cRPG

Off Topic => General Off Topic => Topic started by: Vibe on December 22, 2015, 10:55:06 am

Title: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on December 22, 2015, 10:55:06 am
Why this thread? Well there's no muslims in space!

In all seriousness though:

SpaceX just managed to land a first stage rocket back to earth:


Quote
For anyone wondering what the real significance of this historic event is:

    Rockets cost about 50-100 Million dollars
    Propellant costs about 200,000 - 1 Million dollars

It currently costs about 2,500 dollar per pound of payload into LEO (Lower Earth Orbit) and SpaceX is the cheapest on the block

If you can reuse the rockets, this price can probably be brought down to one tenth of that (250 dollar per pound) which makes access to space tremendously cheap


As another topic, astrophotography is like porn to me.

A pic of a newborn star emmiting two jets in Herbig Haro 24 (Milky Way), taken from Hubble:
(click to show/hide)

Soul Nebula, a picture taken over 18 nights and 108 hours:
(click to show/hide)

Once you hear how much effort goes into making one of these pictures, you really start to appreciate it. I even considered getting a reflecting telescope myself (those are the wider ones meant for more deep space observation), but since reflecting telescopes depend much more on light than refracting, and I live in the capital city which is polluted with light... rip dream
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on December 22, 2015, 11:28:37 am
Astrophotography is fucking awesome. Light pollution is the devil, there are few things more awesome than a clear night sky with no light pollution. Soul Nebula's my new desktop background, good picture.

And just to be clear, the reason I like space is because of what you said: no muslims in space.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Molly on December 22, 2015, 11:44:19 am
From an engineering point of view:

THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!

I know, not the very first time this has been done but still massively impressive when you have the slightest idea of what kind of work and knowledge is involved.


Edit:
Just checked the pics. Elite even more impressive now :P
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on December 22, 2015, 11:52:03 am
Light pollution is the devil

You don't realize this until you've been so far out there where there's no light. Couple of years ago I was like half a day drive or even more away from civilization in Moroccan Sahara, you could see the disk shape of the milky way so clearly above you with your own eyes, I couldn't imagine that you could see it so clearly.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Butan on December 22, 2015, 01:06:44 pm
And just to be clear, the reason I like space is because of what you said: no muslims in space.


Well, SpaceX will fix that in due time.
And this day, I'll be like: how you like your space now Xant?  :lol:


For anyone wondering what the real significance of this historic event is:

    Rockets cost about 50-100 Million dollars
    Propellant costs about 200,000 - 1 Million dollars

It currently costs about 2,500 dollar per pound of payload into LEO (Lower Earth Orbit) and SpaceX is the cheapest on the block

If you can reuse the rockets, this price can probably be brought down to one tenth of that (250 dollar per pound) which makes access to space tremendously cheap


Helluva' news, I want me some space travel before I die.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: pogosan on December 22, 2015, 04:24:26 pm
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on December 22, 2015, 04:47:06 pm
I actually watched that live and found it hilariously exciting :oops:

But hell yeah, this will change everything.


You don't need ISS for space industry. It's great there was the ISS all this time where news on space travel where so scarce the last decades: And they did (and still do) massive important research and experiments there for space travel and related, but in the future ISS won't be crucial for space industry.



yeah Spacephotos! Pillars of creation, left finger is 40 trillion kilometers long (taken by Hubble):

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edit: I just found Gjnus in it!
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on December 22, 2015, 05:13:51 pm
There was a cosmos related thread, you know, before Molly and Vibe started playing Elite. Cba to dig it, started by Ninja Master Khorin methinks.

Astropornography is kewl, dem exposed nebulas are hard-on inducing, rings around ice giants pump me up and down, auroras on brown dwarfs cloud my mind just before final release and then... nothing happens. That's because I'm fucked up and no amount of sweet foreplay will ever me off. Space snuff only, namely this:

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Asheram on December 22, 2015, 05:28:05 pm
Finding that portal to hell in space is becoming a lot easier
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on December 22, 2015, 05:41:28 pm
There was a cosmos related thread, you know, before Molly and Vibe started playing Elite. Cba to dig it, started by Ninja Master Khorin methinks.

I've been jerking off to astrophotography way before that (I actually did browse for an existing thread regarding this but someone doesn't know what the cRPG forum thread naming code is, I guess)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Protemus on December 22, 2015, 05:41:56 pm
Thanks, I appreciate the epilepsy attack you gave me, many thanks once again
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on December 22, 2015, 07:14:20 pm
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Jambi on December 22, 2015, 09:01:28 pm
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on December 22, 2015, 09:04:26 pm
btw I recommend watching the whole thing, imo it's really tense.



Also I just want to mention there are also no guns in space (yet).
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on December 22, 2015, 09:22:26 pm
btw I recommend watching the whole thing, imo it's really tense.



Also I just want to mention there are also no guns in space (yet).
That'll be fixed soon enough.

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Even guns look better in space. Space without guns is like Russian without cyka.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on December 22, 2015, 09:30:08 pm
btw I recommend watching the whole thing, imo it's really tense.



