Planatary Nebula

APOD 3.9

This weeks picture is of defrosting sand dunes. By observing the changing patterns in sand dunes, scientists can learn about the interaction between the Martian surface and the atmosphere. Dune activity can help them understand the rate at which the Martian wind moves sediments around, as well as to estimate how long it takes for windblown sand to abrade the surfaces of rocks; not to mention our Mars landers. Dunes were first detected by the Mariner 9 spacecraft in the early 1970s, and are actively studied by the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter today.These ripples, like small sand dunes, are common on Mars and are usually found in low-lying areas and inside craters. They can be up to 20 feet tall and form really crazy and dramatic patterns. SWEET!

Observation 3.1

Feb. 20
Near the Mall
Lunar Eclipse
Binoculars used for about 30 minutes total
Even though it started to rain the weather didn't affect the view of the third total lunar eclipse this year. This was the last lunar eclipse until December 2010.Before going out to view this spectacle I decided to research it a bit to see if there were any items I needed to see it or any particular details that would make it more interesting. I found out that almost 3 billion people were able to view the eclipse as well. So I went outside with my binoculars and watched as the moon was gobbled up by darkness. I started to watch at around 9 at night the process lasted till a little bit before 11. When I started to watch there was only a partial eclipse but by about 10 it had turned into a total eclipse. This was really cool because many of the stars in the sky that were washed out before were now visible and bright. The eclipse appeared a reddish orange color. If the Earth had no atmosphere, then the Moon would be completely black during a total eclipse. Instead, the Moon can take on a range of colors from dark brown and red to bright orange and yellow.

Observed Magnitude of Stars

Eta Aurigae: 3.5
Beta Eridani: 4.2
Gamma Orionis: 2.1
Beta Tauri: 3.2
Delta Orionis: 1.5
Zeta Orionis: 1.9
Mu Geminorum: 3.0
Xi Geminorum: 3.8
Sigma Canis Majorum: 4.2
Eta Canis Majorum: 2.5
Alpha Geminorum: 1.3

Edward E Barnard Biography

Edward Emerson Barnard was an American astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of Barnard's star in 1916, which is named in his honor. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to Reuben Barnard and Elizabeth Jane Barnard, and had one brother. His father died before his birth, so he grew up in an impoverished family and did not receive much formal education. He later developed an interest in astronomy, and in 1876 he purchased a 5-inch refractor telescope. In 1881 he discovered his first comet, however he failed to announce his discovery. He found his second comet later the same year and a third in 1882. During the 1880s, a wealthy patron of astronomy in Rochester, New York, awarded $200 each time a new comet was found so that Barnard soon earned enough to build a “comet house” for his bride. His discoveries and brilliance as an observer drew the attention of other amateur astronomers in Nashville who raised enough money for Barnard to attend Vanderbilt University.
In 1892 he made observations of a nova and was the first to notice the gaseous emissions, proposing that it was a stellar explosion. The same year he also discovered Amalthea, the fifth moon of Jupiter. He was the first to discover a new moon of Jupiter since Galileo Galilei in 1609. This was the last satellite discovered by visual observation. In 1895 he joined the University of Chicago as professor of astronomy. There he was able to use the 40-inch telescope at Yerkes Observatory. On May 29, 1897, Barnard narrowly escaped death when, just hours after he had left the observatory’s dome, the 37-ton elevating floor, used to lift observers to the level of the telescope’s eyepiece, collapsed after a supporting cable broke. Much of his work during this period was taking photographs of the Milky Way. Together with Max Wolf, he discovered that certain dark regions of the galaxy were actually clouds of gas and dust that obscured the more distant stars in the background. Edward Barnard discovered Barnard's Star in 1916 and that it had a very large proper motion, relative to other stars. This is the second nearest star system to the Sun, second only to the Alpha Centauri system. He was also a pioneering astrophotographer. He died on February 6, 1923 in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and was buried in Nashville. After his death, his exceptional collection of photographs was published as Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way. Barnard was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1897, and then in 1917 was awarded the Bruce Medal. His life's work included nearly four thousand photographs and 840 separate addresses and articles. He is thought of as one of the greatest observational astronomers of his time.

Works Cited

Kenneth Glyn Jones. Messier's Nebulae and Star Clusters. Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Tenn, Joe. "Edward Emerson Barnard". The Bruce Medalists. March 10 2006. March 4 2008.

APOD 3.8

This weeks apod is of the LDC, Large Hadron Collider (LHC), built in Europe by CERN, the European Organiztion for Nuclear Research, is the wordl's largest particle accelerator. The image is particularily of the ATLAS detector, one of the six detectors being attached to the LHC. A prticle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electrically-charged particles to high speeds and to contain them.They come in two basic types which are linear accelerators and circular accelerators. An ordinary television set is a simple form of accelerator. The LHC is schedule to start performing in May of this year. The LHC will hopefully be responsible for exploring the explanation that mass arises from ordinary particles that "slog" through Higgs particles. LHC will also look for micro black holes, magnetic monopoles, and explore the possibility that every type of fundamental particle we know about has a nearly invisible supersymmetric counterpart. How exciting!

APOD 3.7

This weeks picture is of the crab nebula taken by the hubble space telescope. The crab nebula is about 10 light years wide and rotates almost 30 times every second. It is the remains of a supernova that was apparently seen(not really sure by who) in 1045 AD. The filaments in this explosion are unknown and complex and appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova. No radio emission was detected from an extended source outside the Crab Nebula. Scientist say that its pretty safe to say that there is no shell in exsistance aound the nebula and the brightness of the crab is at the very least 2 magnitudes below the faintest shell-type supernova known. Another interesting fact about the nebula is that at the center or relatively close to the center that is, is a pulsar which is a netron star that has as much mass as the sun but is actually only the size of a small town.