February 2018 – Earl's Astro Site

NASA planetary protection officer suggests loosening limits on exploring Mars for life

Yes, I’m all for this. We’ve already sent “contaminated” craft to Mars.

Plans for human arrival could open up robotic exploration of “special regions”

Source: www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/nasa-planetary-protection-officer-suggests-loosening-limits-exploring-mars-life

Posted on February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by Earl

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” Source: www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/nasa-planetary-protection-officer-suggests-loosening-limits-exploring-mars-life

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot May Soon Disappear…

Or maybe not…either way – Jupiter imaging season is upon us.

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/

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Earl

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 Continue Reading

The benefits of adding more subs to your stack

A good guide about the advantages of image stacking for DSLR astrophotography

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/

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Earl

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, Continue Reading

Fresh Evidence for New Physics in the Universe | NASA

Interesting results from Hubble suggesting confirmation of a discrepancy in the rate of the expansion of 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.

Source: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/improved-hubble-yardstick-gives-fresh-evidence-for-new-physics-in-the-universe

Posted on February 25, 2018February 25, 2018 by Earl

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. Source: Continue Reading

M31 pic

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.

Posted on February 24, 2018February 24, 2018 by Earl

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

This 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.

Source: www.dpreview.com/news/1945724359/sensor-breakthrough-sony-has-developed-a-backlit-cmos-sensor-with-global-shutter

Posted on February 24, 2018February 27, 2018 by Earl

Launceston planetarium marks 50 years

Fabulous to see!

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

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Earl

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

Developers use 750 Raspberry Pi boards as supercomputing testbed

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.

Posted on February 23, 2018February 25, 2018 by Earl

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 Continue Reading

NASA Is Bringing Back Cold War-Era Atomic Rockets to Get to Mars

Always loved the idea of going to Mars on an atomic rocket.

Nuclear-powered spacecraft would cut travel time to the red planet.

Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/nasa-is-bringing-back-cold-war-era-atomic-rockets-to-get-to-mars

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Earl

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. Source: www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-15/nasa-is-bringing-back-cold-war-era-atomic-rockets-to-get-to-mars

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.

Source: www.teledynedalsa.com/en/learn/knowledge-center/ccd-vs-cmos/

Posted on February 23, 2018February 24, 2018 by Earl

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 Continue Reading

APOD: 2018 February 21 – Jupiter in Infrared from Hubble

Amazing APOD!

A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.

Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180221.html

Posted on February 23, 2018February 27, 2018 by Earl

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

A good read on colour vs mono astronomy cameras

Why on earth would you ever choose a monochrome camera for astrophotography when there is so much beautiful color in the universe?!

Source: photographingspace.com/colour-vs-mono-camera/

Posted on February 20, 2018February 23, 2018 by Earl

A 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?! Source: photographingspace.com/colour-vs-mono-camera/

Watch 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

Posted on February 19, 2018February 24, 2018 by Earl

Watch 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

NGC 2237 Rosette nebula

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 in Ha and Oiii

Source: fearn.photo/ngc2237-rosette-nebula-2018

Posted on February 18, 2018February 23, 2018 by Earl

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 Source: fearn.photo/ngc2237-rosette-nebula-2018