Also I just want to mention there are also no guns in space (yet).

holy shit the hype in that place was unreal
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on December 23, 2015, 11:59:17 am
The scale to measure night sky brightness/light pollution is called the Bortle scale (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bortle_scale).

World map of light polluted areas:
(click to show/hide)

EU:
(click to show/hide)

NA:
(click to show/hide)


This picture of Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula was taken at a Bortle Class 1 site:
(click to show/hide)

tfw I can't even see Andromeda from my place ;_;
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on December 23, 2015, 12:11:41 pm
fml, I wish I lived in the undeveloped baltic states.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Jona on December 23, 2015, 07:25:01 pm
This thread was long overdue. One of my favorite vacations was to one of the lesser developed regions of Maine, seen as the only gray region in the northeast of this picture:

(click to show/hide)

While it was a really great vacation for several reasons, chief among them was that the local national park was open 24/7 so you could camp out on the summit of the tallest mountain on the east coast (not saying much, but it is right on the water, which is cool) overnight and just stargaze. It was the first time I ever actually saw the shape of the milky way. To top it off I went during the perseids meteor shower and it was quite a spectacular show to say the least. My only regret is not owning a quality camera that could have taken pictures of the night sky.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on December 24, 2015, 01:44:31 am
I've been to low light pollution zones in Spain several times, it's amazing how much you can see on a clear night.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 06, 2016, 10:43:05 pm
Sombrero Galaxy:

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überhigh resolution version (or click on the above image): http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2003-28-a-full_jpg.jpg

If you noticed there's 2 galaxies together at the bottom, they're called USNOA2 0750-07913885 and USNOA2 0750-07913859:
http://server6.sky-map.org/starview?object_type=1&object_id=746111363
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: [ptx] on January 06, 2016, 11:01:03 pm
I'm absolutely fascinated by quasars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasar). Imagine living in a galaxy with a quasar at the center...
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 06, 2016, 11:06:36 pm
If you noticed there's 2 galaxies together at the bottom, they're called USNOA2 0750-07913885 and USNOA2 0750-07913859:
Just rolls off the tongue, if I ever have kids I'll name them that.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Molly on January 07, 2016, 09:20:21 am
when you look at the Sombrero, you see a bunch of little dots around, figuring them to be stars...


...but when looking at the big picture, they turn out to be their own galaxies. Astonishing.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Prpavi on January 07, 2016, 10:55:49 am
.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Prpavi on January 07, 2016, 11:00:43 am
Light polution is a bitch, I don't see even one star most of the time... Though there is an observatory higher up in the city, the have open doors night 2 nights a week and enterance is free, it's quite a trip,on a clear night, seeing Saturn and his rings just "standing" there so car away is a truly remarkable experience.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Sir_Hans on January 07, 2016, 11:55:26 am
...but when looking at the big picture, they turn out to be their own galaxies. Astonishing.

Yep and it's why I'm convinced that there is some sort of intelligent life out there. (not saying we have been visited/contacted by aliens, I'm just saying it's most likely out there... Somewhere).
I find it much harder to believe that we are the only intelligent life out there and a big part of this is due to images taken by hubble telescope and pondering just how big existence really is.

Take a very tiny portion of the nights sky, a seemingly empty spot of darkness inbetween the stars visible to the naked eye and there is a countless number of galaxies just in that tiny little frame alone.
(click to show/hide)
(click to show/hide)


And this view is still limited by our technology if we were able to zoom even further into space, between (or more accurately behind) the galaxies visible on our most detailed images taken by hubble we will find an even more countless number of galaxies.

Can't wait for James Webb Space Telescope to launch in 2018!!! <3

It's amazing what humans can accomplish when we aren't preoccupied with killing eachother or amassing wealth/power.

PS: If you ever come to hawai'i make a trip to the Big Island (island of Hawai'i) and go to the summit of Mauna Kea (4205m) for some of the best stargazing you will ever see in your entire life. You will need a 4wd vehicle or there are plenty of tour companies with offer trips up to the summit to see the sunset and then stargazing (or stargazing and then the sunrise) for around $100-$200.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 07, 2016, 09:00:12 pm
The question of whether we are alone in the universe has little practical implications. Whether we are alone in the galaxy is a bit more interesting, and I'd be tempted to say we are probably not alone in the galaxy, still. Out of a few thousand, we already know of a couple planets with potential liquid water. There are a couple hundred billion star systems in the galaxy, more than one hundred billion planets.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Sir_Hans on January 07, 2016, 09:42:24 pm
The question of whether we are alone in the universe has little practical implications. Whether we are alone in the galaxy is a bit more interesting, and I'd be tempted to say we are probably not alone in the galaxy, still. Out of a few thousand, we already know of a couple planets with potential liquid water. There are a couple hundred billion star systems in the galaxy, more than one hundred billion planets.

I would agree there's probably life in our galaxy though, I just choose to ponder about all existence because for me it leaves little doubt simply because the number of solar systems in existence is so mind boggling'ly great.... the number of solar systems goes from 200,000,000,000ish in our own galaxy to something like 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 solar systems in existence simply just making it more probable if were pondering the existence of intelligent life.

