Funny you should mention this. Jack Newton is a well-known astronomer who us actully one of the founders of Arizona Sky Village.Originally Posted by Night Train
http://arizonaskyvillage.com/index.html
I''ve actually been communicating with him via email. Unfortunately all the plots are sold out right now.
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Wow, some of the greatest wonders in the universe pictured on this thread. Ojects of brilliance, so far away in space and time, it almost seems like a miracle. But;) an optician who can build a sundeck...THATS a miracle!
Big asteroid about to pass very close to earth: About as close as the moon.
Asteroid will reach its closest point to the earth on July 3.
Amateur astronomers will be watching.
For the complete MSNBC report:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13556129/
OptiBoard. Come for the optics, stay for the convo ...
Last edited by rinselberg; 06-26-2006 at 11:51 PM.
New telescope will hunt dangerous asteroids
22:45 27 June 2006
NewScientist.com news service
David Shiga
A new telescope designed to spot potentially dangerous asteroids has taken its first test images. When it is upgraded with the world's largest camera in 2007, it will be able to find space rocks as small as a few hundred metres wide.
The PS1 telescope is the first of four identical instruments in a project called the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). It boasts a 1.8-metre mirror and is located in Hawaii, US.
It is the first of a new generation of telescopes designed to find small asteroids and comets whose orbits bring them close to that of the Earth ...
For the complete New Scientist report:
http://www.newscientistspace.com/art...asteroids.html
To view a seven-minute Japanese video animation of an earth-asteroid collision:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JHdY...blog/index.php
In 1994, the spectacular collision between Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and the planet Jupiter raised global awareness of the potential threat from NEAs (Near Earth Asteroids) and comets.
The goal of the B612 Foundation is to develop and demonstrate a planetary defense capability against NEAs and (theoretically) comets.
One possibility that has come to the forefront is called a gravity tug.
Surprisingly simple in concept, the idea is to send a rocket to rendezvous with an asteroid after it is determined that the object is on a collision course with earth.
The rocket would not land on or directly impact the asteroid. After being positioned close to the asteroid, the rocket would use its onboard thrust capability to accelerate in a carefully calculated direction, dragging the asteroid away from its dangerous trajectory only by the force of gravity.
The force emitted by a gravity tug would be almost nothing, compared to the gravitational field of the earth, but it is calculated to be enough to steer a dangerous asteroid away from its collision course with earth.
Artist's conception: Gravity tug dragging an asteroid behind it.
Comets present a similar threat, but the parameters are very distinctive from asteroids, due to their long period orbits which close with the earth only about once every 200 years, on average.
The gas and dust trails ejected from a comet, called the comet's "tail", make its exact trajectory somewhat less predictable than an asteroid's.
This brief National Geographic report from 2003 assesses the distinctive collision threat posed by comets, vs. asteroids:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...28_comets.html
See why computing with those tedious, old-fashioned bits (binary digits) is becoming so 20th century ...
http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17515
Last edited by rinselberg; 07-03-2006 at 02:19 AM.
Im in huge envy of your huge telescope! Its a good deal for that price and im sure it provides hours of beautiful entertainment every night :) . I have always had an interest in astronomy - but doubt I could ever afford something like that.
Look into the Meade ETX scopes. Very good scopes with Goto capabilities for a decent price. I even see used ones available at roughly half price on craigslist.com sometimes.
http://meade.telescopes.com/products...ngs-31936.html
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Likely a silly question but does anyone rent telescopes? I've wondered about trying out astronomy but don't really want to put in the $ right off the bat.
Here's one:
Scopes4Rent, LLC
And here's a really interesting idea. You can rent time on a telescope in a New Mexico Observaroty and have the scope look at and photograpch specific objects, with the photos being sent to you:
Robotic Astronomy
However you first might to want to check out any astronomy clubs in your area. Almost all of these clubs have Public Star parties where you are welcome to come look through their scopes and ask questions. The Grand Canyon Star Party was a public event and I must have had 200 people look through my scope the first night there.
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Thanks for the info Steve!:cheers:
You might also want to check with the local universities, many have astronomy departments and would love to show you how.
Steve,
I have enjoyed looking through my telescope for several years now. Albeit a modest instrument compared to your behemeth, I'm so envious......... I have a 4.5" newtonian reflector. Not computerized either. I have a friend who has a Meade EXT 90 and of course asked me to teach them how to use it, I found I much preferred the challenge of finding objects without it. Some nights I'll loosen the RA and declination settings enough to "free float" around the sky. It's pretty amazing what you see with no particular object to identify.
