Astrophysics and Cosmology - Discuss the Universe here

[trostol]

Tonite Aug. 11 is the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower.  I saw a few good ones last nite.  Look to the NE below the "W" of Cassiopeia to find Perseus, which is where they'll be coming in from.  Show will get better in pre-dawn hours after the moon sets.  Happy gazing.

http://www.astronomy.com/news/observing/2016/08/perseid-meteor-shower-set-for-its-best-show-in-nearly-20-years

pretty sure i can't see them here in the city

[zeebo]

pretty sure i can't see them here in the city

You might be able to catch a few.  Saw a few bright ones last nite, even with streetlamps nearby.  Wish I was out in the desert for this one though.

[trostol]

You might be able to catch a few.  Saw a few bright ones last nite, even with streetlamps nearby.  Wish I was out in the desert for this one though.

no..just checked outside..its cloudy lol

[trostol]

have 2 streams going..we'll see how that goes lol

[onan]

This should probably go in the annoy thread. I stayed up most of the night to watch the meteor shower. It was impressive, at times I was awed and then frustrated and bored at other times. I mean, not getting sleep, what was I thinking?

Why can't these meteor showers take place during the daytime, really?

[trostol]

This should probably go in the annoy thread. I stayed up most of the night to watch the meteor shower. It was impressive, at times I was awed and then frustrated and bored at other times. I mean, not getting sleep, what was I thinking?

Why can't these meteor showers take place during the daytime, really?

[onan]

My job is done here.

[Jackstar]

My job is done here.

Sweet. Have you read those twenty-eight pages yet? We could really use your wisdom, over in The Thunderdome, now that you're free.

[onan]

Sweet. Have you read those twenty-eight pages yet? We could really use your wisdom, over in The Thunderdome, now that you're free.

If you're pushing it, I tend to avoid it.

[zeebo]

...I stayed up most of the night to watch the meteor shower. It was impressive, at times I was awed and then frustrated and bored at other times. I mean, not getting sleep, what was I thinking?

I was up late too, but I was able to do it lazily at least - my bedroom window just happens to face directly towards Perseus so I watched and napped on-and-off for awhile.  I didn't see that many tbh, but I did see one great one that streaked across the sky like a rocket - made it worth it.  Still supposed to be some good ones over the next few nites btw, even though we passed the peak.

[Hog]

Ive seen a really good one every night except last night when it was cloudy.

peace
Hog

[Evil Twin Of Zen]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnos-Zh0ABs

[zeebo]

Pretty good article on the Fermi Paradox, a.k.a. "Where is everybody?"

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

From it grabbed this pic, which shows the field of stars we can see on the clearest, darkest nights, which is about 2500 out of ~100 billion.

[Agent : Orange]

Ahoy!

Big news coming on Monday about "surprising activity" on Europa...
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-hold-media-call-on-evidence-of-surprising-activity-on-europa

Cheers
AO

[WOTR]

Ahoy!

Big news coming on Monday about "surprising activity" on Europa...
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-hold-media-call-on-evidence-of-surprising-activity-on-europa

Cheers
AO

Mr Orange!  Good to see you.

A "subsurface ocean", eh?  Will it give BP a new place to drill once their offshore drilling platforms start coming up dry here on earth? 

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

This should probably go in the annoy thread. I stayed up most of the night to watch the meteor shower. It was impressive, at times I was awed and then frustrated and bored at other times. I mean, not getting sleep, what was I thinking?

Why can't these meteor showers take place during the daytime, really?

[Agent : Orange]

Mr Orange!  Good to see you.

A "subsurface ocean", eh?  Will it give BP a new place to drill once their offshore drilling platforms start coming up dry here on earth? 

haha

"Wow! A whole new ecosystem to fuck with!"

[Dr. MD MD]

Ahoy!