I don't see any practical implications of pondering the existence of life in our galaxy vs life in existence... a neighboring star system and a neighboring galaxy are both well out of reach of us humans. Even our fastest space probe we could build today would probably take more time to reach alpha centauri than the amount of time humans have inhabited the earth so far.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 07, 2016, 09:47:01 pm
Yes, but with the caveat: "with our current technology." Remember, a hundred years ago the mere idea of flying to the moon would have seemed completely bonkers.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 07, 2016, 10:10:42 pm
Yep and it's why I'm convinced that there is some sort of intelligent life out there. (not saying we have been visited/contacted by aliens, I'm just saying it's most likely out there... Somewhere).
I find it much harder to believe that we are the only intelligent life out there and a big part of this is due to images taken by hubble telescope and pondering just how big existence really is.

Yes, but the problem is that the earth is relatively young. That intelligent life had billions in advance, they ought to be here by now. Look up Fermi Paradox. Somewhere has to be a filter.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Sir_Hans on January 07, 2016, 10:15:02 pm
Yes, but with the caveat: "with our current technology." Remember, a hundred years ago the mere idea of flying to the moon would have seemed completely bonkers.

Right but if were talking about those kinds of what if's...

If one could argue that its probable we will reach a breakthrough in science/technology to allow us to travel to neighboring solar systems... Then one could just as easily argue that we will most likely reach a breakthrough in science/technology to allow us to travel to neighboring galaxies as well even if it was further down the road in our progression.

Say we made a breakthrough tomorrow to allow us to travel back and fourth to a neighboring solar system... Next, some people would be dreaming of traveling to a neighboring galaxy. Words of the skeptics would be met with a similar line "Remember, X years ago the mere idea of flying to a neighboring solar system would have seemed completely bonkers."...

This is all opinion/speculation but to me travelling to nearby alpha centaur is just as plausible/implausible as travelling to a nearby galaxy. I don't see any practical applications life in our galaxy would have over life in another galaxy even if the distances in each scenario differs greatly.

Yes, but the problem is that the earth is relatively young. That intelligent life had billions in advance, they ought to be here by now. Look up Fermi Paradox. Somewhere has to be a filter.

I'm familiar with the Fermi Paradox, and there are multiple reasons, one could speculate, that we would not be aware of a super advanced race of space travelers from another galaxy.
For example: Maybe it is just scientifically impossible to traverse those types of distances in any type of realistic time frame and scientifically impossible to send information back to the origin in any realistic time frame... If that were the case even the most advanced race of intelligent beings would be limited to sending probes to specific locations and maybe the amount of probes they would be able to send limited by the resources on their planet and nearby planets would still have a very very tiny chance of reaching our solar system... Or better yet: Maybe an advanced race of intelligent beings has knowledge of life on earth but is in a galactic pact/agreement that they are not allowed to interfere with primitives like us on earth??? I mean if humans came across primitive intelligent life many would be saying that we should not interfere with them and simply observe for fear of what implications contact would have on their societies.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 07, 2016, 10:59:54 pm
Like I've mentioned before, I don't think the Fermi paradox is that big of a mystery. There is such a narrow eye of a needle that has to be threaded for a technologically advanced civilization to arise that it's not that shocking to me we haven't seen "anyone else" out there. Life? Life almost certainly exists somewhere else, probably even relatively close to Earth, but that's a far cry from an intelligent and technological civilization. And evolution is full of "dead ends" even for sentient, intelligent species: even if dolphins were as smart as humans, their ability to manipulate objects is too limited to allow them to make space rockets. If you think about it, humans are creepily well suited to be an "advanced civilization", tool-users and makers that are naked without tools but with "clans" that allow them to have generations long memory and other humans to help with projects, etc.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 07, 2016, 11:28:46 pm
Like I've mentioned before, I don't think the Fermi paradox is that big of a mystery. There is such a narrow eye of a needle that has to be threaded for a technologically advanced civilization to arise that it's not that shocking to me we haven't seen "anyone else" out there. Life? Life almost certainly exists somewhere else, probably even relatively close to Earth, but that's a far cry from an intelligent and technological civilization. And evolution is full of "dead ends" even for sentient, intelligent species: even if dolphins were as smart as humans, their ability to manipulate objects is too limited to allow them to make space rockets. If you think about it, humans are creepily well suited to be an "advanced civilization", tool-users and makers that are naked without tools but with "clans" that allow them to have generations long memory and other humans to help with projects, etc.

Agreed, I always thought the critical thing is what happened to us to become self-conscious. Somehow this seems to be extremely unlikely to happen.

Also I never thought the Fermi paradox to be shocking, but I think it is an extremely convincing thought. There are way too many earth-like planets existing billions of years before earth. And if there has been any kind of intelligent life comparable to humans they must be either extinct or all over the place.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 08, 2016, 03:17:38 am
Throughout the whole history of evolution on Earth, intelligence has always increased with time in every species. "self-consciousness", whatever that means, is merely a product of a dense brain. There is no reason to believe life on an earth-like planet does not converge towards one or more species becoming civilized, bar specific environments. Maybe one in two planets with life ends up with engineers, that doesn't make a huge difference at all.