I will never forget the night I found and saw so clearly the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebulae. I knew immediately I had found it!! The image of those 3 little baby stars are forever tatooed on my brain!! It was an eyegasmic experience........
I always look forward to viewing Jupiter and Saturn when they are visible at my latitude in No. CA. Welcome to the night sky and it's incredible stars.
The hole in the disc of matter in quasar Q0957+561 [nine billion light years from earth] could be the sign of an exotic compact object called a MECO (Artist's impression: Christine Pulliam/CfA)
Mysterious quasar casts doubt on black holes: A controversial alternative to black hole theory has been bolstered by observations of an object in the distant universe, researchers say. If their interpretation is correct, it might mean [that] black holes do not exist and are in fact bizarre and compact balls of plasma called MECOs ...
A black hole, as traditionally understood, is an object with such a powerful gravitational field that even light is not fast enough to escape it. Anything that gets within a certain distance of the black hole's centre, called the event horizon, will be trapped ...
A well accepted property of black holes is that they cannot sustain a magnetic field of their own. But observations of quasar Q0957+561 indicate that the object powering it does have a magnetic field ... For this reason, they believe that rather than a black hole, this quasar contains something called a magnetospheric eternally collapsing object - or "MECO". If so, it would be the best evidence yet for such an object.
The researchers used gravitational lensing to make their close observation of the distant quasar ...
http://www.newscientistspace.com/art...ack-holes.html
Make RadioFreeRinsel your next Internet port of call.
Last edited by rinselberg; 08-03-2006 at 08:14 AM.
Experts say there are about 1,100 comets and asteroids in the inner solar system that are at least a half-mile (one kilometer) across, and that any one of them could unleash a global cataclysm capable of killing millions of humans in a single blinding flash.
On Thursday, the International Astronomical Union said it has set up a special task force to sharpen its focus on threats from such “near-Earth objects.”
NASA - at the request of Congress - has also been considering the risks ...
For the complete MSNBC report:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14395543/
OptiBoard member rinselberg has posted previously on this topic under the post title B612 - the cure for (aste)roid rage?
Only you can prevent CPU fires
Updated: 11:39 a.m. PT Sept 3, 2006
DARMSTADT, Germany - Europe's first spacecraft to the moon ended its three-year mission Sunday with a planned crash, hitting its target after ground controllers had to maneuver it around a looming crater rim. The SMART-1 spacecraft slammed into a volcanic plain called the Lake of Excellence at 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) per second right on time. The impact was captured by observers on Earth, and scientists hoped the resulting cloud of dust and debris would provide clues to the geologic composition of the site.
SMART-1 was launched into Earth's orbit by an Ariane-5 booster rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, in September 2003. It used its ion engine to slowly raise its orbit over 14 months until the moon's gravity grabbed it. The engine, which uses electricity from the craft's solar panels to produce a stream of charged particles called ions, generates only small amounts of thrust but only needed 176 pounds (80 kilograms) of xenon fuel.
SMART-1, a cube measuring roughly a yard (meter) on each side, took the long way to the moon - more than 62 million miles (100 million kilometers) instead of the direct route of 217,000 to 250,000 miles (347,000 to 400,000 kilometers). But ESA did it for a relatively cheap $140 million.
In the image (above), the blue-colored traces show how SMART-1's ion engine was used to slowly raise the altitude of its orbit above the earth.
The green-colored traces show how the moon's gravity pulled SMART-1 into its final trajectory after the spacecraft reached a point about halfway between the moon and the earth.
For more:
Europe's first moon mission ends with a bang!
Revolutionary ion engine propels SMART-1 spacecraft to the moon
The "magic" of ion engines
Image editing courtesy of http://www.imageshack.us
Reprinted from Laramy-K Optical
Last edited by rinselberg; 09-04-2006 at 08:56 PM.
More on the SMART-1 lunar spacecraft's revolutionary ion engine propulsion system ... the MSNBC interactive slideshow (see below) is brief but informative and very well done - although I have to admit, the very last slide with the oppositely charged electrostatic grids - ? - my Physics 101 just ain't good enough anymore, if ever it was ...
