Space... The Universe.... News & Views & thoughts & Ideas....

[Boon Mee]

This Meteor 'Exploded' Over Greenland, But Nobody Saw It. Here's Why It Matters.https://www.space.com/41428-meteor-f...e=notification

[Boon Mee]

15,000 Galaxies Shine in This 1 View from the Hubble Space Telescopehttps://www.space.com/41527-hubble-s...e=notification

Wow!

[Jose]

How much life is in that photo, and how much is there now. Amazing to think.

Especially considering this:

[Jose]

Scientists confirm water ice has been spotted at the moon's poles

The researchers believe that the water could be used as a resource for any long-term expeditions to the moon.



A team of scientists has confirmed that water ice exists in the darkest and coldest parts of the moon's poles.


The team has "directly observed definitive evidence" of ice deposits on the surface of the moon using a scientific instrument that measures how molecules absorb light.


Led by Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University, and including Richard Elphic from NASA's Ames Research Center, the team used data from NASA's "Moon Mineralogy Mapper" (M3) to spot the ice.


M3 is an instrument developed by NASA and placed aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which was launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organisation.




Now, the researchers believe that if there is enough ice sitting at the surface of the moon - within the top few millimetres - the water could be accessible as a resource for expeditions.



https://news.sky.com/story/scientist...poles-11479083

[Boon Mee]

A Half-Lit Mercury Rises Early Tuesday: How to See It


Mercury will be at dichotomy, or half phase, on Tuesday (Aug. 28).
Credit: Starry Night software

The planet Mercury will reach half phase tomorrow (Aug. 28) and will be visible early in the morning before dawn.

Mercury has phases similar to Earth's moon. At 7:01 a.m. EDT (1101 GMT), Mercury will be at dichotomy, which means that half of its Earth-facing side will be illuminated by the sun. For skywatchers on the East Coast, this will happen after sunrise, when Mercury will have faded into the daylight. However, skywatchers will have a chance to see it just above the eastern horizon for about 1.5 hours before sunrise.

The event comes just two days after Mercury reached its greatest western elongation, or farthest distance west of the sun, on Sunday (Aug. 26). Because Mercury lingers so close to the sun, it can be difficult to see through the sun's blinding glare. This trait has earned Mercury the nickname "the elusive planet." The farther Mercury is from the sun , the easier it is to see. On Sunday evening, Mercury reached its maximum separation of 18.3 degrees to the west of the sun. By tomorrow morning, it will have crept only about one-tenth of a degree closer to the sun. [The Brightest Planets in the August 2018 Night Sky]

While the tiny, innermost planet can be spotted with the naked eye, a telescope is needed to make out its phases, according to Space.com skywatching columnist and FiOS1 News meteorologist Joe Rao. "Compared to the other planets that are currently stretched out across our evening sky, Mercury's current morning apparition displays a rather small disk ... only about 7 arc seconds in diameter," Rao told Space.com in an email. For contrast, the moon's apparent diameter is 30 arc minutes, on average.

"This means that if you wanted to make [Mercury] appear through the eyepiece as large as the moon does to our naked eye, you would need a magnification of 250 power," Rao said. "While most any scope can do that, it is best to use one with a moderately large aperture ... say, a 10-inch or larger."


Mercury will be visible just before sunrise on Tuesday (Aug. 28). In New York City, Mercury will rise at 4:45 a.m. local time, or 1 hour and 33 minutes before sunrise. The small planet will fade out of view when dawn breaks at around 6 a.m. local time.
Credit: Starry Night software

For skywatchers in New York City, Mercury will rise in the east at 4:45 a.m. local time, or 1 hour and 33 minutes before sunrise, according to the skywatching website in-the-sky.org. It will fade from view before the sun peeks over the horizon, though, as dawn will break around 6 a.m. local time. Mercury's proximity to the horizon may also pose a challenge for observers. In New York, it will appear no more than 11 degrees above the horizon. (If you clench your fist and hold it at arm's length, it will measure about 10 degrees wide.)

"Because Mercury is also at a rather low altitude in the east-northeast sky at dawn, atmospheric conditions near the horizon will likely make for rather turbulent conditions," Rao said. "So, it certainly is worth looking for Mercury, but so far as viewing it through a telescope, it might well be a disappointing sight (though even a somewhat distorted view should reveal that you're looking at only half of a disk)."

Mercury will return to the spotlight on Nov. 6, when the planet reaches is greatest eastern elongation. This happens about seven weeks after Mercury passes behind the sun's far side on Sept. 20. To find out exactly when and where Mercury and the other planets are visible from a specific location, check out these handy calculators at heavens-above.com and timeanddate.com. "

https://www.space.com/41640-mercury-...e=notification

Cool! But there's too many clouds here I reckon...

[Boon Mee]

See Saturn's Stunning Auroras Glow Over Time in These Hubble Photoshttps://www.space.com/41695-saturn-a...e=notification

Pretty cool, man!

[Boon Mee]

Going Back to the Moon Won't Break the Bank, NASA Chief Sayshttps://www.space.com/41691-nasa-ast...e=notification

Perhaps we'll get to see the flag pictured on the Moon as opposed to that crap movie that's just coming out air brushing it out of history?

[Boon Mee]

How Does a Black Hole Form?https://www.livescience.com/63436-ll...e=notification

Incredible stuff, that. Anybody understand the physics involved?

[Jose]

I both can and can't.

Which probably makes sense.


Still just go along with the way my dad told me about them when I was 6 or 7 yrs old. The remnants of a star that has so much gravity that nothing can escape, not even light.

Of course then you have the effect on time that gravity has, which opens up theories of getting near one, then returning to base far into the future.


Some interesting sh!t.

[Boon Mee]

This Impact Crater on the Moon Is Nearly the Size of Hawaii's Big Island


A lunar moonscape scene captured in close-up from the Cumeada Observatory, headquarters of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve in Portugal, shows in detail the lunar impact crater Moretus.
Credit: Miguel Claro

Aclose-up view of a moonscapenear the lunar south pole shows many different impact features, but one in particular might catch your attention.

The great Moretus crater (located at left), with a diameter of 70.9 miles (114 kilometers), is almost as large as Hawaii's Big Island. It features a huge central peak that towers 1.3 miles (2.1 km) above a relatively flat floor. [Latest Moon Photos from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter]

Due to its location near the lunar limb, the round crater appears oblong. This illusion is known as foreshortening. The rim of the crater has a wide inner wall as well as a complex outer parapet. The crater wasnamed after the 17th-century Flemish mathematician Theodorus Moretus.

I captured this photo from the Cumeada Observatory, headquarters of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve in Portugal, using a ZWO ASI174MC camera and a Celestron C14 EDGE HD telescope. For an even closer view of the crater, check out these images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter."

https://www.space.com/41696-moon-cra...e=notification

Very interesting...

[Boon Mee]

Mysterious Planet Nine exists at the edge of our solar system: NASAhttp://www.newsnation.in/science-new...le-202118.html

As we used to say back in the day: 'Far Out!"

[Jose]

Very good.

But this:

Mysterious Planet Nine exists at the edge of our solar system:

Always irks me a bit. People tend to think that the SS ends at last planet, it actually goes on for about 100,000-200,000 AU to the Oort Cloud which is a sphere (rather than a disk) of material that's so far away it's never been seen.



It's going to take Voyager 1 another 300 years just to reach there.


The edge of t
he solar system is far, far, far, farther than the last planets.

[Boon Mee]

Wow!

Well, obviously we have to get a move on with that quantum warp drive. Where's Einstein when we need him?

[Jose]

...

[Mid]

The edge of the solar system


so whats on the other side ?