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

PermaBanned said:
So is the James Webb scope only really 'good' for five years of use?
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It’s expected to function for around ten years. They won’t be able to repair or replenish the booster fuel because it will be parked almost a million miles away from earth. That will be a pretty good life expectancy. There are plans for even more and bigger telescopes/observatories:

The Single Aperture Far Infrared Observatory (SAFIR) - Spitzer and Herschel successor
The Advanced Technology Large Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST) - Hubble and JWST successor
The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) - Chandra X-ray Observatory successor
The Generation-X Mission
Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)

The future is very interesting.
 
Hubble strikes again. We have time-lapse movies created from 14 years of high resolution still images showing jets of glowing gas ejected from young stars:

hs201120awebprint.jpg

August 31, 2011: A team of scientists has collected enough high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope images over a 14-year period to stitch together time-lapse movies of powerful jets ejected from three young stars.

The jets, a byproduct of gas accretion around newly forming stars, shoot off at supersonic speeds in opposite directions through space. These phenomena are providing clues about the final stages of a star’s birth, offering a peek at how our Sun came into existence 4.5 billion years ago. Hubble’s unprecedented sharpness allows astronomers to see changes in the jets over just a few years’ time. Most astronomical processes change over timescales that are much longer than a human lifetime.
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The full story:

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2011/20
 
Juno looking back at earth

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http://news.discovery.com/space/juno-looks-back-snaps-earth-moon-system-110830.html



Juno spacecraft trajectory animation


and a comment from youtube

This satellite is not going to wall-mart to buy you a TV dinner, its going to Jupiter. While it may take a long time it saves quite a bit of money as the weight needed to put it into space is limited to the booster rockets, the probe and all its instruments.

By using the Earth and Sun as a sling shot, all the Spacecraft has to do is move a bit to adjust its orbit and keep it stable. Please read more and comment less.
 
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samir_ansari said:
Astronomers discover planet made of diamond:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/25/us-planet-diamond-idUSTRE77O69A20110825
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Without going into too much detail, how exactly do they know its made out of diamond? I mean they can't even really see planets can they, outside of a bit of a wobble on the star. My understanding was until the 90's outside of our own solar system, we didn't even know other planets existed.

So how do they know its made out of diamond?
 
thedoc46 said:
Without going into too much detail, how exactly do they know its made out of diamond? I mean they can't even really see planets can they, outside of a bit of a wobble on the star. My understanding was until the 90's outside of our own solar system, we didn't even know other planets existed.

So how do they know its made out of diamond?
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Long story short I believe they measure light refraction from the outer edge of the target as it passes a bright object. As each element has it's own reaction to light they are able to break down all the components.

Also I managed to get this photo of Jupiter the other night. Unfortunately Jupiter flew right into a cloud as I was capturing it hence the softness but I will attempt this again next time the sky clears up:

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PermaBanned said:
Nice capture, looks like the focus was pretty good if you were able to get that much detail with a cloud in the way. Can't wait to see one from clear skies :)

I found a really interesting (if long) read here:

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/weirdastronomy.php

In fact, that whole site seems to be full of really interesting reads, but i'm not made of time :cool:
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That was a very good read, thanks for the link!

That potential Gamma Ray Burst from WR 104 is interesting..
 
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