Electrons attracted into the discharge chamber collide with xenon atoms from the propellant gas supply, making charged atoms (ions). Current-carrying coils, inside and outside the doughnut-shaped discharge chamber, sustain a magnetic field oriented like the spokes of a wheel. By the Hall effect, ions and electrons swerving in opposite directions in the magnetic field create an electric field. This expels the xenon ions in a propulsive jet. Other emitted electrons then neutralize the xenon, producing the blue jet.
Credit: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/obj...objectid=30533
Inside the Ion Engine - MSNBC interactive slideshow
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14622730/
SMART-1 Ion Engine - a "geek's eye" view ...
http://www.sflorg.com/technews/tn083106_01.html
rinselberg pays homage to Cadillac's "Art and Science" design philosophy. Click on the poster art for more about rinselberg™.
Last edited by rinselberg; 09-06-2006 at 09:15 PM.
There's another hurricane on the horizon. It's 5000 miles across. Winds are steady at about 350 miles per hour, so it's about Hurricane Force 800 or so ... and the cloud wall surrounding the eye is about five times as high as anyone has ever witnessed before.
But, fortunate to say, this storm is well outside of FEMA's jurisdiction ...
More than just a search for little green men
Last edited by rinselberg; 11-14-2006 at 11:18 PM.
Quote: I will never forget the night I found and saw so clearly the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebulae. I knew immediately I had found it!! The image of those 3 little baby stars are forever tatooed on my brain!! It was an eyegasmic experience........ Rockstargazer
Eyegasmic. How does one go about having an eyegasm? is it legal? Is it regulated by any regulatory boards for opticians? Do you need a prescription? Can one have multiple eyegasms, or just one? Can women have them, or is that a myth? Is it acceptable to have one, then say "goodnight honey" and roll over and go to sleep? Do you need a big telescope, or does size matter?
Please help.
Hi Dave,
You made me laugh when I read your post!! To answer your question about eyegasmic:
Eyegasmic. How does one go about having an eyegasm? An eyegasm happens when you look at something that is so incredibly beautiful it makes a permanent download in one's memory and cannot be deleted.
is it legal? Perfectly
Is it regulated by any regulatory boards for opticians? No
Do you need a prescription? No, but seeing 20/20 could be advantageous for the maximum eyegasmic experience.
Can one have multiple eyegasms, or just one? Multiples are more common than just one.
Can women have them, or is that a myth? Absolutely, no myth at all.
s it acceptable to have one, then say "goodnight honey" and roll over and go to sleep? That's a personal decision, as the old saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...."
Do you need a big telescope, or does size matter? Acutally one does not need a telescope at all, I've experienced eyegasms with the unaided eye.
Please help. Did this clarify things for you? ;)
Start watching around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Dec. 13th. The display will start small but grow in intensity as the night wears on. By Thursday morning, Dec. 14th, people in dark, rural areas could see one or two Geminids every minute.
By Joe Rao
Space.com skywatching columnist
Updated: 12:20 p.m. AKT Jan 19, 2007
Last week favorably placed observers viewed a comet so brilliant that it could be seen with the naked eye in broad daylight, when the sun was hidden behind the side of a house or even an outstretched hand.
Comet McNaught, which was discovered last August by astronomer Robert McNaught at Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory, was one of the brightest comets in recent times. It evolved into a brilliant object as it swept past the sun on Jan. 12, at a distance of just 15.9 million miles.
The comet's show is mostly over for those south of the equator.
Yet even as the comet puts on a fantastic show in the evening sky for viewer's in the Southern Hemisphere, an incredible sight is also visible to seasoned observers in the Northern Hemisphere. From Colorado, Mary Laszlo used a 20-second exposure to capture the outer extremities of Comet McNaught's tail on Jan. 17. Paul Robinson of Boulder was credited as having realized such an image might be possible ... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16710667/
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.
Robert McNaught, the Australian who discovered the comet that bears his name, finally got to photograph it this week when it became visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
The McNaught comet as seen early morning 19 January, 2007 from Pucon, Calafquen Lake sector, some 900 km (500 miles) south from Santiago, Chile. Photo: DAVID LILLO/AFP/Getty Images.
From Colorado, the outer extremities of Comet McNaught's tail on Jan. 17, 2007. Photo: Mary Laszlo.
When is a forum post more than just a forum post? See OptiBoard's Word of the Day!
