Astronomy

[Kalevala]

Not certain where to post this:  the astronauts who were stuck in space for months (vs. like a week) have been rescued and landed in the ocean and are now on a ship.   

The capsule has been opened and all evacuated.

K

[Kalevala]

Do we know whether or not they were able to retrieve all four parachutes (and cords) from the capsule?

K

[relm1]

Do we know whether or not they were able to retrieve all four parachutes (and cords) from the capsule?

K

Yes - SpaceX went to some trouble to recover the 4 main parachutes from DM-2 (they sent out a fast boat(s) to attach floats (buoys) to them so they didn't sink), and probably also the two smaller drogue parachutes. I expect they did the same on DM-1 and Cargo Dragon splashdowns.

Like the parachutes used to to recover the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors, the parachutes will be washed, checked, repaired as needed, and repacked for reuse.

[Kalevala]

Yes - SpaceX went to some trouble to recover the 4 main parachutes from DM-2 (they sent out a fast boat(s) to attach floats (buoys) to them so they didn't sink), and probably also the two smaller drogue parachutes. I expect they did the same on DM-1 and Cargo Dragon splashdowns.

Like the parachutes used to to recover the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Motors, the parachutes will be washed, checked, repaired as needed, and repacked for reuse.

Oh, good!

K

[relm1]

I took this picture last week.  It was technically very challenging but it blows me away to just stair at it.  I see several small galaxies I didn't even know where there.  This is M-13 and according to wiki has up to half a million stars.  Just imagine, if our sun was in there, the sky would be so full of suns, we'd not know there were other stars or galaxies because it would never be night.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

It will be much easier to make sun-dried tomatoes.

[LKB]

I took this picture last week.  It was technically very challenging but it blows me away to just stair at it.  I see several small galaxies I didn't even know where there.  This is M-13 and according to wiki has up to half a million stars.  Just imagine, if our sun was in there, the sky would be so full of suns, we'd not know there were other stars or galaxies because it would never be night.

That's a very impressive image of one of one of the first DSOs I ever viewed, decades ago - thanks! 

If you haven't already, perhaps you might give M92 ( also in Hercules ) a try. Less spectacular than its famous cousin, it's still a lovely GC ( and, in fact, my favorite ).

[relm1]

It will be much easier to make sun-dried tomatoes.

They will evolve in a place with much higher survival pressures so likely would be carnivorous.  Tomatoes there might want to eat you.

[relm1]

That's a very impressive image of one of one of the first DSOs I ever viewed, decades ago - thanks! 

If you haven't already, perhaps you might give M92 ( also in Hercules ) a try. Less spectacular than its famous cousin, it's still a lovely GC ( and, in fact, my favorite ).

Thanks kindly.  Yes, this is an impressive one to see visually as well, unlike most deep sky objects which are at best just faint blurs.  Another picture coming in a day or two that really is blowing me away.

[krummholz]

I took this picture last week.  It was technically very challenging but it blows me away to just stair at it.  I see several small galaxies I didn't even know where there.  This is M-13 and according to wiki has up to half a million stars.  Just imagine, if our sun was in there, the sky would be so full of suns, we'd not know there were other stars or galaxies because it would never be night.

Didn't Asimov do a short story about a planet orbiting a star in a globular cluster? I think it was one of his first stories - I'll have to try to look it up. Don't remember the details, and it might have been the nucleus of a galaxy rather than a globular cluster, but iirc the inhabitants had no concept of "night" and could not function in the dark, or perhaps were driven mad by it.

Edit: I think this is the story I'm thinking of. It was, indeed, a globular cluster. There were only a handful of stars close enough to keep the planet in perpetual daylight, but that's really all it would take, as long as at least one of them was always above the horizon.

[krummholz]

BTW, M5 and M15 are two other well-known globulars visible from Northern Hemisphere skies, and I'll bet you could get some awesome photos of both of them.

