Space: The Final Frontier

[Krunchybars]

As of October 17, 2010, New Horizons (Launched January 16th, 2006) reached the half-way checkpoint of its mission to do a flyby of Pluto, Charon and explore the Kuiper belt. It is scheduled to arrive some time in July, 2015.

Curiosity, will New Horizon be dropping a rover on either Charon or Pluto or is it just a fly-by? And does the path involve a swing around Europa as well?

OT again:

Fun fact, I don't know if you knew (I didn't till about 4 months ago) that both Voyager 1 and 2 are still operational. It's been going for 34 years now and it's still transmitting!!!

Holy crap!

As of Nov 12th 2010, Voyager 1 was about 115.251AU (10.712 billion miles) from the the sun. Radio waves traveling at the speed of light take 16hrs to reach earth.

I still can't believe something man built in 1977 is still clanking on in the harsh void of space. I just haven't heard much about Voyage 2 though

 

[Anarchemitis]

As of October 17, 2010, New Horizons (Launched January 16th, 2006) reached the half-way checkpoint of its mission to do a flyby of Pluto, Charon and explore the Kuiper belt. It is scheduled to arrive some time in July, 2015.

Curiosity, will New Horizon be dropping a rover on either Charon or Pluto or is it just a fly-by? And does the path involve a swing around Europa as well?

Nope, just a flyby. Taking pictures and zooming along.
Oddly, even though it's going much faster than any other probe ever launched, it will never catch up or pass any of the Voyager probes.

 

[Krunchybars]

As of October 17, 2010, New Horizons (Launched January 16th, 2006) reached the half-way checkpoint of its mission to do a flyby of Pluto, Charon and explore the Kuiper belt. It is scheduled to arrive some time in July, 2015.

Curiosity, will New Horizon be dropping a rover on either Charon or Pluto or is it just a fly-by? And does the path involve a swing around Europa as well?

Nope, just a flyby. Taking pictures and zooming along.
Oddly, even though it's going much faster than any other probe ever launched, it will never catch up or pass any of the Voyager probes.

Is that because of the vector or the sheer distance between the two/three probes? Also I want someone to crack open Europa. There is something fishy about that planet

 

[Anarchemitis]

Is that because of the vector or the sheer distance between the two/three probes? Also I want someone to crack open Europa. There is something fishy about that planet

Distance I think.

Also, Europa has hundreds of kilometers thick ice. Like all ventures in space, It would be exactly as awesome as it would be expensive.

 

[Krunchybars]

Is that because of the vector or the sheer distance between the two/three probes? Also I want someone to crack open Europa. There is something fishy about that planet

Distance I think.

Also, Europa has hundreds of kilometers thick ice. Like all ventures in space, It would be exactly as awesome as it would be expensive.

I know Sadly with Obama scrapping the Constallation program and not really making space a priority my childhood dream of setting foot on Mars or Europa before I am 30 seems to be coming to an end. 11 years wont be enough time I guess

 

[Quaxar]

I believe this is the right moment to post this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/

It's tuesday's solar eclipse but additionally featuring the ISS passing in front of it.

A 10-year-old girl in Canada has become the youngest person to discover a supernova - an exploding star which can briefly outshine a whole galaxy.

Kathryn Gray was studying images taken at an amateur observatory which had been sent to her father.

She spotted the magnitude 17 supernova on Sunday.

"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said yup, that looks pretty good," Mr Gray told the newspaper.

"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson of RASC.

The new supernova is called Supernova 2010lt.

The last supernova in our galaxy occurred several hundred years ago.

Source [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12110747]

So... she pointed at the screen with daddy's pictures and now she's a "discoverer"?

Woah that picture is awesome, the ISS is ridiculously tiny in comparison but..despite the obviousness of it I am still amazed.

I think its cute she was made "discoverer" btw. If adopting the strictest definition of discover, then yeah, she did sort of spot it first. Besides, clearly someone on the committee has a big heart to let her into such a prestigious rank. I can't blame him/her though, have you seen her face?

Daaaw....

Edit: Here's another question. Why haven't we sent humans to Mars yet? We have the technology, we have the equipment. I just don't see why we can't all rally around the TV like it was 1969 and watch homo sapien sapien place his two feet on another planet for the first time EVER.

Come on somebody, America, Russia, Europe, India, China

Yeah, the picture looks great. And I'm still bummed because I could not watch it properly due to me missing the proper filters.

And to your edit:
We don't have the competition anymore. In 1969 it was a capitalists vs communists thing who'd first send a person to the moon, now that we have a cooperating world we miss that important factor.
Stupid communist breakdown, I know. I too want to finally see humans set foot on another planet.

When I'm in the ESA things are so gonna change damnit!

 

[Skuffyshootster]

Spoiler: One of my favorites.

Heh, forgot to mention the star is VY Canis Majoris.

 

[Dragonearl]

With regards to the mutiverse do you think on NASA of if the US government knew anything they would tell us? It would shake religious foundations and society?

