Observation Quarter 4 Part 2

Wednesday May 23, 2012
2 hours
mars
saturn
bootes
gemini
virgo
ursa minor
leo
gemini
cancer
hydra
hercules
cassiopeia
ursa minor
cepheus
cygnus

APOD 4.8

M6: Butterfly Cluster (NGC 6405)

The Butterfly Cluster is a Messier object located in the constellation Scorpius.  It is a an open cluster, a relatively young group of stars that were born at the same time.  This cluster is about 1200 light years away from Earth.  Its name comes from its shape, because it looks liked a butterfly to astronomers; however, I don't see the butterfly.  The blue color comes from the stars which are very hot, blue-white stars.  However, the brightest star is an orange, supergiant star called BM Scorpii.  The overall brightness of this cluster is 4.2 magnitude.  It is easiest to see this cluster on a dark night, and I will look for it next time I look up to observe the stars.

Zooniverse

I first started working and doing the section that said "How Galaxies Work" and after I worked on it for 2 class periods, I began to work in the climate section of Zooniverse.
I have so far spent 2 class periods analyzing and documenting the varying pattern changes as the "ship" moved through oceans and various parts of the globe.

Sources Biography

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMBPC2PGQD_index_0.html
http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/oort/

Jan Oort Biography

(1900–1992)

A Dutch astronomer who made major contributions to our knowledge of the structure and rotation of the Milky Way Galaxy. More or less as a sideline, Oort studied comets as well and provided evidence for his theory, now widely accepted, that the Sun is surrounded by a distant cloud of ice-rock objects that has become known as the Oort Cloud. Oort studied stellar dynamics under Jacobus Kapteyn at Groningen and worked at the University of Leiden from 1924 to 1992. In 1927 he confirmed Bertil Lindblad's hypothesis of galactic rotation by analyzing motions of distant stars. During World War II Oort started his compatriot Hendrik van de Hulst on the successful search for the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen and after the war led the Dutch group that used the 21-cm line to map the layout of the Galaxy, including the large-scale spiral structure, the galactic center, and gas-cloud motions. In 1950, based on his analysis of the well-measured orbits of 19 long-period comets, Oort proposed the existence of a vast repository of frozen cometary nuclei. He later showed that light from the Crab Nebula is polarized, confirming Iosif Shklovskii's suggestion that the emission is largely due to synchrotron radiation.

APOD 4.7

M6: Butterfly Cluster (NGC 6405)

The Butterfly Cluster is a Messier object located in the constellation Scorpius.  It is a an open cluster, a relatively young group of stars that were born at the same time.  This cluster is about 1200 light years away from Earth.  Its name comes from its shape, because it looks liked a butterfly to astronomers; however, I don't see the butterfly.  The blue color comes from the stars which are very hot, blue-white stars.  However, the brightest star is an orange, supergiant star called BM Scorpii.  The overall brightness of this cluster is 4.2 magnitude.  It is easiest to see this cluster on a dark night, and I will look for it next time I look up to observe the stars. 

APOD 4.6

This is a picture of M106.  It is an active spiral galaxy located in the constellations of Ursa Major and Canes Venatici.  It is 30 thousand light years wide and 21 million light-years away from earth, receding 537 km/sec .  Similar to the Andromeda galaxy, it has dust lanes and spiral arms.  The reddish parts are stellar nurseries that are filled with young bliue stars.

Observations Quarter 4

     Yesterday, we were told in class to step outside (at night) to see Jupiter and Venus in conjunction because it was the last night we would have a good view of this event.  Although I had seen this over spring break pretty clearly since I was able to stay up later, I decided to go out last night and look for Jupiter, Venus, and the moon.  I drove a bit past my neighborhood since it is well lit and once I got to a spot on the road where it was dark I pulled over (I was not alone) and stepped out of my car.  I was able to see Jupiter and Venus in a straight line with the moon rather clearly.  My mom (who was with me) was also able to see it and she was quite surprised because she really has no idea what to look for.  It was definitely an interesting and beautiful thing to see/share and I'm glad there was something different to observe.

APOD 4.5

The Flight Deck of Space Shuttle Endeavor

     Endeavor is the second to last space shuttle ever launched by NASA.  It is capable of entering the Earth's atmosphere at speeds greater than the speed of sound.  Since it is now retired, it is going to be sent to the California Space Center in Los Angeles, California.  Although it is exciting that we will be able to see space shuttles up close in museums now, I cannot help but be depressed by the shuttles retirement.  After all, without being able to use the space shuttle for real missions, it's like viewing a more complex version of  Disney's "Mission Space" ride.

