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Visible Nova
#1

Visible Nova
Just a nova, not a supernova. Sorry to disappoint.


So there's a new star in the night sky. Or at least one that you can see. RS Oph is a rare recurrent nova and has recently flared, brightening from magnitude 12, tricky to see even with binoculars, to magnitude 5, visible to the naked eye.

Here's a star map for those of you who want to take a peek. It's located not far from Scorpius and Sagittarius.

[Image: 800px-RSOphLocation.png]
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#2

Visible Nova
Read

Oh, just a nova?
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#3

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 03:21 AM)Aliza Wrote: Read

Oh, just a nova?

PreInternet people used to look at the night sky.
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#4

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 03:31 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 03:21 AM)Aliza Wrote: Read

Oh, just a nova?

PreInternet people used to look at the night sky.

Pre-internet people could actually see stars in the sky.
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#5

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 03:06 AM)Paleophyte Wrote: Just a nova, not a supernova. Sorry to disappoint.


So there's a new star in the night sky. Or at least one that you can see. RS Oph is a rare recurrent nova and has recently flared, brightening from magnitude 12, tricky to see even with binoculars, to magnitude 5, visible to the naked eye.

Here's a star map for those of you who want to take a peek. It's located not far from Scorpius and Sagittarius.

[Image: 800px-RSOphLocation.png]

Hmpf, I thought it was Betelgeuse at last. What's taking so long, Betelgeuse?!

[Image: giphy.gif]
“We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?” 
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#6

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 12:36 PM)Aliza Wrote: Pre-internet people could actually see stars in the sky.

I really *really* regret not going to a place called Cabo Polonio in Uruguay, where there is no electricity and just watched the Milky Way at night and enjoyed the peace...

[Image: 37597039852_4a276bcefc_b.jpg]

[Image: 6-bCORREC.jpg]
“We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?” 
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#7

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 12:36 PM)Aliza Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 03:31 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 03:21 AM)Aliza Wrote: Read

Oh, just a nova?

PreInternet people used to look at the night sky.

Pre-internet people could actually see stars in the sky.

They can still see stars, it's just that some are closer than others. Winking
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#8

Visible Nova
If it's clear this Saturday night we may be able to go down to the Observatory for some viewing. I'll take my binos along and see if I can spot it, and there will probably be half a dozen scopes set up as well.
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#9

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 12:57 PM)Vera Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 12:36 PM)Aliza Wrote: Pre-internet people could actually see stars in the sky.

I really *really* regret not going to a place called Cabo Polonio in Uruguay, where there is no electricity and just watched the Milky Way at night and enjoyed the peace...


Another great place to see the stars is, of all places, Death Valley in California - and the Winter is the best time.  No one lives there because it's essentially uninhabital so there's no light pollution.   When I was in college I went there over Christmas and slept in my car overnight.  When I looked up at the sky it was a universe sparkling with diamonds.   I didn't know it at the time but it's one of the top places in the Northern Hemisphere for star gazing. 

[Image: DVsjisLV4AAL2FG.jpg]
                                                         T4618
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#10

Visible Nova
That's the view I had when my friends exiled me when I went cold turkey on the coffin nails.
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#11

Visible Nova
I'll go see if I can spot it tonight, unless it's past my bedtime. The power was out for most of our area after the Northridge quake. We had a view similar to DF2's, right at home in the San Fernando Valley.
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.
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#12

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 03:19 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Another great place to see the stars is, of all places, Death Valley in California - and the Winter is the best time.  No one lives there because it's essentially uninhabitable so there's no light pollution.   When I was in college I went there over Christmas and slept in my car overnight.  When I looked up at the sky it was a universe sparkling with diamonds.   I didn't know it at the time but it's one of the top places in the Northern Hemisphere for star gazing... 

This is a very similar image captured at a national park on Wilson's Promontory—near
where I live in Victoria.  It's the most southerly point of the Australian mainland, and
like Death Valley, there's absolutely no light pollution.

[Image: untitled-4.jpg]
—Chris Langton © 2016
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#13

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 03:19 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Another great place to see the stars is, of all places, Death Valley in California - and the Winter is the best time.  No one lives there because it's essentially uninhabital so there's no light pollution.   When I was in college I went there over Christmas and slept in my car overnight.  When I looked up at the sky it was a universe sparkling with diamonds.   I didn't know it at the time but it's one of the top places in the Northern Hemisphere for star gazing. 

For some reason, Death Valley is one place I'd really like to visit in the States (if I were ever to visit which seems incredibly unlikely... not because I'd hate it but it'd be too much hassle and there are other places I wanna see more).

I'd actually really like to visit a desert (even though I hate heat. Take a hint, weather-for-the-last-half-month Dodgy )

And this is still one of the most stunning photos I've ever seen

[Image: camelshadows.jpg]

Show ContentSpoiler:

And so is this:

[Image: 503e78dc339fc5bbfc16ed40c90fbcf2.jpg]

And while it's not really a desert, I still regret not visiting this gorgeous place in Brazil which I saw in a documentary before I visited last time and really wanted to see in person... but didn't  Undecided (I saw a Brazilian movie which was set there, though, about some Brazilian "pioneers" for lack of a better word. It was a really good movie.)