Spoiler: One of my favorites.

Heh, forgot to mention the star is VY Canis Majoris.

Holy crap @ the size of Canis Majoris!

I know Sadly with Obama scrapping the Constallation program and not really making space a priority my childhood dream of setting foot on Mars or Europa before I am 30 seems to be coming to an end. 11 years wont be enough time I guess

What? I thought we were going to set a mining outpost on the moon one day. Why did Obama tinker with such an awesome space initiative?

OT: As an atheist I was wondering from other potential religious follower, does the Bible or your religious doctrine explain other planets?

 

[Kaboose the Moose]

*snip*

Voyager 2 is alive and kicking, transmitting scientific data at about 160 bits per second (blitzing I know)

It has it's own Twitter feed you know: Voyager 2 Twitter account [http://twitter.com/Voyager2]

If you want recent updates about Voyager 2 you can hid it Here [http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm]

OT: As an atheist I was wondering from other potential religious follower, does the Bible or your religious doctrine explain other planets?

Explain in what way?

The Mormons have an entire religious theology surrounding planets. Many religions "explain" the planets in the natural ways the Bible does: expressions which glorify God, bodies which represent guidance from God (help for light, navigation, time keeping purposes). Some say further yet that the final ultimate purpose has not yet been revealed by God.

The Bible makes several mentions of Planets, but mostly as dramatic devices. Venus, or Mazzaroth, "son of the morning." Saturn as well, summarized here:

Saturn is no less certainly represented by the star Kaiwan, adored by the reprobate Israelites in the desert (Amos 5:26). The same word (interpreted to mean "steadfast") frequently designates, in the Babylonian inscriptions, the slowest-moving planet; while Sakkuth, the divinity associated with the star by the prophet, is an alternative appellation for Ninib, who, as a Babylonian planet-god, was merged with Saturn. The ancient Syrians and Arabs, too, called Saturn Kaiwan, the corresponding terms in the Zoroastrian Bundahish being Kevan. The other planets are individualized in the Bible only by implication. The worship of gods connected with them is denounced, but without any manifest intention of refering to the heavenly bodies. Thus, Gad and Meni (Isaias, lxv, 11) are, no doubt, the "greater and the lesser Fortune" typified throughout the East by Jupiter and Venus; Neba, the tutelary deity of Borsippa (Isaias xlvi, 1), shone in the sky as Mercury, and Nergal, transplanted frorn Assyria to Kutha (2 Kings 17:30), as Mars.

There's nothing inherently anti-religious about the existence of planets, if that's your point.

 

[Dragonearl]

I'm asking more in terms of knowing what the planets are (that it's a planet similar to earth but bigger) around the time Jesus was born in the bible rather than a big star randomly named saturn. Because I don't see people being aware of it in early times especially since we used to think the world was flat and the shinny dot named saturn is circular. The answer has to be no, since if they knew planets like earth existed then they would have concluded earth was round.

I dont know, after watching Carl Sagan's video, I'm just thinking that religious views are very... everything extends from earth rather than earth is a small dot in everything. I have no point to lead into.

I don't how how Religion can explain their function, if it does at all

 

[Dragonearl]

Oh and....

Spoiler: Socks may be knocked off!

[http://img683.imageshack.us/i/2806223qcrccz.jpg/]

[http://img198.imageshack.us/i/280623uyxbk3h.jpg/]

[http://img810.imageshack.us/i/2806277vokqjv.jpg/]

[http://img6.imageshack.us/i/280626dh2x2l3.jpg/]

[http://img339.imageshack.us/i/cupolaviewiss14.jpg/]

[http://img8.imageshack.us/i/280624p4fxf2t.jpg/]

[http://img801.imageshack.us/i/280630hmsqbth.jpg/]

 

[Krunchybars]

I believe this is the right moment to post this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/

It's tuesday's solar eclipse but additionally featuring the ISS passing in front of it.

A 10-year-old girl in Canada has become the youngest person to discover a supernova - an exploding star which can briefly outshine a whole galaxy.

Kathryn Gray was studying images taken at an amateur observatory which had been sent to her father.

She spotted the magnitude 17 supernova on Sunday.

"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said yup, that looks pretty good," Mr Gray told the newspaper.

"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson of RASC.

The new supernova is called Supernova 2010lt.

The last supernova in our galaxy occurred several hundred years ago.

Source [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12110747]

So... she pointed at the screen with daddy's pictures and now she's a "discoverer"?

Woah that picture is awesome, the ISS is ridiculously tiny in comparison but..despite the obviousness of it I am still amazed.

I think its cute she was made "discoverer" btw. If adopting the strictest definition of discover, then yeah, she did sort of spot it first. Besides, clearly someone on the committee has a big heart to let her into such a prestigious rank. I can't blame him/her though, have you seen her face?

Daaaw....

