astronomy & space stuff
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breakwall
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Driving home last night I was rewarded with a spectacular show of the Northern Lights, a rarity where I live.
It was fantastic, great white, green and pink curtains of light sweeping up into the sky.
I just about froze my nuts off standing outside watching them.
It was fantastic, great white, green and pink curtains of light sweeping up into the sky.
I just about froze my nuts off standing outside watching them.
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Cool thread.
I am a total space geek!
I hope Santa brings me a camera attachment for my telescope, this year.
I am a total space geek!
I hope Santa brings me a camera attachment for my telescope, this year.
thør
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Re: Re: Cool thread.
oooh, either!
This reminds me- do you ever peruse the skyjunk store, SkyCraft?
linuxgeek said:
oooh, either!
This reminds me- do you ever peruse the skyjunk store, SkyCraft?
linuxgeek
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Re: Re: Re: Cool thread.
Not as often as I'd like. Been going there for as far back as I can remember when my dad would be looking for parts to do electronics projects when I was a youngster.
raindancer said:oooh, either!
This reminds me- do you ever peruse the skyjunk store, SkyCraft?
Not as often as I'd like. Been going there for as far back as I can remember when my dad would be looking for parts to do electronics projects when I was a youngster.
linuxgeek
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Looks like the solar particle count is still staying high. Anyone had a chance to get some pictures of the auroras? Apparently the lights have been seen as far south as Oklahoma, Alabama and California.
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/rt_plots/satenv_200411091336.gif
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/rt_plots/satenv_200411091336.gif
Last edited:
Worm
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Some good pictures taken from northern Illinois can be found here.
http://www.skyinsight.net/forum/modules.php?set_albumName=album09&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
http://www.skyinsight.net/forum/modules.php?set_albumName=album09&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
linuxgeek
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SRC: http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/11/10/solar.sail.ap/index.html
Date set for solar sail spacecraft launch
PASADENA, California (AP) -- A solar sail spacecraft designed to be propelled by the pressure of sunlight will be launched early next year, The Planetary Society said.
Cosmos 1 will be carried into Earth's orbit by a converted intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea, the space exploration organization said Tuesday.
A launch date of March 1 was scheduled, with a window to April 7, but the actual liftoff date will be determined by the Russian navy. Russian, American and Czech ground stations will track the craft.
The mission, costing just under $4 million, will attempt the first controlled flight of a solar sail.
Solar sails are envisioned as a means for achieving interstellar flight. Though very gentle, solar pressure should allow such spacecraft to gradually build up great speeds over time, and cover great distances.
Japan tested solar sail deployment on a suborbital flight and Russia deployed a solar sail outside its old Mir space station, but neither involved controlled flight, said Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society and project director of Cosmos 1.
When Cosmos 1 is in orbit, inflatable tubes will stretch the sail material out and hold it rigid in eight 49.5-foot-long structures resembling the blades of a windmill. Each blade can be turned to reflect sunlight in different directions so that the craft can "tack" much like a sailboat in the wind.
Cosmos 1 is a project of The Planetary Society, which was founded in 1980 by the late astronomer Carl Sagan, former Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Bruce Murray and Friedman, also a JPL veteran.
Cosmos 1 was built by the Russian aerospace company NPO Lavochkin. Most of the funding has come from Ithaca, New York-based Cosmos Studios, which was co-founded by Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, to create science-based entertainment. Druyan noted that Sagan, who died in 1996, would have turned 70 on Tuesday.
"Starting the countdown clock for the launch of Cosmos 1 on Carl's birthday could not be more appropriate," she said in a statement.
A prototype of the society's sail was launched by Russia in 2001 but the rocket did not develop enough thrust and the spacecraft failed to separate from the booster.
Cosmos 1 is designed to go into a nearly polar orbit more than 500 miles high and operate for a month. "We'll be happy with a couple of weeks, even a few days," Friedman said.
Covering 720 square yards, the sail should be visible as a bright pinpoint of light in the night sky.
Date set for solar sail spacecraft launch
PASADENA, California (AP) -- A solar sail spacecraft designed to be propelled by the pressure of sunlight will be launched early next year, The Planetary Society said.
Cosmos 1 will be carried into Earth's orbit by a converted intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a submerged Russian submarine in the Barents Sea, the space exploration organization said Tuesday.
A launch date of March 1 was scheduled, with a window to April 7, but the actual liftoff date will be determined by the Russian navy. Russian, American and Czech ground stations will track the craft.
The mission, costing just under $4 million, will attempt the first controlled flight of a solar sail.
Solar sails are envisioned as a means for achieving interstellar flight. Though very gentle, solar pressure should allow such spacecraft to gradually build up great speeds over time, and cover great distances.
Japan tested solar sail deployment on a suborbital flight and Russia deployed a solar sail outside its old Mir space station, but neither involved controlled flight, said Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society and project director of Cosmos 1.
When Cosmos 1 is in orbit, inflatable tubes will stretch the sail material out and hold it rigid in eight 49.5-foot-long structures resembling the blades of a windmill. Each blade can be turned to reflect sunlight in different directions so that the craft can "tack" much like a sailboat in the wind.
Cosmos 1 is a project of The Planetary Society, which was founded in 1980 by the late astronomer Carl Sagan, former Jet Propulsion Laboratory director Bruce Murray and Friedman, also a JPL veteran.
Cosmos 1 was built by the Russian aerospace company NPO Lavochkin. Most of the funding has come from Ithaca, New York-based Cosmos Studios, which was co-founded by Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, to create science-based entertainment. Druyan noted that Sagan, who died in 1996, would have turned 70 on Tuesday.
"Starting the countdown clock for the launch of Cosmos 1 on Carl's birthday could not be more appropriate," she said in a statement.
A prototype of the society's sail was launched by Russia in 2001 but the rocket did not develop enough thrust and the spacecraft failed to separate from the booster.
Cosmos 1 is designed to go into a nearly polar orbit more than 500 miles high and operate for a month. "We'll be happy with a couple of weeks, even a few days," Friedman said.
Covering 720 square yards, the sail should be visible as a bright pinpoint of light in the night sky.
Aurora_s_Flame
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Sunday evening they were stunning here...could even see them in town, but from my "middle of nowhere" place, they were spectacular.
linuxgeek
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linuxgeek
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Cool thread.
Been collecting FL sand since '74.
The light pollution is one reason I enjoy going north some to visit my mom. She's on the SE edge of the Ocala National Forest and I see about 5 times more in the sky when I'm there.
theGatsby said:Damn, you have a lot of sand in your shoes.
I wish there wasn't so much damn light pollution down here.
Been collecting FL sand since '74.
The light pollution is one reason I enjoy going north some to visit my mom. She's on the SE edge of the Ocala National Forest and I see about 5 times more in the sky when I'm there.
linuxgeek
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linuxgeek
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linuxgeek
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