Yes, but with the caveat: "with our current technology." Remember, a hundred years ago the mere idea of flying to the moon would have seemed completely bonkers.

Our current knowledge of the world also rules out a lot of the stuff that can be imagined in science-fiction. Regardless, the problem of the Fermi Paradox isn't even travel. It's communication. We've been sending sending very specific radio signals into the void for years now, and listening too. Yet we haven't found aliens doing the same thing.

To me, that leads to the conclusion that civilizations enter the era of radio communications and then somehow quit it later down the line. Either because all civilizations collapse brutally, or because the aliens completely lose interest in meeting other aliens, which is an amusing thought. Maybe self-awareness and technological comfort naturally leads to the pursuit of hedonism, neglecting the interests of the tribe. What if the last alien died on drugs? Even more weirdly, what if all alien civilizations avoid deliberately broadcasting easily interpreted messages, because they are too scared of what and who would find them? Note that this is basically the situation we're in. As it stands, aliens would have to live in our backyard to find our TV signals with technology comparable to what we have to find theirs.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 08, 2016, 05:54:36 am
"self-consciousness", whatever that means, is merely a product of a dense brain.
Source?

There is no reason to believe life on an earth-like planet does not converge towards one or more species becoming civilized, bar specific environments.
There's no reason to believe life on an earth-like planet converges toward one or more species becoming civilized, either...

Our current knowledge of the world also rules out a lot of the stuff that can be imagined in science-fiction. Regardless, the problem of the Fermi Paradox isn't even travel. It's communication. We've been sending sending very specific radio signals into the void for years now, and listening too. Yet we haven't found aliens doing the same thing.
I wasn't, and I don't think Hans was either, discussing the Fermi Paradox when talking about space travel. Separate issues.

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 09, 2016, 12:04:45 am
Source?

Evidence in earth species that we consider to be "self-conscious".

There's no reason to believe life on an earth-like planet converges toward one or more species becoming civilized, either...

We are the evidence. Other chimps are even better evidence. Even those spoiled by nature have steadily developed their intelligence.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 09, 2016, 12:47:27 am
Evidence in earth species that we consider to be "self-conscious".
That's not a source.

Quote
We are the evidence. Other chimps are even better evidence. Even those spoiled by nature have steadily developed their intelligence.
One evolutionary path is not evidence that all evolutionary paths converge toward something...
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 10, 2016, 01:00:05 am
At next spacex launch currently scheduled on the 17th they will try to land again on their drone ship. Let's see how many rockets they can get back safely this year...
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 10, 2016, 02:19:26 pm
Lagoon Nebula:
(click to show/hide)

NGC 1300 (barred spiral galaxy):
(click to show/hide)

Huge resolution: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1601/ngc1300_hst_6637.jpg
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Molly on January 10, 2016, 03:16:38 pm
I can just repeat myself. Seeing a picture of a galaxy and then discovering in the background even more galaxies is kinda mind blowing.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 12, 2016, 08:12:04 pm
For all that we have done, as a civilization, as individuals, the universe is not stable, and nor is any single thing within it. Stars consume themselves, the universe itself rushes apart, and we ourselves are composed of matter in constant flux. Colonies of cells in temporary alliance, replicating and decaying and housed within, an incandescent cloud of electrical impulse and precariously stacked carbon code memory. This is reality, this is self knowledge, and the perception of it will, of course, make you dizzy.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on January 13, 2016, 01:05:08 am
http://www.sciencealert.com/rumours-fly-as-physicists-hint-at-the-first-ever-observations-of-gravitational-waves
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 18, 2016, 02:03:05 pm

I wonder what it will be to play drums on mars, probably you'd need much heavier sticks to make use of any rebound. Also I wonder how big the differences in sound are and if you will just get accustomed fast so it will be 'normal' again.  :P
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 19, 2016, 12:46:51 am

so close :)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 19, 2016, 12:36:48 pm
Very close indeed.

Here's the proposed solution to this problem:

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 19, 2016, 02:02:53 pm
 :D

apparently it was ice accumulating from dense fog that prohibited the proper locking of the leg.  :rolleyes: Kinda funny when you think of all the possibilities of what could go wrong and the enormous complexity of landing this huge cigar vertically at the right velocity on a moving ship in unideal weather conditions.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 19, 2016, 02:16:51 pm
I was surprised the thing bursted in fire so hard after crashing, too much spare fuel I guess?
Also what's the value in landing on a barge? Shorter return path or what?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 19, 2016, 08:54:06 pm
Also what's the value in landing on a barge? Shorter return path or what?

