So that would mean solstice yesterday (21st) in UK then. Sunset about 4pm in London.Big Boy wrote:I've no idea, but a good friend of mine, who is a Druid Priest says it is today due the Solstice point being 6.5 hours after sunset yesterday in the UK.
Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
In the Northern Hemisphere the day of the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year (the day with the least daylight and the longest night) and occurs every year between December 20 and December 23. The dates given on this page are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which for practical purposes is equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT, the time the United Kingdom is on during the winter, when it isn't on summer time). While the winter solstice occurs at the same moment in time all over the world, the date and local time differ from place to place depending on the year and a location's time zone. For locations that are ahead of UTC (further east) it may fall on the day after, and for locations that are behind UTC (further west) it may fall on the day before. To find out the exact date and time of the winter solstice 2018 in your area use this seasons calculator.
http://www.calendarpedia.com/when-is/wi ... stice.html
http://www.calendarpedia.com/when-is/wi ... stice.html
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
No idea, but if he says it was the 22nd, I believe him. He is shit hot on things like this. He reports daily, with stuff like:
He is really into this stuff, and by all accounts is very good.Good morning on 21 Dec 2018, my day has 0m 5s less light than yesterday, 8h 46m 0s light lost & 0h 0m 1s to lose. 99.997% to the dark. Happy Winter Solstice. My count won't click over to 100% until tomorrow, due the Solstice point being 6.5 hours after sunset today. That's also the reason managed open access at Stonehenge is tomorrow rather than today.
[Edit] His dates often differ by a day or 2 when compared to traditional calendars for all segments of the year. Think about it and we adjust our calendar every 4th year, so it makes sense that days will differ slightly.
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
If you use the calculator that Nereus provided, it shows that in the UK the winter solstice falls on the 21st December for three years and then on the fourth year it’s the 22nd.
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
NASA spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... recent_box
TAMPA: A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometres) away.
The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysterious object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12.33am Jan 1 (12.33pm in Thailand).
A guitar anthem recorded by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May -- who also holds an advanced degree in astrophysics -- will be released just after midnight to accompany a video simulation of the flyby, as NASA commentators describe the close pass on www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
Real-time video of the actual flyby is impossible, since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.
But if all goes well, the first images should be in hand by the end of New Year's Day.
And judging by the latest tweet from Alan Stern, the lead scientist on the New Horizons mission, the excitement among team members is palpable.
"IT'S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest exploration of worlds in history!" he wrote on Saturday.
- What does it look like?
Scientists are not sure what Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-lee) looks like -- whether it is round or oblong or even if it is a single object or a cluster.
It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 kilometres) in size.
Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet.
"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern.
"If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular."
Hurtling through space at a speed of 32,000 miles (51,500 kilometres) per hour, the spacecraft aims to make its closest approach within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometres) of the surface of Ultima Thule.
The flyby will be fast, at a speed of nine miles (14 kilometres) per second.
Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition.
Ultima Thule is named for a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography, according to NASA.
"Ultima Thule means 'beyond Thule' -- beyond the borders of the known world -- symbolizing the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done," the US space agency said in a statement.
According to project scientist Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, mankind didn't even know the Kuiper Belt -- a vast ring of relics from the formation days of the solar system -- existed until the 1990s.
"This is the frontier of planetary science," said Weaver.
"We finally have reached the outskirts of the solar system, these things that have been there since the beginning and have hardly changed -- we think. We will find out."
Despite the partial US government shutdown, sparked by a feud over funding for a border wall with Mexico between President Donald Trump and opposition Democrats, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine vowed that the US space agency would broadcast the flyby.
Normally, NASA TV and NASA's website would go dark during a government shutdown.
NASA will also provide updates about another spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, that will enter orbit around the asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve, Bridenstine said.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... recent_box
TAMPA: A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometres) away.
The US space agency will ring in the New Year with a live online broadcast to mark historic flyby of the mysterious object in a dark and frigid region of space known as the Kuiper Belt at 12.33am Jan 1 (12.33pm in Thailand).
A guitar anthem recorded by legendary Queen guitarist Brian May -- who also holds an advanced degree in astrophysics -- will be released just after midnight to accompany a video simulation of the flyby, as NASA commentators describe the close pass on www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
Real-time video of the actual flyby is impossible, since it takes more six hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spaceship, named New Horizons, and another six hours for the response to arrive.
But if all goes well, the first images should be in hand by the end of New Year's Day.
And judging by the latest tweet from Alan Stern, the lead scientist on the New Horizons mission, the excitement among team members is palpable.
