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Astronomy (General/Chat)

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  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Palm Tree Partial Eclipse

    04/13/2024 12:10:00 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 5 replies
    NASA ^ | 13 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Lori Haffelt
    Explanation: Only those along the narrow track of the Moon's shadow on April 8 saw a total solar eclipse. But most of North America still saw a partial eclipse of the Sun. From Clearwater, Florida, USA this single snapshot captured multiple images of that more widely viewed celestial event without observing the Sun directly. In the shade of a palm tree, criss-crossing fronds are projecting recognizable eclipse images on the ground, pinhole camera style. In Clearwater the maximum eclipse phase was about 53 percent.
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Total Totality

    04/12/2024 5:33:51 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 6 replies
    NASA ^ | 12 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona
    Explanation: Baily's beads often appear at the boundaries of the total phase of an eclipse of the Sun. Pearls of sunlight still beaming through gaps in the rugged terrain along the lunar limb silhouette, their appearance is recorded in this dramatic timelapse composite. The series of images follows the Moon's edge from beginning through the end of totality during April 8's solar eclipse from Durango, Mexico. They also capture pinkish prominences of plasma arcing high above the edge of the active Sun. One of the first places in North America visited by the Moon's shadow on April 8, totality in...
  • Rockstar Successfully Demonstrates Firetstar™ NUCLEAR FUSION-ENHANCED PULSED PLASMA PROPULSION DRIVE

    04/12/2024 6:45:50 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 17 replies
    The Debrief ^ | APRIL 12, 2024 | CHRISTOPHER PLAIN
    src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GFGCGYqakAA6AZN?format=jpg&name=4096x4096"> PM 4Liberty, if you want On/Off this listhttps://pluto.tv/live-tv/americas-voicehttps://americasvoice.news/Tune in via Roku/AppleTV/AmazonFire with the America’s Voice App https://americasvoice.appLIVE STREAM all Bannon shows & find past episodes here: https://rumble.com/c/BannonsWarRoom | https://americasvoice.news/playlists/the-war-room/
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Eclipse in Seven

    04/11/2024 1:42:55 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 9 replies
    NASA ^ | 11 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Xiaofeng Tan
    Explanation: Start at the upper left above and you can follow the progress of April 8's total eclipse of the Sun in seven sharp, separate exposures. The image sequence was recorded with a telescope and camera located within the narrow path of totality as the Moon's shadow swept across Newport, Vermont, USA. At center is a spectacular view of the solar corona. The tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun is only easily visible to the eye in clear dark skies during the total eclipse phase. Seen from Newport, the total phase for this solar eclipse lasted about 3 minutes and...
  • Russian spacecraft comes within 10m of destroying U.S. Satellite, NASA ‘shocked’

    04/11/2024 9:54:48 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 41 replies
    Hindustan Times ^ | 11 Apr 2024, 01:54 PM IST | Staff
    A Russian spacecraft, named [Cosmos 2221] came dangerously close to a U.S. satellite, passing within just 10 meters in space. Experts have asserted that the near-miss could have had severe consequences, potentially endangering lives on Earth. NASA's Timed satellite, designed to monitor Earth's atmosphere, narrowly avoided a collision with the defunct Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221. Colonel Pam Melroy, NASA's deputy administrator and a former astronaut, described the incident as "really scary" for the U.S. space agency. Speaking at the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium in Colorado, Melroy said, “It was very shocking personally and for all of us at Nasa,"...
  • Sheila Jackson Lee Named Head Of Harvard Astronomy Department

    04/11/2024 9:06:43 AM PDT · by RoosterRedux · 46 replies
    In the wake of claiming the moon is made of gas and the sun is "almost" too hot to get close to, Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has been named the new head of Harvard University's Astronomy Department. The Board of Overseers at the prestigious Ivy League institution was reportedly wowed by Jackson Lee's insights into the cosmos, with the school immediately seeking to get in touch with her about the department head position. "Her knowledge blew us away," said Harvard Interim President Alan Garber. "When she said, 'The moon is made up of mostly gasses. That's why the question...
  • Scientists Create Levitating Graphite Plate For Ultra-Sensitive Quantum Sensors

    04/11/2024 6:14:25 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 11 replies
    Science Alert ^ | April 11, 2024 | DAVID NIELD
    (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) Levitation is the kind of superpower many researchers would love to get their hands on. While there are a number of ways to fight the forces of gravity, few are suitable for the kinds of ultrasensitive devices that would benefit from floating untethered in a vacuum. Led by a team from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) in Japan, a team of researchers have found a way to shield thin wafers of graphite as they hover freely above a grid of magnets, making them far less susceptible to currents that interfere with...
  • Thousands of Meteorites Are Vanishing in Antarctica. Now Scientists Have Revealed Why [Guess!]