[Image: 1200px-Len%C3%A7%C3%B3is_Maranhenses_2018.jpg]

[Image: le-parc-national-des-lencois-maranhenses.jpg]

[Image: 234665-lencois-maranhenses-national-park.jpg]
“We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good's a brick to a drowning man?” 
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#14

Visible Nova
My understanding is that the light from Betelgeuse takes somewhere around 600 light years to get here so it may have already exploded but we won't see it for a long, long time.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that 'cause I ain't  no expert.  That's one of the fascinating things about looking at the night sky, one is looking far into the past almost like a visual time machine.
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#15

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 05:48 PM)Vera Wrote: For some reason, Death Valley is one place I'd really like to visit in the States (if I were ever to visit which seems incredibly unlikely... not because I'd hate it but it'd be too much hassle and there are other places I wanna see more).

It'd be well worth it Vera.  Having driven across Death Valley on State Route 190 (from Las Vegas
to Bakersfield) I can attest to its stark beauty, and its often surreal landscape.  We travelled via
Zabriskie Point, as the film of the same name had always been one of my favourite Antonioni  
films—despite it being one of his few major box-office failures.

[Image: 1920px-Badwater_Desolation.jpg]


Zabriskie Point[Image: 1920px-Zabriskie_Manly_Beacon_031013.jpg]
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#16

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 06:54 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: My understanding is that the light from Betelgeuse takes somewhere around 600 light years to get here so it may have already exploded but we won't see it for a long, long time.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that 'cause I ain't  no expert.  That's one of the fascinating things about looking at the night sky, one is looking far into the past almost like a visual time machine.

Betelgeuse

Star

Betelgeuse is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is a distinctly reddish semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by any first-magnitude star. Wikipedia

Radius: 617.1 million km (887 R☉)

Distance to Earth: 642.5 light years

Surface temperature: 3,500 K

Mass: 2.188 × 10^31 kg (11 M☉)

Age: 10.01 million years

Constellation: Orion

Spectral type: M2Iab
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#17

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 08:35 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 06:54 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: My understanding is that the light from Betelgeuse takes somewhere around 600 light years to get here so it may have already exploded but we won't see it for a long, long time.  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that 'cause I ain't  no expert.  That's one of the fascinating things about looking at the night sky, one is looking far into the past almost like a visual time machine.

Betelgeuse

Star

Betelgeuse is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is a distinctly reddish semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by any first-magnitude star. Wikipedia

Radius: 617.1 million km (887 R☉)

Distance to Earth: 642.5 light years

Surface temperature: 3,500 K

Mass: 2.188 × 10^31 kg (11 M☉)

Age: 10.01 million years

Constellation: Orion

Spectral type: M2Iab

Thanks, Gawd.   

I'm still wondering if I'm correct though.  Everything we see above us is light from stars many lightyears away and the light takes so long to get here that the rays we see are from the distant past.   Amiright?   Huh
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#18

Visible Nova
I'll have to see if I can catch a glimpse tonight. I don't think that part of the sky is well situated for me, alas.
"Aliens?  Us?  Is this one of your Earth jokes?"  -- Kro-Bar, The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
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#19

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 11:27 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Thanks, Gawd.   

I'm still wondering if I'm correct though.  Everything we see above us is light from stars many lightyears away and the light takes so long to get here that the rays we see are from the distant past.   Amiright?   Huh
The light you see is generated at the surface of the star, then travels at the speed of light to our eyes. The most recent info is that some galaxies are over 33 billion years away from us. Nothing can exceed the speed of light, and does. ;-) By that I meant space itself doesn't have to obey the light speed rule because space is not something, it's an absence of anything. If that hurts your head join the club. hobo
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#20

Visible Nova
(08-11-2021, 12:06 AM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote:
(08-10-2021, 11:27 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Thanks, Gawd.   

I'm still wondering if I'm correct though.  Everything we see above us is light from stars many lightyears away and the light takes so long to get here that the rays we see are from the distant past.   Amiright?   Huh
The light you see is generated at the surface of the star, then travels at the speed of light to our eyes. The most recent info is that some galaxies are over 33 billion years away from us. Nothing can exceed the speed of light, and does. ;-)  By that I meant space itself doesn't have to obey the light speed rule because space is not something, it's an absence of anything. If that hurts your head join the club.  hobo

This is a neat little video looking at the distances of stars and the time light takes to get here.


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#21

Visible Nova
(08-10-2021, 11:27 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Everything we see above us is light from stars many lightyears away and the light takes so long to get here that the rays we see are from the distant past.   Amiright?   Huh

You are. We are quite literally looking into the past.

(Technically we do that with every single thing we see, it's just that with stars, the timescale is large enough to over awe us humans.)
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