|
#1
29th December 2018, 14:34
|
||||
|
||||
|
Stuff Happening Far Far Away
On New Years day the space craft New Horizons will make a flyby of Kuiper Belt object MU69 (UltimaThule.) This is the ship that took those incredible pictures of Pluto a few years back. It is now (about) 4 billion miles from the Earth. To give you an idea of just how far that is, imagine driving at 100 mph for ten hours every day, day in day out. Pretty hard driving, but you would cover 1000 miles per day. Even so not worth contemplating the journey unless you're going to be around for over 11,000 years. (Unlikely.)
It'll take more than six hours for the data from the flyby to reach us. Kuiper Belt objects are as yet mysterious leftovers from the formation of the Solar System. This will be the first view of one.  http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/#page-top
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.) 
|
|
#4
29th December 2018, 17:49
|
|||
|
|||
|
If you had a Triumph Dolomite with Overdrive you could trim a few years off your estimate and have petrol to spare. NASA haven't got all the brains.
|
|
#5
29th December 2018, 18:08
|
||||
|
||||
|
You reckon a Dolomite could get up to a ton without something falling off ?
 
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.)
|
|
#6
29th December 2018, 18:41
|
||||
|
||||
|
Is Dolomite as dangerous as Semtex?
__________________
David V Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right It is the duty of the wealthy man To give employment to the artisan
|
|
#9
30th December 2018, 18:34
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Whatever, I think 11,000 years on, I won't really care.
__________________
Buvez toujours, mourrez jamais. Rabelais
|
|
#10
31st December 2018, 10:51
|
||||
|
||||
|
Some amazing clouds captured on film by a Dutch meteorologist the other day. This high pressure weather is with us for at least the rest of the week ….
http://www.spaceweather.com/archive....h=12&year=2018
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.)
|
|
#12
31st December 2018, 11:46
|
||||
|
||||
|
I have to say that the Riley Elf which I am 'helping to renovate' (in a blind leading blind sort of way)is easier to get into and more comfortable (leather) to sit in than many a more modern vehicle.
__________________
David V Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right It is the duty of the wealthy man To give employment to the artisan
|
|
#13
31st December 2018, 12:02
|
|||
|
|||
|
The Riley Elf (and Safety) and the Wolsey Hornet were re-grilled Mini's. I am astounded you have such easy access!
Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit!
|
|
#15
31st December 2018, 14:29
|
||||
|
||||
|
Car drivers !! .. what a bunch of pansies. As a biker I fully support the idea of adjusting them all with a chain saw.
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.)
|
|
#16
31st December 2018, 16:55
|
||||
|
||||
|
And the bonnet is the only bit not available as a new spare because of it. Never mind, we have slotted some appropriately gauged sheet to fashion round the curve of the channel 'bar' of the frame (one end of that, too, fabricated by us) by way of fabricated inserts. Not pretty but the grinding disk will improve it.
A very happy new year to you and yours too E-S. You'd be better off with a plasma cutter Bob. And so would we have been when scrapping the old floor pan! Happy, happy etc.
__________________
David V Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right It is the duty of the wealthy man To give employment to the artisan
|
|
#18
1st January 2019, 09:12
|
|||
|
|||
|
I was sort of hoping DV would wish us Happy New Year in his native tongue. If a Riley is worth preserving surely ones adopted language would be a priority, and no need for dangerous angle grinders.
|
|
#19
1st January 2019, 10:36
|
||||
|
||||
|
Six hours of waiting after the event has happened to see whether it's worked or not. I bet there's a few chewed NASA fingernails littered about on the consoles.
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.) Last edited by BobClay; 1st January 2019 at 19:40.
|
|
#20
1st January 2019, 11:58
|
||||
|
||||
|
I treat my native better than that E-S. And I do not approve of the rank and file wasting their schooling in a resurrected language. It should be for scholars who have proved they can take the 3 Rs and j notation in their stride. It was, except for the arcane procedure of passing Tynwald acts, dead when we arrived and long laid to rest and not like 'the Gaelic' in Scotland. Sometimes on the GTVs it was the working language of the crew (but too polite to use it in front of those without it), I met (many years ago) a lady who only had the Gaelic (on Skye) and presently have a Friday lunching friends whose first language it was (also on Skye). The resurrection of Manx is down to a few Frankensteinian nationalist (a passed Minister for Firestarting being one - one wonders what my Sovereign does for lighting the bonfires and barbeques now he has retired).
__________________
David V Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right It is the duty of the wealthy man To give employment to the artisan
|
|
#21
1st January 2019, 19:05
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
Oh, reading on, I see what you mean.
__________________
Buvez toujours, mourrez jamais. Rabelais
|
|
#22
1st January 2019, 19:52
|
||||
|
||||
|
It's only with projects such as these you realise how big it all is, and this is just our backyard. Even at the speed of light (nearly as fast as a Suzuki GSXR1100) it takes six hours to get from there to here. The craft is consuming about 200 watts of power, and the transmitter is only 15 watts !!! (A fridge lamp !!) Maximum data rate of transmission is one kilobit per second.
And all the technology onboard is at least a dozen years old (a long time these days.) The joy on the mission team's faces was clear to see. They're already planning another flyby of these distant bits and all of this is a bonus, because Pluto was the primary mission and that went well. It's just nice for me to see this on the news instead of all the other bull(excreted matter.) 
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.)
|
|
#24
1st January 2019, 21:03
|
||||
|
||||
|
If I was I'd never be allowed to whinge about a Marconi Oceanspan transmitter (100 watts) ever again ….
__________________
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Corporal Hicks (Actually Ripley said it first.)
|
|
#25
1st January 2019, 21:38
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
__________________
Ron __________________________________________________ _________________________ Never regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. Don't worry about old age - it doesn't last.
|
| Post Reply |
|
|