I have been watching the McNaught comet from here in Australia. It's the best one I have ever seen.
ALL EYES TO THE SOUTH
Sirius above the southern horizon. This view is towards the southeast.
SKY MAP: For Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. from mid-northern latitudes (space.com).
Follow the line projected by Orion's belt (three closely spaced stars) to the southeast. It points to Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. But you can't see Sirius B, the companion star that orbits Sirius. Astronomers calculate that Sirius B is about the same mass as our sun, but packed into a volume that is 90,000 times smaller. If it were possible to bring a teaspoon-sized sample of Sirius B back to the earth and weigh it, it would register about two tons.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17191119/
"HIGH FIVE" FOR NASA
A Delta 2 rocket has launched from Cape Canaveral, boosting the five satellite THEMIS constellation into orbit. That's the largest number of satellites that NASA has ever launched all at once. In 2006, a joint venture between Taiwan and the National Science Foundation launched a constellation of six weather microsatellites on one rocket.
The THEMIS mission is to study powerful and dangerous geomagnetic storms that are generated periodically in the earth's magnetosphere.
Sources:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17206942/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16679845/
UPDATE ON ASTEROID THREAT
The AAAS briefed the media in San Francisco on the current status of near earth asteroids and the threats that they pose.
In 2005, Congress called on NASA to expand its sky survey of NEOs (Near Earth Objects). The new goal is to locate 90 percent of all NEOs that are 140 meters (460 feet) in diameter and up. A strike from even the smallest of these asteroids could devastate a region the size of England or Northern California. (Not that anyone in "Berserkly" would be likely to notice ...)
According to NASA's Doug Cooke, five NASA-supported search teams are currently involved in the first phase of the Spaceguard Survey.
In the next phase, NASA is considering plans to augment its current ground-based asteroid surveys, possibly with one or more space-based missions.
The B612 Foundation, which includes former astronauts Ed Lu and Russell Schweickart, favors the idea of using gravity - in the form of a space tractor - to deflect any asteroid on a collision course with earth and steer it safely around us.
Perhaps they could raise funds by selling T-shirts and other merchandise emblazoned with my proposal for a B612 marketing catch phrase:Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi.../16/58617.aspx"Visit an asteroid before an asteroid visits you ..."
More than just a search for little green men
Last edited by rinselberg; 02-19-2007 at 09:18 AM.
GRBs (gamma ray bursts) ... for a brief moment, from as little as a fraction of a second up to as long as 100 seconds, they're the most energetic disturbances in the entire universe, radiating as much energy as a million galaxies.
They're the biggest explosions in the universe since the Big Bang at the very beginning of time.
Since GRBs have only been observed at intergalactic distances, and since most of their energy is radiated as X-rays or gamma rays, we can't see them with our unaided eyes.
There's general agreement that GRBs are the "funeral rites" of dying stars and the "birth ceremonies" of black holes.
Astrophysicists are trying to unravel how these massive bursts of energy are radiated into space like back-to-back laser beams; i.e., two "pencil-thin" beams ("pencil-thin" in astrophysical terms) that radiate from each end of the dying star's rotational axis - its north and south poles.
Artist's rendering of a collapsing star as it explodes outward, triggering a GRB.
Credit: MSNBC.
One theory invokes the incredibly strong magnetic fields emanating from the burnt-out, collapsing star.
The other side of the theoretical coin emphasizes the massive, superheated fireball of gas that expands outward from the nearly used-up star.
There may be two kinds of GRBs - and so, both sides of the theoretical debate may prove to be valid.
Some scientists think that a GRB somewhat closer to the earth - as close, perhaps, as merely the "far side" of our own galaxy - triggered the second greatest mass extinction event in the history of life, some 450 million years ago: the Ordovician extinction.
For the latest on GRBs:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18398244/
[move][/move]
How the world's largest predatory fish phones home ...
Last edited by rinselberg; 05-03-2007 at 08:52 AM.
WOW! Beats the heck outta my old Gilbert 40X 3" reflector!!!
I have to admit my heart skipped a half beat when I saw the specs on that - I thought at first it sait UTMC coating.:D
DragonlensmanWV N.A.O.L.
"There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country."
I had a chance to work with a 14" Meade LX200 scope at the City of Rocks Observatory a couple of weeks ago. Thye have aske me to join thew National Public Observatories program as an occasional instructor at their star parties.
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