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New York, 6:22 PM
Sun Nov 8
20 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #astronomy more →

    The Vatican Finally Shares Its Secret Stash of Astronomy Artifacts

    Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers

    New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered

    Go Enjoy the Harvest Moon Tonight and Tomorrow

    Homemade Astro-Photography: Look Out, Hubble

    The Most Distant, Oldest Black Hole In the Universe Still Runs in 8-Bits

    Astronomers Send Robots to Stargaze in Very Worst Place on Earth for Humans

    The Most Amazing Photo of the Universe, Now In 3D

    Evidence of Planetary Collision Observed by NASA, Rebel Force Wanted for Questioning

    Space Alert: The Perseids Are Coming, Go See Them
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of ArcticLotus ArcticLotus
    10/15/09

    In reply to The Vatican Finally Shares Its Secret Stash of Astronomy Artifacts
    small correction:
    a planiterium is huge, theatrically large.
    this is an orrery. #vaticansecretstorehouse
     Reply
    Rosa Golijan promoted this comment ArcticLotus was starred ArcticLotus was unstarred
    Image of Rosa Golijan Rosa Golijan
    10/15/09

    @ArcticLotus: Thanks for the info. Fixed to reflect that.

    PS: Next time feel free to tag a correction with #rosafuzuckedup
     Reply
    Edited by Rosa Golijan at 10/15/09 12:39 PM Rosa Golijan was starred Rosa Golijan was unstarred
    Image of daweinst daweinst
    10/15/09

    In reply to The Vatican Finally Shares Its Secret Stash of Astronomy Artifacts
    Am I wrong in assuming that the Vatican has these artifacts because they murdered their inventors for blasphemy, and hid them from the world? #vaticansecretstorehouse
     Reply
    daweinst was starred daweinst was unstarred
    Image of murmur000 murmur000
    10/15/09

    @daweinst: yes, you are. but it's understandable. i mean, if only you were somehow connected to a vast, worldwide network of information where you could research things like historical facts, it would probably be weird for you to make such an assumption. but since such a thing is obviously out of the reach of the common internet-user, such mistakes are bound to occur. #vaticansecretstorehouse
     Reply
    Pope John Peeps II promoted this comment murmur000 was starred murmur000 was unstarred
    Image of SigmundTheSeaMonster SigmundTheSeaMonster
    10/15/09

    In reply to The Vatican Finally Shares Its Secret Stash of Astronomy Artifacts
    That's earth in the middle, right? #vaticansecretstorehouse
     Reply
    SigmundTheSeaMonster was starred SigmundTheSeaMonster was unstarred
    Image of agfuentes agfuentes
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    As an astrophysicist I have to OF COURSE side with the telescopes. I have read a lot of misconceptions. These lasers are low powered (some ~ 25 W) they are not going to blow up satellites. All they can do is blind the cameras for less than a sec. over the USA. Also they are not used in every telescope. Only a few telescopes in the USA (Hawaii, AZ and in PR) have laser guided stars. A bigger problem is planes flying by but this is already taken care of by having direct communications with nearby airports and a person dedicated to staying outside the telescopes with a big red button that shuts down the laser when a plane gets close to it. We need these laser AO systems because without them we could not point at anything that is small or faint in the sky due to atmospheric turbulence. In conclusion "suck on it AirForce".
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment agfuentes was starred agfuentes was unstarred
    Image of bagellord bagellord
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    How hard is it for the Pentagon to look at a computer and see if there are any satellites in the area at a given time when the astronomers call and say yay or nay?
     Reply
    bagellord was starred bagellord was unstarred
    Image of Wokcus Wokcus
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    This is incredibly stupid. It's not like the Air Force can stop observatories in other countries from using lasers. Also, if the satellites are that easily blinded (something I'm skeptical of), they're now making sure that everyone is aware of that via the Streisand effect.
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment Wokcus was starred Wokcus was unstarred
    Image of Fletch Lives Fletch Lives
    10/14/09

    @Wokcus: Excellent point, +1
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment Fletch Lives was starred Fletch Lives was unstarred
    Image of RainyDayInterns RainyDayInterns
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    We are on the side of the astronomers... here we are doing our part, pimping out our scope with a Wicked Laser:

    $3 laser holder:
    [www.rainydaymagazine.com]

    Laser in use, no planes down:
    [www.rainydaymagazine.com]
     Reply
    Edited by RainyDayInterns at 10/14/09 7:30 AM RainyDayInterns was starred RainyDayInterns was unstarred
    Image of ACoBildo ACoBildo
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    If the American taxpayer made the observatories pay for a new mission-critical, multi-million dollar satellite every time they damaged one, I don't think observatories would be too eager to randomly fire lasers at the heavens.

