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#91
Astrophotography / Flaming star, Tadpoles and Spi...
Last post by Carole - Mar 07, 2025, 15:21:34Done a lot of reprocessing this year due partly to lack of targets and also having acquired SX have gone through all the old images that I wasn't content with.
Did this back in 2020 with the Samyang lens.
This was the result then:
I had taken it in SHO but never really got the Oiii and Sii to show through.
this is the new result today:
Did this back in 2020 with the Samyang lens.
This was the result then:
I had taken it in SHO but never really got the Oiii and Sii to show through.
this is the new result today:
#92
In the Media... / Re: News of "private" Moon Lan...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:43:45Quote from: Rick on Mar 07, 2025, 10:31:57"However I do have to tell you that we don't believe we're on the correct attitude on the surface, yet again. I don't have all the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of the vehicle is - we're collecting photos now."
...but, apparently, there are "no plans for a radical rethink of his company's design". I wonder how many more will end up on their sides....
#93
In the Media... / Moonshot goes sideways as Intu...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:31:57Moonshot goes sideways as Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander seemingly falls over
For the second time this week, a privately operated spacecraft has touched down on the Moon – but this one landed badly.
The Athena lander, built by Texas startup Intuitive Machines, set down at 1730 UTC Thursday in the Mons Mouton region just 160 km (100 miles) from the South Pole of the Moon. The spacecraft's internal sensors indicated that it may horizontal, and not vertical as intended.
"We had a seven-day transit to the surface and we think that we've been very successful to this point," CEO Steve Altemus said at a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"However I do have to tell you that we don't believe we're on the correct attitude on the surface, yet again. I don't have all the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of the vehicle is - we're collecting photos now."
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/intuitive_machines_landing/
For the second time this week, a privately operated spacecraft has touched down on the Moon – but this one landed badly.
The Athena lander, built by Texas startup Intuitive Machines, set down at 1730 UTC Thursday in the Mons Mouton region just 160 km (100 miles) from the South Pole of the Moon. The spacecraft's internal sensors indicated that it may horizontal, and not vertical as intended.
"We had a seven-day transit to the surface and we think that we've been very successful to this point," CEO Steve Altemus said at a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"However I do have to tell you that we don't believe we're on the correct attitude on the surface, yet again. I don't have all the data yet to say exactly what the attitude of the vehicle is - we're collecting photos now."
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/intuitive_machines_landing/
#94
In the Media... / Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody ...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:29:49Neither Elon Musk Nor Anybody Else Will Ever Colonize Mars
Mars does not have a magnetosphere. Any discussion of humans ever settling the red planet can stop right there, but of course it never does. Do you have a low-cost plan for, uh, creating a gigantic active dynamo at Mars's dead core? No? Well. It's fine. I'm sure you have some other workable, sustainable plan for shielding live Mars inhabitants from deadly solar and cosmic radiation, forever. No? Huh. Well then let's discuss something else equally realistic, like your plan to build a condo complex in Middle Earth.
More: https://defector.com/neither-elon-musk-nor-anybody-else-will-ever-colonize-mars
Mars does not have a magnetosphere. Any discussion of humans ever settling the red planet can stop right there, but of course it never does. Do you have a low-cost plan for, uh, creating a gigantic active dynamo at Mars's dead core? No? Well. It's fine. I'm sure you have some other workable, sustainable plan for shielding live Mars inhabitants from deadly solar and cosmic radiation, forever. No? Huh. Well then let's discuss something else equally realistic, like your plan to build a condo complex in Middle Earth.
More: https://defector.com/neither-elon-musk-nor-anybody-else-will-ever-colonize-mars
#95
In the Media... / SpaceX’s Starship explodes in ...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:28:35SpaceX's Starship explodes in second failure for Musk's Mars program
Back-to-back mishaps indicate big setbacks for program to launch satellites and send humans to the moon and Mars
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, dooming an attempt to deploy mock satellites in the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship's breakup in space, which occurred shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX livestream of the mission showed.
More (including video): https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/spacex-starship-explodes-musk
Back-to-back mishaps indicate big setbacks for program to launch satellites and send humans to the moon and Mars
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, dooming an attempt to deploy mock satellites in the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship's breakup in space, which occurred shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX livestream of the mission showed.
More (including video): https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/spacex-starship-explodes-musk
#96
In the Media... / Re: SpaceX's 'Days Since Stars...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:27:19Out on the Net there are various spectacular photos of the debris burning up (mostly) over the Bahamas.
#97
In the Media... / SpaceX's 'Days Since Starship ...
Last post by Rick - Mar 07, 2025, 10:25:30SpaceX's 'Days Since Starship Exploded' counter made it to 48. It's back to zero again now
SpaceX's latest attempt to fly its Starship has again ended in a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
The Thursday mission, the eighth flight of the vehicle NASA has contracted to use for 2027 demo of a crewed Moon landing, aimed to nail an hour-long transatmospheric journey to the Indian Ocean that the previous launch could not achieve.
