Opendeurdagen Space Pole Ukkel 29 en 30 september 2018

Op 29 en 30 september zijn er de opendeurdagen van Space Pole te Ukkel.

De Pool Ruimte omvat
– de Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België, inclusief het Planetarium van Brussel
– het Koninklijk Meteorologisch Instituut (KMI)
– het Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Ruimte-Aeronomie (BIRA)

Milky Way in the Vosges

Some pictures of the Milky Way in the Vosges Region in France. All pictures taken using Nikon D7500 without guiding. Watch for the bright Andromeda Galaxy and Perseus Double Cluster.

Buran Russian Space Shuttle in Technik Museum Spyer Germany

"Selfie" before Buran OK-GLI and Soyuz landing capsule TM-19 in Spyer Museum

One of my bucket list items : visiting the Russian Space Shuttle. In the Technik Museum Speyer in Germany the Space Shuttle Buran (OK-GLI) can be seen in real life. This prototype was used for testing landings and gliding-flights. In order to do this, the prototype was equipped with 4 fan jets so it could take off and land on its own. This prototype was also the first "shuttle" to land with full automated control without any pilot activity.  Based on this prototype and the learning of the scaled models BOR 1-5 two final Space Shuttles were made. One of those was succesfully launched in space on November 15, 1988 and landed safely and automated after making two orbits.

BOR 5 Scaled test Model

For more information see this video.
See also this Russian Video
Information of Technik Museum Spyer

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Inside of the Buran Space Shuttle

View on the tail and 4 fan jets of the Buran

Wiring of the 4 Fan Jets in the tail of the Buran Space Shuttle

Assembly of Buran piggybacked on Myasishchev VM-T Atlant to Baikonur

Buran OK-GLI Prototype with 4 Fan Jets

Launch of the first and only Buran into space on Nov 15, 1988

Landing after two orbits in space; fully automated

Perfect set up of the Buran at the Technic Museum Spyer 

Nightscape Iridium 35 Flare

Very bright Iridium Flare (Iridium 35) with constellations Perseus, Cassiopeia and Andromeda (including M31 Andromeda Galaxy).

Technic Museum Sinsheim

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Visiting the Technic Museum Sinsheim (Germany) with a lot of interesting cars, F1 racingcars but most interesting of course the two main attractions are the Concorde and Tupolev 144. Both jets could reach twice the speed of sound.

Double Double Epsilon Lyrae

Only Double (Double Double  Epsilon Lyrae)

About 1,2° east from Vega it's possible to observe a double star with low magnification. This is epsilon Lyrae and is separated by 208 arc seconds. Compare this with a separation of 720 arc seconds of Alcor & Mizar in the constellation Ursa Major.
When viewing with larger magnification both stars have a compagnon. They are separated by respectively 2,3 arc seconds and 2,4 arc seconds.

Visual I was able to see the Double Double using reflector TAL200K with 12mm. However, my pictures did not cover the Double Double; both using the TAL200 aswell as the TLAPO80/480 f/6.

Double Star Albireo Beta Cygni

The Double Star Albireo (Beta Cyg) as observed with refractor TLAPO 80/480 f/6 and reflector TAL200K f/8.5. Both stars are separated by 35 arc seconds and both telescopes show the double star nicely. The brightest star is colored yellow, the B-component itself has a blue color. This combination is one of the best to see the difference in color and a perfect view during a starparty.

All pictures are taken with Nikon D7500 and are single shots. Limited editing using CS4.