APOD 2.8

This is a portion of today's APOD. The picture is a horizon to horizon view, taken in Beg-Meil France on December 13th. The photo covers 210 degrees in 21 seperate exposures. This full coverage shot makes me feel as though I am actually outside. The picture allows you to look from horizon to zenith to a different horizon and it gives it a realistic view. The scientist writing on the picture, points out different constellations and stars in his summary and then gives a link to the picture with each specific thing labeled. This was such a useful tool and it really helped identify and understand specifically what he was talking about. Seeing the stars and identifying constellations is alot different than identifying constellations on a sheet of paper. The star Sirius rising and the Orion constellation are easiest to identify.

Observation 2.2

Guided Observation

Date: December 6th 2007
Time: 7:00 - 8:40 PM
Location: Clark Rd, east of the interstate
Sky Conditions: Clear skies

Instruments used: Naked eye, binoculars, telescope

Planets: Mars, Uranus, Jupiter

Bright stars noted: Polaris, Vega, Deneb, Arcturus, Altair, Fomalhaut, Mira, Algol, Aldebaran, Beetlejuice

Constellations noted: Perseus, Cygnus, Andromeda, Scorpius, Capricorn, Pisces, Ophiuchus, Lyra, Aquila, Orion, Cepheus, Ursa Minor, Draco, Pegasus, Cassiopeia, Hercules, Sagittarius, Delphinus

Binary stars: Epsilon Lyra, Polaris, Pleiades, Hyades, Gamma Andromeda, Alpha Capricorn

Deep Sky objects: M57, M27, M31, M103, M36, M37, M38, M45

Other: Milky Way, Comet Holmes

APOD 2.7

This weeks Apod is of an analemma which is a figure-8 curve that you get when you mark the position of the Sun at the same time each day throughout the year. 26 separate exposures were recorded to illustrate the regular solar motion. This was done mostly during the 2006 calender year. Each picture was taken at 8 am in the northern New Jersey sky. They were digitally composed with one single foreground later on. Other planets follow the same shape if you were to do this for the sun. Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all have a figure-8 shape. Mars is teardrop shaped whereas Jupiter and Venus form ellipses. For Mercury if done it would form a straight line going east to west.

APOD 2.6

This picture is of stardust in the constellation Perseus (by far the best constellation of all time ahem). This cosmic expanse of dust, gas, and stars covers some 4 degrees of the constellation. Other reflection nebulae are scattered around, along with remarkable dark dust nebulae and the faint reddish glow of hydrogen gas.Perseus, the Hero, can be found in the sky during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere. With a little imagination, you can see the image of a man in the stars. He has a sort of triangular body, with two legs and feet that look like they are curling up towards the head. There are also two arms stretching out, possibly carrying some sort of weapon or the head of Medusa.

APOD 2.5

Discovered in 1955 this nebula was thought to be a supernova remnant until the 1980's. However subsequent observations revealed that a lower than expected radial velocity of the 'debris cloud' and lack of a neutron star could not support the hypothesis for a supernova remnant. This is a large faint planetary nebula about 790 light years distant in the direction of the constellation Gemini. The Medusa Nebula, also known as Abell 21, represents a final stage in the evolution of low mass stars such as the sun, as they transform themselves from red giants to hot white dwarf stars. The Medusa Nebula is estimated to be over 4 light-years across. The Medusa's transforming hot central star is the small blue star on the left at the top of the the crescent shaped figure.

Observation 2.1

Friday, November 16
Time: 9:30pm to 10:55pm
Location: Orlando near I4
Light Pollution: There were a couple street lights in the south of the location
Cloud Coverage: Semi cloudy
Instruments: Naked eye
Moon: The moon is currently in its First Quarter Phase. It was located in the Southeastern part of the sky.
Planets: Mars was visible directly overhead. Saturn was hard to distinguish because it wasn't very bright but it was lcoated in the east.
Stars: Deneb was easily seen Southeast to the left of the moon. Fomalhaut in the constellation Piscis Austrinus was also in the southeast of the sky just below Deneb. Polaris was very bright and visible in the little dipper.
Constellations: Pisces was visible in the east but nothing else was visible in that area there were too many clouds. Piscis Austrinus, Aquarius, Grus and Capricorn the fall constellations were all visible in the southeast and most were clear except for Capricorn which was very dull due to light pollution and clouds. Grus was very close to the horizon and was hard to distinguish until another astronomy student I was with pointed it out. Sagittarius was easily viewed with the naked eye in the south. In the southwest was Scorpius close to the horizon where as Ophiuchus was in the southwest sky but high up and towards the right of Scorpius. Most of the sky in the west was cloudy and nothing was distingusihable in this portion of the sky. In the north Ursa Minor was easily seen as well as Cepheus high in the sky but not as high as they usually are.

