Aethon

I was watching Jimorians' stream just now on twitch and it appears as though the resource scanning bug is still alive and kicking. He scanned the Mun with the M700 and got a resource overlay, but then went to the tracking station to view the Mun from there and there was no resource data available. The tracking station said that no resource scan had been done. Ahhhhh! This is one of the most frustrating bugs for me. Unfortunately he didn't go back to the craft to see if there would still be data available to the scanner craft around Mun. I hope this gets fixed before the public release. Thank Kod for ScanSat! It's unfortunate we have to rely on a mod to allow the use of a basic function that is essential to the stock game... Please, please fix this Squad!

The most exciting fact to me is this : "Archival photographic plates also show unprecedented century-long dimming, at an average rate of 0.165 ± 0.013 magnitudes per century." Any advanced society worth it's salt would certainly know the Earths' atmospheric composition is unnatural. Hopefully future study will determine if the objects causing the dimming of Tabbys' star are unusually shaped. A giant triangle would certainly be a cheap way to notify other intelligences that intelligent life dwells there.

ABSTRACT The F-type star KIC 8462852 has recently been identified as an exceptional target for SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) observations. We describe an analysis methodology for optical SETI, which we have used to analyse nine hours of serendipitous archival observations of KIC 8462852 made with the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory between 2009 and 2015. No evidence of pulsed optical beacons, above a pulse intensity at the Earth of approximately 1 photon m−2 , is found. We also discuss the potential use of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays in searching for extremely short duration optical transients in general. A search through archived data for optical pulses from Tabbys' star published February 3, 2016. http://arxiv.org/pdf/1602.00987v2.pdf

Pluto may have once had a higher pressure atmosphere and liquid on it's surface. http://www.space.com/32346-pluto-nitrogen-lakes-new-horizons.html

Haven't read the other thread but an orbital ring would fit in there pre- Earth space elevator nicely. Or maybe check out launch loops and space fountains.

Haze layers over Pluto. A bunch of new Pluto papers have been published. The age-dating of Pluto’s surface through crater counts has revealed that Pluto has been geologically active throughout the past 4 billion years. Further, the surface of Pluto’s informally-named Sputnik Planum, a massive ice plain larger than Texas, is devoid of any detectable craters and estimated to be geologically young – no more than 10 million years old. Pluto’s moon Charon has been discovered to have an ancient surface. As an example, the great equatorial expanse of smooth plains on Charon informally named Vulcan Planum (home of the “moated mountains” informally named Kubrick and Clarke Mons) is likely a vast cryovolcanic flow or flows that erupted onto Charon’s surface about 4 billion years ago. These flows are likely related to the freezing of an internal ocean that globally ruptured Charon's crust. The distribution of compositional units on Pluto’s surface – from nitrogen-rich, to methane-rich, to water-rich – has been found to be surprisingly complex, creating puzzles for understanding Pluto’s climate and geologic history. The variations in surface composition on Pluto are unprecedented elsewhere in the outer solar system. Pluto’s upper atmospheric temperature has been found to be much colder (by about 70 degrees Fahrenheit) than had been thought from Earth-based studies, with important implications for its atmospheric escape rate. Why the atmosphere is colder is a mystery. Composition profiles for numerous important species in Pluto’s atmosphere (including molecular nitrogen, methane, acetylene, ethylene and ethane) have been measured as a function of altitude for the first time. Also for the first time, a plausible mechanism for forming Pluto’s atmospheric haze layers has been found. This mechanism involves the concentration of haze particles by atmospheric buoyancy waves (called “gravity waves” by atmospheric scientists), created by winds blowing over Pluto’s mountainous topography. Before the flyby, the presence of Pluto’s four small moons raised concerns about debris hazards in the system. But the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter only counted a single dust particle within five days of the flyby. This is similar to the density of dust particles in free space in the outer solar system — about 6 particles per cubic mile — showing that the region around Pluto is, in fact, not filled with debris. New Horizons’ charged-particle instruments revealed that the interaction region between the solar wind and Pluto’s atmosphere is confined on the dayside of Pluto to within 6 Pluto radii, about 4,500 miles (7,000 kilometers). This is much smaller than expected before the flyby, and is likely due to the reduced atmospheric escape rate found from modeling of ultraviolet atmospheric occultation data. The high albedos (reflectiveness) of Pluto’s small satellites – about 50 to 80 percent – are entirely different from the much lower albedos of the small bodies in the general Kuiper Belt population, which range from about 5 to 20 percent. This difference lends further support to the idea that these satellites were not captured from the general Kuiper Belt population, but instead formed by agglomeration in a disk of material produced in the aftermath of the giant collision that created the entire Pluto satellite system. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/science-papers-reveal-new-aspects-of-pluto-and-its-moons

An interesting Scott Manley video on yesterdays eclipse.

