The Official Astronomy Thread

[Europa]

This is one of the greatest movie opening scenes of all time IMO. It is from the 1997 movie Contact. I highly recommend it if you have not seen it. The book was written by Carl Sagan, who sadly died from cancer 6 months before the release of the movie.

I recommend clicking the Youtube link, rather than the play button, so you can see it in HQ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGyq7d62oPQ

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

I haven't watched your video yet, but my favorite scene from "Contact" is the opening pullback from Earth. Now I'll watch it and see if yours is as well.

EDIT: Yep!

[Europa]

Did you get to see it at the theater? It's so cool on the big screen!

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

I'm pretty sure I did.

[Europa]

Nebula set to The Moonlight Sonata.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x41n9thAU8

[Europa]

This is one of my favorites photos of our sister galaxy. The milky way is moving toward it and the two galaxies will eventually merge.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt330/Europa1300/4c13c9cd.jpg?t=1255745025

http://www.galaxyphoto.com/high_res/jw_andromeda_12.jpg

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

About three billion years until they meet.

[Europa]

Yep, it will be a while.

This map of the milky way is a compilation of multiple images taken from Earth and rendered to give the illusion that it was taken from a vantage point outside the galaxy. I got it out of Astronomy magazine in the late 90's and it's been framed on my wall in my computer room ever since. I took 5 shots of it with my iPhone and stitched them with the Autostitch app to make a panorama.

http://www.infowest.com/personal/m/mindi/map.jpg

[Europa]

I made this in Photoshop. It's not very realistic, but I took the time to add in some real constellations.

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt330/Europa1300/blueneb.jpg?t=1255794957

[KrakaJap]

Very cool Photoshop image!!!

I just purchased Contact on BluRay! Woohoo!

Does anyone know off the top of their head who narrates Backyard Astronomer? It's part of The Universe series. The guy sounds a lot like Sagan but I'm fairly certain it's not given the release date of the first episode. Although they do reuse footage sometimes.

BTW I'm working with a company in Texas to develop some sort of iPhone adapter for telescope eyepieces. First time I've ever looked into doing something like this and it seems to be quite expensive. I may end up talking to one of our CAD instructors on campus to see if maybe we could work something out cheaper. We own 2 fabricators, one of which has it's own 360 spherical laser scanner but I'm afraid to stick my iPhone in that thing to get some accurate measurements. LOL

so... if anyone has an old, broken iPhone 2G or 3G they would like to donate let me know :) I haven't seen anything like this before so I'm hoping I can be the first on the market!

[geordisjd]

Did you get to see it at the theater? It's so cool on the big screen!

I saw it on the big screen the day it came out. It was pretty faithful to the book. The lonely "For Carl" at the end was poignant, and sad.

[geordisjd]

For thousands of great astronomy pics, go to ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html), 14 years+ of a great daily pic.

[Youngbinks]

I love the movie Contact. I always get excited when I see it on TV.

[The Apple]

Hubble FTW.

[JWiPhone]

I have the App, Star Walk which is pretty cool. There are several astronomy apps but Star Walk is my favorite.

[psylichon]

Nice thread, but about half of the live threads on this board currently start with the word official. :)

Its getting kind of silly looking don't you think?

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

I think the word "official" is just there to try to keep from having multiple threads. Success varies...

[KrakaJap]

StarWalk used to be my favorite until I found StarmapPro!!! More expensive but it can do just about everything! Even control your telescope through wifi or adhoc with the associated app installed on your laptop. :)

[JWiPhone]

StarWalk used to be my favorite until I found StarmapPro!!! More expensive but it can do just about everything! Even control your telescope through wifi or adhoc with the associated app installed on your laptop. :)

Yes, you are right about that for the die-hard astronomer who has the telescope equipment. For the rest of us without telescopes such as myself I'm happy with Star Walk. :)

[KrakaJap]

That's only a very small part of what that app can do though. :) I highly recommend it for all the other reasons though!

http://www.appstorehq.com/starmappro-iphone-7399/app

[JWiPhone]

That's only a very small part of what that app can do though. :) I highly recommend it for all the other reasons though!

http://www.appstorehq.com/starmappro-iphone-7399/app

That really looks impressive. I want an astronomy app I can point at the sky and it will tell me where everything is.

