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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0501/delta4heavy_ecliptic.gif

 

Explanation: The new Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle is the largest rocket ever to be launched by the US Air Force. The Delta IV Heavy is capable of launching over 23,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The first launch of the Delta IV Heavy occurred last month and was largely successful with the exception that the boosters shut off several seconds prematurely. Boeing's Delta IV Heavy is the largest of the Delta IV series, packing the punch of three rocket boosters instead of one. Pictured above, the Delta IV Heavy is seen lifting off by a RocketCam perched on its side. The time-lapse sequence shows the launch, one of the rocket boosters being jettisoned, and a test satellite further lifting away. Lockheed Martin is developing its own heavy lifting version of its Altas rocket series in conjunction with the US Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) progam.

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I hope I am allowed to post pictures here too even though I didn't start this thread I assume I am able to. I will follow the format being used as best as I can.

 

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0502/CorkscrewMeteor_westlake.jpg

 

Did this meteor leave a twisting path? Evidently. Meteor trains that twist noticeably are rare - and even more rarely photographed - but have been noted before. The underlying reason for unusual meteor trains is that many meteors are markedly non-spherical in shape and non-uniform in composition. Meteors, usually sand sized grains that originate in comets, will disintegrate as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. Non-uniform meteors may evaporate more on one side than another. This may cause a rotating meteor to wobble slightly in its path, and also to spray fast moving debris in a nearly spiral path. The fast moving meteor debris ionizes molecules in the Earth's atmosphere that subsequently glow when they reacquire electrons. Surely no meteor is perfectly uniform and spherical, so that a slight swagger that is below perceptibility is likely typical. Meteors may well have seeded Earth with the prebiotic molecules that allowed for the development of life.

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QUOTE (Apollo was astonished @ Feb 2 2005, 05:04 PM)
I hope I am allowed to post pictures here too even though I didn't start this thread I assume I am able to. I will follow the format being used as best as I can.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0502/CorkscrewMeteor_westlake.jpg

Did this meteor leave a twisting path? Evidently. Meteor trains that twist noticeably are rare - and even more rarely photographed - but have been noted before. The underlying reason for unusual meteor trains is that many meteors are markedly non-spherical in shape and non-uniform in composition. Meteors, usually sand sized grains that originate in comets, will disintegrate as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. Non-uniform meteors may evaporate more on one side than another. This may cause a rotating meteor to wobble slightly in its path, and also to spray fast moving debris in a nearly spiral path. The fast moving meteor debris ionizes molecules in the Earth's atmosphere that subsequently glow when they reacquire electrons. Surely no meteor is perfectly uniform and spherical, so that a slight swagger that is below perceptibility is likely typical. Meteors may well have seeded Earth with the prebiotic molecules that allowed for the development of life.

Cool photo and description Apollo. I've posted pics on this thread before and never been told off by Moon for doing it biggrin.gif

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0309/ngc3132_hst.jpg

 

Explanation: It's the dim star, not the bright one, near the center of NGC 3132 that created this odd but beautiful planetary nebula. Nicknamed the Eight-Burst Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, the glowing gas originated in the outer layers of a star like our Sun. In this representative color picture, the hot blue pool of light seen surrounding this binary system is energized by the hot surface of the faint star. Although photographed to explore unusual symmetries, it's the asymmetries that help make this planetary nebula so intriguing. Neither the unusual shape of the surrounding cooler shell nor the structure and placements of the cool filamentary dust lanes running across NGC 3132 are well understood.

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0502/rosette_crisp.jpg

 

Explanation: Would the Rosette Nebula by any other name look as sweet? The bland New General Catalog designation of NGC 2237 doesn't appear to diminish the appearance of the this flowery emission nebula. Inside the nebula lies an open cluster of bright young stars designated NGC 2244. These stars formed about four million years ago from the nebular material and their stellar winds are clearing a hole in the nebula's center, insulated by a layer of dust and hot gas. Ultraviolet light from the hot cluster stars causes the surrounding nebula to glow. The Rosette Nebula spans about 100 light-years across, lies about 5000 light-years away, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of Monoceros.

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QUOTE (Alsgalpal @ Feb 14 2005, 12:57 PM)
Those pics are breathtaking. Do they add all the color, or are they all that beautiful?

