http://observer.com/2016/10/what-can...-from-jupiter/

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/...iously-thought

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys230...ge/evol_hr.swf

The lifetime stories of stars simulated.

Wow, naturally checked the solar mass 1, speed Auto. Didn't know the luminosity of our sun has increased that much (log scale) during its history.

Wait, why is the luminosity much greater than our sun (about 5 LSuns at current about <5 bill age)? Doesn't look reliable? It also burns out faster than our sun will. Why?

Can it have something to do with that our sun is third generation, with less hydrogen as fuel? Should have been pointed out more clearly then, didn't find any mention of this when skimming the texts (waiting for being corrected).

Edit: checked 0.8 and 0.9 solar masses, the 0.8 looks more like it, a bit too red color, but on the whole better than using 1.0

I dug up my telescope (102 millimeter mirror), got it about 5 years ago, practically not used it. Checked light pollution maps, combining with ground views, found a potentially good spot half an hour away. It's a field, waiting for suitable weather, using plain sight, binoculars, and that telescope!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbur...-bay-1.3929505

Have spotted the Andromeda and the Orion nebula, still hunting for dark sites. You need a near one for Moon observing, deep sky and generally seeing the impressiveness requires traveling, cirka one hour's drive is what's needed and also practically possible.

Impressive data

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/index.html

Wow, this is a really mind blowing program when you get into it:

http://www.stellarium.org/

Like you'd have the night sky at home. Scan in, scan out!

Odds are high I will start using this with my tablet when observing, you can choose a red version for preserving night vision.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/techn...ticle34108356/

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/n...planets-around

I posted in the random content thread, maybe this is a better one.

At 39 light years away they should have received radio signals of ours by now and if they are capable of detecting our signal and sending something back, it's likely we should have received something by now.

There are a lot of assumptions in that. I would say a minority of alien civilizations would be stupid enough to believe it a good idea to send a signal back to a nearby star and announce your existence to a completely unknown entity.

I've never liked that argument. I think any civilization that has the power to travel light years to other planets and destroy them also has the power to detect them.

I thought you meant sent a signal back.

I see no reason that advanced aliens close by who could travel here would want to destroy us. It's not like Earth has resources that are more valuable than those in their own solar system. I guess colonization makes sense, if they need the right sunlight/planet size/reasonable temperature range/liquid water close by. That's the only risk that I can see.

Apart from that, at best we'd probably be worth monitoring to see that our technological advancement isn't far enough along to threaten them. Which means masque, if he ever gets off his ass and invents/discovers something useful, might get us all exterminated.

My point is if a civilization is advanced enough to impact us, ie. travel here, then I think it is fair to assume they have the current ability to detect us. They don't require us to send a signal back to know we are here. That is why I don't see any problem with sending a signal back.

If you've never experienced a total solar eclipse, I highly recommend it. I've only ever experienced one, in England (1999 I think) and it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I definitely understand the people who plan their vacations around chasing total solar eclipses around the globe now, used to think they were weirdos but no longer.

This upcoming eclipse cuts a path from coast to coast in the United States, Oregon to South Carolina, a very unusual event. And it's > 2 minutes in many locations, so reasonably long as well. So who has interesting plans? I don't yet have a detailed site in mind but somewhere on a mountain top in Wyoming is the tentative plan (me and a good chunk of the population of metro Denver).

Here's a link to the NASA website with some good info.

Smart space people - answer this question, apologies in advance for bringing politics into the discussion of all things sky...

Say North Korea was led by a crazy person. This crazy person wanted to cause the maximum damage to his enemy, the United States. However the dream of a nuclear arsenal is decades away, while his time could come to an end from internal or external forces.

So instead of developing a nuclear warhead and guidance/delivery system, he instead decides that the best way to damage the United States is by making space off-limits.

Could North Korea (or anyone I suppose) launch enough missiles into space and detonate them, with the intent of causing an incredible amount of space debris? How many missiles are we talking about here & what range would be required?

Haven't seen anyone mention this in the news or elsewhere, so I'm hoping that it's impossible - but it seems like a more feasible way for that crazy fat kid to go out in a blaze of glory.

I live in FL and rented a hotel room in Orangeburg, SC for 3 days. Can't wait. Just hope the weather is good. But I'm getting there on the Saturday before so if the forecast is bad, I can go somewhere.

I rented the room about a month ago. Just checked on Hotels and it says 60% of the rooms in the area are booked. Prices are also over $100 a night now. I got it for $67.

This eclipse is going to be insane.

Possibly, although his missiles probably can't achieve orbit yet. There is already a lot of crap in orbit and most of it is being tracked. He would have to spend a lot of money and launch a lot of missiles before it had a substantial effect. Countries would notice before he got very many launched and put a quick stop to it.

Damn, that's amazing.

A bunch of my family members pitched in to buy me a Celestron Nexstar 8SE telescope as a present, and it has been absolutely awesome to use. There are untold numbers of deep sky objects to look at and double stars to split, but I find that most of my time is spent looking at solar system objects and trying to image them. Without a proper imager, I have been using my iphone clamped in a holder up to the eyepiece to capture video. Then the frames are analyzed, stacked, and sharpened to produce a final image.

Here are some of the images I've gotten - keep in mind that this is with an iPhone. it's a bit like doing brain surgery with a butter knife.


Saturn near opposition. The rings clearly show the Seeliger effect.



A very crude Jupiter, but it does display the Great Red Spot



Another, better Jupiter. Io, Europa, and Callisto are also off to the right.



Probably my best Saturn, seems to show the most color banding.



My favorite - Ganymede (right) had transited and was casting a shadow on Jupiter



And a little something closer to home.

Great images, thanks for sharing!

Those are awesome images especially given the technology you are using. Kudos and thanks.

Thanks - if I'm able to afford some of the basic "real" imaging technology here soon I'll post the results.