The Astronomy hobby thread

[Eric Hahl]

Right on!
I had one of the very early 132's he made about 18-20 years ago but its been gone for a long time. Wow, it's been that long? Time is flying.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

Right on!
I had one of the very early 132's he made about 18-20 years ago but its been gone for a long time. Wow, it's been that long? Time is flying.

First light for mine was an easy get of the Trapezium Cluster. What stunned me was the pinpoint blue white, color and clarity of the stars. Now if I could only get the AP process down.

[masraum]

still getting it setup.

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-first-photos-unveiled

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by masraum

still getting it setup.

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-first-photos-unveiled

Really remarkable how the comms work over such a distance.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Really remarkable how the comms work over such a distance.

Absolutely. I used to work for a company that provided network connectivity over geosynchronous satellites. Everything's gotta be just so for it to work. It's amazing to consider the distances that some of these devices communicate over that aren't in orbit.

[Eric Hahl]

A few shots from last nights session...I was Galaxy hunting.

[Rusty Heap]

excellent work Eric!

[Eric Hahl]

Thank you.

[masraum]

Very nice, looks like the new scope is working great! (or is that one of the old scopes?)

[flatbutt]

you did that with a 120? How many exposures did you stack? What area of the sky? They're great.

[masraum]

Without going to Stellarium, I'm going to guess at least some of Those are galaxies from Leo.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by masraum

Without going to Stellarium, I'm going to guess at least some of Those are galaxies from Leo.

The third image is Markarian's Chain, which has the Leo Triplets as the triangle in the center, then a river of galaxies rolling away from them.

[Pazuzu]

The Astronomy hobby thread
Second picture shows the Chain but reversed right/left. Similar total field of view, except mine was a tiled mosaic. And, obviously, 25 years of technology went into Eric's!

Here's a composite showing the two images, roughly aligned and scaled (Because I have nothing better to do...)

[flatbutt]

Something of interest to AP folks is the launch of the Starlink satellites. Here's a story I didn't expect to see:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-says-spacex-satellites-could-kill-astronauts-and-threaten-earth/ar-AATR9Ro?ocid=msedgntp

[flatbutt]

A guy on the CN site just captured this image of the Webb telescope. It's two images superimposed to show movement of the vehicle.



https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/811613-how-fast-is-the-jwst-moving-now-that-its-in-l2-arcsecondsminute/#entry11706852

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Something of interest to AP folks is the launch of the Starlink satellites. Here's a story I didn't expect to see:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-says-spacex-satellites-could-kill-astronauts-and-threaten-earth/ar-AATR9Ro?ocid=msedgntp

Just reading the URL, these are clearly the start of Skynet. We're all domed!

It's only a matter of time before there's a million Arnolds running around.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

A guy on the CN site just captured this image of the Webb telescope. It's two images superimposed to show movement of the vehicle.



https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/811613-how-fast-is-the-jwst-moving-now-that-its-in-l2-arcsecondsminute/#entry11706852

The stuff some of the folks on that site capture is amazing.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by masraum

The stuff some of the folks on that site capture is amazing.

Yeah man, there's a guy named Malveaux that posts incredible solar pix.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Something of interest to AP folks is the launch of the Starlink satellites. Here's a story I didn't expect to see:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-says-spacex-satellites-could-kill-astronauts-and-threaten-earth/ar-AATR9Ro?ocid=msedgntp

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/solar-storm-knocks-40-spacex-satellites-out-of-orbit-180979566/

As part of SpaceX’s mission to provide high-speed internet from space, the company has put almost 2,000 Starlink satellites into low-earth orbit in recent years. But the latest launch on February 3 sent a batch of 49 satellites straight into a solar storm. At least 40 satellites have already been knocked out of commission, Robin George Andrews reports for the New York Times.

Solar storms happen when the sun emits bursts of charged particles, which interact with Earth's magnetic field. Where those energized particles contact the Earth’s upper atmosphere, it heats up and becomes denser.

“The atmosphere kind of puffs up, expands, as a result,” says Hugh Lewis, a space debris expert at the University of Southampton in England, to the Times.

The solar outbursts increased atmospheric drag by at least 50 percent, which is pulling the satellites back down to Earth shortly after launch, according to Miriam Kramer for Axios.

At least 40 of the compact, flat-panel satellites are now in the process of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, where they will be incinerated in a fiery explosion. One satellite was filmed burning up over Puerto Rico early Monday morning.

After the launch, ground controllers tried to save the satellites from near-certain doom by putting them into a hibernation state and flying them in a way to minimize drag, per Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press. But the atmosphere was too thick, and the satellites couldn’t reach their higher, more stable orbit position.

“The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively ‘take cover from the storm,’” the company says in a statement. “Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe-mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere.”

The failed satellites, which weigh around 575 pounds, won’t be a danger on Earth or in space, according to the company.

"The de-orbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground," SpaceX said in a statement.

As part of its internet “megaconstellation,” SpaceX has launched nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites and says it will eventually need as many as 42,000 satellites, according to CNN’s Jackie Wattles.

The satellites orbit 340 miles above Earth, which is low enough to get pulled back down to Earth and not end up as space junk when they’re no longer operational. Why the company went forward with the launch despite the storm isn’t clear.

“It’s a bit of a surprise,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, to the Times. “They should have been ready for this, one would have thought.”

SpaceX is not alone in its quest to beam internet to remote places. London-based OneWeb and Amazon have plans to launch satellites in the coming years. The huge number of satellites entering Earth’s orbit is raising concerns that, if they fail, the objects will contribute to dangerous space debris. Others worry the illuminated satellites will pollute the darkness of the night sky.

[Eric Hahl]

Sorry, was participating in jury duty yesterday. Thank goodness I didn't get picked. Gonna be a week plus long trial.

Anyway, these shots were taken with the RedCAT 71, not the FLT-120.

First image is Bodes and cigar galaxies near the big dipper. 3 hours worth of exposures stacked. I believe I was trying 30 or 60 second exposures so lots of them.

Second image is the Leo Triplet which comes up in the east. 2 hours of exposure on this one.

Last is as stated, Markarians chain in Virgo just slightly north of east. 3.25 hours of exposure on this one.