The Official Space Thread

[boshea]

Neowise is finally visible here in Cork after many cloudy nights. Tough enough to see with the eye with the glare in the City. Should be glorious enough anywhere dark, and definitely with half decent binoculars.

I'll be spending the night on Carrauntoohill tonight hoping to catch a proper glimpse of it - fingers crossed for clear skies - forecast looks promising!!

 

[zap]

 

[Hank Scorpio]

What dawn on earth looks like from the ISS

 

[wat_boy]

The James Webb Telescope finally launches today, 1000 times more sensitive than Hubble.

 

[sigourney's knickers]

The James Webb Telescope finally launches today, 1000 times more sensitive than Hubble.

I like a shenthitive boy.

About bloody time!!!

 

[Hank Scorpio]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1484979429617012737

 

[Dolphin75]

Close up image of the Kodiak feature at Jezero Crater in Mars, landing site of the NASA Mars Perseverance rover mission in February 2021. You can clearly see layering in the rocks of this outcrop.



The show stealer of this mission, however, has to be the little Ingenuity helicopter which has now made 18 flights in the very thin Martian atmosphere. Its planned 19th flight has been delayed due to a recent dust storm that affected the area earlier this month. Ingenuity is now acting as a scout for its mothership, Perseverance.

Perseverance marked the ninth successful landing on Mars - and it will continue to explore the ancient dried-up river delta at Jezero over the coming years.

 

[jeepers]

Some great sedimentary features in that photo. You can see coarser material (grit & pebbles) in the hollows between those ridges of sand. What's happening there is a combination of two similar things. The hollows are partially sheltered, therefore wind speed drops, and with it, the ability of the wind to carry heavier material, so that stuff drops out. Secondly, the wind is strong enough to move a pebble downhill, but not back uphill. These ridges would gradually move along, pushed by the wind.

Which leads me to the second feature: cross bedding in the low cliff, highlighted with the blue line, below. The normal bedding (layering) is almost flat, and highlighted in red. The cross bedding is a preservation of the front of a sand dune.




Link to more detailed explanation of cross bedding.

 

[Jim Comic]

Gallery: James Webb Space Telescope's 1st photos

See snapshots from the earliest days of a next-generation space observatory.

www.space.com

 

[sigourney's knickers]

Gallery: James Webb Space Telescope's 1st photos

See snapshots from the earliest days of a next-generation space observatory.

www.space.com

Dare I click. Been waiting months for this.