Yeah, return path is more adaptable to each mission most guess. Also you need a special permission to land on land which they didn't get in this case. I didn't read any official statement, though. But more flexibility in general and thus don't waste extra fuel makes sense.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 19, 2016, 09:33:05 pm
I was surprised the thing bursted in fire so hard after crashing, too much spare fuel I guess?
Also what's the value in landing on a barge? Shorter return path or what?
Saw some speculation that it was a controlled demolition, dunno why they'd do that though.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 20, 2016, 10:38:33 pm

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on January 22, 2016, 02:45:24 pm
https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2016/01/21/spacex-tests-superdraco-descent-landing-capability/

fanboy here I admit  :oops: Can't help it though, the stuff Elons companies produce is just fucking great. And sci-fi today. I mean, how lame is it anyway that the only way astronauts get back to earth is still by parachuting into the sea?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 25, 2016, 09:01:23 am
Somewhat old but pretty cool video of a rocket with an oboard camera.

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 26, 2016, 11:53:26 pm
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) getting it's 17th mirror (out of 18) placed. Launched planned for 2018. JWST is the successor to Hubble Space Telescope and should enable us to see some seriously distant objects.

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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 27, 2016, 07:24:49 am
"see"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on January 27, 2016, 08:44:34 am
"see"

observe then?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 27, 2016, 08:45:03 am
"distant"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Paul on January 27, 2016, 09:16:53 am
"us"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 27, 2016, 07:16:58 pm
This thread is heading straight towards glory.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: [ptx] on January 27, 2016, 07:26:27 pm
"glory"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Molly on January 27, 2016, 08:10:50 pm
"thread"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on January 27, 2016, 08:21:09 pm
"vehicule"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on January 27, 2016, 08:46:18 pm
"english"
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Asheram on January 27, 2016, 09:19:12 pm
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Krave on January 27, 2016, 09:52:57 pm
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Krave spotted
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 02, 2016, 02:40:48 pm
Some cool shit found on the webs

Where the elements come from
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Gif of two orbiting stars - Beta Lyrae system - orbiting period 12.94 days (http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/592146/meta):
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 11, 2016, 04:50:30 pm
Einstein's gravitational waves found by the LIGO experiment (http://www.nature.com/news/einstein-s-gravitational-waves-found-at-last-1.19361)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on February 11, 2016, 07:36:13 pm
I thought this was a nice article as well about it: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/gravitational-waves-exist-heres-how-scientists-finally-found-them

Einstein so pro, unbelievable.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on February 23, 2016, 09:04:06 pm

nothing new, but nice little videos.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gmnotutoo on February 24, 2016, 02:01:16 am
I believe in my heart they exist.

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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Asheram on February 24, 2016, 02:07:00 am
I believe in my heart they exist.

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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on February 24, 2016, 08:42:06 am
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 26, 2016, 12:00:27 am
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on February 26, 2016, 03:09:46 pm
Science!
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on February 26, 2016, 03:12:55 pm
I wonder though, for how long has this experiment been running? If we've been listening for months and we only get something that matches now, does that frequency of detection actually match what we would expect, knowing the expected frequency of the events that could trigger the system?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 26, 2016, 04:48:21 pm
I wonder though, for how long has this experiment been running? If we've been listening for months and we only get something that matches now, does that frequency of detection actually match what we would expect, knowing the expected frequency of the events that could trigger the system?

It's been running for years. They detected now because they improved the technology/machinery, from what I heard. They're planning to improve it even more, increasing the range of detection.
Initial LIGO operations between 2002 and 2010 did not detect any gravitational waves. In 2004, under Barish, the funding and groundwork were laid for the next phase of LIGO development (called "Enhanced LIGO"). This was followed by a multi-year shut-down while the detectors were replaced by much improved "Advanced LIGO" versions.[23] Much of the research and development work for the LIGO/aLIGO machines was based on pioneering work for the GEO600 detector at Hannover, Germany.[24][25][26] By February 2015, the detectors were brought into engineering mode in both locations

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Apparently they also did fake signals here and there to see if the scientists at LIGO could differentiate between the real thing and the fake one. I belive they also knew the two black holes would merge based on surrounding cosmic objects. So if I understand correctly, they heard it first then they also detected it with the lasers.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on February 26, 2016, 04:57:36 pm
I wonder though, for how long has this experiment been running? If we've been listening for months and we only get something that matches now, does that frequency of detection actually match what we would expect, knowing the expected frequency of the events that could trigger the system?

As far as I remember we can expect much more frequent detections and there may have been other g-waves detected since the one from last year. They only have been so busy proofing that the one was nearly 100% certainly true. Also like Vibe said since February LIGO is shut down to make further improvements, I guess there will be much more frequent detections with further improvements and better understanding of this complete new way of 'perception'.


cool other topic:


http://www.universetoday.com/127527/nasa-thinks-theres-a-way-to-get-to-mars-in-3-days/
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on February 26, 2016, 05:19:12 pm
Well, if we matched the detection to an actual, defined event then my point is moot.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 26, 2016, 07:18:13 pm
Well, if we matched the detection to an actual, defined event then my point is moot.

What do you mean by actual, defined event? Something that we can observe or what?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on February 28, 2016, 07:18:02 pm
Something like "this binary system right there".
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on February 29, 2016, 04:18:04 pm
Something like "this binary system right there".