APOD 4.4

     The above picture is of the constellation Monoceros, star forming region NGC 2264.  It is roughly 2700 light-years in distance.  It mixes red emission nebulae and blue reflection nebulae.  This picture specifically includes the Fox Fur Nebula, the Cone Nebula, and S Mon (a young dwarf star which gives the photo a blue glow).  The red color in the photo and the Cone Nebula is produced by hydrogen gas.

APOD 4.3

  This photo of Tungurahua (a volcano) was caputured in Ecuador in 2006.  It is 5,000 meters high so there are white clouds that flow around the peak of the volcano.  The black smoke in the picture is actually dark ash being ejected by the volcano.  Also visible in the background of the photo are stars.

APOD 4.2

Two days ago, NASA launched five sounding rockets from the Wallops Flight Facility located in Virginia.  This photo shows the clouds that the chemical tracer left by the rockets in the Earth's ionosphere (starting at about 80 km).  The clouds were able to be seen in the mid-atlantic (this picture specifically captured in New Jersey).  Sagittarius and Scorpius are also visible in the background of this picture.

APOD 4.1

     M9 is a globular cluster containing over 300,000 stars and has a diameter of roughly 90 light-years.  It is near the center of the Milky Way galaxy and is about 25,000 light-years away.  It is at least two years older than the Sun.

APOD 3.5

 
 The scene is dominated by the reddish glow of the Great Carina Nebula, one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. In fact, the remarkable skyscape is not a composite of varying exposures or a photomontage. Far from sources of light pollution, the landscape illuminated by starlight and the Milky Way above were recorded by a modified digital camera and fast lens. The sensitive system captured both planet Earth and deep sky in a relatively short exposure. 

APOD 3.6

Five hand drawn sketches of Jupiter were used to create this beautifully detailed flat map of the ruling gas giant's turbulent cloud tops. Made with colored pencils at the eyepiece of a 16 inch diameter telescope, the original drawings are about 5 inches (12.5 cm) in diameter. The drawn planisphere map dimensions are 16x8 inches (40x20 cm). Observing on different dates in November and December of 2011, astronomical artist Fred Burgeot has relied on Jupiter's rotation to cover the planet's complete circumference. 

Observations Q3 Part 2

Friday 3/4/12 : 4 hour
 ~ 7 i saw jupiter mercury and venus all lined up and mercury was really red and dim
later that night i saw many constellations, almost all studied in class including canus major and minor, orion, gemeni, sirius, columba, lepus, taurus, and auriga

APOD 3.7

 Colorful NGC 1579 resembles the better known Trifid Nebula, but lies much farther north in planet Earth's sky, in the heroic constellation Perseus. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colors, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions. In both, dust reflects starlight to produce beautiful blue reflection nebulae. But unlike the Trifid, in NGC 1579 the reddish glow is not emission from clouds of glowing hydrogen gas excited by ultraviolet light from a nearby hot star. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 drastically diminishes, reddens, and scatters the light from an embedded, extremely young, massive star, itself a strong emitter of the characteristic red hydrogen alpha light. 

Super Nova Remants

Supernovae are one of the most energetic explosive events in our Galaxy and other
galaxies. These events take place when massive stars end their life. The stellar
core collapses and they blow off their outer layers. The only thing which remains
of the exploded star is a high density neutron star, which may manifest itself
as a pulsar, or possibly a black hole. 
Supernova remnants can be observed from radio frequencies up to X-ray frequencies. 
Probably the best
examples for the composite remnants are 0540 in the Small Magelanic Cloud,
and MSH15-56 in the Galaxy
 

 

George E Hale Biography

George E Hale captured a photographic image of the Sun at a single wavelength of light, a monochromatic image. The wavelength is usually chosen to coincide with a spectral wavelength of one of the chemical elements present in the Sun. He photographed huge hurricanes of incandescent vapor and discovered that the whirlpools of flaming hydrogen expanded 300,000 miles from the surface of the sun. He also was the first to discover the outer surface of the sun was a gas.

Hale was a driven individual who worked to found a number of significant astronomical observatories, including Yerkes Observatory, Mount Wilson Observatory, Palomar Observatory, and the Hale Solar Laboratory. At Mount Wilson, he hired and encouraged Harlow Shapley and Edwin Hubble toward some of the most significant discoveries of the time. The Mt. Wilson Observatory dominated the world of astronomy in the first half of the twentieth century. Here, astronomers and physicists modernized astrophysics, confirmed what galaxies were made up of, verified the expanding universe of cosmology, and made several notes and observations about the sun. He was a prolific organizer who helped create a number of astronomical institutions, societies and journals. Hale also played a central role in developing the California Institute of Technology into a leading research university.