SpaceX attributed that mission's failure to "harmonic response" several times stronger than the launcher-for-hire company had ever seen in testing. Those forces caused a leak in the propulsion system, causing a fire, and an explosion that saw chunks of Starship rain down over the Atlantic.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/spacex_starship_mission_fail/
SpaceX's latest attempt to fly its Starship has again ended in a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
The Thursday mission, the eighth flight of the vehicle NASA has contracted to use for 2027 demo of a crewed Moon landing, aimed to nail an hour-long transatmospheric journey to the Indian Ocean that the previous launch could not achieve.
SpaceX attributed that mission's failure to "harmonic response" several times stronger than the launcher-for-hire company had ever seen in testing. Those forces caused a leak in the propulsion system, causing a fire, and an explosion that saw chunks of Starship rain down over the Atlantic.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/07/spacex_starship_mission_fail/
#98
In the Media... / More Voyager instruments shut ...
Last post by Rick - Mar 06, 2025, 17:43:12More Voyager instruments shut down to eke out power supplies
Veteran probes close in on the half century
More science instruments are being shut down on the Voyager probes as engineers attempt to eke out the power and keep them running for years to come.
It should not come as a surprise that NASA is turning off instruments. The shutdowns were already planned to take place as the venerable probes enter the final years of their operational life. The team hopes that if it takes action now, the robotic spacecraft could still be operating with at least one science instrument into the 2030s.
Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem – a suite of three telescopes designed to study cosmic rays, including protons from the galaxy and the Sun, by measuring their energy and flux – was shut down last week. Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument is due for deactivation later this month.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/06/voyager_power_down/
Veteran probes close in on the half century
More science instruments are being shut down on the Voyager probes as engineers attempt to eke out the power and keep them running for years to come.
It should not come as a surprise that NASA is turning off instruments. The shutdowns were already planned to take place as the venerable probes enter the final years of their operational life. The team hopes that if it takes action now, the robotic spacecraft could still be operating with at least one science instrument into the 2030s.
Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem – a suite of three telescopes designed to study cosmic rays, including protons from the galaxy and the Sun, by measuring their energy and flux – was shut down last week. Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument is due for deactivation later this month.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/06/voyager_power_down/
#99
Astrophotography / Cone and Rosette Nebula 3 pane...
Last post by Carole - Mar 05, 2025, 15:38:58Mainly a 2 pane Mosaic with a small bit missing so a 3rd pane for the small "bit".
All panes taken with a Samynag 135mm lens and Atik460EX
Cone taken in February 2022
Ha 41 x 600
Oiii 18 x 3000 binned
Sii 10 x 300 binned
Rosette taken 2 & 3rd March 2025
Ha 13 x 600
Oiii 7 x 300 binned
Sii 8 x 300 binned
Missing bit
Ha 8 x 600
Oiii 5 x 300 binned
Sii 6 x 300 binned
All panes taken with a Samynag 135mm lens and Atik460EX
Cone taken in February 2022
Ha 41 x 600
Oiii 18 x 3000 binned
Sii 10 x 300 binned
Rosette taken 2 & 3rd March 2025
Ha 13 x 600
Oiii 7 x 300 binned
Sii 8 x 300 binned
Missing bit
Ha 8 x 600
Oiii 5 x 300 binned
Sii 6 x 300 binned
#100
In the Media... / First private moon lander tou...
Last post by Rick - Mar 03, 2025, 06:41:56First private moon lander touches down safely, starts sending selfies
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost planned to work for 14 days, should be useful for years thanks to its reflector that improves on Apollo-era tech
Sunday March 2nd has become a notable day in humanity's exploration of outer space, after Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the Moon.
Firefly's mission launched on January 15th and took a leisurely path to the Moon. The company's Blue Ghost lander touched Lunar soil in Mare Crisium at 2:34 a.m. Central Standard Time on March 2, after a soft landing that left it in "an upright, stable configuration."
The craft landed within 100 meters of its target, after a pair of hazard avoidance maneuvers informed by a "vision-based terrain relative navigation" systems that examine terrain beneath the lander to find a flat and safe spot to touch down.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/blue_ghost_private_moon_success/
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost planned to work for 14 days, should be useful for years thanks to its reflector that improves on Apollo-era tech
Sunday March 2nd has become a notable day in humanity's exploration of outer space, after Firefly Aerospace became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the Moon.
Firefly's mission launched on January 15th and took a leisurely path to the Moon. The company's Blue Ghost lander touched Lunar soil in Mare Crisium at 2:34 a.m. Central Standard Time on March 2, after a soft landing that left it in "an upright, stable configuration."
The craft landed within 100 meters of its target, after a pair of hazard avoidance maneuvers informed by a "vision-based terrain relative navigation" systems that examine terrain beneath the lander to find a flat and safe spot to touch down.
More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/blue_ghost_private_moon_success/