Kinda hard to point at something you don't see. But apparently they need another facility in Europe to triangulate to the source location (distance between the two in US not far enough? dunno), then we can point and say 'right there'.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on February 29, 2016, 11:02:04 pm
Kinda hard to point at something you don't see. But apparently they need another facility in Europe to triangulate to the source location (distance between the two in US not far enough? dunno), then we can point and say 'right there'.

That I can easily understand. There's "tri" in triangulate. Finding the origin from two points is going to leave you with a whole surface. Some sort of funny two-sheeted hyperboloid where a section would look like when you put this into wolfram alpha: ((x - 5)^2 + y^2)^(1/2) -  (x^2 + y^2)^(1/2) = 1. You need a third origin to further pinpoint the location of the source, and then on the top of my mind you will still have a whole curve of possibilities until you add a fourth point.

That at least is true if we start from the assumption that we only know the distance between the experiments and not the distance to the thing being detected. If we do it's merely a trilateration.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on March 01, 2016, 09:05:27 am
That I can easily understand. There's "tri" in triangulate. Finding the origin from two points is going to leave you with a whole surface. Some sort of funny two-sheeted hyperboloid where a section would look like when you put this into wolfram alpha: ((x - 5)^2 + y^2)^(1/2) -  (x^2 + y^2)^(1/2) = 1. You need a third origin to further pinpoint the location of the source, and then on the top of my mind you will still have a whole curve of possibilities until you add a fourth point.

That at least is true if we start from the assumption that we only know the distance between the experiments and not the distance to the thing being detected. If we do it's merely a trilateration.

Actually the "tri" in triangulate comes from earth's position relative to the sun, at least when it comes to measuring distances to stars.

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I don't know how it's going to work in this case though, since we're not using light to determine location. Might be that the gravity waves change much faster than 6 months it takes for earth to get into correct position - in fact I have no idea how fast that black hole merger was.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Kafein on March 01, 2016, 07:02:17 pm
Actually the "tri" in triangulate comes from earth's position relative to the sun, at least when it comes to measuring distances to stars.

That's not where the tri comes from. The problem of finding the distance to a star is completely different. You know what the direction to the star is, you simply don't know how far it is. In the case of this experiment, I'm not even convinced we know where to look, and that's the problem I was trying to formulate.

The experiment on gravitational waves relies on very tight temporal constraints that do not exist when you want to know the distance to a star. And if we try to look at a recurring event with the same device, you'd have to figure out what to listen to, 6 months later. My understanding is that we roughly know how a binary system sounds like, but I don't think we can tell them apart. For that you need to at least have an idea of where it is when you do the experiment at a given time.

It's very similar to how your brain has to take two audio inputs and figure out where the sounds are coming from. To achieve this you need to be able to categorize the sounds first and infer the position for every sound separately afterwards.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on March 06, 2016, 11:03:40 pm
Only watched it partially, but it's nice because it reminds you what it actually means to get into GEO. Good job on the coverage with those nice animations and informations their giving.

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on April 09, 2016, 10:18:12 am

Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on April 13, 2016, 10:19:29 am
I know always the same topic, but those are some damn nice pictures imo:

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(click to view more) (https://flic.kr/p/FhNjoh)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on April 18, 2016, 08:33:08 am
Spider Nebula
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gmnotutoo on April 18, 2016, 05:48:12 pm
What are everyone's personal thoughts on what happens involving a blackhole? I'm curious to what other people think about this because there a lot of possibilities.

I'm under the impression that either every black-hole contains it's own universe or they are actually stars, just really tiny heavy ones condensed into a single point.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on April 18, 2016, 06:03:33 pm
Dunno about black holes containing whole universe(s) but latest theory from Stephen Hawking says something along lines that matter black holes "regurgitate" could contain information about history of our universe.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-black-hole-hairs-information-problem-a6819986.html

Apparently, some matter does leave the black hole and information it carries is "encrypted" (randomized, all over the place) or in other ways currently useless for us. My personal belief is that same thing happens with our conscience/mind&soul when we die. Energy transforms but is information it carries truly lost? Maybe there are ways to fix the glass after it shatters, to go back in time? It would render basic laws of physics useless but isn't that we all desire? Anyway, black holes are best thing in universe to research if you want to find out is our knowledge about universe set in stone or just subset of bigger knowledge bank that governs our and maybe many more universes. Problem is, we have no means to directly experiment on black holes. For the time being.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gmnotutoo on April 18, 2016, 06:09:04 pm
Dunno about black holes containing whole universe(s) but latest theory from Stephen Hawking says something along lines that matter black holes "regurgitate" could contain information about history of our universe.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-black-hole-hairs-information-problem-a6819986.html

Apparently, some matter does leave the black hole and information it carries is "encrypted" (randomized, all over the place) or in other ways currently useless for us. My personal belief is that same thing happens with our conscience/mind&soul when we die. Energy transforms but is information it carries truly lost? Maybe there are ways to fix the glass after it shatters, to go back in time? It would render basic laws of physics useless but isn't that we all desire? Anyway, black holes are best thing in universe to research if you want to find out is our knowledge about universe set in stone or just subset of bigger knowledge bank that governs our and maybe many more universes. Problem is, we have no means to directly experiment on black holes. For the time being.

