Space stuff thread

For those that missed the launch:



Beautiful video work!

Now here's something you don't see every day, wouldn't take long to cook your burger.

No sound:


High-tech camera records rocket test in never-before-seen detail

Version with sound:
World's Largest Solid Rocket Booster Fired in Ground Test for NASA


If you want to play with the two videos open the link with sound in a new tab it will automatically start, then come back to the the silent one here and wait to start it.
You'll hear the sound from the other one were the range officer count's-down and the info officer confirms start, shortly after that you hear the motor's roar, that's when you start the silent one.

Because of the sound versions running time (an extra 1:23) and the slow motion recording of the silent version the sound doesn't last all the way through the silent version, Enjoy!

For a select few on the East coast of the U.S., check the Space.com site map to determine how long you have to wait after launch to see the rocket rise above your horizon, and near the bottom of the page for direction to look. There are other determining factors such as sky cover, tree line and your height above sea level.

I plan on watching the launch then going out and waiting the 120seconds from launch to observe.

Clear Skies!:

Update for Sunday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. EDT:

NASA and Orbtial ATK have delayed the Antares launch by 24 hours to Monday (Oct. 17) at 7:40 p.m. EDT (2340 GMT) due to a glitch with ground support equipment. You can watch a webcast of the launch here beginning at about 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV.......

.....Because of its nighttime timing, the Antares rocket launch may be visible to observers on the U.S. East Coast (from as far north as Boston; as far south as the upper coast of South Carolina; and as far inland as Charleston, West Virginia) as it launches to the southeast out over the Atlantic Ocean. Read our complete viewing guide for the launch here for tips on how and when to see the rocket from your area. So far, there is a promising forecast for the liftoff, with NASA officials saying there is a 95-percent chance of good launch weather.

Source: Antares Rocket Launch Tonight Will Be Visible from US East Coast: Watch It Live | Space.com

It should also be here:

Live Video streaming by Ustream

One of the largest communications satellites ever launched. The payload 6,400kg.

Some cloudiness to the South of my location but was able to see Antares briefly as it appeared twice through the cloud deck.

Nice launch mjf!

In other news:

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Oct 17, 2016 The successful launch of China's Shenzhou 11 spacecraft is worth cheering, but it's just the opening move in a major mission for this nation's space program. This will be China's longest human space mission to date.

Source: China launches 2 astronauts for 33-day mission

Wow, thanks for sharing videos, guys. Astronomy is my new hobby, I like watching videos and read news about it. I have watched all the videos on SolarStory There is a bunch of cool videos but I want to know more and more.
Can anybody suggest me a good magazine? Better digital edition.

Hi Tira,

There's a British mag at the top of this search that's pretty good and Sky and Telescope here in the States: British astronomy mags

If your laptop is strong enough to run it, you should get Stellarium and install it, it's a pretty nice astronomy program. The download links are at the top of the first page, pick your flavor, 32 or 64bit, installation is straightforward, the tricky part can be installing the extra plug-ins. The system requirements are also there a little below the beginning in the middle.


Clear Skies!

Steve

You're welcome!

That is a good deal at £42. Sky and Telescope is $49.90 for a year.

I used the 64bit version of Stellarium and it is 244MB on my machine when installed, I hope your laptop hard drive is one of the larger ones.

One tip before you start is you will notice a location/time/date bar on the bottom left side of the window, hover your mouse cursor over it and it will rise up to show more tools, the same thing happens if you hover near the lower left side of the window, more tools will slide out.

At the very top of the left slide out is a star icon used to set your location, click on that and a world map will appear, click on England/UK and more towns and cities will appear in a scroll list to the right where you can refine your location.
If you really want to be accurate you can input your latitude/longitude and altitude above sea level if you know them, you can use this to search for them: find latitude longitude altitude in the uk and make sure the system clock is accurate on your laptop, stellarium gets its time from there and coordinates that with a built-in time correction, you can find this setting at:

• Left slide out,
• Click on wrench/star icon second from bottom, Configuration window [F2]
• Then the bottom of the Navigation tab.

Links for Stellarium; Category:User's Guide - Stellarium Wiki
and Stellarium User Guide - Stellarium Wiki

Related: Home - Curious About Astronomy? Ask an Astronomer


Good Hunting!