APOD 2.4

The Auger Observatory project may have found the answer to the question "where do cosmic rays come from?" For awhile scientists have known that there are high energy fundamental particles in the air yet since cosmic rays are so hard to predict no one has ever studied them properly. Until recently when the Auger Observatory Team found 12 out of 15 high cosmic energy rays have sky directions that are consistent with with positions of nearby active galactic nuclei. An active galactic nucleus is a compact region at the centre of a galaxy which has a much higher than normal luminosity over some of the electromagnetic spectrum. A galaxy hosting an active galactic nucleus is called an active galaxy. The radiation from active galactic nucleus is believed to be a result of accretion on to the supermassive black hole at the centre of the host galaxy. Active galactic nuclei are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation in the universe. This picture is suposed to be of a cosmic ray hitting Earth. In the corner the artist has digitally imposed a picture of Cebtaurus A which is an active galaxy where the cosmic rays might originate.

I didn't even know what cosmic rays actually were but after researching them I have realized there actual importance. Understanding the effects of cosmic rays on the body will be vital for assessing the risks of space travel. Cosmic rays constitute a fraction of the annual radiation exposure of human beings on earth. Cosmic rays have been implicated in the triggering of electrical breakdown in lightning. And some even believe they have an impact in climate change. Who knew they could be so pretty though?

APOD 2.3

The picture of the day is actually a video of a solar flare. When I watched it I was in a trance. Solar flares happen unpredictably and are tremendously hot. A solar flare is a magnetic storm on the Sun which appears to be a very bright spot and a gaseous surface eruption. They release huge amounts of high energy particles and gases into the solar system and can affect satellites, astronauts, and even power grids on Earth! This particular flare is classified as an X-flare which is ridiculously big. These type of flares can be responsible for radio blackouts all over the Earth as well as radiation storms. Solar flares can also be responsible for sunquakes. Sunquakes are violent seismic events on the Sun.When a sunquake occurs, energy is released in seismic waves on the relatively fluid surface of the Sun. Sunquakes would rate about 11.3 on the Richter scale. These huge quakes release about 40,000 times more energy than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

APOD 2.2

This is the picture from the day especially for Halloween. It's called Halloween and the Ghost Head nebula. This nebula is in our very own Milky Way Galaxy and spans about 50 light years. It was taken by the Hubble Space telescope in March 2000. It's official name is NGC 2080 and is one of a chain of "star-forming" regions south of 30 Doraofdus nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The green and reds of the image a produced by three narrow-band-filter images. Two bright regions which are supposed to be the eyes of the ghost, named A1 and A2, are very hot, glowing blobs of hydrogen and oxygen. The bubble in A1 is produced by the hot, intense radiation and powerful stellar wind from a single massive star. A2 has more dust, and it contains several hidden, massive stars.

APOD 2.1

Photographer Larry Landolfi digitially composed this image after being inspired by a trip to Fort Davis in Texas which is where the McDonald observatory is. The celestial band is viewable from extremely dark observing locations where there is minimum pollution, and only on moonless nights. It is not posible to see the milky way as brillaint or as beautiful as it is in this picture as a result of light pollution from outdoor lights. Because of this about 2/3 of the world's population cannot look up and see the milky way. Astronomers claim the sky is "dimming." Not because the actual stars themselves are loosing light or brightness but merely because of the amount of light pollution it makes it extremely difficult to see the stars at night. "Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter -- air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets -- reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth." It is hard to believe that the light bulb was only invented about 100 years ago and light pollution is already so problematic. If something is not done about this soon then enventually the entire world could be affected and no one will be able to see the beautfiul night sky with their naked eye.