The theory involves hawking radiation and kind of implies that they are actually a star. After trillions of years they expend all their energy and die, then the universe becomes a crazy fucking place. Eventually it gets to a point where the laws of physics as we know them no longer exist and we have no idea what could actually happen. There even could be a big crunch and the universe restarts all over again, in which case I'll be making this post again in an uncountable amount of years. :P
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on April 18, 2016, 06:13:12 pm
Stars are just definition of celestial object type. Saying black hole is a star means nothing. It all about properties of those celestial objects. Stars don't have same properties as black hole.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gmnotutoo on April 18, 2016, 06:17:20 pm
Stars are just definition of celestial object type. Saying black hole is a star means nothing. It all about properties of those celestial objects. Stars don't have same properties as black hole.

It isn't a traditional star but it would be on the Planck scale, so the theory simply named it a Planck Star because it is easier to understand that way.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: WITCHCRAFT on April 18, 2016, 07:22:28 pm
Also I just want to mention there are also no guns in space (yet).

nope

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Quote
The TP-82 pistol (Russian: ТП-82) was a triple-barreled Soviet firearm that was carried by cosmonauts on space missions.

It was intended as a survival aid to be used after landings and before recovery in the Siberian wilderness. The upper two smoothbore barrels used 12.5×70 mm ammunition (40 gauge), and the lower rifled barrel used 5.45×39mm ammunition. The pistol could be used for hunting, to defend against predators and for visible and audible distress signals. The detachable buttstock was also a machete that came with a canvas sheath.

That could not be used in space though, since it was a regular gun. Due to reduced/no gravity, black powder weapons do not function properly. Traditional firearms would rip Cold War era ships up real bad and then everyone onboard would die. So it's not really a space gun. But this next one is:

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A prototype that was never finished, it's a Soviet laser pistol, designed in 1984. It did not use a battery to produce a laser like modern day laser pointers. Instead, it had a magazine with 8 flashbulbs (yes, like the flashbulb on a camera) as ammunition. The light from the flashbulb was focused inside the gun to create a laser beam. Looking these up I just found out that one of the Soviet space stations had a gun turret mounted to it as well.

Quote
The Salyut 3, although called a "civilian" station, was equipped with a "self-defence" gun which had been designed for use aboard the station, and whose design is attributed to Nudelman.[1] Some accounts claim the station was equipped with a Nudelman-Rikhter "Vulkan" gun, which was a variant of the 23 mm Nudelmann aircraft cannon, or possibly a Nudelmann NR-30 30 mm gun.[12] Later Russian sources indicate that the gun was the virtually unknown (in the West) Rikhter R-23.[13] These claims have reportedly been verified by Pavel Popovich, who had visited the station in orbit, as commander of Soyuz 14.[12] Due to potential shaking of the station, in-orbit tests of the weapon with cosmonauts in the station were ruled out.[1] The gun was fixed to the station in such a way that the only way to aim would have been to change the orientation of the entire station.[1][12] Following the last manned mission to the station, the gun was commanded by the ground to be fired; some sources say it was fired to depletion,[12] while other sources say three test firings took place during the Salyut 3 mission.[1]
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on April 18, 2016, 07:41:13 pm
...Due to reduced/no gravity, black powder weapons do not function properly....

You misunderstood something. People believe guns do not work in space because of vacuum, has nothing to do with gravity. Zero gravity certainly helps, because bullet would go on forever, until it hits an object large enough which has its own gravity. That would bring the bullet down.

Modern guns do not need oxygen to properly work, gunpowder they use has everything it takes to fire a bullet (propellant and oxidizer). Biggest issue is how to keep pipes lubricated, because oil won't stay in the pipe like it does on planet Earth.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Xant on April 18, 2016, 07:45:14 pm
My personal belief is that same thing happens with our conscience/mind&soul when we die. Energy transforms but is information it carries truly lost?
Yes.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: WITCHCRAFT on April 18, 2016, 08:05:35 pm
You misunderstood something. People believe guns do not work in space because of vacuum, has nothing to do with gravity. Zero gravity certainly helps, because bullet would go on forever, until it hits an object large enough which has its own gravity. That would bring the bullet down.

Modern guns do not need oxygen to properly work, gunpowder they use has everything it takes to fire a bullet (propellant and oxidizer). Biggest issue is how to keep pipes lubricated, because oil won't stay in the pipe like it does on planet Earth.

You're right, I remembered wrong. The reason traditional firearms were not good for cold war space combat is that missed or ricocheting shots could destroy the ship. Put a hole in the hull, break vital equipment, puncture fuel cells, etc. The laser gun was supposed to be a safe alternative, for when you get boarded by enemy astronauts.

The Cold War was fucked up.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gurgumul on April 18, 2016, 08:20:18 pm
Yes.
No.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Paul on April 19, 2016, 06:51:48 am
You misunderstood something. People believe guns do not work in space because of vacuum, has nothing to do with gravity. Zero gravity certainly helps, because bullet would go on forever, until it hits an object large enough which has its own gravity. That would bring the bullet down.