Hale suffered from neurological and psychological problems, including insomnia, frequent headaches, and schizophrenia, claiming to have regular visits from an elf who gave him advice on his work. George E. Hale died on February 21, 1938 in the Las Encinas Sanitarium of heart trouble. He was sixty-nine years old and currently living in Pasadena, California.

Astronomy bio sources

http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/hale/
http://www.mwoa.org/hale.html.%20Web.%2021%20Jan.%202010.
The Astrophysical Journal Centennial by George E Hale. 1895

Star formation begins when the denser parts of the cloud core collapse under their own weight/gravity. These cores typically have masses around 10⁴ solar masses in the form of gas and dust. The cores are denser than the outer cloud, so they collapse first. As the cores collapse they fragment into clumps around 0.1 parsecs in size and 10 to 50 solar masses in mass. These clumps then form into protostars and the whole process takes about 10 millions years. 
There are two common ways this can happen: it can either collide with another dense molecular cloud or it can be near enough to encounter the pressure caused by a giant supernova. Several stars can be born at once with the collision of two galaxies. 
Many of the most interesting infrared objects are associated with star formation. Stars form from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. As the cloud collapses, its density and temperature increase. The temperature and density are highest at the center of the cloud, where a new star will eventually form. The object that is formed at the center of the collapsing cloud and which will become a star is called a protostar. Since a protostar is embedded in a cloud of gas and dust, it is difficult to detect in visible light. Any visible light that it does emit is absorbed by the material surrounding it. Only during the later stages, when a protostar is hot enough for its radiation to blow away most of the material surrounding it, can it be seen in visible light. Until then, a protostar can be detected only in the infrared. The light from the protostar is absorbed by the dust surrounding it, causing the dust to warm up and radiate in the infrared. Infrared studies of star forming regions will give us important information about how stars are born and thus on how our own Sun and Solar System were formed. 
Websites:
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/outreach/Edu/sform.html
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec13.html
http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve/

APOD 3.4

APOD 3.4: Belt of Venus: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1202/beltofvenus_argerich_1000h.jpg

Although this looks like the typical sky during twilight, the slightly off coloration of the sky near the horizon is what's known as the Belt of Venus.  This coloring can be seen in just about every direction during sunrise and sunset.  In the belt of Venus, the atmosphere reflects light from the sun, creating the red-pink color shown in this picture.  Below the belt, very little light is reflected, thus causing the area slightly above the horizon to appear somewhat darker.  This is a really beautiful picture of the sky, and I will definitely have to start paying more attention to the sky during twilight hours!

Observations 2/12

Observations: Feb. 12 2012: 7-11pm
Unfortunately due to my car being serviced, I was unable to drive out to the Stargaze, yet I went to observe the stars in my yard nonetheless.I observed constellations, such as Orion, Cassiopoeia, Canis Major, and some others.  Using my fist, I estimated the distance between Jupiter and Venus. I estimated the distance between them to be about 16 degrees. I was also spotting Jupiter with my telescope and various M object in its surrounding area. I was also able to identify a few first magnitude stars that were visible. I will make sure to be able to be able to go to the next Star Gaze.

APOD 3.1

APOD 3.1 Witch Head Nebula: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120117.html
A reflection nebula reflects light from nearby stars. This nebula lies 1000 light years away and is associated with the bright star Rigel which is located in the constellation, Orion. The fine dust located in the With Head Hebula, reflects Rigel's light. The blue color this nebula appears to be is not only from the apparent blue color of the star but also because the dust can moer effecently reflect blue than red. This same effect is displayed in the blue sky every day, because of the molecules(nitrogen and oxygen) in the Earth's atmasphere.

APOD 3.2 Rover on Mars

Rover on Mars APOD 3.2: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120125.html
As winter was approaching on Mars in the southern hemisphere, the Opportunity Rover did not know where to go. Without the sun and under freezing conditions, Opportunity's batteries could be wasted. Therefore, Opportunity was instructed to climb onto the 15 degree incline on Greenley's Haven. Greenley Haven is visible from a far away distance.

