Space and Science BS Thread

Tentative worldwide launch schedule. There’s a lot going on!
https://mobile.twitter.com/tylerg1998/status/1311716370724409345?s=21

 

Good info!

Kinda funny the only two suborbital flights are:
1) A Blue Origin (again); and
2) SN8 - a prototype game changer.

 

Depends on what your opinion of spaceflight is. Most people would be amazed with the amount of sounding rockets and smaller launches that take place around the States. I have been working with NASA Wallops for years and they launch a lot more that you would think. Just not every launch hits main stream media. Space X is launching a lot though for sure. It seems that they are really the only media coverage out there most of the time.

 

I love the fact YouTube carries live events.

I try to catch every Northrop Grumman CRS launch from Wallops via YT. Other launches from Fl and beyond too.

It’s a great time to be interested in these things, a terrific time if you’re a young’un looking for a career in the field

 

TBH? Aside from SpaceX? When New Glenn is landing regularly, I'd be all in on those too.

SLS? Sure, I'd tune in on that scrubfest.

Couldn't care about most other launches, though.

 

And NG just aborted their Cygnus launch. Scrubtober it is.

 

How do you do 2/3s of a like?

 

I'm kinda in the same boat. Companies like Rocketlab are cool, but I'm more interested in humans in space.

 

One way or another, it will be spectacular.

 

Based on the patch, are they not planning on landing SN8?

 

Someone will stitch it up!


https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1312031067197460480?s=20

 

I think it comes down horizontally before turning nose up, thus "belly flop"

 

The bright reddish dot near the Moon tonight is Mars if you didn’t know

 

NG got to orbit. Hopefully SpaceX does as well, just glad the streak of scrubs is broken. (yeah yeah lots of non-US and non-orbital launches happening in the meantime )

EDIT - SpaceX abort seconds before launch. Scrubbed til tomorrow.

 

I suspect those that don’t, don’t care.

 

I didn't know. That's awesome.

 

Or don’t know to know.

Do you have access to a scope? Binoculars? We’re experiencing a ‘close’ opposition this month.

https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/astronomy-podcasts/october-2020-mars-is-the-star/

Edit:

So knowing where Mars is, you can find Venus, Jupiter and Saturn pretty easily.
This is just an estimate but should.

• Get a compass, if needed, and find North.
• At night face North.
• If the compass is a clock, around 8-9 tonight, Mars will be at about the 4:00 position. (I’m just shy of the 45th parallel so how high in the sky will depend on which latitude you’re on.)
  
• If Mars is at 4, Saturn will be around the 6:00-6:30 position. It has a yellowish tint. If you have a small scope, you’ll see the rings. Really cool!
• To the right of Saturn, Jupiter will be near, say the 7:00-7:30 mark. It’s the brightest thing in that area of the sky. Binoculars can show the Galilean moons (up to 4 depending on where they are- sometimes they’re in front or behind Jupiter.)
• Venus is visible in the morning. Before daybreak, it’s amazingly bright around the 4:00 position.

There’s a lot of info out there, here’s one sample:
https://www.space.com/33619-visible-planets-guide.html

Happy Viewing !

 

Or there are phone apps that will show you where to look or identify objects.