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.