Sometimes they are false-colour images AGP

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Well I took these through my telescope tonight. It sucks because no matter what I try, I cannot get a good picture of Saturn - always blurry - I really need a mount for the camera (and better yet dual drives) - always comes out sucky because it is moving across the lens - actual viewing thru the telescope it is crisp clear. Used a 22mm and a 4mm lens on a 1200mm focal length with a 3x barlow:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/RushRevisited/DSCN0026.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/RushRevisited/DSCN0038.jpg

 

Then the moon tonight, which always comes out fine, this is through a 22mm/1200mm with a 3x barlow as well:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/RushRevisited/DSCN0044.jpg

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BTW, for us nerds out there who like to learn something smile.gif

 

To figure out magnification on these, use the #'s I give:

 

1200mm telescope focal length

4mm or 22 mm lens

3x barlow

 

this means:

 

1200mm

------ = 300x

4mm

 

 

1200mm

------- =55x

22mm

 

 

barlow 3x extension is supposed to multiply that out to 900x and 165x respectively, but the quality is seriously comromised IMO.

 

Best combo I find on this scope is the 12mm without a barlow...

 

Also, as you double your magnification through the use of different millimeter lenses, you lose 4x the light, simply by the nature of optics....

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QUOTE (GhostGirl @ Sep 8 2004, 09:31 AM)
These photos are breathtaking! Wow...I feel like a mere speck of dust...

Think of what a speck of dust would feel like laugh.gif

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QUOTE (launchpad67a @ Feb 15 2005, 10:33 PM)
Nice RR !!
Are you using a digital camera or film?
Do you have a 'T-mount' for your camera?

Using Digital, not T mount, nothing - just shove the camera up to the lens - I know, rudimentary. It is time to upgrade soon to a non-dobsonian anyway, an equatorial mount with dual drives. I want to do astrophotography more and obviously a Dobsonian with no drives doesn't work well. I will get a T-mount when I upgrade to do some true astrophotography.

 

Is there a camera you recommend (preferably digital) that is best?

 

 

BTW did you ever sell your telescope?

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No I didn't sell...and I'm glad now.

I will put together a small photography package for ya. I'll post it tonight, have a busy day ahead.

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http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/images/hf_050218_burst_earth_01.jpg

 

Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth

By Robert Roy Britt

Senior Science Writer

posted: 18 February, 2005

2 p.m. ET

 

A huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere in December, astronomers said Friday.

 

No known eruption beyond our solar system has ever appeared as bright upon arrival.

 

But you could not have seen it, unless you can top the X-ray vision of Superman: In gamma rays, the event equaled the brightness of the full Moon's reflected visible light.

 

The blast originated about 50,000 light-years away and was detected Dec. 27. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

 

The commotion was caused by a special variety of neutron star known as a magnetar. These fast-spinning, compact stellar corpses -- no larger than a big city -- create intense magnetic fields that trigger explosions. The blast was 100 times more powerful than any other similar eruption witnessed, said David Palmer of Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of several researchers around the world who monitored the event with various telescopes.

 

Tsunami Connection?

Several readers wondered if the magnetar blast could be related to the December tsunami. Scientists have made no such connection. The blast affected Earth's ionosphere, which is routinely affected to a greater extent by changes in solar activity.

"Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere and possibly have triggered a mass extinction," said Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

 

There are no magnetars close enough to worry about, however, Gaensler and two other astronomers told SPACE.com. But the strength of the tempest has them marveling over the dying star's capabilities while also wondering if major species die-offs in the past might have been triggered by stellar explosions.

 

'Once-in-a-lifetime'

 

The Sun is a middle-aged star about 8 light-minutes from us. It's tantrums, though cosmically pitiful compared to the magnetar explosion, routinely squish Earth's protective magnetic field and alter our atmosphere, lighting up the night sky with colorful lights called aurora.

 

Solar storms also alter the shape of Earth's ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere 50 miles (80 kilometers) up where gas is so thin that electrons can be stripped from atoms and molecules -- they are ionized -- and roam free for short periods. Fluctuations in solar radiation cause the ionosphere to expand and contract.

 

"The gamma rays hit the ionosphere and created more ionization, briefly expanding the ionosphere," said Neil Gehrels, lead scientist for NASA's gamma-ray watching Swift observatory.

