Category Archives: Astronomy

“Gosh, I’ve worked on Cassini for almost an entire Saturn year.”

BBC News: ‘Our Saturn years’. Cassini’s epic journey to the ringed planet, told by the people who helped make it happen. By Paul Rincon.

““The Voyagers gave us a really wonderful impression of Saturn. It’s a beautiful gas giant,“ says Nasa’s director of planetary science Jim Green.

Prof Andrew Coates, from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, UK, agrees:

“Saturn is the most spectacular planet in our Solar System. The incredible rings, visible even in binoculars or a small telescope, make it stand out compared to all the rest.“

In places, the rings are only about as tall as a telephone pole. Yet from end-to-end they are more than 20-times as wide as the Earth. “

Link via MetaFilter.

Space Station Transiting Eclipse

Smarter Every Day: Space Station Transiting 2017 ECLIPSE, My Brain Stopped Working. (YouTube, 8:38min)

What it says on the tin, the eclipse as seen from Wyoming, with a bonus appearance of the International Space Station. The ISS transit across the sun is fast, much faster than I thought it would be even though I’ve watched the ISS cross the sky many times.

Bonus link: Veritasium: Eclipse 2017 (YouTube, 5:20min), including time-lapse video from first contact to totality, viewed from Oregon.

What time is it?

A Day in the Life of a (mostly) Human Sundial.

“Als Schulprojekt der Astronomie-AG des Progymnasiums Rosenfeld haben wir für einen Schultag eine lebende Sonnenuhr realisiert. Jeder sollte für 10 min Gnomon einer Sonnenuhr sein. Alle 20 s wurde ein Foto aufgenommen und somit der Tag von 8 bis 16 Uhr zugebracht. […] Man achte im Video auch auf die Turmuhr zum Vergleich (alles MESZ).”

Translation:

“The astronomy club of the secondary school in Rosenfeld (Germany) made a living sundial for one day. Everyone was the gnomon for 10 minutes. A photo was taken every 20 seconds throughout the day from 8am to 4pm. […] Note the time on the clock tower for reference (all times CEST).”

Link via Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Mission Control

The Guardian: Apollo 13: celebrating the unsung heroes of mission control. “Ahead of a new documentary about Nasa’s ground crews, astronaut Jim Lovell talks about the team that saved his life during 1970’s ill-fated moon mission”.

“It is unlikely there is anyone who has more appreciation for the work of Nasa’s mission control than Captain Jim Lovell. His Apollo 13 mission was nearly destroyed when an oxygen tank in its main command module exploded. His spaceship was crippled and only narrowly coaxed to a safe return to Earth thanks to his crew’s heroic efforts – and the crucial aid of mission control.

Lovell was commander of Apollo 13 but was forced to abandon his mission’s planned lunar landing when the blast, which occurred 200,000 miles from Earth and two days into its journey in April 1970, triggered a major loss of power. Cabin heating stopped working, the water supply was disrupted and carbon dioxide began to build up. Lovell and crewmen Jack Swigert and Fred Haise were facing death.”

The movie is available here on demand.

Link via Garret.