Skywatch

[Henry Hawk]

Went to a friends house on Saturday night for a campfire. I sat there most of the night, (until 2 am or so), with my head back and looking up constantly for almost 5 hours. I never saw a single one and neither did the other 9 people that were doing the same thing. . .

It was a rural location too and pretty dark except for the small campfire. . . 

(And I drank nothing but water so I was not impaired) 

My brother said he saw a few, but was mostly disappointed.  He managed to snap a few pictures.  I'm not sure what part of the sky he said he was looking.

[Henry Hawk]

In a nondescript hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, a team of aerospace engineers has been putting the finishing touches on a lightning-quick experimental aircraft designed to fly above the Pacific Ocean at 3,600 mph. A passenger aircraft traveling at that speed could fly from Los Angeles to New York in 46 minutes.
On Tuesday a key test is set for the unmanned experimental aircraft X-51A WaveRider. It will take the aircraft — attached to a B-52 bomber's wing — from Edwards to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu. From there, its high-speed journey at Mach 6 is expected to last only 300 seconds, but that's twice as long as it's ever gone at that speed.

[Locutus]

In a nondescript hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, a team of aerospace engineers has been putting the finishing touches on a lightning-quick experimental aircraft designed to fly above the Pacific Ocean at 3,600 mph. A passenger aircraft traveling at that speed could fly from Los Angeles to New York in 46 minutes.
On Tuesday a key test is set for the unmanned experimental aircraft X-51A WaveRider. It will take the aircraft — attached to a B-52 bomber's wing — from Edwards to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu. From there, its high-speed journey at Mach 6 is expected to last only 300 seconds, but that's twice as long as it's ever gone at that speed.

I've been monitoring the Internet to see how that test went, but I can't find anything as of yet. 

[Palehorse]

I've been monitoring the Internet to see how that test went, but I can't find anything as of yet.

Yeah, I did the same earlier today and found nothing. . . I figured the LA Times would have been all over that but. . .

[The Troll]

In a nondescript hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, a team of aerospace engineers has been putting the finishing touches on a lightning-quick experimental aircraft designed to fly above the Pacific Ocean at 3,600 mph. A passenger aircraft traveling at that speed could fly from Los Angeles to New York in 46 minutes.
On Tuesday a key test is set for the unmanned experimental aircraft X-51A WaveRider. It will take the aircraft — attached to a B-52 bomber's wing — from Edwards to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu. From there, its high-speed journey at Mach 6 is expected to last only 300 seconds, but that's twice as long as it's ever gone at that speed.

  I wonder how fast it can go before in become a meteorite.   

[Locutus]

Yeah, I did the same earlier today and found nothing. . . I figured the LA Times would have been all over that but. . .

I just read where they're releasing the results of the flight someone today.   I also read where the vehicle is non-retrievable.  Once it shot its load, it dropped into the ocean. 

[Bo D]

I've been monitoring the Internet to see how that test went, but I can't find anything as of yet.

Looks like it failed if you can believe this .....

http://www.businessinsider.com/wired-the-air-forces-x-51a-waverider-test-was-a-total-failure-2012-8

[Locutus]

Looks like it failed if you can believe this .....

http://www.businessinsider.com/wired-the-air-forces-x-51a-waverider-test-was-a-total-failure-2012-8

Wow.  If that is to be believed, it dropped into the ocean before the engine even turned on. 

[Palehorse]

 

[libby]

  I would wonder if you had went outside and had fell.  What would you do if your neighbor hadn't seen you.  Just saying.   

Never considered that because if you have a good spot you can just sit down and lean back or lie down and look up.  On that particular night I was leaning against my car.

[Locutus]

Looks like it failed if you can believe this .....

http://www.businessinsider.com/wired-the-air-forces-x-51a-waverider-test-was-a-total-failure-2012-8

Yup!  Big fail!

A hypersonic aircraft launched by the Air Force Tuesday spiraled out of control and was destroyed before it could reach its goal of speeding to 4,600 mph, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

The third test of the X-51A Waverider was launched Tuesday off the California coast from a B-52 modified bomber aircraft and was to fly for 300 seconds, reaching hypersonic speeds of Mach 6, but only flew for 16 seconds, according to the Air Force.

Officials said a problem with a tail fin caused the missile-like vehicle to fly out of control before the main engine could be ignited, leading researchers to destroy it early.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/15/air-force-hypersonic-test-fails/?hpt=hp_c1

[libby]

Libby, you may still be able to see a few of the Perseids tonight after midnight if you want to venture outside, and the weather cooperates.  The peak was definitely Saturday night/Sunday morning but we're still traveling through the comet's debris through August 19th so there are a few more opportunities.

So far the weather hasn't cooperated. I still have a few days left. Am lucky that my townhouse and upstairs bedroom face east. 

[Locutus]

So far the weather hasn't cooperated. I still have a few days left. Am lucky that my townhouse and upstairs bedroom face east. 

Good luck and let us know if you spot any.  Some of my friends around here say that they saw numerous meteors over this past weekend. 

[libby]

Good luck and let us know if you spot any.  Some of my friends around here say that they saw numerous meteors over this past weekend. 

Last night was hazy, and tonight's cloudy. Looked out my bedroom window for a while this morning just as the sky was beginning to lighten a little bit, hoping I might see a few, but the only thing I saw was Venus. At least I think it was Venus. Maybe Jupiter. I haven't been keeping up, or looking up a lot lately.

[Locutus]

Had a bit of down time this weekend and I happened to find that all of the Star Trek (TNG) episodes are available for streaming from Netflix.  Since I loved TNG when it was on, I was like a kid in a candy store.  I immediately began scanning through the episodes looking for my favorites and actually got to watch quite a few of them.

The series ran from 1987 to 1994, and on one of the episodes, set in the year 2365 or so, Picard (the captain) is sitting in his ready room contemplating Fermat's last theorem which states that:



Interestingly enough where n=2 is the Pythagorean theorem with which many are more familiar than Fermat.  At any rate, Picard is wondering how in the year 2365, no proof of Fermat's last theorem has ever been found even with the advanced computational power of the 24th century. 

The interesting thing about that though, is that British mathematician Andrew Wiles did find a proof for Fermat's last theorem, and published it in the year 1995 (a mere 1-2 years after the TNG episode was filmed). 

I had to smile to myself.  Given all of the assumptions that Star Trek made, one incorrect assumption was that Fermat's last theorem would be so vexing, that it would remain unsolved even in the 24th century.

Sorry for the bit of an off-topic post, but it's kinda' related to this thread, and my B.S. degree in math has to come out from time to time. 

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.