Modern guns do not need oxygen to properly work, gunpowder they use has everything it takes to fire a bullet (propellant and oxidizer). Biggest issue is how to keep pipes lubricated, because oil won't stay in the pipe like it does on planet Earth.

Also heat transfer is a problem - at least for automatic weapons.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on April 19, 2016, 10:13:12 pm

A shame it's so short.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on May 27, 2016, 11:51:48 pm
aand, rocket number 4 landed. Looks like they really got the hang of it...
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Golem on May 28, 2016, 02:15:51 am
Biggest issue is how to keep pipes lubricated, because oil won't stay iizer). n the pipe like it does on planet Earth.

Would that be a problem, since there is almost no friction in space?
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Gurgumul on May 28, 2016, 02:39:17 am
Would that be a problem, since there is almost no friction in space?
There is no air friction in space because there is no air in space. All other friction stays the same, so metal on metal is still undesirable. Temperature might be an issue though. One side of the gun gets heated up by direct sunlight, and the other radiates the heat away, so there could be a great difference in different parts' temperatures. Metals expand when hot and contract when cold, and that leads to problems like gas escaping between the bullet and barrel or too tight fitting between them, which can explode the gun. You get much faster overall wear, especially without lubrication. Try draining a car engine's oil, starting it at -50C and flooring the gas pedal. This is the same scenario, but much worse.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on May 28, 2016, 12:06:53 pm
https://gfycat.com/UnknownAthleticArcticwolf camera on the last spacex rocket

Cat's Eye nebula
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Surface of Europa
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: The_Bloody_Nine on June 29, 2016, 01:20:18 pm
Amazing short with sounds and footage from the voyager missions. I somehow had to shed some tears.  :D

https://vimeo.com/171954101



Also Skyrocket Galaxy:

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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on August 11, 2016, 12:12:52 pm
Colliding Galaxies in Stephans Quintet:

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Will either of these galaxies survive? In what might be dubbed as a semi-final round in a galactic elimination tournament, the two spirals of NGC 7318 are colliding. The featured picture was created from images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. When galaxies crash into each other, many things may happen including gravitational distortion, gas condensing to produce new episodes of star formation, and ultimately the two galaxies combining into one. Since these two galaxies are part of Stephan's Quintet, a final round of battling galaxies will likely occur over the next few billion years with the eventual result of many scattered stars and one large galaxy. Quite possibly, the remaining galaxy will not be easily identified with any of its initial galactic components. Stephan's Quintet was the first identified galaxy group, lies about 300 million light years away, and is visible through a moderately-sized telescope toward the constellation of the Winged Horse (Pegasus).
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Ikarus on August 11, 2016, 02:05:34 pm
(click to show/hide)

Even guns look better in space. Space without guns is like Russian without cyka.

They look better if they keep at least a bit close to realism and/or plausibility. Bolters look like nerf-guns to me
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Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Admerius on August 11, 2016, 04:03:52 pm

Rosetta mission:
Warning: full docu 44min long

On Planet earth: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834451/Philae-comet-probe-scientist-embroiled-sexism-row-shirt-featuring-scantily-clad-women.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2834451/Philae-comet-probe-scientist-embroiled-sexism-row-shirt-featuring-scantily-clad-women.html)
...
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: chaosegg on August 11, 2016, 05:42:16 pm
Elon Musk for ruler of the world please.

And let's replace ocean and ground transport with airships powered by green, pollution-free technology (kite sails and solar panels anyone? eh? eh?).
You're welcome for the idea Elon and whoever... I don't need any money, just get rid of all these roads and allow me to eat seafood again; let nature regenerate.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Leshma on August 11, 2016, 08:17:11 pm
I have an idea to buy this neighborhood I'm living in, build some temporary homes on other site not too far from here, to move residents. Trash these commie buildings, wreck roads. Build those transportation tubes Elon is working on, both underground and on the surface. Create a ton of green areas in between, ton of little hills that will operate as small houses (hobbiton). Then build a huge white city on top of that made of some sort  of ceramic compound above connected with stairs and elevators, just like Anor Londo. With few green islands in between, flying in the air (magnetism and other tricks). Introduce flying bikes as inter building way of transportation. Will claim it our land and secede from the rest of what is surrounding us, offering them free membership and expansion on our terms (you have to become like us in order to join).

However, I'm short on resources. It would be awesome if Elon could lend me one asteroid mine rich with precious metals. I'll pay him back when we become world leading economy.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Butan on August 11, 2016, 09:54:41 pm
As soon as I get rich I will contact you Leshma, you seem like a solid fellow.
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Rhekimos on August 11, 2016, 10:20:40 pm
Title: Re: Meanwhile in Space
Post by: Vibe on August 25, 2016, 09:36:24 am
An exoplanet was found orbiting Proxima Centauri, a star closest to our star just 4 light years away

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/news/a22522/nearest-planet-proxima-b/