Aerospace and Astronomy

[msc 18,599]

Apparently the sun and moon are so far below the horizon line from here tonight they are on intimate terms with Australia, practically.

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

8 minutes ago, msc said:

Apparently the sun and moon are so far below the horizon line from here tonight they are on intimate terms with Australia, practically.

 

The moon will be sitting on the horizon in the southeast  in Glasgow at 2130hrs BST and the eclipse will be in full swing. It ends at 2213hrs BST when the moon is only four degrees above the horizon.  

[msc 18,599]

8 minutes ago, Cat O'Falk said:

 

The moon will be sitting on the horizon in the southeast  in Glasgow at 2130hrs BST and the eclipse will be in full swing. It ends at 2213hrs BST when the moon is only four degrees above the horizon.  

 

 

There was a massive eclipse around 1997-ish which we got a brilliant spot on view of in Glasgow. Remember it vividly.  Watched it from the steps outside mums house.

[YoungWillz 21,314]

 

[msc 18,599]

@Cat O'Falk   , which planet was low in the sky south west a few days ago? Wean saw it when I was offline and I claimed it was Venus - 50/50 chance.

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

53 minutes ago, msc said:

@Cat O'Falk   , which planet was low in the sky south west a few days ago? Wean saw it when I was offline and I claimed it was Venus - 50/50 chance.

 

Roughly what time are we talking about?

[msc 18,599]

3 minutes ago, Cat O'Falk said:

 

Roughly what time are we talking about?

 

About 7.30pm to 8.30pm a week ago. Mrs msc adds in the "week ago" bit to my shite memory.

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

18 minutes ago, msc said:

 

About 7.30pm to 8.30pm a week ago. Mrs msc adds in the "week ago" bit to my shite memory.

 

Probably Jupiter. Very bright and very low.

Glasgow sky 2000 hrs 20-9-2018:

 

 

[msc 18,599]

Ta.

 

See, you ask him well after the fact, with crap info, and he still works it out!

[charon 4,943]

This thread will do for this I reckon.

 

https://scroll.in/latest/898990/china-company-plans-to-launch-artificial-moon-in-2020-to-replace-street-lights-in-chengdu-city

 

A private company in the Chinese city of Chengdu has claimed that it will launch an “artificial moon” – an illumination satellite – in 2020, which will be bright enough to replace street lights, the People’s Daily reported.

Wu Chunfeng, the chairperson of the Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co, announced the ambitious project at a mass innovation and entrepreneurship event in Chengdu on October 10. It is not clear whether the project has the government’s backing.

Wu claimed that the “artificial moon” will be eight times brighter than the natural moon. It will be able to light an area with a diameter of 10 to 80 km. The testing of the “artificial moon” began two years ago and is now nearing completion, Wu said. He added that the idea came from a French artist, who imagined hanging a necklace made of mirrors above the earth, to reflect sunlight on the streets of Paris.

In a report on Friday, the China Daily said that the “artificial moon” will work as a mirror. It will orbit 500 km around the Earth, and reflect sunlight back to the planet. There could be three huge “moons” by 2022, Wu claimed in an interview. “By then, the three huge mirrors will divide the 360-degree orbital plane, illuminating an area for 24 hours continuously,” he said. The reflected sunlight can cover an area of 3,600 square km to 6,400 square km, Wu added.

He dismissed concerns that the light from the “artificial moon” could adversely impact the daily routines of animals, or make astronomical observations more difficult. Wu said the light intensity and illumination time of the device can be controlled.

He claimed it would save the city a lot of money. “Using a man-made moon to illuminate an area 50 square km can save 1.2 billion yuan [Rs 1,271 crore] of electric charge,” Wu said. “It can also illuminate blackout areas when natural disasters such as earthquakes happen.”

 

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

This is going to be equivalent to eight full moons every night and it won't "make astronomical observations more difficult". Yeah, this is the thread for porcine aviation alright.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,226]

Elsewhere on the web you will discover that the Chinese really cannot make an escalator that does not maim or kill.

