take a look at the size of these babies. now that is big

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4164365.stm

 

nope i'm just a geek

 

I hope god does not fancy a game of blow football or mistakes us for a maltiser when he had had a few.

 

they are fukcing huge , i wouldn't want one for a wart !!

 

Why is Rigel white?

 

Because it's hotter than our sun, think of the light spectrum scale, when an object is hotter it has more energy, that energy is particles moving around faster, the peak of the particles moving dictates the colour.
Or known better as the Boltzmann distribution.


For a temp comparison betelguse is about 4000 degrees C whereas Rigel is about 12,000 degrees

Andy

 

I've just been reading about Dyson Spheres and it's just dawned on me that the Game Halo is just that...
A livable ring around a star, didn't even realise lol.



Andy

 

Isn't that one of those vacs with a ball instead of wheels?

 

Think I needs a better scope. My £80 Argos special is okay for moonwatching, but useless for owt else

 

Check out Ringworld (and its sequels) by Larry Niven. Now that's a habitable ring around a star...

 

Probably, but with the 'about' in there it doesn't make enough difference to worry about - 'about 4000 C' is 'about 4000 K'.

 

there are a few places to try. you need to spend a wee bit more to get a decent scope. scopes using a mirror (reflectors)need to be at least 6" while if you want to use a refractors(uses a lens) need to be at least 3" to be of any value. if you can't stretch to these then a good pair of 10x50 binos would be better. i got a pair of bresser 10x50 from Lidl for about £15. the optics are first class made my meade i think. Lidl do these specials occasionally.

a nice dark site to view also helps lots. city viewing while rewarding can be limited for deep sky viewing.

 

yep i realised that after i posted. that -459 makes all the difference. and anyway real astronomers use Kelvin

 

I did a bit of research and an American site said "If it cost less than $300 new, it's crap. No ifs, no buts." Probably update that to £4-500. Seemed like OK advice.

 

It was the 273 I was thinking of... no Fahrenheits involved !

 

When you think about the billions of galaxies and the sizes and distances involved, its a bit difficult to take in really. The real question of course is, how did it all start in the first place.

Les

 

Muhammed started it all apparently

 

Well I can't tell you anyway Reality.

Les

 

You can get a decent scope pretty cheap now. If you're anywhere near Kent, you can pick up an 8" reflector for £199 from Telescope House.

 

btt worhwhile resurrecting this one I think

 

Holy thread resurection batman!!!!

So who was watching the shuttle and ISS last week?

 

me. i was that man. passing over ireland. well resurrected sir

 

I like a good ISS pass too

Recently managed to 'follow' it by pushing a telescope manually.
8" Celestron Schmidt-Cass, on a EQ-mount with the clutches loosened - at 50x with a 2" wide-angle eyepiece.

Hard part was picking it up - leading ahead of it with a red-dot finder, and then quickly into the scope - but once I picked it up, quite easy to track.
And even at only 50x, a nice bit of detail visible, especially as it faded into the Earth's shadow (less glare)

 

Cool

 

I'd been out in a field trying to view Saturn but it was a bit misty, made me think of this thread. Particularly after looking at Arcturas for a while.

 

Thanks for that Fuzz, bit of an eye opener that.

Les

 

Jees, now that's a thread resurrection

 

want to see some dedication try looking here. jeff has some great report from boulder creek. makes for very interesting reading. i also still use lxd55.com for some more info.

 

sponsered run around antares lol

 

Ok after two years and it's still confusing