APOD 3.3 Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis APOD 3.3  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120128.html
There is an eerie green light that eminates from this planet, which is covered in snow and tall pine trees. Of course this is actually Earth and the surrounding stars are above the horizon. The pale greenish illumination you are seeing is from the Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis. The display seen was triggered when a coronal mass ejection lol, produced a strong geomagnetic storm. Recently, increasing solar activity has caused auroral displays to become more widespread. Some of these include Aurora Australis and the Southern Lights.

APOD 2.5

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120103.html
There were mixtures of red and green light. There were many rays, distinct curtains, and even an auroral corona. If you look in the background you can see some stars and a beautiful landscape underneath this vast snowy terrain. With the sun getting more active every year, the auroras will be even brighter and spectactular.

APOD 2.4

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap111123.html
This place is ideal for the Atacama Large Millimeter Array(ALMA), which is designed to explore the universe at wavelengths over 1,000 times longer than visible light. The ALMA is an international partnership between Europe, North America and East Asia and is the largest astronomical project in existence.

APOD 2.8

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120111.html
Comet Lovejoy appears to be fading. The beautiful tail of this comet spreads across the entire south celestial pole. This is a stereographic projection used to map the image pixels below the camera and is known as the little planet projection. In  Australia where this picture was taken, the night sky was covered with stars. With the help of other celestial highlights, this comet in the milky way can be identified. To the right of the planet are the celestial stars, Canopus and 

January 4th 2012
Time: 10-2:00
My backyard
Cloudy skies

In order to observe a good portion of this eventful night, I set up a blanket on my patio in my backyard and looked at the stars from 11pm until 2 in the morning. I was able to observe the planet Mars which was bright and orange in color. And I was also able to observe various different bright stars like Sirius.
Planets: Mars (orange in color and bright). I also detected and identified 3 different constellations; Gemeni, Lepus, Orion. This was the night the Quadrantids meteor shower was said to happen so I also attempted to see it. Most meteors were to small to be visible, yet I spotted various bright meteors with their tails stretching far acorss the sky.

Johann Heinrich von Mädler Biography

Johann Heinrich von Mädler Biography

Johann Madler was born in Berlin in 1794. Madler’s became interested in astronomy when he saw a comet as a child. Because he was Orphaned early in his life, Madler was responsible for raising his younger sisters. Madler studied astronomy and mathematics at the University of Berlin. During his time there he studied under both Encke and Ohm. 

Madler became a tutor in order to give some of his earnings to his family. While working as a tutor, Madler came into contact with a wealthy banker and amateur astronomer named Wilhelm Beer. Beer realized Madler’s abilities and offered him a position at the observatory that Beer was building. Madler, with Beer’s help, made a number of important contributions to astronomy.

While he worked at Beer’s observatory, Madler made the most comprehensive map of the moon to date. He was the first to divide the moon into four separate quadrants. His maps of the moon were considered its most accurate documentation for the three decades after they were created.

Madler also made observations of Mars. He and Beer were the first astronomers to map the planet. Using Hershel’s calculations, they attempted to determine Mars’ rotational period, eventually coming within 1.1 seconds of finding the exact period. Though Madler was most famous for his observations of Mars and the moon, he made observations of Jupiter early in his career as well. His first contribution to astronomy was his discovery of two dark spots on Jupiter’s rings.

He also developed the Central Sun Hypothesis which said that the center of the universe, or more accurately the center of the universe’s gravity, is located in the star cluster known as the Pleiades. To find this, Madler observed the motions of over 3,000 stars. Though this hypothesis was eventually proven false, his observations were used by later astronomers.

After working with Beer, Madler accepted a position and became director of the Dorpat Observatory in Estonia. Madler also made great meteorological observations. He made the most accurate calculations of Earth’s tropical year. Madler published his complete works, History of Descriptive Astronomy, in 1873. Madler died in 1874 in Germany.

Johann Heinrich von Mädler Biography Sources

"Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society." NASA Astrophysics Data System. Harvard University. 8 Jan. 2008 


"Science Center AHHAA." Teaduskeskus. Dorpat Observatory. 8 Jan. 2008 .

APOD 2.7

January 8th, 2012: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120108.html

The picture for the January 8th, 2012 APOD entry is that of a of a meteor seen over a lighthouse. A forgotten constellation named the Quadrantid Meteor reappears every year during the colder parts of the year. In the early hours on January 4 2012, the constellation was visible. It is situated near the boundaries of the modern constellations Hercules, Bootes, and Draco. Many of the Quadrantid meteors this year were dim, yet some were still bright and easily visible to the naked eye.