Dark Space

2022-08-26 10:00:04 Everyone knows that astronauts on the ISS are in a state of weightlessness, but the force of gravity there is only 10% less than on the surface of the Earth. Where, then, does the state of weightlessness come from?

The fact is that the state of weightlessness on the ISS does not arise due to the "lack of gravity", but due to movement in a circular orbit with the first cosmic speed, that is, astronauts experience a state of weightlessness, since they are "falling around the Earth" all the time.

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2022-08-25 16:00:06 We will no longer see the flashes of the Iridium satellites, but there are still many interesting artificial objects in the sky

One of the most notable and discussed, perhaps, are the Starlink satellites. Since they are always launched in a batch of several dozen pieces, for some time after launch, a kind of "train" of satellites can be observed in the sky. Interestingly, Starlinks also flare up, though not as intensely as Iridiums.

But if the Iridium satellites practically did not interfere with astronomical observations, since there were no more than a hundred of them, then Starlink (of which several thousand are planned to be launched) can thoroughly spoil the images of astronomical objects. SpaceX is trying to reduce the reflectivity of its satellites so that they affect astronomical observations as little as possible.

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2022-08-25 13:00:03 The Orion nebula is four light-years from Earth.

M 42, better known as the Orion nebula, is about 1,344 light-years away. The nebula itself is quite large — about 40 light-years in diameter. (For comparison, the Earth is about 8 light minutes from the Sun).

The nebula can be seen in the constellation Orion with the naked eye, it looks like a small speck. If it were only 4 light-years away from us, its angular size would be almost 160°, that is, it would occupy almost the entire night sky.

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2022-06-22 19:00:03 15 550 objects of artificial origin revolve around the Earth: spacecraft (functioning and non-functioning "dead"), launch vehicle stages, upper stages and other debris.

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2022-06-22 16:00:04 Fuji Volcano

In the morning hours, when moisture begins to evaporate from the surface of the earth, a thick fog, driven by the wind, spreads at the foot of the mountain. And at the top, the cloud just froze without moving.
In fact, there is a strong wind blowing inside this cloud. Moist masses of air meet an obstacle on their way – a high mountain and, trying to get around it, rise up and cool down, gathering into a cloud. Such a cloud cap can stay at the top for several hours!

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2022-06-22 13:00:03 Earth is the only place in the Solar System where a total solar eclipse can be observed

Eclipses occur due to the fact that either one celestial body covers another, or the shadow of one non-self-luminous body falls on another of the same body.

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2022-06-21 19:00:02 What happens if you unscrew the handle in zero gravity

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2022-06-21 16:00:03 On October 18, 1963, France decided to send Felicette the cat into orbit. The cat was in the capsule for exactly 13 minutes and 13 seconds. Since then, cats have not been launched into space anymore.

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2022-06-21 13:00:02 When the core of Mars began to cool down, the planet's magnetic field weakened, and then disappeared altogether.

This was the reason why the atmosphere was "blown away" by the solar wind and practically disappeared into outer space, taking water with it.

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2022-06-20 19:00:01 The position of the moon depends on the phase.

P.S. the proportions of distance and size are not observed.

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