Stars / Astronomy / Astrophotography / Telescopes / Astro

i did some quick calculations on the back of an envelope and by golly i think he might be right

the comments in that article are quite entertaining :)

looks like someone solved the universe

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/may/23/roll-over-einstein-meet-weinstein

Ah ha ha, we have the new Murray Gell-Mann:

Furthermore, Weinstein's theory predicts the existence of more than 150 new subatomic particles, most of them with exotic properties (such as electric charges that are greater than one, which is the maximum seen in nature at present).

Should keep practical physicists occupied for a few decades. :)

looks like funding for the new cern super collider just got a step closer

wonder what the higgs boson is made of ?

I need to trade my 5" goto reflector telescope for some binoculars, I can see very little sky from my new garden... Any takers? PM me if you're interested...

That's a crying shame. Isn't it portable enough for when you head out of town? As for binoculars you're welcome to have a pair of 10x50s that I've got in the cupboard and never use. I bought them back in the 1980s and used them for a bit - if I use binoculars now it's usually the 11x80s.

haven't had a look at the sky for weeks - this little chap is from 3 June.

cassini takes picture of earth
there i am bottom left just next to the olympic stadium

Not often you get to use the word correctly, but that is awesome.

Is it possible to see a satellite or the ISS with the naked eye flying across the sky?

In a very dark place at the moment (so much so you can see the Milky Way as soon as you leave the fully lit room without having to wait for your eyes to adjust).

Last night say a number of rather bright lights moving across the sky. These were very much faster than planes -which were also visible but much slower and with flashy lights.

Yep! The ISS is quite easy to spot and goes like the clappers. Its visible for about one minute IIRC. Satellites are almost always visible because there's so damn many of them and they all go at various speeds, generally slower than the ISS which is on a low orbit.

Ludd used to have his picture of the ISS as a avatar
and yes it is possible
the most recent sky at night or the one prior to that had a bunch of school kids with both the naked eye and small telescopes looking for, then at the ISS. I have definately seen the ISS with the naked eye ... well it might in fact have been SkyLab ( back in the day ) I'm sure theres a timetable for fly past's / overs where you can get an idea of when it might be passing your section of the sky

it moves pretty quickly but not meteorite / asteroid fast it is perceptable to the naked eye

there is a graphic somewhere that shows all the satelites in orbit round the earth ... it's quite staggering how many there are up there ... it makes earth look a bit like saturn the rings being the space debris and all the bit and bobs up there

google earth satelites or the like for informative images on the stuff thats whizzing about our heads

this is actually just space junk but the one with satelites is almost as dense

http://blog.urthecast.com/updates/whos-counting-our-20000-pieces-of-manmade-space-junk/

http://blog.urthecast.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/LEO1280_debris_NASA.jpg

The guardian paper edition has the ISS visible times whenever it's over the UK. Had a great view of it over Liverpool a few months ago.

The most entertaining things are fireballs or big shooting stars. Not as rare as you'd imagine - even here in London if you watch the sky from dusk onwards for a few minutes you're bound to at least see a tiddler.

...and I even made a short film
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62297839@N05/5670274579/

I usually get the ISS pass details from heavens-above.com. That also provides details of iridium flares.

There is an Android ap that plots satellites. Think it's been mentioned before...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.agi.android.augmentedreality&hl=en

^ thanks all. Glad I'm not seeing things. Saw loads more last night and some amazing things. possibly even an iridium flare (not that I knew what one was until Ludd mentioned them) although was probably a very bright meteor.

where are you ?
all i see when i look up is londons light pollution and the odd star or two

An hour south of Bordeaux for a week. Black as anything - no street lights anywhere in about 10km

Some of the nights lately have been pretty clear, even in London's orange murk. Sat out waiting for the ISS last night and saw a nice bright Perseid meteor that left a trail. Then the cloud rolled over, with just enough gaps for me to take some photos of the ISS. It looks boringly similar to the way it always does - and I didn't spot the following supply vessel.

cool!

perseids tonight
keep 'em peeled

The weather forecast for London is looking pretty much perfect for the meteors tonight.

The big question is whether to get out of town to escape the light pollution, or enjoy the reltive comfort of a deckchair in the back garden.

Oh, and the ISS is coming overhead again tonight, once at about 9.25 and again just after 11.

Just saw the ISS pass between a very small gap in the clouds. It gave a nice bright flash from the solar panels.
Only have a 40mm lens at the moment so this is cropped to high heaven: