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The Big Space Exploration Topic [21-08-2017: Total Solar Eclipse in the USA!]

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  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    edited October 2016 Posts: 11,119
    I'm gonna miss my buddy Barack :-). In 20 years from now I will read this article again....:

    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/11/opinions/america-will-take-giant-leap-to-mars-barack-obama/index.html
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    He is your buddy? I dropped all pathological liars from my own budy list.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    If space is expanding, what is it expanding into? Is it not infinite after all?
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    If space is expanding, what is it expanding into? Is it not infinite after all?

    A question beyond our understanding ;-).
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    It actually isn t . The cosmology and dictionary are both flawed. Infinity isn t a reality, but a process. BS in English.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    edited October 2016 Posts: 11,119
    Hold your breath dear forummembers! Yesterday, ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter Probe has released its Schiaparelli Lander at 2:42 PM GMT :-)! When everything goes well, the Lander will land on Mars this Thursday, more or less at the same time (October 20th). It is only a lander, and not a rover, and it will mostly serve as a 'test' for ESA's future gigantic ExoMars Rover. But it does have some interesting stuff onboard:
    ExoMars2016_EDM_interior_annotated_20151028.jpg
    ExoMars_2016_Schiaparelli_descent_sequence.jpg

    In red you'll find the landing spot of the Schiaparelli Lander. When everything goes well, it will be measuring the atmosphere of Mars during the dust storm season.....and on Mars too:
    Mars_landing_sites_2014.jpg

    To read more about the mission, go to these websites:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiaparelli_EDM_lander
    http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ExoMars/Live_updates_ExoMars_arrival_and_landing


    To warm you up a bit, here are fresh new pictures from NASA's Curiosity Rover:

    Panorama of 'Wharton Ridge':
    PIA20850.jpg

    Curiosity Self-Portrait at 'Murray Buttes':
    PIA20844.jpg
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    A small update: It will land on Mars 3:48 PM GMT (which is 4:48 PM GMT+1). It'll get exciting if this attempt from ESA (and Roscosmos) will be successful.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    https://mobile.twitter.com/ESA_EDM?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    It seems the Schiaparelli Lander didn't make it :-(. Another failure for ESA.
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent
    Posts: 12,526
    Stunning photo's
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    edited October 2016 Posts: 11,119
    So sad about the loss of the Schiaparelli Lander :-(.

    Still, the New Horizons probe keeps sending better and better pictures of the binary Pluto-Charon system. This is the sharpest picture yet of Pluto:
    PIA21061.jpg
    PIA21026.jpg
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited October 2016 Posts: 24,266
    Sad news. Opportunities lost.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    edited October 2016 Posts: 11,119
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Sad news. Opportunities lost.

    But to stay a bit happy, this is the descent video of the Mars Curiosity back in 2012. From the moment the heat shield is removed until its incredible landing. It is nothing short of stunning :-). With real sound. What I still find stunning as of today, is how these NASA-people managed to get a package the size of a large pick-up truck on this planet. It's even way more difficult than a small Schiaparelli Lander. Or it should be:

  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    edited October 2016 Posts: 7,653
    As a Martian you will be wondering by now who is bombing your planet. But stay away from earth you know our bacillus will kill you dead.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    SaintMark wrote: »
    As a Martian you will be wondering by now who is bombing your planet. But stay away from earth you know our bacillus will kill you dead.

    Have you seen the video @SaintMark?
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    That is an example of the colour orange/reddish I actually like these days. ;)

    Have seen the video, as a Martian I would be complaining about littering in my back yard.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    The Juno probe made a new picture of Jupiter's south pole. Though in essence it's actually a 'jupiterrise'. The contrast with the stars makes the picture even more beautiful:

    PIA21108.jpg
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    Hope you guys like it :-).
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    As a kid I would borrow any astronomy book I could find in the library. Love those pictures.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    Thunderfinger wrote: »
    As a kid I would borrow any astronomy book I could find in the library. Love those pictures.

    Have you seen the Mars Curiosity video descent @Thunderfinger?

  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Yes, I watched it.
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    Here's a nice video of the Huygens probe descent onto the surface of Saturn's moon Titan:

  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    An astonishing picture of the binary Charon-Pluto system. This is not a made-up composite. The probe New Horizons photographed this composite exactly this way:

    PIA19966.jpg
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    Finally, a picture in true color of our dwarf planet Ceres :-). Note the beige color:

    PIA21079.jpg

    Our solar system is truly stunning. Here you'll find the size chart of all 8 planets (Mercury, Venus, Terra -commonly known as Earth-, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) and 2 dwarf planets (Ceres, and the binary system Pluto/Charon) in comparison with our start, Sol (also known as: Sun):
    e8e2faf29f310ee3d7519f212ff9d33c.jpg

    And a comparison with the degree of tilt of every (dwarf) planet:
    Astrologyplanetsinsolarsystem.jpg

    And here a simplified size chart, which includes all known dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt (Haumea, Makemake & Eris, but without Quaoar & Sedna):
    sgas_planetsizes.jpg

    In case you wonder how many objects (dwarf planets) humans have discovered in the Kuiper Belt so far, this chart will give you a good idea:
    KuiperBelt.jpg
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Interesting. Thanks for that.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,592
    I like this thread a lot. The world beyond ours is a world that has always fascinated me.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,266
    Loving this! Thank you, @Gustav_Graves!
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    Posts: 11,119
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Loving this! Thank you, @Gustav_Graves!

    Thanks @DarthDimi ;-). This topic brings so much positivity to the forum no ;-)? I am a big big astronomy/astrobiology/space-exploration nerd hehe. And I'm proud of it.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,835
    Pluto has a moon? When did this happen??
  • Gustav_GravesGustav_Graves
    edited December 2016 Posts: 11,119
    chrisisall wrote: »
    Pluto has a moon? When did this happen??

    You're kidding no? :P

    Actually, Pluto and Charon cirle around a 'barycenter', a point of gravity that's not located within Pluto. So in a way Charon isn't a moon, and Pluto isn't a moon either. Officially, Pluto and Charon form a 'binary dwarf planet system', the 'Pluto-Charon binary dwarf planet system'.
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