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cubinator
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Posts posted by cubinator
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11 minutes ago, Piscator said:
not giant
It's the biggest explosion you're ever going to see in your life. Possibly more mass than the Earth undergoing thermonuclear combustion, surpassing a temperature of 100 million degrees, visible in city lights from 3000 lightyears away. It's literally like a planet exploding.
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16 minutes ago, Nuke said:
i was a lot more excited about this than the eclipse. but i havent had a good look at the sky in weeks. so im not exactly sure how to find it. i guess just look for the giant dot in the sky.
It's near Arcturus.
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9 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:
I wish I could help out but it’s all clouds and rain here for the next week
Don't worry, there's most likely plenty of time!
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A white dwarf in a binary system in the constellation Corona Borealis is due to blow its top sometime in the next few months. It will reach magnitude +2. I've been checking it nightly when the clouds allow. Tonight is just a little too cloudy for me to see, so if anyone is able to report I'd appreciate it.
Otherwise, I'll assume it hasn't happened yet and won't worry about it.
Keep an eye on this constellation!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_Coronae_Borealis
Here's the position of the star, in the red circle:
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4 hours ago, darthgently said:
Ha ha. Wind wasn't really a consideration. I'm thinking a winch on one side jamming, or a cable snapping, or the remaining fuel sloshing in resonance to whatever motion, or the surface the whole apparatus resides on deforming suddenly and unevenly, or even the Kraken! They should definitely avoid time warp for that last one
I know
Lots that can happen with a mechanism like that, and I'm also a big fan of not giving things a lot of extra potential energy when it's not needed.
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10 hours ago, darthgently said:
I imagine if those crane cables get swinging for whatever reason, it could get interesting with a heavy load and mostly empty tanks.
Luckily it's not too hard to handle the wind force.
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17 minutes ago, DAL59 said:
Wouldn't it be more reasonable to use Crew Dragon for "Apollo 9", and use the SLS to visit gateway?
The most reasonable thing to do is not use SLS at all.
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22 minutes ago, Minmus Taster said:
Wow, that is one heck of a mountain:
No height exaggeration here, the Juno team calls it 'Steeple Mountain' and it's between 5 and 7 Kilometers high.
So I'm NOT necessarily completely wrong about that thing casting a shadow on Europa that I estimated to be 3-7 km tall by counting pixels?
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Partway through my processing, still learning how to make it photorealistic. Here you can see all the detail I got!
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4 hours ago, tater said:
Will do 2027 instead of 2026. Duration for 2026 is way short, and the altitude is so low... Egypt in 2027 has totality >6 minutes. \
One thing I wonder about near-horizon eclipses is whether the longer shadow makes it easier to see more stars above.
The sunset effects compounded with the eclipse ones would undoubtedly be an interesting contrast to the two I've now seen. I thought about planning a drive up to Canada for the 2021 annular eclipse at sunrise, but the clouds didn't look favorable. I might be able to catch one of the upcoming annulars in Brazil or Argentina, but those are high in the sky.
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2 hours ago, Brotoro said:
I've been using my Quest 2 VR headset to look at 360 VR recordings people have posted of the eclipse. Most of them suffer from the same problem of the camera's auto-exposure system making things look brighter than they should, and overexposing the sun so all you see is a blob instead of the coronal ring. Still, not terrible for getting some idea of the event (especially the recordings with people around reacting to the sight). Venus and Jupiter could be seen. There are places where people say they can see shadow bands, but I couldn't make them out in the recording (the wavering bands are very low contrast in real life, and video does not capture them well. We had a sheet of cloth spread out on the ground and could see some after third contact…but it's not obvious).
Yeah, I could barely see the shadows on the grass IRL, so I didn't even bother trying to film them or watch them very closely. Maybe a project for next time. The most valuable thing to capture on the phone was the audience reaction.
Finally back in my home state now. What an adventure! I objectively had a highly successful trip, and I'm ready for a rest now.
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20 hours ago, cubinator said:
Aldebaran was the only star I saw too. Could have looked for Capella but, again, I'm not here on months of planning for a four-minute window to look at Capella.
Correction: I went back and watched my video this morning, and in it I actually did mention spotting Capella. I looked back at the eclipsed Sun and the vista with greater focus.
Was really amazing to see the stars and planets come out so abruptly right before totality, even though I didn't get as much time to enjoy them that way. It was a really big contrast from 2017.
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I miss it already.
2 minutes ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:I'd love to see the timelapse when it's completed, please. Was it a looooong drive arriving to your watch spot as well?
Each 'o' is one hour driving. One-way.
My timelapse is currently in pieces on my phone, as is my realtime/exposure bracketing stuff. Worry not - I will bring it back to my computer desk tomorrow night!
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5 hours ago, sevenperforce said:
In any event: I am blown away. Unable to really express it. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen, by far. Doubly amazing because we were getting married during it.
Congrats! Glad you didn't have to reschedule to 2044 due to clouds.
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14 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:
2 of my neighbors refused to leave the house for the entirety of the Eclipse. One commented that she had to go inside soon because the partial eclipse was about to start, and another didn't answer the door when I knocked (to give her a free pastry. I mean come on free pastry) about 20 minutes before the partial was over.