[Elgarian Redux]

I took this picture last week.  It was technically very challenging but it blows me away to just stair at it.  I see several small galaxies I didn't even know where there.  This is M-13 and according to wiki has up to half a million stars.  Just imagine, if our sun was in there, the sky would be so full of suns, we'd not know there were other stars or galaxies because it would never be night.

I remember in about 1965 looking at M13 through my home-made 4" reflector. It was a fairly faint circular fuzzy blob. Wonderful to know what it was, but unimpressive as an image. And in 1965 that seemed enough. By comparison your photograph is astounding. Marvellous. Congratulations!

[LKB]

BTW, M5 and M15 are two other well-known globulars visible from Northern Hemisphere skies, and I'll bet you could get some awesome photos of both of them.

Summertime features lots of GCs. ( Which makes sense as these clusters are concentrated in our galaxy's central area, as well as the halo. ) Scorpius is home to M4, which ( to me ) looks interesting in the eyepiece with a rather ovoid shape. NGC 6144 is nearby, just west of Antares, a bit smaller and dimmer than M4 but still a good object for a small scope.

Summer has always been my favorite, " special season " for astronomy... so many beautiful and easily accessable objects, and in shirtsleeves to boot!

[drogulus]

 

[relm1]

Didn't Asimov do a short story about a planet orbiting a star in a globular cluster? I think it was one of his first stories - I'll have to try to look it up. Don't remember the details, and it might have been the nucleus of a galaxy rather than a globular cluster, but iirc the inhabitants had no concept of "night" and could not function in the dark, or perhaps were driven mad by it.

Edit: I think this is the story I'm thinking of. It was, indeed, a globular cluster. There were only a handful of stars close enough to keep the planet in perpetual daylight, but that's really all it would take, as long as at least one of them was always above the horizon.

Yep, that's it.  A famous story that I've always loved.  The fear and panic for those people who never knew night.

[relm1]

Ok, here is my new picture.  It was tough!  My most epic picture ever and the most technically challenging.  It grieves me to upload this as a very compressed image, but you do what you can do.


It might just look like a bunch of stars, but this contains an extremely distant cluster of galaxies!  500 million light years away and hundreds, maybe thousands of galaxies are here, some gravitationally bound.  Each one with a 100 million stars (or is it 100 billion, I forget?) but when I first started seeing the results, I was awe struck because I didn't exactly know what this was.  I like galaxy clusters but didn't know of this one.

[relm1]

I remember in about 1965 looking at M13 through my home-made 4" reflector. It was a fairly faint circular fuzzy blob. Wonderful to know what it was, but unimpressive as an image. And in 1965 that seemed enough. By comparison your photograph is astounding. Marvellous. Congratulations!

Thanks so much!  Wow, must have been nice to have had memories of the pristine skies of the 1960s.

[Elgarian Redux]

Thanks so much!  Wow, must have been nice to have had memories of the pristine skies of the 1960s.

What I saw through that telescope, crude though it was, was a huge inspiration in my teens.

[steve ridgway]

Ok, here is my new picture.  It was tough!  My most epic picture ever and the most technically challenging.  It grieves me to upload this as a very compressed image, but you do what you can do.


It might just look like a bunch of stars, but this contains an extremely distant cluster of galaxies!  500 million light years away and hundreds, maybe thousands of galaxies are here, some gravitationally bound.  Each one with a 100 million stars (or is it 100 billion, I forget?) but when I first started seeing the results, I was awe struck because I didn't exactly know what this was.  I like galaxy clusters but didn't know of this one.

Oh yes, there are definitely a load of galaxies there! Great image .

[relm1]

Oh yes, there are definitely a load of galaxies there! Great image .

Thank you!  Aren't they pretty?     I like ones that just appear randomly but some have beautiful spirals, some are clearly interacting.  Just think, when the light in the picture left these galaxies, life on earth was only microbial.  There weren't even plants or trees on the land.  So, our Milky Way probably looks like these to those galaxies too.  I wonder if it looks like we're as tightly packed to those galaxies as they look to us.