*** The Official Astronomy & Universe Thread ***

Took this the other night, I can never get over how much everything in space just looks like an enormous puppet show:

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Ani-Proton fusion drives will most likely be powering our space crafts in 50-60 years time and fuelling space stations/outposts. While it's too expensive now, the article says production is speeding up as technology matures.

http://www.space.com/17537-antimatter-fusion-engines-future-spaceships.html

The research originally was done by NASA. This looks like the way forward as well, not just space travel but also Energy on Earth where by this technology can help reduce the use of natural resources for energy generation.

In before the Nuclear = Bad brigade.
 
I thought I'd put this up.. not many times you get to visit Mauna Kea on Hawai'i.. if you don't know what this place is then I suggest you have a read up - in short is probably *the* best spot on the planet for stargazing.

Mauna Key is over 13,000ft (and about 30,000+ft if you measured it from the sea floor). The visitor's centre is 9,000ft - there's no light pollution.. there's no water vapour, no clouds and the air is still.. at the summit there's at least nine major telescopes. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauna_Kea

We heli'd past this a couple of days before:
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We've been driving for an hour from Kona on route 190. the road carved through the lava as we pass the 1500ft elevation sign. The sun bright in the sky. We're reminded by signs that the fire risk is extreme - funny being on a volcano.. a reasonable 75degF outside..

We take a left onto saddle road (route 200), the desolate forbidding landscape reminds you of what could be if you deviate from the very windy steep drive. Thirty minutes more and we see a sign for Hilo - another 40 miles - as we pass the state park and then take the left up Mauna Kea access road.

The V6 kicks down a gear as the window screen wipers are going - the cloud bouncing off the window like rain. Taking it slow to avoid the invisible cows that frequent the area.. Up, up and steeper it gets as the outside temperature plummets to 51degF.. we climb out of the clouds in our personal aeroplane as we're pushed back in our seats. The blinding sun blazes and we feel it's naked heat through the windscreen.

Eventually we arrive at the Mauna Kea visitor's centre with a nice 54degF showing outside. I change from my shorts and t-shirt into fully layered gear, thick socks and hiking boots.

We say hello and we see a large number of celestron scopes waiting to be setup, the visitor's centre has everything you need (including hot drinks) and we settle down for a 30 minute video about the mountain which introduces not only the scopes here but importantly the Hawaiian folklore and why there is a strong feeling about the observatories on such an important site.

Sun sets.. and within 20 minutes the stars are appearing.. more.. and more.. the thick haze of the milky way centre marks the sky. They point the big (including a 14") cases at the planets - saturn shines bright with very very clear ring detail. Mars is less impressive without dark splotches than through my pentax though - possibly I'm not so used to mirrors than refractors Astrophysics mounts...
One of the guys has set up a small imaging setup (probably running at ~500mm fl) on a GTO-1 with a SBIG camera and using maxim. To one side plenty of 6"/8" dobs are sat for public use.

Looking down the mountain at the road the centre of the milky way shines brightly, over head the trail follows until it falls behind the mountain behind. NGC2516 very visible.. M31 visible with the naked eye and even more so with the finder scope I brought along. Globular clusters stand out.. the constellations are difficult to see nestled in amongst the carpet of stars.
It's bitter sweet as I don't have my own scope and imaging gear in one, if not the, prime astronomy locations in the world.. so I leave this peaceful place.. leaving nothing but my footsteps and the visual memory locked in my head..

Both our cameras aren't really night friendly (cannon ixus did a better job than the olympus semi-slr!).

If you come here - bring a proper camera, a proper lens and a tripod - then you'll leave with the images of awe.. and bring an english set of stargazing clothes as the temp here hit 51 degF (10 degC).. lastly a warning - the summit guided tours (you'll need a guided tour unless it's the weekend bring your own 4x4) bet booked up over a month ahead of time.

To show you what this place looks like with your eyes.. let alone a telescope..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Milky_Way_Arch.jpg
http://www.colorfulfootsteps.com/2011/12/30/stargazing-on-top-of-mauna-kea/

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Over the next five years of the project that they will be a full eighth of the night sky in full color; and that these images will provide a glimpse into 300 million galaxies, 100,000 galaxy clusters, and 4,000 supernovae.

That sentence is what I find fascinating, it just hard to comprehend such large figures.
 
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