Observation 1.4

Date: October 9, 2007
Time: 6:45
Place: US 41
Sky conditions: clear

I walked out of my house to get something from my car and realized that the moon was out however it was not very big. Only a little bit was visible and it almost didn't look like the moon. I'm assuming that means that it's about to be a new moon. I was unable to see any stars but I think I could see Venus which was just above the moon. It's hard to tell though because it looked like a small white dot and I could have been imagining it.

1.7

In the bright planets and crescent moon picture the quality of the image is extremely good. The moon is brilliant and Venus is shining bright. Venus' location in the sky right now makes it possible for it to be seen in the morning which is when this picture was taken. The picture is able to capture many things aside from the moon and Venus such as Saturn, Titan (Saturn's moon), and Regulus. Regulus, Saturn and Venus all form a triangle in this picture, with the crescent moon smack dab in the middle. This picture shows the details of the moon so well because, the moon is being lit up by the sunlight being reflected off the Earth.

Johann Bayer

Johann Bayer was a German astronomer and lawyer. He was born in Rain, Bavaria in 1572. He began his study of philosophy in Ingolstadt in 1592, and later moved to Augsburg to begin work as a lawyer. He grew interested in astronomy during his time in Augsburg. He ultimately became legal advisor to the Augsburg city council in 1612 and died in 1625. He is most famous for his star atlas Uranometria, published in 1603, which was the first atlas to cover the entire celestial sphere.

Bayer’s atlas included many innovations. Unlike previous astronomy texts, Uranometria portrayed the constellations as maps and not merely as pictures corresponding to mythology. Each plate has a carefully engraved grid so star positions can be determined precisely. He developed a star naming system that was adopted by later stellar cartographers. The stars are shown as they appeared from earth, a reversal from classical tradition where positioning was patterned from celestial globes and it included twelve southern constellations, newly discovered by 16th century voyagers. It was the first atlas to make use of Tycho Brahe's accurate measurements of stellar positions. Which were far better than Ptolemy's rather incomplete list. The system introduced a new system of star designation, which has become known as the Bayer designation, as well as some of the modern constellations.

When Bayer published his hugely influential catalog, Uranometria, in 1603, he included 12 new southern asterisms. Asterisms are informal yet distinctive groupings of stars. An example of a northern asterism is the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major. In addition, Bayer added 12 southern constellations to Ptolemy's original 48. Bayer named the constellations of Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Phoenix, Triangulum Australe, Tucana, and Volans. When he published Uranometria he dedicated it to two leading citizens of Augsburg and received an honorarium of 150 gulden.

Bayer named the stars by assigning them Greek letters, in magnitude classes. In each constellation, every star is classified using the Bayer system by assigning then Greek letters in order of decreasing brightness. The Bayer system cannot go beyond 24, the number of letters in the Greek alphabet. The brightest star in a constellation is alpha, the second-brightest is beta, the third is gamma, etc. This system is still frequently used today.

Uranometria was the first of its kind. It represented a tremendous leap forward both esthetically and for its astronomical content, and became the standard for all later star atlases. As a tribute to him and his accomplishments in the field of astronomy there is a crater on the mooned named the Bayer crater after him.

Works Cited

Bayer, Johann." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 13 Oct. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9013868>.

"Johann Bayer." The Reader's Digest Great Encyclopedia. Pleasantville: Funk & Wagnalls, 1975.

Observation 1.3

Date: October 8, 2007
Time: 10:50-11:35
Place: US 41
Sky conditions: Partly Cloudy

Planets: I was able to see Mars in the northeast close to the horizon

Bright Stars: The stars Vega, Antares, and Altaire were all very bright tonight

Constellations: I was able to identify almost all of the constellations on our star chart except for Hercules whose stars were very dull and hazy. I think I was unable to see them because of the clouds. Two of the stars in the constellation of Hercules were flickering and I looked it up online to see why this was and it said this is because of scintillation as the light passes through the atmosphere of the Earth. As the air moves in and out, the starlight is refracted, often different colors in different directions. Because of this "chromatic abberation," stars can appear to change colors when they are twinkling strongly.

