#globalastronomymonth

[theuniqornaments]

Today is #GlobalAstronomyMonth!Here is a PREVIEW, For More Click Here: https://youtu.be/ZYZKTxTlfuE

[yetiyeth]

won 3rd place at the RTU-AstroSoc. - GAM Astrophotography Contest hahaha cant believe it and i have a new lazer pointer hahaha last contest for being a student gonna miss it! 😊 #Astrophotography #AstrophotographyContest #RTU #RTUAstroSoc #Astronomy #Photography #DESS #GlobalAstronomyMonth

[urbanastronomyto]

Global Astronomy Month: Getting to Space

http://urbanastronomyto.tumblr.com/

This may not be astronomy per se, but I thought I’d chat about it anyway.

Getting to space? If you’re a person going to space these days, chances are your actually heading for the space station, the only manned destination(that we know of). For humans spaceflight, there aren’t a whole lot of players in the game. Public programs include: NASA (with their associated space agencies like the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, the Russians, and the Chinese. The Chinese actually had a small manned space station in orbit, briefly, as a test for a more permanent one in the future, apparently its still up there, it was due to de-orbit a while ago.

We’re in a weird but exciting time for human spaceflight. On the downside, there is only one country actually launching people, Russia. Everyone who is going to\coming from the ISS is taking a Soyuz. The Americans are working hard to remedy this, as there is no knowing when the Russians might cut them off. Russian just recently announced that they are pulling out of the ISS in 2024, as in taking their modules and going home, so there is lots of incentive to find alternatives.

Luckily, that’s happening on a couple fronts. NASA is currently testing its Orion space craft, but that will take a while. The next promising candidate is a private company, SpaceX. 

SpaceX just launched its sixth mission the the ISS, all of which were unmanned, but they have a deal with NASA to have future manned flights as well. SpaceX is pretty fascinating, their CEO Elon Musk is known for thinking outside the box. Their rockets are completely redesigned to be as efficient as possible, and to make it even cooler, the plan is to make their first stage re-useable, by landing it autonomously on a platform out at sea! These guys are crazy. Their launch yesterday(April 14, 2015) of a Dragon space craft bringing supplies to the ISS, went without incident, and their recovery idea came pretty close to working. They only calculated success at about 40% I think, so not bad! SpaceX is basically now a space trucking company with billions in contracts launching satellites and cargo, with visions of manned missions and even space tourism in the future. SIGN ME UP!

Check out this video of the recent launch here: https://twitter.com/NASA/status/588083172652351488

And a surreal Vine of the first stage attempting to land vertically: https://vine.co/v/euEpIVegiIx

[urbanastronomyto]

Scott Kelly on Twitter

GAM: DYK?For the first and second space shuttle launches, the first was Columbia 34 years ago today, the external fuel tank was painted white. They stopped painting them because it was deemed unnecessary and saved precious weight(around 600lbs). They were rust-coloured after that because that was the colour of the infamous insulating foam, the same foam that was deemed responsible for causing the Columbia disaster in 2003.

“Honored to celebrate the anniversaries of the 1st human in space & 1st #spaceshuttle mission while aboard #ISS today.”

[urbanastronomyto]

Mike Ledermueller on Twitter

GAM: Waving to Astronauts (and Cosmonauts):

http://urbanastronomyto.tumblr.com/

As you’re looking up at the sky, sometimes you might notice a pinpoint of light tracking above, whizzing past the stars. Those are actually satellites orbiting the earth. These are hard to see in the city, but there are a couple things that are visible, even in the most light-polluted areas.

First: Iridium flares. These are sometimes intense streaks of lights that come from a satellite’s solar panels reflecting light onto earth. They can be mistaken for shooting stars/meteors, but they are a lot slower moving, and the best part is, they are predictable. (extra homework: look up the difference between a meteor, meteoroid and meteorite. People mix them up all the time but there’s a big difference)

Second: The International Space Station. This is my favourite thing to watch because you’re actually watching people up in space fly by. When I’m outside my condo I get lots of funny looks from neighbours as I crane my neck up, but once I explain what I’m looking at, it’s great to see them light up and get excited about it too! The other great part about the ISS is that it is looking back at us. Most of the astronauts on board are on Twitter, tweeting pics of earth out every day. Give them a follow, especially Scott Kelly, who just started his Year In Space mission, and you probably remember how awesome Chris Hadfield was at this.

Check out the first 5 minutes of this video so see some amazing footage from the ISS. The rest of the video is cool too, but the best stuff is at the beginning https://youtu.be/k3rx6zNL8G0

Seeing flares and the ISS is easy, you just need cooperative weather and know when and where to look. I use an app called ISS Tracker. It shows me both the ISS and flares, with a few other things. It tells you when an event will happen, its magnitude, and points your phone in the right direction and elevation to see the flyover. It’s a lot of fun.

Finally, tonight, 04/12/15 is Yuri’s Night! Its the 54th anniversary of the first human in space, Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Its also the 34th anniversary of the first space Shuttle launch. Why not go out and celebrate? From Toronto there will be an ISS fly-by in the north, not too high in the sky at 9:54pm, traveling west to east. Enjoy!

“.@Space_Station passes below #BigDipper 4/06/15 w @StationCDRKelly @AstroTerry @AstroSamantha Seen from #yyz #Toronto”

[urbanastronomyto]

GAM: Venus & Pleiades, ISS & Cassiopeia

04/11/15- As I mentioned earlier, Venus was in close proximity to the Pleiades tonight, I managed to get this shot as well as a fun exposure of the ISS as it streaked under the constellation Cassiopeia, about a 30sec exp which I made B&W for better contrast here. I also tried to get a shot of an iridium flare but my focus was off and it was dimmer than I expected, next time!

I hope some of you took the time to get out and enjoy the view.