APOD 4.2

This weeks APOD is titled Across the Universe (aka best movie ever!) and is a picture of a cosmic explosion classified as GRB080319B and detected by the Swift satellite. The source of the flash is estimated to be over 7.5 billion light years away, an unfathomable distance, and is 2.5 million times more luminous than the brightest supernova we know of. Obviously this is incredibly important discovery, and by observing the optical emission during the gamma ray burst, which usually last less than 2 minutes, we c an begin to understand the mechanism releasing enormous amount of energy. It is commonly believed that in the case of GRB longer than 2 s the phenomenon is caused by a collape of a massive star ending with a formation of a black hole. However, the details of the process still remain uncertain.

APOD 4.1

This weeks APOD is a reprocessed picture of the Cat's Eye Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Craft. It is a planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealing remarkable structures such as knots, jets and sinewy arc-like features. It is a sun like planet and scientiists believe our sun to follow the same phases in about 5 billion years. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786, and was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins in 1864. The intricacy of the structure may be caused in part by material ejected from a binary central star, but as yet, there is no direct evidence that the central star has a companion. The remake image focuses on sharpening the visiblility of details in light and dark areas of the nebula.

Observation 3.2

Date: March 7, 2008
Time: 8:45-10:40
Place: Near the Sarasota square mall
Sky conditions: Pretty clear, only a few clouds

Bright Stars: Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Castor, Pollux, Capella

Constellations: Orion, Ursa Major, Gemini, Auriga

Planets: Saturn was a yellowish looking star in Leo and Mars was an orangish color and looked like a star above the constellation Orion.

Other: The Big Dipper was visible in Ursa Major. The moon however was no visible. Orion's Belt was also easily spotted in the constellation of Orion.

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