Re: The Astronomy Thread : Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:54 pm  

If you're up and about tomorrow (Wed 19 Jan) before dawn, catch a look at the 5 bright planets in our solar system (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) as all will all be visible at once, and aligned very nicely.

If as ever the sky is cloudy, you'll still be able to see these planets, if not in such a nice alignment, until Feb 20th. There must be one clear morning between now and then, surely?

There will be a similar alignment again in in the evening sky between Aug 13-19

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:11 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: If you're up and about tomorrow (Wed 19 Jan) before dawn, catch a look at the 5 bright planets in our solar system (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) as all will all be visible at once, and aligned very nicely. If as ever the sky is cloudy, you'll still be able to see these planets, if not in such a nice alignment, until Feb 20th. There must be one clear morning between now and then, surely? There will be a similar alignment again in in the evening sky between Aug 13-19 Oh the weather problem, one of the banes of my life, that & the rare early start. Part of me is hoping for the usual cloud cover so I don't have to drag my sorry carcass out of bed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science ... -show.html

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: If you're up and about tomorrow (Wed 19 Jan) before dawn, catch a look at the 5 bright planets in our solar system (Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn) as all will all be visible at once, and aligned very nicely. If as ever the sky is cloudy, you'll still be able to see these planets, if not in such a nice alignment, until Feb 20th. There must be one clear morning between now and then, surely? There will be a similar alignment again in in the evening sky between Aug 13-19 Oh the weather problem, one of the banes of my life, that & the rare early start. Part of me is hoping for the usual cloud cover so I don't have to drag my sorry carcass out of bed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science ... -show.html

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Fri Jan 22, 2016 2:27 am  

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:47 pm  

Fingers crossed the 'My way or no way' brigade will leave this thread alone now they've hijacked a couple of decent threads to call home.

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:13 pm  

Gobsmacking latest released Mars images

This perspective view in Noctis Labyrinthus was generated from the main camera’s stereo channels on ESA’s Mars Express.

It shows the beautiful details of landslides in the steep-sided walls of the flat-topped graben in the foreground, and in the valley walls in the background.

The scene is part of region imaged by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express on 15 July 2015 during orbit 14632. The image is centred on 6°S / 265°E; the ground resolution is about 16 m per pixel.

Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Thu Jan 28, 2016 2:07 pm  

Just looked at the original image. Incredible detail.

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Thu Jan 28, 2016 3:11 pm  

Here's a locus map of the Martian surface for context Copyright NASA MGS MOLA Science Team Description This context image shows part of the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars that was imaged by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express on 15 July 2015 during orbit 14632 (outlined by the large white box). The region outlined by the inner white box provides the focus of an associated image release. Image Release Mars Express images Mars Express videos and animations Here is a fine example of animations created from thousands of individual Mars Express images, and put together into a flyover of a wide expanse of the martian surface. http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/456743

Here's a locus map of the Martian surface for context Copyright NASA MGS MOLA Science Team Description This context image shows part of the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars that was imaged by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express on 15 July 2015 during orbit 14632 (outlined by the large white box). The region outlined by the inner white box provides the focus of an associated image release. Image Release Mars Express images Mars Express videos and animations Here is a fine example of animations created from thousands of individual Mars Express images, and put together into a flyover of a wide expanse of the martian surface. http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/content/view/embedjw/456743

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:37 am  

Astonishingly, ancient Babylonian tablets reveal that Babylonian astronomers discovered how to calculate Jupiter’s position using a geometrical technique, between 350 and 50 BC - 1,400 years earlier than it was thought such tracking methods had been "invented" by European scholars. It is well-known that the Babylonians were keen astronomers, but before this discovery it seemed they likely just used arithmetic. But this shows that they worked out how to calculate the distance Jupiter travels in the sky over time by calculating the area of a trapezoid, which proves that they understood a concept essential to modern calculus. https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... -europeans http://www.space.com/31765-ancient-baby ... -math.html

Astonishingly, ancient Babylonian tablets reveal that Babylonian astronomers discovered how to calculate Jupiter’s position using a geometrical technique, between 350 and 50 BC - 1,400 years earlier than it was thought such tracking methods had been "invented" by European scholars. It is well-known that the Babylonians were keen astronomers, but before this discovery it seemed they likely just used arithmetic. But this shows that they worked out how to calculate the distance Jupiter travels in the sky over time by calculating the area of a trapezoid, which proves that they understood a concept essential to modern calculus. https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... -europeans http://www.space.com/31765-ancient-baby ... -math.html

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:02 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: Astonishingly, ancient Babylonian tablets reveal that Babylonian astronomers discovered how to calculate Jupiter’s position using a geometrical technique, between 350 and 50 BC - 1,400 years earlier than it was thought such tracking methods had been "invented" by European scholars. It is well-known that the Babylonians were keen astronomers, but before this discovery it seemed they likely just used arithmetic. But this shows that they worked out how to calculate the distance Jupiter travels in the sky over time by calculating the area of a trapezoid, which proves that they understood a concept essential to modern calculus. https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... -europeans http://www.space.com/31765-ancient-baby ... -math.html They believed in a Geocentric Universe too. Nice find. They were no nuggets.

Ferocious Aardvark wrote: Astonishingly, ancient Babylonian tablets reveal that Babylonian astronomers discovered how to calculate Jupiter’s position using a geometrical technique, between 350 and 50 BC - 1,400 years earlier than it was thought such tracking methods had been "invented" by European scholars. It is well-known that the Babylonians were keen astronomers, but before this discovery it seemed they likely just used arithmetic. But this shows that they worked out how to calculate the distance Jupiter travels in the sky over time by calculating the area of a trapezoid, which proves that they understood a concept essential to modern calculus. https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... -europeans http://www.space.com/31765-ancient-baby ... -math.html They believed in a Geocentric Universe too. Nice find. They were no nuggets.

Re: The Astronomy Thread : Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:25 am  

FLAT STANLEY wrote:

They believed in a Geocentric Universe too. Nice find. They were no nuggets.

oddly enough as a young lad I studied the ancient Babylonian, Sumerian and Mesopotamian civilizations. You could learn much from them. You would agree, perhaps, that their Enuma Elish is patent myth and nonsense, but you haven't worked out that your own later versions are myth and nonsense too. However, I don't think this is the place to digress into religion, because here I am dealing with astronomy and documeted astronomical discovery.

In the case of astronomy, and the Jupiter discovery, the fundamental point is that they had people clearly of a scientific mind, who were doing their best - and very well - to answer the huge questions that the seemingly inexplicable heavens posed, by application of scientific and mathematical principles. In this respect, they were on the right track, and with our benefit of hindsight, did amazingly well.