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

Welcome to Mars:


Among the most interesting landforms on Mars are features referred to as ‘chaotic terrain’. Dozens or even hundreds of isolated mountains up to 2000 m high are scattered in these extensive regions. Seen from orbit, they form a bizarre, chaotic pattern. Such terrains are found over a large area to both the west and east of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. Hydraotes Chaos, showcased in this video, is a typical example of this type of landscape.

The data used to generate these images and the simulated flyover were acquired with the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter.
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"Rosetta Could Change Science Forever"


As our latest probe sent to monitor a passing comet concludes; Wallace Thornhill challenges the presumption that comet's are primordial balls of dirty ice, putting into question huge swathes of common 'scientific' assumptions about the origins, history, and our understanding of the solar system and the objects that inhabit it.
 
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Cosimo said:
What telescope are you going to put on that and is there going to be a dome?
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At the moment it will just be a time saver for setup and use as the scope and mount are just normal beasts..

In summer it will double up to hold a parasol and a mini table (some compromises). So for both these reasons it has quite a bit of reinforcement.

Also concrete compacts more than you think so a large portion of the concrete/aggregate will disappear into the 60x60x80 base block.

I'll post the build as it's occurring :) Planning for the concrete pour to be start of november.
 
That's fantastic NickK, good luck to you!

I know it's a long shot, but does any stargaze or know of any good spots on Dartmoor? I use to go to Hound Tor, but I've moved to the other side of Dartmoor now and I don't really fancy the long drive.
 
Hubble is fast:


Hubble is in orbit around Earth at an altitude of about 545 kilometres and its orbit is inclined with respect to the Earth’s equator at angle of about 28.5 degrees.

It zooms along in its orbit at a speed of 28 000 kilometres per hour, meaning that it completes an entire orbit in just under 97 minutes. In other words, Hubble circles the Earth almost 15 times every day!
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and can change orientation:

 
Imagine: with a wasteland as their canvas, a Master and his young Apprentice set about turning rubble into planets and moons, asteroids and comets. They levitate the worlds above their heads, spinning them in orbit around their symbolic Sun.
“What is the key to life on Earth?” asks the Master. The Apprentice shakes her head. The answer is obvious: water. For a long time, the origins of water, and indeed life on our planet remained an absolute mystery. So we began searching for answers beyond Earth,” the Master continues. “In time we turned to comets. One trillion celestial balls of dust, ice, complex molecules, left over from the birth of our Solar System. Once thought of as messengers of doom and destruction, and yet so enchanting. And we were to catch one: a staggeringly ambitious plan.”

Science fiction? No – science fact.As Tomek Bagi?ski’s short film Ambition makes clear, it is the essence of what it means to be human, to attempt difficult things, to reach for seemingly impossible goals, to learn, adapt and evolve.
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For those with ultra widescreen monitors, open in MPC-BE/HC and use the numpad 9 key to scale it to fit the full monitor width nicely. For those with normal widescreen, well enjoy your black bars of fail :p
 
A needle in a haystack....

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NASA finds the LADEE impact crater on the far side of the moon:

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/posts/822
 
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