"IT'S HAPPENING!! Flyby is upon us! @NewHorizons2015 is healthy and on course! The farthest exploration of worlds in history!" he wrote on Saturday.
- What does it look like?
Scientists are not sure what Ultima Thule (pronounced TOO-lee) looks like -- whether it is round or oblong or even if it is a single object or a cluster.
It was discovered in 2014 with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, and is believed to be 12-20 miles (20-30 kilometres) in size.
Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet.
"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern.
"If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular."
Hurtling through space at a speed of 32,000 miles (51,500 kilometres) per hour, the spacecraft aims to make its closest approach within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometres) of the surface of Ultima Thule.
The flyby will be fast, at a speed of nine miles (14 kilometres) per second.
Seven instruments on board will record high-resolution images and gather data about its size and composition.
Ultima Thule is named for a mythical, far-northern island in medieval literature and cartography, according to NASA.
"Ultima Thule means 'beyond Thule' -- beyond the borders of the known world -- symbolizing the exploration of the distant Kuiper Belt and Kuiper Belt objects that New Horizons is performing, something never before done," the US space agency said in a statement.
According to project scientist Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, mankind didn't even know the Kuiper Belt -- a vast ring of relics from the formation days of the solar system -- existed until the 1990s.
"This is the frontier of planetary science," said Weaver.
"We finally have reached the outskirts of the solar system, these things that have been there since the beginning and have hardly changed -- we think. We will find out."
Despite the partial US government shutdown, sparked by a feud over funding for a border wall with Mexico between President Donald Trump and opposition Democrats, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine vowed that the US space agency would broadcast the flyby.
Normally, NASA TV and NASA's website would go dark during a government shutdown.
NASA will also provide updates about another spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, that will enter orbit around the asteroid Bennu on New Year's Eve, Bridenstine said.
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
I've just seen a photo that has been sent back - it has to be asked, what did it cost and was it worth it?
[Edit] It seems the image I've seen was low resolution, and high resolution photos are still travelling back, so maybe I'll have my mind changed.
[Edit] It seems the image I've seen was low resolution, and high resolution photos are still travelling back, so maybe I'll have my mind changed.
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
NASA spacecraft pulls off most distant exploration of another world
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nasa-spacecra ... 09412.html
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft pulled off the most distant exploration of another world on Tuesday, skimming past a tiny, icy object four billion miles from Earth that looks to be shaped like a bowling pin.
Flight controllers in Maryland declared success 10 hours after the high-risk, middle-of-the-night encounter at the mysterious body known as Ultima Thule on the frozen fringes of our solar system, an astounding 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.
“I don’t know about all of you, but I’m really liking this 2019 thing so far,” lead scientist Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said to applause.
“I’m here to tell you that last night, overnight, the United States spacecraft New Horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind, and did so spectacularly.”
The close approach came half an hour into the new year, and three-and-a-half years after New Horizons’ unprecedented swing past Pluto.
For Ultima Thule — which wasn’t even known when New Horizons departed Earth in 2006 — the endeavour was more difficult.
The spacecraft zoomed within 3500 kilometres of it, more than three times closer than the Pluto flyby.
Operating on autopilot, New Horizons was out of radio contact with controllers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory from late Monday afternoon until late Tuesday morning.
Scientists wanted the spacecraft staring down Ultima Thule and collecting data, not turning toward Earth to phone home.
Mission operations manager Alice Bowman said she was more nervous this time than she was with Pluto in 2015 because of the challenges and distance, so vast that messages take more than six hours, one way, to cross the 6.4 billion kilometres.
When a solid radio link finally was acquired and team members reported that their spacecraft systems were green, or good, she declared with relief: “We have a healthy spacecraft.”
Later, she added to more applause: “We did it again.”
Cheers erupted in the control centre and in a nearby auditorium, where hundreds more — still weary from the double countdowns on New Year’s Eve — gathered to await word.
Scientists and other team members embraced and shared high-fives, while the spillover auditorium crowd gave a standing ovation.
Stern, Bowman and other key players soon joined their friends in the auditorium, where the celebration continued and a news conference took place.
The speakers took delight in showing off the latest picture of Ultima Thule , taken just 1 million kilometres before the 12:33am close approach.
“Ultima Thule is finally revealing its secrets to us,” said project scientist Hal Weaver of Johns Hopkins.
Based on the early, rudimentary images, Ultima Thule is highly elongated — about 32 kilometres by 16 kilometres.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/nasa-spacecra ... 09412.html
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft pulled off the most distant exploration of another world on Tuesday, skimming past a tiny, icy object four billion miles from Earth that looks to be shaped like a bowling pin.