I can't tell for sure, but it looks like you are missing the eye pieces. There should be a number of small short eyepieces of different magnifications that fit in the hole that I think I can see the floor through. You are also going to need a tripod. Don't count on viewing the ISS through it. The station moves Waaaay too fast. Binoculars are a better but still difficult option for that.

Aww. Well I won't hold it against you. You seem like a great guy otherwise. . I actually took several astronomy classes at Iowa state years ago. An interesting video on how large meteorites are found.

How to identify meteorites. Hey Slash. There are some tests you can do at home before taking it to ISU. Glad to see you're not a Squawkeye, being that close to Iowa city. Go clones.

Another trick. Launch a dummy craft to the pad and f5. Revert to VAB. Accept the rescue contract and go to the astronaut complex. The rescuee will now be on the 'Assigned' page. Mouse over to find specialty. If it's an undesired type, relaunch a dummy craft and f9. Decline said contract. Hope this helps.

We live on a giant silicate rock, yet life chose to be carbon based.

Minmus is much easier to land on than the Mun. Pictures would help us help you.

New horizons next target. 2014 MU69. http://www.space.com/32049-kbo-2014-mu69.html

If you want to know where I find gold, it's usually in the bottom of my gold pan. The rivers and streams of Iowa contain small amounts of gold brought south by some very stingy glaciers.

It's just normal erosion at work. One of my hobbies is prospecting for gold and I see this often. Like Otis said, the freeze thaw cycle will heave rocks to the surface. Running water will transport even giant boulders over great distances. Many times I'll find no gold in a place, and at a later date I'll return and find some. Gold is often found in association with iron pyrite ( Gold wears a red iron hat ) so you might want to make sure it is actually pyrite or that there isn't gold nearby. Smash it with some pliers. Pyrite will shatter, and gold will flatten. You can sometimes crush and roast pyrite to get the traces of gold out, but I wouldn't recommend this. You might have some Arsenopyrite in the mix and poison yourself with the fumes.

Alternately you can right click the engine on the launch pad and activate it from there, and then hit the stage button when you've met the alt/speed requirement. You might also need to r click the srb in the VAB to remove some of the fuel so you can coast into the altitude regime and be going the right speed. Hope this helps, and welcome to the forums.

Geology after Pluto. Jeff Moore SETI talk. Some very cool 3D imagery starts at about 41:00 minutes

Klaus is right. I set a 35 km periapse one third of the way around Kerbin past the space center and use a cobra reentry style. Not once have I had a heating issue. Point the nose at the zenith and hold it there.

When it comes to Moho forget transfer windows. The best direct path there is to leave for Moho when Kerbin crosses it's Ascending node. I'll quote myself from another thread and provide some links. Read Macollos and Kashuas posts. With this method I can land on Moho for about 6100m/sec dv from an 80km Kerbin orbit. I landed on Moho last night using macollos' method and it's slicker than snot on a broom handle. Basically you leave LKO on Mohos' AN/DN. The first time this occurs ( IIRC the AN ) is ( Earth ) Year 1 Day 21, on or about Hour 17. Set Moho as your target and drag a dummy Kerbin escape node out to see where the AN/DN is. I combined my Kerbin escape burn with my inclination burn at a total cost of 2300 dv. At my solar periapse ( which was also Mohos' solar periapse ) I burned 1800ms retro ( as Kashua suggests. See link ) to make sure I encountered Moho on my next orbit, which lowered my solar apoapse and slowed the eventual Moho encounter down dramatically. My capture burn at Moho was around 1000ms. Didn't know this thread was going to pop up or I would have documented better. Use it! Props to macollo. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/55965-oh-bugger-injection-burn-at-moho/#post835667 http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/24615-delta-v-to-reach-moho-orbit/&page=1

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/new-animation-takes-a-colorful-flight-over-ceres

The physics of space battles. http://josephshoer.com/blog/2010/07/projecting-space-battle-physics/ And a related short story. http://josephshoer.com/blog/2009/12/high-orbit/

LKO is more efficient. I used to drop down from Minmus orbit and swing by Kerbin for the Oberth effect. While there is a significant dv savings (as long as you refuel at Minmus), it's a pain to get Minmus and your ejection angle to line up, and still be inside your transfer window.

It's just capsule chatter and mission control checking to see if the ship can be contacted yet. Sheesh, Can't you people translate Kerbal yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fMhzvfwfBU

I worry about this. Often I'll decline a contract because the time to do it is not quite right. I would hate to see something I plan on doing or an entire style of contract not come up again because of a 'smart' contract system.