    (Yes, I'm in the U.S. Air Force)
     Reply
    ReconToaster. promoted this comment ACoBildo was starred ACoBildo was unstarred
    Image of masshuum masshuum
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo: Is it really that hard to coordinate with them? I mean come on. It seems the military just likes to make the most menial task complicated. There must be a 5 page manual on how to properly wipe one's ass.

    (Yes, I'm a civilian...)
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment masshuum was starred masshuum was unstarred
    Image of ReconToaster misses garnett :( ReconToaster misses garnett :(
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo:

    Honestly, if our technology is capable of shooting a satellite out of orbit WITH A MISSILE, then I'm sure that lasers can't be all that hard to navigate.
     Reply
    ReconToaster misses garnett :( was starred ReconToaster misses garnett :( was unstarred
    Image of 0xdeadbeef 0xdeadbeef
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo: If the American taxpayer made the Air Force accept the responsibility for the risk of putting expensive hardware into secret orbits, I don't think they would be stonewalling when observatories give them the courtesy of letting them know they're going to be firing a laser into space at such-and-such location at such-and-such time.

    (Yes, I am an American taxpayer)
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment 0xdeadbeef was starred 0xdeadbeef was unstarred
    Image of DH405 DH405
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    Really, what are the odds? Also, shouldn't the optics and such be a bit more capable of taking a non-weapon laser?
     Reply
    DH405 was starred DH405 was unstarred
    Image of Coulterboy Coulterboy
    10/14/09

    @DH405: Actually they're pretty frakin huge odds, considering how often a laser would be shot up. These things cost millions of dollars, and you just wanna go PEW PEW and hope you miss? Not happenin. Point 2, These things are so incredibly important do you really wanna risk anything possibly messing up the optics? Consider how detailed a military satellite probably is. You don't wanna mess with that.
     Reply
    RainyDayInterns promoted this comment Coulterboy was starred Coulterboy was unstarred
    Image of RainyDayInterns RainyDayInterns
    10/14/09

    @Coulterboy: hmmm... if that is true, then it is a good thing that only law-abiding US citizens concerned with our military's well-being have access to low power lasers.
     Reply
    RainyDayInterns was starred RainyDayInterns was unstarred
    Image of cwebster88 cwebster88
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    I thought saturn went out of business...HA
     Reply
    SegamanXero promoted this comment cwebster88 was starred cwebster88 was unstarred
    Image of Greg Edwards Greg Edwards
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    Boy, Saturn has really let herself go.
     Reply
    Greg Edwards was starred Greg Edwards was unstarred
    Image of UnicornMaster UnicornMaster
    10/07/09

    @Greg Edwards: yo momma so fat she had to wear Saturn's new discovered invisible ring as a belt... ummm yeah.
     Reply
    CustomFirmware promoted this comment UnicornMaster was starred UnicornMaster was unstarred
    Image of CustomFirmware CustomFirmware
    10/07/09

    @UnicornMaster:

    Yo, I'm happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Uranus had one of the best rings of all time! OF ALL TIME!
     Reply
    CustomFirmware was starred CustomFirmware was unstarred
    Image of Grendel Grendel
    10/07/09

    @citizen024: I don't even know what to say. Seriously, I'm so numbed by that picture I don't even know why i'm bothering to post something. ... .
     Reply
    Grendel was starred Grendel was unstarred
    Image of adaorardor adaorardor
    10/07/09

    @Grendel: welcome to the internet!
     Reply
    adaorardor was starred adaorardor was unstarred
    Image of SophT SophT
    10/07/09

    @adaorardor:
    dammit! years without actually having to see that picture, and I get screwed in an astronomy thread on gizmodo?

    you sir, are a douche.
     Reply
    SegamanXero promoted this comment SophT was starred SophT was unstarred
    Image of Bokusatsu_Tenshi Bokusatsu_Tenshi
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    And that's only the second circle of Saturn hell...
     Reply
    Bokusatsu_Tenshi was starred Bokusatsu_Tenshi was unstarred
    Image of taodude taodude
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    Giz has two completely different "red ring" stories today.
     Reply
    Sora57 is feeling fine promoted this comment taodude was starred taodude was unstarred
    Image of Sora57 is rendering Sora57 is rendering
    10/07/09

    @taodude: See my earlier comment below
     Reply
    Sora57 is rendering was starred Sora57 is rendering was unstarred
    Image of RainyDayInterns RainyDayInterns
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    This is PRECISELY why we are putting together a portable Hyperstar CCD imaging setup for our own deep-sky astrophotography projects this Winter!

    I guess we need to add an IR sensor into the mix :-)
     Reply
    RainyDayInterns was starred RainyDayInterns was unstarred
    Image of Sora57 is rendering Sora57 is rendering
    10/07/09

    In reply to New Gigantic, Glowing Saturn Ring Discovered
    Maybe Saturn just needs a new power supply or to check it's a/v connection. RRoS.
     Reply
    Sora57 is rendering was starred Sora57 is rendering was unstarred
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