    04/11/2024 5:56:27 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 65 replies
    The Debrief ^ | APRIL 10, 2024 | CHRISTOPHER PLAIN
    A team of European researchers says that hundreds of thousands of meteorites, which may provide valuable information about the dawn of life on Earth, are disappearing from Antarctica at an alarming rate. Based on their research, the scientists behind the alarming findings say that as many as three-quarters of the approximately 300,000-800,000 meteorites resting on the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet could be lost by 2050. Published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the research says the culprit behind the wholesale disappearance is the steady rise in global temperature. “For every tenth of a degree of increase in global...
  • Ballsy: Mexican media outlet gets trolled into airing video of a man’s testicles thinking they were showing the eclipse…

    04/11/2024 5:26:53 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 20 replies
    Revolver ^ | April 10, 2024 | Staff
    “Well, a testicular eclipse is probably not something you had on your bingo card, but here we are. As you likely know by now, Monday was the big day for the Solar eclipse, and many states in the US were in the path of the “total eclipse,” as were other countries around the world. In fact, folks near Torreón, Mexico, got to experience “totality” for one of the longest periods of time, lasting 4 minutes and 28 seconds, according to NASA. Wikipedia explains that the solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band...
  • Rep. Jackson Lee ripped after defending her moon gaffe and blaming it on GOP: ‘Vote better people’

    04/10/2024 2:14:57 PM PDT · by Republican Wildcat · 75 replies
    Fox News ^ | April 10, 2024 | Gabriel Hays
    Social media users trashed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, after she turned her gaffe about the moon being "made of gases" into a slam of Republicans on social media Tuesday. Reacting to the backlash she received for telling school children that the moon is made of gases ahead of Monday’s eclipse, the lawmaker said that her Republican critics are hounding her because they have a "lust for stupidity." She gave a speech at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston on the day of the eclipse, telling an assembly of students, "Sometimes, you need to take the opportunity just to...
  • The Moon 'Is Made Up Mostly of Gases,' Sheila Jackson Lee Tells Students

    04/10/2024 7:10:00 AM PDT · by airdalecheif · 24 replies
    TOWNHALL ^ | April 09, 2024 12:45 PM | Spencer Brown
    While Democrats and leftist alarmists decry conservatives for supposedly peddling "misinformation" about "the Science™" related to climate, COVID, and genders (there are two, FYI), their own Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas is out and about telling constituents some real whoppers about the solar eclipse.
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Planets Around a Total Eclipse

    04/10/2024 10:31:36 AM PDT · by MtnClimber · 11 replies
    NASA ^ | 10 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
    Explanation: What wonders appear when the Moon blocks the Sun? For many eager observers of Monday’s total eclipse of the Sun, the suddenly dark sky included the expected corona and two (perhaps surprise) planets: Venus and Jupiter. Normally, in recent days, Venus is visible only in the morning when the Sun and Jupiter are below the horizon, while Jupiter appears bright only in the evening. On Monday, though, for well-placed observers, both planets became easily visible during the day right in line with the totally eclipsed Sun. This line was captured Monday afternoon in the featured image from Mount Nebo,...
  • Solar eclipse as you have never seen it before: View from SpaceX satellite

    04/09/2024 9:50:34 PM PDT · by linMcHlp · 36 replies
    DailyMail UK via YouTube video ^ | 04/09/2024 | DailyMail UK
    View from a SpaceX satellite; followed by view from an aircraft.
  • Peter Higgs, Who Proposed the Existence of the 'God Particle,' Has Died at 94

