Official Astronomy Thread

[Pitbull]

I was perusing the OG last night, and I came across a thread on astronomy.

I've always been intrigued with the subject, but I never took a class on it unfortunately. So I was thinking about going to Barnes and Noble tonight and picking up a book.

I was wondering if there were any other forum members who study it or have studied it in the past. Please contribute any pictures or thoughts you may have.

Here's some thought-provoking pictures I found on the OG that would be good to get the thread started.

[sitnspin]

I did two semesters in basic astronomy as the science requirement for my B.A. My lowest marks ever and I'm glad they're over because I'm just NOT a science guy (I'm a double major in English and Drama), but I still learned a lot of interesting stuff. I wonder how much I've forgotten already...

[seancannon]

It can seriously **** with your head when you think about scale.
Here are some facts:

For every grain of sand ON earth, there is a star in our GALAXY.
For every grain of sand on earth, there is a GALAXY in our universe.
If you had one grain of sand in the palm of your hand, and someone
else did say 3 miles from you, that is how far away the nearest star
is to us.

It's ****ing insane.

[Goeth27]

This makes me feel even smaller... *goes to workout*

[Jras0001]

Thats funny you posted this. I just had a space and astronomy test. Im taking a class this semester because it fills my science with a lab requirement. I cant belive how f'ing hard the class is. There are tons of formulas for figuring out spacial distances and all sorts of stuff. Its really cool and everything and I enjoy learning it but it seriously one of my hardest classes since Ive been in college.

[Gooner]

Wow, Uranus is huge!
*sniggers*


Pluto is not legit imo. Yeah, I just decided it's not a planet.



^^^^There's my contribution.

[Pitbull]

Thank you for the lovely insight, Goonie.

I've decided that I will be reporting what I will be learning. I've started looking as some introductory topics on Astronomy, and some of the stuff is already going WAY over my head. So we'll see how long I actually keep up with it.

[Jras0001]

Just wait untill you see how much you can tell about a star just by looking at its stellar spectra; which is only the light coming from that star shone through a telescope and then through a prism, refracting the light into a little rainbow. They can tell if the star is rotating and how fast, if the star is coming toward us or moving away, tell the composition of the star and what amounts of each element is present, and can tell if its a white dwarf star or a red or blue giant star....just for starters. It really is amazing once you get into it. Im almost done with the semester and Ive enjoyed it but it was a tough class.

Ill be more than happy to discuss this stuff with you man. Ill answer whatever questions as best I can but there are a lot of things I still dont know about the subject...

[Pitbull]

Awesome man, thank you. I'm looking forward to some good discussions.

[Gooner]

Can somebody find some sort of picture that estimates how big the sun will be when it turns into a red giant?
And how close it will be to our beloved planet.


I will try to use this information to decide whether I need to pack more than just shorts for holiday when it happens.

[Dirty Fighter]

It will grow larger enough to swallow up our planet. Better bring some sun block.

[Jras0001]

Originally Posted by Gooner

Can somebody find some sort of picture that estimates how big the sun will be when it turns into a red giant?
And how close it will be to our beloved planet.


I will try to use this information to decide whether I need to pack more than just shorts for holiday when it happens.

Im on my way to class now but when I get back, Ill look on some of the charts I got from class and compare other stars that are red giants that have the relative same mass and other characteristics of our sun and see what size they are. That will give a relativly close idea of what it will become. Like the poster above me stated, its possible that it will swell to beyond the earths orbit but it may not. There is a star, I believe Arturas (but I could be wrong since thats off the top of my head) that is a red giant and is 500 times the diameter of our sun. If it was where our sun is today, its outer edge would eclipse mars' orbit.

[sitnspin]

I spent a lot of time last summer understanding and plotting out HR (Hertzsprung-Russell) charts, which are actually pretty interesting. On the side of the graph you've got the star's luminosity, and on the bottom you've got its temperature (both things we can tell from a distance through analyzing its colour spectrum). When you plot a bunch of stars onto the diagram this way, you can see their relative ages and get an understanding of a star's lifecycle from protostar to either neutron star or white dwarf, depending on whether or not the star starts off as a yellow or blue main sequence.

