Yes, I’m all for this. We’ve already sent “contaminated” craft to Mars.
NASA planetary protection officer suggests loosening limits on exploring Mars for life
Plans for human arrival could open up robotic exploration of “special regions”
Archive
For February, 2018
Or maybe not…either way – Jupiter imaging season is upon us.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear…
Scientists aren’t quite sure what will happen to the shrinking mega-storm.
Aside from its size, the planet Jupiter is perhaps best known for the roiling vermilion tempest that swirls south of its equator. The storm, which is big enough to comfortably swallow Earth, is appropriately (if not creatively) known as Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
The Great Red Spot has been a fixture of Jupiter’s cloudy visage for centuries and is among the most recognizable features in the solar system. But it won’t always be there. In fact, the Great Red Spot is shrinking, and recently, news stories reported that it could vanish within the next 10 or 20 years.
Source: news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/jupiter-great-red-spot-disappear-10-years-space-science-spd/
A good guide about the advantages of image stacking for DSLR astrophotography
The benefits of adding more subs to your stack
Adding multiple exposures to create a single image is one of the key elements of doing astrophotography. It enables us to get rid of bad pixels, satellite trails, noise while increasing signal to increase the overall signal-to-noise ratio. It truly is one of the most important aspects of astrophotography. But stacking remains a bit of a mystery to most people and they will keep having questions like ‘How many frames should I stack?’, ‘Am I …
Source: dslr-astrophotography.com/benefits-adding-frames-stack/
Interesting results from Hubble suggesting confirmation of a discrepancy in the rate of the expansion of the Universe.
Fresh Evidence for New Physics in the Universe
The most precise measurements of the expansion rate of the universe are forcing astronomers to consider something unexpected at work in the universe.
It’s a hot, rainy Saturday afternoon in Sydney so what the hell, there’s an old pic of M31 I took some time ago.
Sensor breakthrough: Sony has developed a backlit CMOS sensor with global shutter
By Earl on 24 Feb 2018 No CommentsThis s very cool! Sony has just announced a CMOS chip that can read all the pixels at once – plus is has large 3 micron pixel size which will see it became a favourite for planetary imaging I’m sure!
Sony has made something of a break-through in sensor development with a new backside-illuminated CMOS sensor that is capable of global shutter, a huge improvement over current CMOS global shutter technology.
Fabulous to see!
Launceston planetarium marks 50 years
Time stands still for Launceston’s planetarium with little changing in the past 50 years.
Source: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-23/launceston-planetarium-marks-50-years/9408338
Great way to test parallel systems. Love the Pi!
Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/750-raspberry-pi-boards-supercomputing-testbed/
Developers requiring a platform to test their scalable software for supercomputers now have an inexpensive solution. Designed and built by BitScope in collaboration with the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, this new platform relies on the popular Raspberry Pi 3 boards – 750 of them, to be exact – that are spread out across five rack-mounted Pi Cluster Modules. This platform will eliminate the need for a $250 million investment.
“It’s not like you can keep a petascale machine around for R&D work in scalable systems software,” said Gary Grider, leader of the High Performance Computing Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “The Raspberry Pi modules let developers figure out how to write this software and get it to work reliably without having a dedicated testbed of the same size.”
Each Raspberry Pi 3 board is a self-contained miniature PC packed with a quad-core processor, 1GB of system memory, wired and wireless networking, and a handful of USB ports. That means each Pi Cluster Module consists of 600 computer cores to develop scalable software for high-performance computing (HPC), large-scale sensor network simulation, and more at a fraction of the cost needed to purchase a dedicated HPC testbed.
Always loved the idea of going to Mars on an atomic rocket.
NASA Is Bringing Back Cold War-Era Atomic Rockets to Get to Mars
Nuclear-powered spacecraft would cut travel time to the red planet.
CCD vs CMOS | Teledyne DALSA
Another interesting read on CCD vs CMOS
Much has been written about the relative advantages of CMOS versus CCD imagers. It seems that the debate has continued on for as long as most people can remember with no definitive conclusion in sight. It is not surprising that a definitive answer is elusive, since the topic is not static. Technologies and markets evolve, affecting not only what is technically feasible, but also what is commercially viable. Imager applications are varied, with different and changing requirements. Some applications are best served by CMOS imagers, some by CCDs. In this article, we will attempt to add some clarity to the discussion by examining the different situations, explaining some of the lesser known technical trade-offs, and introducing cost considerations into the picture.
Amazing APOD!
APOD: 2018 February 21 – Jupiter in Infrared from Hubble
A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180221.html
Should You Get a Colour or Monochrome Camera? • PhotographingSpace.com
By Earl on 20 Feb 2018 No CommentsA good read on colour vs mono astronomy cameras
Should You Get a Colour or Monochrome Camera? • PhotographingSpace.com
Why on earth would you ever choose a monochrome camera for astrophotography when there is so much beautiful color in the universe?!
Watch the Casting of a Giant Mirror for the First Extremely Large Telescope
By Earl on 19 Feb 2018 No CommentsWatch the Casting of a Giant Mirror for the First Extremely Large Telescope
A look inside the Mirror Lab, where astronomers go when they need some serious glass.
Source: motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bj7d3z/mirror-giant-magellan-telescope-extremely-large
Spectacular !!! NGC 2237 Rosette Nebula, imaged in rare clear skies on Feb 11th, 12th and 15th – total exposure time 7.25 hours. Narrowband Ha + Oiii (+RGB stars)
NGC 2237 Rosette nebula
NGC 2237 Rosette nebula in Ha and Oiii