to visit once in awhile, were it not for the mongrels ****ting all over the place....


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

*The Leonid Meteor Shower Will Peak This Weekend*



> Change your Saturday night plans! The Leonid meteor shower is going to peak this weekend so be ready to find a dark spot away from city lights to enjoy this stellar spectacle.
> 
> The Leonids is considered one of the most prolific meteor showers for historical reasons. The general public's interest in meteors is actually due to these meteors. In 1833, the Leonids underwent a spectacular outburst with over 200,000 meteors per hour for almost four hours. This year, unfortunately, won’t be like that. Astronomers expect up to 15 meteors per hour to be visible to observers.
> 
> ...


https://www.iflscience.com/space/the-leonid-meteor-shower-will-peak-this-weekend/


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

I came across this animation again, and thought it had been posted in this thread already, but no. Just as cool as the earlier animation of planets circling a star (post #71 above), here we have stars circling a black hole:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF8THY5spmo[/ame]


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

A unique picture indeed.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190430...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

SINC said:


> A unique picture indeed.
> 
> Astronomy Picture of the Day
> 
> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190430...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark


Wow!! A great picture. :clap:


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

SINC said:


> A unique picture indeed.
> 
> Astronomy Picture of the Day
> 
> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190430...medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark


Very cool pic.... and if he hadn't had it on a long exposure, the "molecule trail" would not have shown up.... that's a keeper!


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/...Q8Sbfu1ngh0za6bzOoppmLXgDJeeyq566jzfzBXuc8koI

quite the view


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

What the heck is going on with Betelgeuse?

*Feast Your Eyes On These Incredible New Images Of A Dimming Betelgeuse*










Astronomers have employed the incredible visual acuity of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to capture these incredible images of the changing surface of red supergiant Betelgeuse. The star is currently experiencing a period of yet-to-be explained dimming that has taken it out of the top 20 brightest stars in our sky.

Betelgeuse, like many supergiant stars, is a dynamic object with a changing luminosity. But its dimming, now at 36 percent of its average brightness, is unprecedented. A team of astronomers from KU Leuven in Belgium have been studying this dimming event in detail since December 2019, capturing a stunning new image of the star's surface using the VLT'S SPHERE instrument. As luck would have it, they had also observed the supergiant in January 2019, giving us incredible before and after photos of the dimming star.

Red supergiant stars are a lot more massive than our Sun but mind-bogglingly larger, extending hundreds of millions of kilometers into space, compared to the 1.4 million kilometers (865,370 miles) of our own Sun. For this reason, these stars have very low densities, so internal processes can create peculiar shapes. The two new images show how Betelgeuse is changing shape rather than appearing spherical, which you'd expect from a star.

Researchers trying to understand the cause of the unusual dimming have two main hypotheses.

“The two scenarios we are working on are a cooling of the surface due to exceptional stellar activity or dust ejection towards us,” team leader Dr Miguel Montargès said in a statement. “Of course, our knowledge of red supergiants remains incomplete, and this is still a work in progress, so a surprise can still happen.”

(IFLScience)​


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

From looking at the two shots, I subscribe to the 'dust ejection' scenario. The core brightness appears to be the same intensity, just hindered by an obstacle, like a cloud of dust.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

That is _so_ 642 years ago!


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/...g_5Y48gvQ2G5nmNGc5e-YI0pkpHaA_qxdSiUNh9AP7lMo


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

SINC said:


> From looking at the two shots, I subscribe to the 'dust ejection' scenario. The core brightness appears to be the same intensity, just hindered by an obstacle, like a cloud of dust.


*Betelgeuse Is Brightening Again*


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

*The Arecibo Observatory has now completely collapsed and destroyed the dish underneath*









(Reddit)

*Related:* _After Arecibo, NASA isn't sure what comes next for planetary radar_ (Space.com)


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