Big news coming on Monday about "surprising activity" on Europa...
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-hold-media-call-on-evidence-of-surprising-activity-on-europa

Cheers
AO

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURSâ€"EXCEPT EUROPA

http://2001.wikia.com/wiki/Europa

End Transmission

[Agent : Orange]

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURSâ€"EXCEPT EUROPA

http://2001.wikia.com/wiki/Europa

End Transmission

After Jupiter became a star, I think in the novel they referred to it as Lucifer afterward. That was always a creepy choice to me.

[Dr. MD MD]

After Jupiter became a star, I think in the novel they referred to it as Lucifer afterward. That was always a creepy choice to me.

Is it just a weird coincidence or did they have some inkling that this was the case about Europa back when 2001 was written?

[albrecht]

Rare "Black Moon" coming soon, and with it the assorted "end times" prophetic warnings.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/714924/Black-Moon-END-OF-THE-WORLD-JESUS-apocalypse

[zeebo]

New Chinese radio telescope is 195 meters wider than Arecibo.  Will be used for "observation of pulsars as well as exploration of interstellar molecules and interstellar communication signals ... and is so sensitive, in a test it detected radio waves from a pulsar 1,351 light-years away."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/25/495036700/china-completes-largest-radio-telescope-in-the-world

[zeebo]

Looks like we've got a new moon ocean to one day explore for space-shrimps.

A subsurface ocean lies deep within Saturn's moon Dione, according to new data from the Cassini mission to Saturn. Two other moons of Saturn, Titan and Enceladus, are already known to hide global oceans beneath their icy crusts, but a new study suggests an ocean exists on Dione as well. .... Dione's ocean has probably survived for the whole history of the moon, and thus offers a long-lived habitable zone for microbial life.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005131031.htm

[GravitySucks]

Looks like we've got a new moon ocean to one day explore for space-shrimps.

A subsurface ocean lies deep within Saturn's moon Dione, according to new data from the Cassini mission to Saturn. Two other moons of Saturn, Titan and Enceladus, are already known to hide global oceans beneath their icy crusts, but a new study suggests an ocean exists on Dione as well. .... Dione's ocean has probably survived for the whole history of the moon, and thus offers a long-lived habitable zone for microbial life.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005131031.htm

Hoagie's model will be changed to predict that very thing.

[zeebo]

A recent study shows that there are 10 to 20 times as many galaxies in the observable universe than previous estimates.  This raises the total to somewhere between one and two trillion galaxies, up from the previous best estimate of 100 billion.   

http://gizmodo.com/we-were-very-wrong-about-the-number-of-galaxies-in-the-1787750693

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013111709.htm

[trostol]

A recent study shows that there are 10 to 20 times as many galaxies in the observable universe than previous estimates.  This raises the total to somewhere between one and two trillion galaxies, up from the previous best estimate of 100 billion.   

http://gizmodo.com/we-were-very-wrong-about-the-number-of-galaxies-in-the-1787750693

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013111709.htm

and somewhere RCH is convinced there are libraries there 

[zeebo]

and somewhere RCH is convinced there are libraries there

well the odds did just go up   

[Dr. MD MD]

Is it just a weird coincidence or did they have some inkling that this was the case about Europa back when 2001 was written?

Just bumping my question. Seriously, does anyone know what known about Europa at the time of 2010's publication in 1982? Did they suspect water back then?

[onan]

Just bumping my question. Seriously, does anyone know what known about Europa at the time of 2010's publication in 1982? Did they suspect water back then?

Voyager passed over Europa in 1979, sending back photographs imaging rust colored cracks on the icy surface. That's about all I know without doing some specific searching.

[GravitySucks]

Voyager passed over Europa in 1979, sending back photographs imaging rust colored cracks on the icy surface. That's about all I know without doing some specific searching.

Look at my posts in the OSOM thread the night I hurt OstrichThief's feelings when he made claims about Hoagland being the origins of the ice on Europa. Or search expat and Philip Plait's blogs. I think astroguy might even have a multipart podcast. 

It starts around here:

Bullshit

http://www.space.com/19750-voyager-mission-jupiter-moon-europa-ocean.html