The Space Stuff thread

Cliff S · 12 Aug 2019

Perseids
Currently active
Active from July 17th to August 26th, 2019
The Perseids are the most popular meteor shower as they peak on warm August nights as seen from the northern hemisphere. The Perseids are active from July 17 to August 24. They reach a strong maximum on August 12 or 13, depending on the year. Normal rates seen from rural locations range from 50-75 shower members per hour at maximum.The Perseids are particles released from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle during its numerous returns to the inner solar system. They are called Perseids since the radiant (the area of the sky where the meteors seem to originate) is located near the prominent constellation of Perseus the hero when at maximum activity.

Shower details - Radiant: 03:12 +57.6° - ZHR: 100 - Velocity: 37 miles/sec (swift - 60km/sec) - Parent Object: 109P/Swift-Tuttle

Next Peak - The Perseids will next peak on the Aug 12-13, 2019 night. On this night, the moon will be 94% full.

Meteor Showers 2019 - 2020 - American Meteor Society

thomaseg1 · 12 Aug 2019

Remember Bode's law from school?

A Guy · 16 Aug 2019

NASA's Voyagers Grow Weaker Each Year - The Atlantic

A Guy

Borg 386 · 16 Aug 2019

Pics of the Perseid meteor shower worldwide

See the Perseid meteor shower make a celestial scene worldwide - CNET

thomaseg1 · 20 Aug 2019

This Week’s Sky at a Glance, August 16 – 24 - Sky & Telescope

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Thought this might interest a few

Most Classroom Globes Are Lying to You - Here's Why

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NASA's Europa Clipper will investigate Jupiter's icy moon for signs of life - CNN

Anak · 20 Aug 2019

Most globes are lying? They sure are.

Ever see this one? The Potsdam Gravity Potato:

The Space Stuff thread-geoid2005_champgrace_960.jpg

thomaseg1 · 22 Aug 2019

Anak said:

Most globes are lying? They sure are.

Ever see this one? The Potsdam Gravity Potato:

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New images reveal Ryugu is an oddly dust-free asteroid - CNN

Borg 386 · 24 Aug 2019

The most mind-blowing photos taken by NASA

“This composite photo from our Juno Mission to Jupiter shows the central cyclone at the planet’s north pole and the eight cyclones that encircle it.”

The most mind-blowing photos taken by NASA (35 Photos) : theCHIVE

thomaseg1 · 24 Aug 2019

Ask Ethan: Where Is The Center Of The Universe?

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Why we need to get back to Venus – Raw Story

Anak · 24 Aug 2019

thomaseg1 said:

Ask Ethan: Where Is The Center Of The Universe?

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Why we need to get back to Venus – Raw Story

Nice read, lead-in on the Center of the Universe. I'm a believer in 'There is no center' From (on my browser) the first paragraph below the sixth image.

There isn't necessarily a center to the Universe at all; it's only our biased intuition that tells us there ought to be one. We can set a lower limit on the size of the region where the Big Bang must have occurred — it can be no smaller than the size of a soccer ball or so — but there is no upper limit; the region of space where the Big Bang occurred could even have been infinite.

If there truly is a center, it could literally be anywhere, and we would have no way to know. The portion of the Universe that is observable to us is insufficiently large to reveal that information, even if it could be true. We'd need to see an edge to the Universe (we don't), or observe a fundamental anisotropy where different directions appear different (but we see the same temperatures and galaxy counts), and we'd need to see a Universe that appeared to be different from region-to-region on the largest cosmic scales (but it appears to be homogeneous instead).

It sounds so reasonable to ask the question, "where did the Universe begin expanding from?" But once you realize all of the above, you'll recognize that's the wrong question entirely. "Everywhere, all at once," is the answer to that question, and that's largely because the Big Bang isn't referring to a special location in space, but rather a special moment in time.

Ask Ethan: Where Is The Center Of The Universe?