How about this one to kick off a list of sight-seeing targets in Elite: Dangerous.
The rings of Neptune: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140515.html
The rings of Neptune: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140515.html
Astronomy / Space Elite: Dangerous sight-seeing targets
- Thread starter zexpe
- Start date
How about the suspected supermassive black-hole at the heart of the Galaxy? 
How about the suspected supermassive black-hole at the heart of the Galaxy?
Suspected? It's there for sure - well, something with the mass of 4 million suns within a radius equivalent to Uranus's orbit, what is that if not a black hole?
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/black-hole-snack-time/
Definitely on the sight-seeing target list...
Yeah, I guess the Horizon docu I watched is a little out-of-date now
They talked about how they suspected the central SMBH in the Milky Way and how they also suspected that a SMBH was a prerequisite for a galaxy to form. Blew my mind, and yet seemed so obvious. Closest I've ever had to a "religious moment" to be honest
Edit: that animation you linked to is amazing. Was that due to kick-off in March?
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I'm not sure that's the case anymore - supermassive black holes may just be the consequence of the formation of galaxies rather than the other way around. Galaxy formation occurs due to dark matter, as you can see in the Illustris simulation:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140512.html
At first there was the dark matter, then the hot gas that formed galaxies around dark matter clumps, then the SMBHs explode into life (50s into the video) and eventually the complete richness of the universe we know today appears. Maybe the SMBHs start off in the dark matter era and are the dark matter clumps? Though the simulation makes me think they occur later.
I believe it's an ongoing event over the next few years and nobody knows exactly what will happen - a bit like we knew comet Shoemaker Levy 9 would collide with Jupiter in 1994, but we didn't know exactly what the result would be. Unlike the SL9 collision, this event won't occur in a short period of time - it's a big gas cloud that's been stretched out a very long way by the SMBH, so it'll take time to see what all the consequences are - if any!
I want to see the highly reflective ice particle rings of Saturn and its 62 moons.
I also want to see Jupiter and Io.
And I want to see the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, although I realize that the Oort cloud would be hardly recognizable as such.
Olympus Mons is high on my list too and, this might seem strange, our very own moon.
I also want to see Jupiter and Io.
And I want to see the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud, although I realize that the Oort cloud would be hardly recognizable as such.
Olympus Mons is high on my list too and, this might seem strange, our very own moon.
I remember flying to the Pleiades in Frontier: they were there all grouped together. Betelgeuse too.Third target... because it's my favourite binocular object...
The latest images of the Pleiades reveal a fascinating set of straight lines in its surrounding reflection nebula:
I remember flying to the Pleiades in Frontier: they were there all grouped together. Betelgeuse too.
The latest images of the Pleiades reveal a fascinating set of straight lines in its surrounding reflection nebula:
That's a brilliant picture. Wonder what could be causing that? Gravitational pull from the neighbouring stars (the core is only 8 ly in diameter)?
Anyway, I have always loved the Pleiades. As well as being the first 'object' I looked at through binoculars in the night sky, it's the only star cluster visible with the naked eye where I live.