[Europa]

+1 Starmap Pro

[JWiPhone]

I see Starmap Pro is the premiere astronomy application. I browsed through the manual online and all I can say is 'Wow!' I think it is most useful for the professional, astronomy students, or those living in prime viewing areas, such as the countryside or mountains. I have so much light pollution from the big city I am lucky if I can see Venus.

[KrakaJap]

There is an app for that (not to sound cliche). LOL but seriously, I can't remember what it's called but after calibration it will attempt to plot certain key stars and objects. I didn't download it when I came across it because it didn't get very good reviews.

Another app that's good and works well as a sister app for starmap pro is GoSatWatch if you're good enough at catching and tracking sats including the shuttle and space station. I haven't had a chance to use it yet because I don't have a motorized telescope (which makes sat watching almost impossible). :)

Edit: found it... pUniverse for $2.99. And I was wrong about the rating. Apparently it gets some pretty good reviews so I just downloaded it. :)

Not bad but definitely not starmap pro. The "motion" feature isn't exactly "augmented reality" as it does not use your camera at all but does seem to do a fairly good job at positioning your view on the supplied map. Very nice if you're a beginner and have no idea where to look for objects. If you don't want to spend the money on starmap pro, this one might be worth the download. Not quite as good as starwalk though.

Edit 2: Well what do you know... StarMap Pro has the exact same feature as pUniverse!!! LOL Looks like I just wasted $2.99 on pUniverse. :) oh well

[JWiPhone]

Edit 2: Well what do you know... StarMap Pro has the exact same feature as pUniverse!!! LOL Looks like I just wasted $2.99 on pUniverse. :) oh well

You live and learn LOL. I have made some less than wise app purchases in the past. I have taken a closer look at StarMap Pro and added it to my wish list. Even if I can't see the stars from where I live it is still very educational to virtually see where they are on the iPhone screen. I just watched the flash movie on StarMap Pro and I was very impressed. I will definitely keep an eye on this. I doubt they will reduce the price on this though. I don't see a history of them doing so. I already have Star Walk but StarMap Pro is so much more comprehensive.

[KrakaJap]

It's definitely one of the very few apps I would pay even more for :)

I wish Google would release Google Sky as either an update to Earth or a separate app. Native app I mean.

[Europa]

32 new exoplanets discovered, some dwarf the Earth.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/19/space.new.planets/index.html

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

Over 400 extrasolar planets discovered so far:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-planets19-2009oct19,0,1549942.story

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

32 new exoplanets discovered in the Kuiper Belt, some dwarf the Earth.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/19/space.new.planets/index.html

In the Kuiper belt? I didn't see that mentioned in the article.

[Europa]

It was an assumption. I guess they could also be in the scattered disk.

[up10ad]

Bunch of space cadets. But very cool. Thanks for the images and links.

[KrakaJap]

New episode of The Universe on tonight... (Liquid Universe) should be good!

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

It was an assumption. I guess they could also be in the scattered disk.

Light years away.

[Europa]

That's debatable.

[Napoleon_PhoneApart]

Why? Astronomers don't know how far away these planets are?

[Europa]

You're right, they are light years away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcJuhE-99Xg&feature=player_embedded

[VitOl]

For those who don't own Star Walk yet. It is on sale for ONE day only (6th of November 2009). Check it out;)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=295430577&mt=8

[Londonrockz568]

Relevant post is relevant.

[The Apple]

For those who don't own Star Walk yet. It is on sale for ONE day only (6th of November 2009). Check it out;)
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=295430577&mt=8

Give us the product for free and we might talk about it.:ok:ok

[Europa]

NASA finds 'significant' water on moon

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/13/water.moon.nasa/index.html

The Google image for 11-13-2009. Pretty cool!

http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt330/Europa1300/wateronmoon09-hp.gif?t=1258170771

[KrakaJap]

It's things like this that make me want to believe in reincarnation or suspended animation so I can be around a few hundred years from now to see all the advancements we'll make.

Assuming of course we all live through the end of 2012 LOL :)