Edit: Here's another question. Why haven't we sent humans to Mars yet? We have the technology, we have the equipment. I just don't see why we can't all rally around the TV like it was 1969 and watch homo sapien sapien place his two feet on another planet for the first time EVER.

Come on somebody, America, Russia, Europe, India, China

Yeah, the picture looks great. And I'm still bummed because I could not watch it properly due to me missing the proper filters.

And to your edit:
We don't have the competition anymore. In 1969 it was a capitalists vs communists thing who'd first send a person to the moon, now that we have a cooperating world we miss that important factor.
Stupid communist breakdown, I know. I too want to finally see humans set foot on another planet.

When I'm in the ESA things are so gonna change damnit!

It's really silly that we need competition to do extraordinary things nowadays. I mean I know most of our best work was due to competition but I would have thought that curiosity should be able to propell man forward on its own.

The ESA as fantastic as they are really need a shuttle or re-usable space flight program. At the rate they are moving countries like India and China might get their own shuttle launch capabilities before we ever do.

On that note I wonder if the US are replacing their shuttles? Last I recall they only have Discovery and Endeavor.

[http://img339.imageshack.us/i/cupolaviewiss14.jpg/]

Images like this fucking blow me away. It's so insane that bio-organic life forms from a planet are capable of propelling themselves above the stratosphere and looking back down on their world. It's like.. it's like a fucking germs in a petri dish climbing up and over it, and then looking back at where they came from and realizing what it is. So insane. Should have been an astronaut.

I don't how how Religion can explain their function, if it does at all

Religion explaining the function of planets you mean? I am not overly religions or have any religious knowledge of worth but I do recall the bible saying that "god created many worlds" Why? I dunno? Maybe to harbour life that we are still unaware of. Statistically likely no?

 

[CouchCommando]

WOW thanks for posting this mate those pics were awesome.

 

[Koeryn]

I have nothing to say really beyond thank you for making me happy to wake up at 4 in the morning. You've made my day! =D

 

[Gather]

I love the space, space is awesome but I dislike the idea of astrology. When it comes to space I rather the feel of actually being able to go out and "touch" it; not look at it dreamily and hoping that maybe, one day, we'll get there.

And this also explains why I love Privateer/Freelancer/Those-styled-games so much (Which is a pity because the only game released recently is Starpoint Gemini)

 

[Quaxar]

Spoiler

I believe this is the right moment to post this:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/

It's tuesday's solar eclipse but additionally featuring the ISS passing in front of it.

A 10-year-old girl in Canada has become the youngest person to discover a supernova - an exploding star which can briefly outshine a whole galaxy.

Kathryn Gray was studying images taken at an amateur observatory which had been sent to her father.

She spotted the magnitude 17 supernova on Sunday.

"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said yup, that looks pretty good," Mr Gray told the newspaper.

"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," said Deborah Thompson of RASC.

The new supernova is called Supernova 2010lt.

The last supernova in our galaxy occurred several hundred years ago.

Source [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12110747]

So... she pointed at the screen with daddy's pictures and now she's a "discoverer"?

Woah that picture is awesome, the ISS is ridiculously tiny in comparison but..despite the obviousness of it I am still amazed.

I think its cute she was made "discoverer" btw. If adopting the strictest definition of discover, then yeah, she did sort of spot it first. Besides, clearly someone on the committee has a big heart to let her into such a prestigious rank. I can't blame him/her though, have you seen her face?

Daaaw....

Edit: Here's another question. Why haven't we sent humans to Mars yet? We have the technology, we have the equipment. I just don't see why we can't all rally around the TV like it was 1969 and watch homo sapien sapien place his two feet on another planet for the first time EVER.

Come on somebody, America, Russia, Europe, India, China

Yeah, the picture looks great. And I'm still bummed because I could not watch it properly due to me missing the proper filters.

And to your edit:
We don't have the competition anymore. In 1969 it was a capitalists vs communists thing who'd first send a person to the moon, now that we have a cooperating world we miss that important factor.
Stupid communist breakdown, I know. I too want to finally see humans set foot on another planet.

When I'm in the ESA things are so gonna change damnit!

It's really silly that we need competition to do extraordinary things nowadays. I mean I know most of our best work was due to competition but I would have thought that curiosity should be able to propell man forward on its own.

The ESA as fantastic as they are really need a shuttle or re-usable space flight program. At the rate they are moving countries like India and China might get their own shuttle launch capabilities before we ever do.

On that note I wonder if the US are replacing their shuttles? Last I recall they only have Discovery and Endeavor.

Yep, ESA certainly needs to man up and get something done. How hard can it be to get the plans to a space shuttle from the internet and rip off half of it?

US replacing their shuttles? Last I knew was that the shuttles are getting decommissioned although NASA is not done with developing the successor yet. So now they'll have to rely on Russian Soyuz for their transportation and to be honest... this spacecraft sucks like a black hole. They are far inferior to the shuttle as they can't really transport heavy cargo or a lot of stuff at once.