Flight controllers in Maryland declared success 10 hours after the high-risk, middle-of-the-night encounter at the mysterious body known as Ultima Thule on the frozen fringes of our solar system, an astounding 1.6 billion kilometres beyond Pluto.
“I don’t know about all of you, but I’m really liking this 2019 thing so far,” lead scientist Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute said to applause.
“I’m here to tell you that last night, overnight, the United States spacecraft New Horizons conducted the farthest exploration in the history of humankind, and did so spectacularly.”
The close approach came half an hour into the new year, and three-and-a-half years after New Horizons’ unprecedented swing past Pluto.
For Ultima Thule — which wasn’t even known when New Horizons departed Earth in 2006 — the endeavour was more difficult.
The spacecraft zoomed within 3500 kilometres of it, more than three times closer than the Pluto flyby.
Operating on autopilot, New Horizons was out of radio contact with controllers at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory from late Monday afternoon until late Tuesday morning.
Scientists wanted the spacecraft staring down Ultima Thule and collecting data, not turning toward Earth to phone home.
Mission operations manager Alice Bowman said she was more nervous this time than she was with Pluto in 2015 because of the challenges and distance, so vast that messages take more than six hours, one way, to cross the 6.4 billion kilometres.
When a solid radio link finally was acquired and team members reported that their spacecraft systems were green, or good, she declared with relief: “We have a healthy spacecraft.”
Later, she added to more applause: “We did it again.”
Cheers erupted in the control centre and in a nearby auditorium, where hundreds more — still weary from the double countdowns on New Year’s Eve — gathered to await word.
Scientists and other team members embraced and shared high-fives, while the spillover auditorium crowd gave a standing ovation.
Stern, Bowman and other key players soon joined their friends in the auditorium, where the celebration continued and a news conference took place.
The speakers took delight in showing off the latest picture of Ultima Thule , taken just 1 million kilometres before the 12:33am close approach.
“Ultima Thule is finally revealing its secrets to us,” said project scientist Hal Weaver of Johns Hopkins.
Based on the early, rudimentary images, Ultima Thule is highly elongated — about 32 kilometres by 16 kilometres.
- 81797fa50d08d5e6e4e083ad24551186.jpg (66.63 KiB) Viewed 405 times
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
....."Scientists decided to study it with New Horizons after the spaceship, which launched in 2006, completed its main mission of flying by Pluto in 2015, returning the most detailed images ever taken of the dwarf planet.
"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern.
"If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular.".......
All of this is secondary to the main mission started 12 years ago. After this it continues on out of the solar system and into deep space like the two Voyager missions launched in the 1970's have already done. Pete
"At closest approach we are going to try to image Ultima at three times the resolution we had for Pluto," said Stern.
"If we can accomplish that it will be spectacular.".......
All of this is secondary to the main mission started 12 years ago. After this it continues on out of the solar system and into deep space like the two Voyager missions launched in the 1970's have already done. Pete
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
Deep space mission reveals photos of Ultima Thule 'snowman'
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... le-snowman
LAUREL, Maryland: Ultima Thule, an icy world 6.5 billion kilometres from the sun, looks like a big snowman.
At a news conference Wednesday, scientists working with Nasa's New Horizons mission released several images that the spacecraft took as it flew by Tuesday.
The scientists now say with confidence that Ultima Thule long ago was two bodies that got stuck together, what they call a "contact binary."
"It's two completely different objects that are now joined together," said S Alan Stern, principal investigator for the mission.
It also looks pristine, almost unchanged since it formed out of a disk of dust and gas that orbited the sun more than 4.5 billion years ago. Studying it could offer insights to how Earth and the other planets formed.
A day ago, scientists released a blurry picture of the small body also known by its official designation 2014 MU69 taken from a distance of half a million miles, taken before the flyby.
The object looked sort of looked like a fuzzy bowling pin.
The first batch of science data from the flyby arrived on Earth on Tuesday afternoon. More than 100 scientists, including Heidi B. Hammel, a planetary scientist and a media liaison for the science team, gathered at 8pm for a look.
"Everybody was there," Hammel said. "They all wanted to see it. The picture goes up, and everybody applauds and cheers. Immediately, the chatter starts."
A second shift of scientists worked on the data overnight, presenting more detailed analysis during a science team meeting Wednesday morning (Wednesday evening Thailand time).
Planetary scientists have never before seen a close-up of an object like Ultima Thule. It is likely an icy fragment that coalesced more than 4.5 billion years ago and that has remained in a deep freeze of the solar system's Kuiper belt ever since, some 6.5 billion kilometres (4 billion miles) from the sun.