    04/09/2024 3:26:13 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 23 replies
    PHYS.ORG ^ | APRIL 9, 2024 | DANICA KIRKA, JILL LAWLESS and JAMEY KEATEN
    Nobel prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs, who proposed the existence of the so-called "God particle" that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang, has died at age 94, the University of Edinburgh said Tuesday. The university, where Higgs was emeritus professor, said he died Monday following a short illness. Higgs predicted the existence of a new particle, which came to be known as the Higgs boson, in 1964. He theorized that there must be a sub-atomic particle of certain dimension that would explain how other particles—and therefore all the stars and planets in the universe—acquired mass. Without something like...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Moon's Shadow over Lake Magog

    04/09/2024 12:54:12 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 14 replies
    NASA ^ | 9 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Stan Honda
    Explanation: Captured in this snapshot, the shadow of the Moon came to Lake Magog, Quebec, North America, planet Earth on April 8. For the lakeside eclipse chasers, the much anticipated total solar eclipse was a spectacle to behold in briefly dark, but clear skies. Of course Lake Magog was one of the last places to be visited by the Moon's shadow. The narrow path of totality for the 2024 total solar eclipse swept from Mexico's Pacific Coast north and eastward through the US and Canada. But a partial eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent.
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons-Brooks

    04/08/2024 12:50:58 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 5 replies
    NASA ^ | 8 Apr, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Shengyu Li & Shaining
    Explanation: How does a comet tail change? It depends on the comet. The ion tail of Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks has been changing markedly, as detailed in the featured image sequenced over nine days from March 6 to 14 (top to bottom). On some days, the comet's ion tail was relatively long and complex, but not every day. Reasons for tail changes include the rate of ejection of material from the comet's nucleus, the strength and complexity of the passing solar wind, and the rotation rate of the comet. Over the course of a week, apparent changes even include a change of...
  • Myth busted: Total solar eclipses don't release special, blinding radiation, NASA says

    04/08/2024 12:09:29 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 20 replies
    LIVESCIENCE ^ | 4/8 | Ben Turner
    en Turner published 1 hour ago Today's total solar eclipse won't produce any especially harmful radiation, but that doesn't mean you should look at it with your bare eyes. Today (April 8), a total solar eclipse will sweep across 15 U.S. states, plunging a 115-mile-wide (185 kilometers), 10,000-mile-long (16,000 km) path into sudden darkness as the moon's enormous shadow glides across the face of the sun. It's a cosmic coin trick that has always evoked feelings of both awe and dread in skywatchers down on Earth, and eclipses have been interpreted throughout history as messages from gods, bad omens or...
  • Lord of the Rings: Rare Display of Vortex Rings over Italy's Mount Etna Dazzles Observers

    04/08/2024 11:37:39 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 7 replies
    The Debrief ^ | APRIL 8, 2024 | MICAH HANKS
    A rare spectacle appeared in the sky over Sicily’s Mount Etna recently, as huge smoky vortex rings were spotted rising above the massive volcano. The largest volcano currently active in Europe, Mount Etna rises to a height of 10,902 feet (3,323 meters), making it both the tallest volcano on the continent, in addition to being the most active. Visitors to the area recently spotted the volcano producing unusual circles of what appeared to be smoke, known as vortex rings, which are actually the result of condensed gases from deep underground that make their way to the surface. Once they manifest...
  • Long Ago Partial Solar Eclipse from My Backyard - Trumpet Voluntary - Helmut Wobisch

    04/08/2024 9:36:05 AM PDT · by mairdie · 12 replies
    YouTube ^ | Aug 21, 2017 | Mary S. Van Deusen
    A music video of an older partial eclipse videoed from my backyard. The clouds act as a scrim for viewing.
  • Severe storms may pose a threat to solar eclipse viewers

    04/07/2024 7:05:32 PM PDT · by DallasBiff · 21 replies
    CNN ^ | 4/7/24 | Caitlin Kaiser, Elisa Raffa and Allison Chinchar
    CNN — Excited eclipse watchers, watch out: Weather could complicate attempts to see the epic astronomical phenomenon in parts of the Southwest. Clouds and storms could hinder the ability to see the eclipse in its full glory in several spots along the path of totality — where the moon will completely block out the sun. The most ideal weather for the eclipse will likely occur in two general areas: from Vermont through Maine, as well as Missouri through southern Indiana. Only a few isolated clouds are expected for these areas, which should not prevent optimal eclipse viewing. So get...