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Astronomical News

So nothing travels faster than light in a vacuum, but it can produce an optical illusion that it is, which we see because we are looking at light...:crazy: As Terry Pratchett said "Light thinks it's fast but wherever it goes it finds the dark got there first". :pop:
 
DrPaulLee said:
Arecibo has completely collapsed
https://weather.com/news/news/2020-12-01-arecibo-observatory-radio-telescope-collapses
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Data collected using the Arecibo Observatory before it collapsed has provided us the most comprehensive catalog of near-earth asteroids ever assembled.
Destroyed Observatory Issues Final Asteroid Warning After Fatal Collapse

After collapsing into pieces in December 2020, the mighty Arecibo Observatory has a final parting gift for humanity – and it's a doozy.

Using data collected by Arecibo between December 2017 and December 2019, scientists have released the largest radar-based report on near-Earth asteroids ever published.

The report, published September 22 in The Planetary Science Journal, includes detailed observations of 191 near-Earth asteroids, including nearly 70 that are deemed "potentially hazardous" – that is, large asteroids with orbits that bring them within 4.65 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of Earth, or roughly 20 times the average distance between Earth and the Moon.

Fortunately, none of these newly described asteroids pose an immediate threat to Earth; according to NASA, our planet is safe from deadly asteroid impacts for at least the next 100 years. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/destro...s-final-asteroid-warning-after-fatal-collapse
 
The sky is blue.

An astronomer from Oxfordshire was locked out of her Twitter account for three months after sharing a video of a meteor which was flagged by the site's automated moderation tools.

Mary McIntyre was told that her six-second animated clip featured "intimate content", shared without the consent of the participant.
Her only option was to delete the tweet. However, in doing so she would have had to agree that she had broken the rules.

Her initial 12-hour ban went on for three months - and she exhausted the online appeals process.

"It's just crazy... I don't really want it on my record that I've been sharing pornographic material when I haven't," she said of her refusal to delete the tweet.

She was worried that if she agreed to Twitter's rules of re-instatement, her non-existent misdemeanour might be flagged up, as she has regular checks in order to work with school-aged children, explaining astronomy.

Her account was still visible, but Ms McIntyre couldn't access it.

Following the BBC publishing this article, it has now been restored.

US meteorologist Ryan Vaughan faced a similar ban after sharing a video of combine harvesters working in a field at night. This too was flagged as an intimate moment. Mr Vaughan eventually did choose to delete the tweet and falsely accept that he had broken Twitter's community rules, because he wanted his account back.


https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-63626769
 
Nice selfie:

1669928801723.png


https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221201.html
 
Mars opposition is now approaching close to earth being equal to about half the distance between the sun and earth or approximately 45 million miles.

Mars will be a bright red spot in the night sky.

It is a good time for Martians to come over to visit !
 
Two 'apps' I can recommend:
ISS detector - will show you which times to see the ISS pass over your position during the next weeks. Pay for an upgraded version to also see things like Iridium flare times etc. The display of the path of the ISS also shows you where in the sky the moon and planets are, or switch to a view of the star field above your location.
SkyViewFree (also a paid version is available without ads) which you can hold up in front of you and scan across the sky - the display overlays the names and positions of the stars and systems, and planets etc (does have an annoying, quiet, new-age musical accompaniment but I reckon you can switch that off or mute it)
 
Tunn11 said:
Makes you realise how low the Moon's albedo is (0.12)
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That's right. The Moon is about as dark as road asphalt. Amazing that it looks so bright in the night sky, but if we were to paint it white it would look a lot brighter.
 
Trevp666 said:
Depends how ancient you are really.
The first pic of the far side of the moon was obtained in 1959.
https://kottke.org/19/10/the-first-photograph-of-the-dark-side-of-the-moon-from-1959
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Well I'm in full pedant mode!

You are right, the website is right but the website address isn't! Darkside of the moon indeed, it's the far side there is no darkside.

I was six and a bit :omg: but I do remember being fascinated by the photo and IIRC talking about it at school with a couple of other kids who liked space. I also have a memory of Patrick Moore talking about it probably on The Sky at Night and pointing out some of the edge features visible from Earth but whether I was allowed to stay up to watch it or I saw that as a later repeat or on earlier TV news, I'm not sure.

I remember quite a bit of excitement amongst those interested in such things but it does look incredibly crude by today's standards, could be a blurred black and white shot of a pizza.
 
Scientists Simulated a Black Hole in The Lab, And Then It Started to Glow

November, 2022
By Science Alert

A new kind of black hole analog could tell us a thing or two about an elusive radiation theoretically emitted by the real thing.

Using a chain of atoms in single-file to simulate the event horizon of a black hole, a team of physicists has observed the equivalent of what we call Hawking radiation – particles born from disturbances in the quantum fluctuations caused by the black hole's break in spacetime.

This, they say, could help resolve the tension between two currently irreconcilable frameworks for describing the Universe: the general theory of relativity, which describes the behavior of gravity as a continuous field known as spacetime; and quantum mechanics, which describes the behavior of discrete particles using the mathematics of probability.
(End of extract)

Quite an achievement, considering that it was only relatively recently:

"The wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC in Lower Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), where the Sumerian people inserted rotating axles into solid discs of wood".

Could significantly more advanced extraterrestrial civilisations, have solved the problem of space travel and apparent limitations, imposed by our present understanding of physics...

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sc...le-in-the-lab-and-then-it-started-to-glow/amp
 
If a black hole was really established, we are fooling with something that could destroy us all.

When the first atomic bomb was exploded, the scientists did not know if the splitting of atoms would stop or continue and destroy the earth.
 
Tunn11 said:
Darkside of the moon indeed, it's the far side there is no darkside.
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Indeed. If Pink Floyd have taught us anything at all, it's that "...matter of fact....it's all dark"
 
Mythopoeika said:
I am glad that space is a vacuum.
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Strictly speaking, space is an 'almost vacuum', seeing as even in the most remote spots of 'outer space' there are still bits of stuff floating about.

First of all, when we say outer space (the space outside the atmosphere of planets and stars) is a "vacuum" or is "empty", we really mean that outer space is nearly empty or almost a perfect vacuum. In reality, even the most remote spot of outer space has gas, dust, radiation, gravity, and a whole host of other things.
link to surprising science.
 
Trevp666 said:
Strictly speaking, space is an 'almost vacuum', seeing as even in the most remote spots of 'outer space' there are still bits of stuff floating about.

First of all, when we say outer space (the space outside the atmosphere of planets and stars) is a "vacuum" or is "empty", we really mean that outer space is nearly empty or almost a perfect vacuum. In reality, even the most remote spot of outer space has gas, dust, radiation, gravity, and a whole host of other things.
link to surprising science.
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Yes. I know.
 
Christmas Day 2022 all the planets align in the night sky with most being visible without binoculars.

With all the planets on the same side of the sun, will there be earthquakes. ?
 
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