I believe they thought that they could just go blind by being outside during the eclipse.
Some cultures are careful not to observe eclipses. It can sound antiquated to some of us, but a lot of people still practice these traditions.
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2 hours ago, Brotoro said:
Having Venus and Jupiter pop out so obviously at totality was also nice. I was able to find Aldebaran (since I wanted to see an actual star), but I couldn't see Mercury or the comet (too much high haziness, I think…plus, you don't have too much time to look for stuff). Binoculars were very helpful.
Yeah, that comet was hyped up and even I kept an eye on its brightness online, but I never had plans to look for it. I'd already seen it with binoculars at night! Better things to spend my 4 minutes and change on on eclipse day. I was surprised that I couldn't see Jupiter or Venus till right around totality, I guess the moisture in the air makes it a lighter color that washes things out. Aldebaran was the only star I saw too. Could have looked for Capella but, again, I'm not here on months of planning for a four-minute window to look at Capella.
2 hours ago, Brotoro said:BUT, interesting as all those clouds made things, I'd feel better with a clear sky. Things looked really iffy during the initial partial phases. The Sun was blocked by clouds for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. Then when got a big blue hole in the clouds with twenty-five minutes to go until totality, it was a relief…until it became clear that those clouds at the bottom edge of the hole were going to get up by the Sun before totality (fast moving clouds). And one cloud blocked the Sun five minutes before totality…and the crowd wailed…but it was clear to me that it was going pass over the Sun quickly, and the other clouds were going either side. But, arrrrggghhh, the suspense leading up to totality was killing me. Will it be clear?? Will a cloud cover it at the last second?? So, even though the clouds looked cool…on the whole, I'd prefer a completely clear sky, thanks anyway.
I know what clouds you are talking about. I watched the easternmost part of that break open up, and wondered if we would get into it if we turned around. I was underneath the forwardmost part of that cloud deck, on the northeastern end, struggling to race it out of Oklahoma. But I knew that the only way to be absolutely certain that we wouldn't be clouded over was to outrun the clouds into Arkansas until they dissipated.
I'm really glad to see in the GOES pictures that the clouds down south broke up significantly, and it looks like the passage of the shadow helped to disperse almost all the remaining clouds just in time for totality. But I couldn't have known where that was going to be the case beforehand, and cleardarksky looked way more optimistic than a lot of other models for multiple days, so I decided to go for the safer gamble and the longer drive. I used the NWS point forecasts to choose a destination and GOES to verify that things were going as expected. Even still, being under that dark cloud was nerve-wracking, and makes me feel like the next time I take one of these trips, I want to be either in the middle of the desert or at 30,000 ft.
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3 hours ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:
My family came to visit me in Ohio (and they brought the dog, too) a few days ago for the eclipse. We left early this morning for the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, and it's a good thing we did. The line to the museum parking lot was long, but we found an empty field next to the grounds that charged $40 for parking; totally worth being so close to the exit and having grass for the dog to lie on. The next several hours included having breakfast at Bob Evans, walking around, playing card games and mini cornhole, texting friends, drinking water, my mother messing with her camera's new eclipse filter, and also getting pictures in our "Twice in a Lifetime" t-shirts.
When the partial eclipse began, we would frequently look up with our eclipse glasses on and see the sun turning from an orange circle into Pac-Man, then a crescent moon, and then a tiny sliver. While waiting for totality, I used the phone camera filter Mom gave me and took some partial eclipse photos. Below is my best shot from my phone.
- Taken 1434 EDT
When totality was getting closer, it got dark in Wapakoneta fast. More specifically, it looked like a storm was coming while all the lights were turning on. It reminded us of when we watched the eclipse of 2017, only there were no farm animals making noise this time while the sun was getting blocked. Finally, when totality hit at 1509 EDT, we saw an amazing thin ring of fire.
- That was also when Dad bunched us all together to take a group selfie with the total eclipse in the background.
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Taken 1511 EDT
- My best shot from my phone, although I think Mom got clearer images with her fancy digital camera.
- We noticed a small orange spot at the bottom of the ring, but we don't know what it is.
- Taken 1511 EDT
- At first glance, you would think it was sunset at Wapakoneta. But it was actually early-mid afternoon, and the sun was blocked thanks to the moon.
- Taken 1512 EDT
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I changed my phone's orientation to include the eclipse. If you look closely enough, you can see the center of the ring.
- And you can see Venus in the sky too.
After totality ended, we rushed back into our car and left town immediately. Getting out of Wapakoneta had almost zero traffic; we were so close to the field exit and we had packed everything in the car, including the dog, at least 20 minutes before totality even began. However, when we hit Dayton, that was when the major traffic jams began. Long story short, we returned to my apartment in plenty of time for dinner.
And that's my eclipse story.
P.S. Months ago, I had done some research on the pros and cons of watching the eclipse in Dayton vs Wapakoneta and sent it to my family for consideration. While we ended up going to the Armstrong Museum due to it being so close to the highway and having a longer totality time, the Air Force Museum would have also been a good option.
Really? Where specifically?