If it is indeed a pristine planetesimal, a building block of the planets, studying it will offer clues to how our planet and its neighbours formed.
Even clearer pictures are arriving on Earth in another transmission. The full set of data will be a long time coming - trickling across the solar system over the next 20 months.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... le-snowman
LAUREL, Maryland: Ultima Thule, an icy world 6.5 billion kilometres from the sun, looks like a big snowman.
At a news conference Wednesday, scientists working with Nasa's New Horizons mission released several images that the spacecraft took as it flew by Tuesday.
The scientists now say with confidence that Ultima Thule long ago was two bodies that got stuck together, what they call a "contact binary."
"It's two completely different objects that are now joined together," said S Alan Stern, principal investigator for the mission.
It also looks pristine, almost unchanged since it formed out of a disk of dust and gas that orbited the sun more than 4.5 billion years ago. Studying it could offer insights to how Earth and the other planets formed.
A day ago, scientists released a blurry picture of the small body also known by its official designation 2014 MU69 taken from a distance of half a million miles, taken before the flyby.
The object looked sort of looked like a fuzzy bowling pin.
The first batch of science data from the flyby arrived on Earth on Tuesday afternoon. More than 100 scientists, including Heidi B. Hammel, a planetary scientist and a media liaison for the science team, gathered at 8pm for a look.
"Everybody was there," Hammel said. "They all wanted to see it. The picture goes up, and everybody applauds and cheers. Immediately, the chatter starts."
A second shift of scientists worked on the data overnight, presenting more detailed analysis during a science team meeting Wednesday morning (Wednesday evening Thailand time).
Planetary scientists have never before seen a close-up of an object like Ultima Thule. It is likely an icy fragment that coalesced more than 4.5 billion years ago and that has remained in a deep freeze of the solar system's Kuiper belt ever since, some 6.5 billion kilometres (4 billion miles) from the sun.
If it is indeed a pristine planetesimal, a building block of the planets, studying it will offer clues to how our planet and its neighbours formed.
Even clearer pictures are arriving on Earth in another transmission. The full set of data will be a long time coming - trickling across the solar system over the next 20 months.
- c1_1604278_620x413.jpg (21.38 KiB) Viewed 366 times
May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil know`s you`re dead!
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
I honestly don't understand where the excitement factor comes in. 100 scientists wetting themselves over that (more than likely excited over their pay packets for looking so excited). The only exciting thing to me is that it's doubled in size in just 24 hours - it was only 10 miles from top to bottom in the fuzzy photo yesterday. I am underwhelmed.
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
Its an extremely rare object - like looking at a page of history from our solar system previously undiscovered. If your lifelong work and research has gone into things like this then excitement will barely cover it!
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
100 scientists on the first shift, followed immediately by the 2nd shift seems to be total overkill to look at the photo.
As I've said, I'm totally underwhelmed, others obviously feel its worth the money. I've nothing else to say - the money will continue to be spent regardless of what I think. Maybe they should invest in a decent tape measure first though. I guess it was the first shift who measured it as 10 miles, and the second who measured it as 21 miles
Money very well spent.
If the scientists ever become unemployed, I'm sure TAT could use them counting the number of tourists into Thailand.
As I've said, I'm totally underwhelmed, others obviously feel its worth the money. I've nothing else to say - the money will continue to be spent regardless of what I think. Maybe they should invest in a decent tape measure first though. I guess it was the first shift who measured it as 10 miles, and the second who measured it as 21 miles
Money very well spent.If the scientists ever become unemployed, I'm sure TAT could use them counting the number of tourists into Thailand.
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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Dannie Boy
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Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
I think the main issue here BB is all about pushing the boundaries - if Mankind never did a thing, we would all still be living in caves. I’m not particularly (make that not at all) interested in this particular issue, but it’s all part of the bigger picture.
Re: Astronomy, cosmology and space thread
This project is being run out of a university so is what you have there are a hundred people from the academic community who are clearly interested in something from their field. It's not a hundred NASA scientists paid to just look at this chunk of space debris, they get paid to teach in the university and do research.Big Boy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:34 am 100 scientists on the first shift, followed immediately by the 2nd shift seems to be total overkill to look at the photo.
As I've said, I'm totally underwhelmed, others obviously feel its worth the money. I've nothing else to say - the money will continue to be spent regardless of what I think. Maybe they should invest in a decent tape measure first though. I guess it was the first shift who measured it as 10 miles, and the second who measured it as 21 miles
If the scientists ever become unemployed, I'm sure TAT could use them counting the number of tourists into Thailand.
As for the measuring discrepancy, I think the first estimate came from a long way away and the second from much nearer, although I think still over 3000 km away.