 

Gehrels said in an email interview that the effect was similar to a solar-induced disruption but that the effect was "much smaller than a big solar flare."

 

Still, scientists were surprised that a magnetar so far away could alter the ionosphere.

 

"That it can reach out and tap us on the shoulder like this, reminds us that we really are linked to the cosmos," said Phil Wilkinson of IPS Australia, that country's space weather service.

 

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Rob Fender of Southampton University in the UK. "We have observed an object only 20 kilometers across [12 miles], on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years."

 

Some researchers have speculated that one or more known mass extinctions hundreds of millions of years ago might have been the result of a similar blast altering Earth's atmosphere. There is no firm data to support the idea, however. But astronomers say the Sun might have been closer to other stars in the past.

 

A similar blast within 10 light-years of Earth "would destroy the ozone layer," according to a CfA statement, "causing abrupt climate change and mass extinctions due to increased radiation."

 

The all-clear has been sounded, however.

 

"None of the known sample [of magnetars] are closer than about 4,000-5,000 light years from us," Gaensler said. "This is a very safe distance."

 

Cause a mystery

 

Researchers don't know exactly why the burst was so incredible. The star, named SGR 1806-20, spins once on its axis every 7.5 seconds, and it is surrounded by a magnetic field more powerful than any other object in the universe.

 

"We may be seeing a massive release of magnetic energy during a 'starquake' on the surface of the object," said Maura McLaughlin of the University of Manchester in the UK.

 

Another possibility is that the magnetic field more or less snapped in a process scientists call magnetic reconnection.

 

Gamma rays are the highest form of radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes X-rays, visible light and radio waves too.

 

The eruption was also recorded by the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array of radio telescopes, along with other European satellites and telescopes in Australia.

 

Explosive details

 

A neutron star is the remnant of a star that was once several times more massive than the Sun. When their nuclear fuel is depleted, they explode as a supernova. The remaining dense core is slightly more massive than the Sun but has a diameter typically no more than 12 miles (20 kilometers).

 

Millions of neutron stars fill the Milky Way galaxy. A dozen or so are ultra-magnetic neutron stars -- magnetars. The magnetic field around one is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the Moon, scientists say.

 

Of the known magnetars, four are called soft gamma repeaters, or SGRs, because they flare up randomly and release gamma rays. The flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashed about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts of power.

 

"The next biggest flare ever seen from any soft gamma repeater was peanuts compared to this incredible Dec. 27 event," said Gaensler of the CfA.

 

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/debev/wierd/mlle_gabriele.jpg

 

 

IMHO this is a beautiful woman, it never ceases to amaze me what humans can overcome. Her name is Madamosille Gabriele.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v213/debev/wierd/Sp8_Twin_Jet.gif

 

 

Here in penetance....mea culpa...mea maxima culpa....

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0502/iceberg_modis.gif

 

Explanation: What if part of New York broke off and slammed into New Jersey? Both being anchored land masses, that is unlikely to happen, but an event of that size scale did occur off the Antarctic coast over the last three months. Long Island, New York sized B-15A iceberg floated across 100 kilometers of the Ross Sea and struck a submarine shoal just before an expected impact with the massive Drygalski Ice Tongue, visible on the bottom right of the last image. As it is summer in Earth's Southern Hemisphere, the relatively warm weather was expected to melt and clear much of surrounding ice, but now B-15A blocks much of this ice from floating out to sea. This created a problem not only for ships servicing McMurdo Station but also for penguins expecting to swim. The greater Ross Ice Shelf, from which B-15A calved, has shed several large icebergs over the past few years.

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0502/saturnauroras_hst.jpg

 

Explanation: Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft monitored Saturn's South Pole simultaneously as Cassini closed in on the gas giant in January 2004. Hubble snapped images in ultraviolet light, while Cassini recorded radio emissions and monitored the solar wind. Like on Earth, Saturn's auroras make total or partial rings around magnetic poles. Unlike on Earth, however, Saturn's auroras persist for days, as opposed to only minutes on Earth. Although surely created by charged particles entering the atmosphere, Saturn's auroras also appear to be more closely modulated by the solar wind than either Earth's or Jupiter's auroras. The above sequence shows three Hubble images of Saturn each taken two days apart.

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