They cannot make machines that do not tear arms and heads off of the operators.

They cannot drive for shit

They cannot ride mopeds with them going under lorries flattening them and the rider.

Taking that and much more into account, how the fuck are they going to achieve the artificial moon thing without it falling from space directly hitting Beijing killing 2 million of its citizens and causing a hit like an asteroid leaving millions dead and a new Ice age.

Hmmmmm.

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

No matter where in the world you are, over the next couple of nights the planet Mars can be seen as a bright reddish-brown starlike object in the vicinity of the moon.

 

If you're in South America, you'll see a lunar occultation. (Details here.)

[charon 4,943]

 

As it came from Space this counts and is quite important in the historical scheme of things.

 

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/massive-crater-under-greenland-s-ice-points-climate-altering-impact-time-humans

 

 

 

 

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

Storm Diana London Heathrow Airport LIVE.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT4j9s6VM2o

[Sir Creep 7,082]

Cat -- so what's the extremely bright object in my SW sky as I stand here on the border of TX/NMex ?  It's closer than the moon!  I've seen it before and always presumed it the ISS.  I will do so again....but shouldn't it be moving?  
Edit - ok so maybe it's Venus?  It's huge! 

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

34 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

Cat -- so what's the extremely bright object in my SW sky as I stand here on the border of TX/NMex ?  It's closer than the moon!  I've seen it before and always presumed it the ISS.  I will do so again....but shouldn't it be moving?  
Edit - ok so maybe it's Venus?  It's huge! 

 

That'll be the 'nose' of the constellation Canis Major and it's called Sirius. It's the brightest star in the whole of the night sky.

Here's a view of the southwest sky as seen from Amarillo TX at the time of your post.

 

 

[Sir Creep 7,082]

Funny thing is usually when out here in 'the middle of nowhere' the sky is thick with stars, many times you can see the Milky Way.  
Or at least that's how it was.  Now there is so much activity in the oil patch that it's like small cities of lights and the light pollution really takes it's toll.  Sad really.  Two years ago I could marvel at the sky and imagine how people generations ago saw what I was now seeing.  But now much of that is gone, though you can still see much more than back home in suburbia (well, in Louisiana -- the swamps lol).

All that just to say this morning the lights from the rig I'm on are enough to ruin much of the sky, so when our friend Sirius is so prevalent it's quite fascinating.  It's amazing how large an object it appears.
SC

[runebomme 377]

milky way looks cool but you can only see it from a place with a very low light pollution

[runebomme 377]

https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question15.html

[Clorox Bleachman 2,490]

At 8 this morning I Iooked East and saw the moon with something slightly smaller directly underneath. Word going round that it was Venus making an appearance.

 

Is that a crock of shit? If not, I think that's the first time I've seen Venus. Pretty neat.

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

38 minutes ago, Clorox Bleachman said:

At 8 this morning I Iooked East and saw the moon with something slightly smaller directly underneath. Word going round that it was Venus making an appearance.

 

Is that a crock of shit? If not, I think that's the first time I've seen Venus. Pretty neat.

 

That was Venus.

 

 

[Deathray 2,942]

8 minutes ago, Cat O'Falk said:

 

That was Venus.

 

 

 

At some point in the past few weeks - maybe longer ago, I saw a red moon? Did I actually see that or was it something less bonkers?

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

9 minutes ago, Deathray said:

At some point in the past few weeks - maybe longer ago, I saw a red moon? Did I actually see that or was it something less bonkers?

 

The last 'blood moon' visible from Newcastle upon Tyne was on the 27th July this year but it was very close to the horizon. The next one will be on 21st January 2019 at 0442 hrs and it will be 29 degrees above the horizon.

[charon 4,943]

8 hours ago, Clorox Bleachman said:

At 8 this morning I Iooked East and saw the moon with something slightly smaller directly underneath. Word going round that it was Venus making an appearance.

 

Is that a crock of shit? If not, I think that's the first time I've seen Venus. Pretty neat.

 

Very visible to me just now, really defines the non lit part, shines on that so visible too.