Space News/UFO's Etc...(Discussion/Pics/Vids)

[ilan]

It is amazing. He has taken over the role that was once our country's, when we were a bit more intelligent and ambitious.

[crazed 9.6]

awesome !!!

[ilan]

Hubble finds relic galaxy close to home
By Eleanor Imster in SPACE | March 15, 2018

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope are investigating an ancient galaxy – called NGC 1277 – that’s in our cosmic backyard, 240 million light-years from Earth. What makes NGC 1277 unique is that the galaxy is composed exclusively of aging stars that were born 10 billion years ago. NGC 1277 started its life churning out stars 1,000 times faster than in our own Milky Way, but, unlike other galaxies in the local universe, NGC 1277 has not undergone any further star formation. The very rare and odd assemblage of stars has remained essentially unchanged for the past 10 billion years.

Astronomers nickname such galaxies as “red and dead,” because the stars are aging and there aren’t any successive generations of younger stars. Though Hubble has seen such “red and dead” galaxies in the early universe, one has never been conclusively found nearby. The findings were published in the March 12, 2018, issue of the peer-reviewed science journal Nature.

The researchers learned that although NGC 1277 has twice as many stars as our Milky Way, it’s one quarter of our galaxy in size. Essentially, the relic galaxy is in a state of “arrested development.” Perhaps, the researchers said, like all galaxies, it started out as a compact object but failed to accrete more material to grow in size to form a pinwheel-shaped galaxy.

Approximately one in 1,000 massive galaxies is expected to be a relic (or oddball) galaxy, like NGC 1277, researchers said. NGC 1277 offers a unique opportunity to see one up close and personal. Ignacio Trujillo, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias at the University of La Laguna, Spain, is an author of the study.

He said in statement: We can explore such original galaxies in full detail and probe the conditions of the early universe.

[ilan]

Stunning Mars images, from Curiosity
By Paul Scott Anderson in SPACE | TODAY'S IMAGE | March 16, 2018

The Curiosity rover has sent back some beautiful new images of the foothills of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater on Mars. The first image is a panorama of the breathtaking view, thanks to processing by Thomas Appéré, who is an Associate Scientist at IPAG (l’Institut de Planétologie et d’ Astrophysique de Grenoble) in Grenoble, France. The rover is still making its way closer to these foothills at the base of the much taller mountain. The mesas and canyons are very reminiscent of the scenery in the American Southwest.

Curiosity has confirmed that Gale Crater used to contain a lake or series of lakes a few billion years ago, and fast-moving streams once emptied into the lake through the crater rim. Whether any life existed is still unknown, but this region was once a lot more habitable than it is today.

[ilan]

In Memory of Dr. Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot

[Marley]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ufo-encounter-new-footage-shows-us-navy-pilots-apparent-sighting-of-alien-craft-near-east-coast/ar-BBK7XKY?li=BBnb7Kz

navy-pilots-apparent-sighting-of-alien-craft-near-east-coast

[ilan]

It freaked out those pilots!

[ilan]

Moon, Mercury, Venus March 18 to 20
By Bruce McClure in TONIGHT | March 18, 2018

Watch for the returning young moon, and the planets Mercury and Venus, beginning on the evening of March 18, 2018. The planets will still be there – and the moon will become much easier to see – on the nights of March 19 and 20.

On March 18, if you’re far enough west with respect to the International Date Line, and especially if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ve got a good shot at seeing a whisker-thin very young moon. The moon will be only one day past new moon on March 18, and thus the moon will be a very fragile crescent indeed, very lovely, setting soon behind the sun.

Sometimes, you can’t catch a young moon for a couple evenings after new moon. And sometimes you can’t see planets so near the sunset. But – around the spring equinox – you can. That’s because the ecliptic (path of the sun, moon and planets) stands nearly straight up with respect to the western horizon after sunset in spring. The spring angle of the ecliptic places the moon and planets at their highest above your horizon, after sunset.

[ilan]

Mercury: The Swift Planet

This colorful version of Mercury was assembled from spectral data taken with the MESSENGER spacecraft, highlighting various minerals on the planet's surface.

Mercury rotates on its axis with nearly no tilt whatsoever, meaning the planet experiences no seasons and there are places at the poles where sunlight never touches, blocked by steep crater walls. Solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts are two of the major forces that have shaped — and continue to influence — this world, and we are still digging for clues on its history and evolution. Only two spacecraft have ever visited, and the entire surface wasn't even imaged until earlier this century.

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Remember, Mercury is still visible tonight, next to Venus. See image a few posts above. Mercury was dubbed the Swift Planet by the Romans because it moves so quickly across the sky. It only takes 59 days for Mercury to revolve around the sun while it takes us 365 days, defining our year. - ilan

[Ryu]

Mercury: The Swift Planet

This colorful version of Mercury was assembled from spectral data taken with the MESSENGER spacecraft, highlighting various minerals on the planet's surface.

Mercury rotates on its axis with nearly no tilt whatsoever, meaning the planet experiences no seasons and there are places at the poles where sunlight never touches, blocked by steep crater walls. Solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts are two of the major forces that have shaped — and continue to influence — this world, and we are still digging for clues on its history and evolution. Only two spacecraft have ever visited, and the entire surface wasn't even imaged until earlier this century.

-----------
Remember, Mercury is still visible tonight, next to Venus. See image a few posts above. Mercury was dubbed the Swift Planet by the Romans because it moves so quickly across the sky. It only takes 59 days for Mercury to revolve around the sun while it takes us 365 days, defining our year. - ilan

thats awesome