And you know Moby's song "We Are All Made of Stars"? That's a fact. 98% of the matter that we're made of was generated in stars and expelled into the universe when they died.

[Harms]

I considered majoring in astromomy, but then saw how many physics classes I had to take and tossed out that idea. I love astronomy, but know very little about it.

[Jras0001]

Originally Posted by sitnspin

I spent a lot of time last summer understanding and plotting out HR (Hertzsprung-Russell) charts, which are actually pretty interesting. On the side of the graph you've got the star's luminosity, and on the bottom you've got its temperature (both things we can tell from a distance through analyzing its colour spectrum). When you plot a bunch of stars onto the diagram this way, you can see their relative ages and get an understanding of a star's lifecycle from protostar to either neutron star or white dwarf, depending on whether or not the star starts off as a yellow or blue main sequence.

And you know Moby's song "We Are All Made of Stars"? That's a fact. 98% of the matter that we're made of was generated in stars and expelled into the universe when they died.

Some stars that are very massive will go supernova type 2 rather than becoming a white dwarf or neutron star. The HR diagram is an awesome tool once you learn to use it. You can tell so much about a star. Its cool to know that when a start does go supernova, that the shockwave hits nebulas and causes the gasses and matter within them to compress together enough to start attracting more and more matter to them and thus the birth of a star. One supernova of a star can create litterally hundreds of new stars.

[AikaImmortal]

Here is some awesome news for you space nuts out there:

"A Mars-orbiting satellite recently spotted seven dark spots near the planet's equator that scientists think could be entrances to underground caves.

The football-field sized holes were observed by Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) and have been dubbed the seven sisters --Dena, Chloe, Wendy, Annie, Abbey, Nikki and Jeanne--after loved ones of the researchers who found them. The potential caves were spotted near a massive Martian volcano, Arisa Mons. Their openings range from about 330 to 820 feet (100 to 250 meters) wide, and one of them, Dena, is thought to extend nearly 430 feet (130 meters) beneath the planet's surface.

The researchers hope the discovery will lead to more focused spelunking on Mars.

"Caves on Mars could become habitats for future explorers or could be the only structures that preserve evidence of past or present microbial life ," said Glenn Cushing of Northern Arizona University, who first spotted the black areas in the photographs. "

Full article below:
SPACE.com -- Possible New Mars Caves Targets in Search for Life

[MTKrav911]

All I know is that I'm an Aries and the description of Rams is accurate for my personality.

THe only time my horoscope was actually accurate was last year it said: "The Astrological Signs Tell you to be careful Driving today"...

I didnt think much of it, until that day, I almost got head on collisioned by an idiot on a two way highway.

He Missed, but freaked me nonetheless

Oh wait, that's astrology, not astronomy.

lol

Read Carl Sagan's....Cosmos... GOod book on Atronomy!

[Pitbull]

Man, undergroud caves on Mars...thats wild. That brings up the question, how did they get there?????


Thanks MTKrav. I'll keep and eye out for tha book.

[duke09]

im no scientist, but i will try to contribute.

i thought i heard that one of jupiter's moons was covered in ice, soi there is a slim possibility that a few (or many?) organisms may be "alive" or potentially have lived under its icy surface.

also, i might be crazy, but i feel kinda bad for pluto. for so many years it had its place in the universe, and then, in one fell swoop, its entire identity was taken from it. i now it sounds kinda silly to reify a planet (i am bringing its status back), but it seems so tiny compared to the rest of the planets.


also, the sheer scale of teh universe leaves me in pure unadulterated awe. its magical place, no doubt.


and gooner, you stole my joke about Uranus. well, not my joke..mine would have been funny

[MuStAnG12687]

Originally Posted by MTKrav911

Read Carl Sagan's....Cosmos... GOod book on Atronomy!

or watch it...they show reruns on the science channel or you can buy the box set...

Originally Posted by Pitbull

Man, undergroud caves on Mars...thats wild. That brings up the question, how did they get there?????


Thanks MTKrav. I'll keep and eye out for tha book.

Running water can create caves and its well known just by looking at the surface of Mars that there was, at one time, moving water on Mars.