Great story! That orange/red spot you saw on the southern limb was a big prominence stretching out from the Sun. There were quite a few of those, but that was the easiest one to see!
I knew from 2017 that the big traffic jam happens when everyone tries to leave right after totality, but the eclipse is only half over at that point, with plenty of interesting effects to continue observing! I stayed for the whole thing today (especially so I could complete my timelapse). Didn't encounter much traffic during the return, although it was a looooong drive.
3 hours ago, tater said:Yeah, my image
Pictures really don’t do it justice. Maybe if you’re a really phenomenal photographer, and it’s near sunrise or sunset so that the eclipse is near terrain so you can compose something really amazing you could get one 1000th of it in a picture.
Hearing the collective gasps and “oh my God!” in the park was pretty amazing
In short, go to Spain in 2026.
I recorded video with my phone during the start and end of totality in order to try to capture that reaction! I knew that was what my phone would do best, while I already had the special telescope camera trained on the Sun.
I think someone sounded a bugel or something right before and after totality, as if to announce it. Seeing the world get suddenly cast into such darkness really is fearsome!
3 hours ago, mikegarrison said:So did the world end? I heard from a friend in Texas that some of the locals were worried that might happen.
I think I drove by some of those locals' houses.
3 hours ago, tater said:In the car, we’re talking about other events. I have seen that are in the same league. For celestial stuff. This is orders of magnitude more impressive than anything else I’ve seen. If there were someday a really bright, naked eye comment that might be in kind of the same league. Maybe. For other natural stuff? Seeing the Himalayas. That reset my scale for mountains. Seeing wildlife on the African savanna reset my notions about animals.
I think the solar eclipse is more than all the other crazy stuff I've seen in the sky put together - Sun image reflected on a Starlink train, a meteor flash striking the Moon during a lunar eclipse, the ISS through a telescope, a comet, giant fireballs, Andromeda, Venus in daylight, Mars occultation...the total solar eclipse is like all that stuff happening at once, to the point where you have to miss one part of it for every other part you focus on.
So today I thought about stuff I hadn't seen last time, or was more curious about having already seen one. I did the photography this time, which turned out really well but I think contributed to making the whole thing feel like it was going by faster. I looked for (but failed to find) the planets, since I'd seen them very early last time. The most fun 'experiment' I did was covering up the tiny sliver of Sun with my thumb and successfully getting a sneak peek at the inner corona before totality truly began, and continuing to see it for a few moments after. And I got to see the prominences more clearly this time. I spent a lot of the time in totality just looking at the corona, because I knew I probably won't get to see that again for a long time.
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7 hours ago, Arugela said:
What is the biggest telescope with a solar filter that could watch this? did any large telescopes watch this with good detail and record it?
https://nso.edu/telescopes/dki-solar-telescope/
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23 hours ago, tater said:
Had thought about broken bow ok… trying to stay as easy as possible for RTB to albuquerque since son has not only school, but “grandparents day,” and grandma is showing up
Gonna be a 12+ hour straight drive
16 counting getting to path from here
We drove through Broken Bow on the way there and back. Clouds were nerve-wracking but dissipated just as I'd anticipated and hoped they would. It took another hour and a half driving to be really sure we'd stay clear of it though...Ended up at a convenience store store with a big lawn in Pencil Bluff, less than half a mile from the centerline.
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9 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:
Here's a few of my shots.
This first is actually my favorite. Had to build an eclipse viewer out of an Amazon box as a show-and-tell to my students (hoping they'd build one). Tested it out just before we hit the road and captured this image of the sun and the trees in my yard. Pin hole camera effect is quite cool!
The next few are just progression shots. Using a hand-held cell phone with eclipse glasses floating in front of the camera. Highly technical set up. Professional Jarheads only.
Cell did not quite do the totality justice. Can see Jupiter in the shot - but not the solar prominence or really much else other than the weirdly colored sky.
Eager to see what youse guis with better settups / more experience produce!
That's a great shot of the pinhole with the trees! I took a similar shot with the eclipse glasses over my phone. I tried to take video with my phone of the people and environment during most of the totality, while not watching my screen, and left the solar imaging to the fancy tracking scope on the ground. Got a whole timelapse of the rest.
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The innermost part of the corona was so bright! I had a hard time focusing on the whole thing.
I'm gonna wait to mess with photos for the most part till I get home in a few days.
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2 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:
From my vantage there was a tiny point of bright yellow /orange light on the south limn of the moon. Guessing it was a mountain or trench
1 hour ago, Superfluous J said:Everybody where I was saw it too. I'm'a google it later.
A big solar prominence. I got photos of it I'll share soon.
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Roosters called, crickets jumped out into the field...seriously a lot of wildlife where we ended up.
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I saw it all. Got incredible photos too!!!
WOW!
Otherwise, I'll assume it hasn't happened yet and won't worry about it.
Lots that can happen with a mechanism like that, and I'm also a big fan of not giving things a lot of extra potential energy when it's not needed.
SpaceX Discussion Thread
in Science & Spaceflight
Posted
Hopefully the water landing test is enough to prevent any of those issues happening at the tower.