Moon: The moon was not visible, but I believe it's still in the last quarter.

Observation 1.2

Date: October 5, 2007
Time: 8:50-9:45
Place: US 41
Sky conditions: Clear skies

Planets: I was able to see Mars in the northeast

Bright Stars: Venus, Saturn and Regulus formed a triangle. Venus was the brightest of the three. Saturn was the second and then Regulus was the third brightest.

Constellations: I was able to identify Cepheus, Aquila, and Cygnus

Moon: The moon is in it's last quarter and is almost full.

Other:It was extremely clear outside and the amount of stars that were visible were overwhelming. There were a lot of stars that I saw that I had no idea what they were so I went and looked at our star chart and I think I was able to identify Draco and part of Hercules.

Observation 1.1

Date: September 8, 2007
Time: 8:45-10:00
Place: US 41
Conditions: Clear sky

Planets: I was able to identify Jupiter which was in the southwest, in the constellation of Ophiuchus. I think I also saw Venus above the moon to the right.

Stars: I was able to identify Polaris and Antares

Constellations: The constellation of Cygnus was visible as well as Sagittarius

Moon: The moon was waning crescent

Other: The sky was pretty clear and from my location there were ALOT of stars in the sky. On September 9th I had to wake up early so before dawn I was able to see Mars which was very high in the sky and in the east were two stars very close together.

1.6

The picture of the sun over a course of year is really cool to me. I think its so awesome that you personally can map out the figure eight path of the sun called an analemma. This picture was taken in Turkey and the base picture that is used is very pretty on its own. This picture also includes Venus which was visible in the lower right hand corner of the picture. An analemma is a curve representing the angular offset of a celestial body. I didn't think it was possible to get this effect without using digital editing on the computer, it kind of makes me want to try on my own.

1.5

The picture of the milky way galaxy was taken over a year ago in infrared light. The infrared light waves range from red light to violet. Astronomers took this image to learn more about how stars are formed. Thick clouds of dust and gas congeal and form stars. It says that some stars are so dark they're even dark when they are viewed in infrared light. There are even traces of supernovas which are puff balls which used to be stars.

1.4

The picture of Northern Cygnus is extremely brilliant and breath taking. It was interesting to see what cameras can do. I did not know that if you were near this constellation in space you would still be unable to see it like this picture displays it and you would only be able to see the northern america nebula. The picture is a series of shots that capture the photons that emit the light. If you look at this image it is unbelievable when you see all of the stars in just this one picture of such a small place in space. It gives you a feel for how many stars there truly are just in the universe we know of alone.

1.3

The image of Scorpius up close is spectacular, and breathtaking. It's amazing what you cand o if you just have a good camera. I didn't think it was possible to see something so far away with a camera. It's amazing to me that when people look up at Scorpius we see just a few bright stars. But if we new that this was what it looked like when we saw it it would be so much more captivating. To make the picture look like it does and bring out the colors it was taken in a red exposure which is emitted by hydrogen. This picture has a lot of dust visible which is unlike the common household dust we have here on earth interstellar dust are small clumps of carbon and silicates. The dust is what causes large dark patches in the milky way.

1.2

The picture from August 28 Could Hydrogen Peroxide Life Survive on Mars, at first caught my attention because, at least to my knowledge it waspercieved that no life could survive on any planet in our solar system other than on Earth. So I thought it was extremely interesting that they found a life form that could deal with and adapt to Mars' conditions. I wonder if they put this hydrogen peroxide life on Mars if it would evolve at all and if so what would it evolve into. It says that apparently they have discovered organisms can live wherever there is a niche with water, energy, and organic materials, which is mind boggling because then that could leave a chance life could be developed on other planets as well.

1.1

The picture titled "Just Passing Through" from August 25th is very sharp and interesting. The fact that the light was caught at just the right moment is an extremely rare chance and is what makes this picture so unique. What would have been a very interesting and beautiful picture of M33 now ties Earth in Space together. The aircraft in the picture somewhat represents the known and the unknown. Air travel, what used to be the unknown is now the known while space is still mysterious to us.