Observations 10-24

8:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Tonight, I started looking at the fall constellations (before my teacher gave us any quizzes on them), and I was able to recognize Pegasus directly north of Uranus (at nearly the same spot in the sky as Jupiter, but I didn't see any moons, so I am guessing the mysterious planet I have seen in my past two observations was Uranus.).  I was only able to recognize the summer constellations of Aquila, Lyra, and Cygnus because it started getting cloudy.  I also noticed the constellation Cepheus before I looked near the moon and saw Pleiades (AKA "The Seven Sisters").  Overall, it was a pretty good night for stargazing, so I just wish the clouds hadn't rolled in so soon.

EDIT: Further investigation using Google and a few good websites showed that the "bright planet" was actually Jupiter (Uranus was close-by in the sky, but about as dim as every other star in the area).  My mistake.

APOD 1.4 (Discovery Rollout Shadow)

I chose this post because I wasn't sure when they would next post a picture of the Space Shuttle or the International Space Station (ISS), and I wanted to be able to comment on them before we started having to rely on other countries' rockets and shuttles to get to our own astronauts.  In a few months, the Space Shuttle program will be discontinued, and the United States will not have any replacement ready for several years, so there will be a time when, in order to have American scientists and astronauts making observations on the ISS, we will need to rely on either the Russians' rockets or another country's method of getting to the ISS if we want to do anything (from putting them up there, to rescuing them in case of a disaster, to bringing them back down to Earth) in space.  This could be very bad, since alliances can change very quickly if a few bad things happen, leaving us unable to reach our own citizens until we do what the other country wants.

APOD 1.5 (An Airplane In Front of the Moon)

I chose this photo because I sometimes get mistaken when stargazing by airplanes suddenly appearing in my field of view, making me temporarily think there is a new star that I hadn't seen before.  However, they move so fast that I quickly realize that I was fooled, yet at the same time, I know that I will never get a good look at one in flight.  The fact that someone was able to do that, even if it was a small two-engine plane instead of the massive four-engine passenger jets, is just astounding.

APOD 1.6 (Two Planet Opposition)

I am especially proud of this photo because I saw Jupiter, its moons, and Uranus with my very own eyes (and binoculars) on the recent class star-gaze.  It is very rare to see two planets at opposition with the Earth at the same time, and it is very astounding to understand that the same little dots of light orbiting Jupiter helped Galileo prove we live in a heliocentric solar system, which put astronomy on a course to become what it is today.

APOD 1.7 (Moonquakes Surprisingly Common)

I chose this article because I am always looking towards the future, and one of the first steps to space travel is some kind of base on the Moon.  If there are lots of "Moonquakes" which are very strong and last a long time, then anything built on the Moon will have to be built to survive them without sustaining much damage to its airtight seals, which would quickly kill everyone inside if they malfunctioned and welcomed in the eternal vacuum of space.  The good news is that, since there is not as much gravity on the moon, we should be able to build tougher buildings that are still able to support their own weight.

APOD 1.8 (Venus Just After Sunset)

This photo appeals to me because I have a very difficult time identifying planets.  Here, the viewer is shown how planets often have very strange patterns that they follow when they cross our sky.  Over the course of about 220 days (44 different pictures, each about 5 days apart), Venus crosses a portion of the sky almost in a "V" shape.  It is important to note that these photos were taken almost on the other side of the Earth, in Turkey.

Observations 10-23

8 PM to 9 PM

I went to Turtle Beach last night to watch the stars for a while.  I was able to recognize most of the constellations I have learned about so far, such as Sagittarius, Scorpius, Serpens, (The Serpent Handler constellation, which has a really tough to spell name), Cygnus, Cepheus, Hercules, Ursa Minor, Lyra, and Aquila.  I located the stars Altair, Vega, Deneb, Polaris, and Antares.  I was able to locate the miscellaneous objects Summer Triangle, Northern Cross, Teapot, and Little Dipper.  The moon was a Waning Gibbous.  Once again, I located a bright planet to the South, but I am unsure what planet it was.

Observations 10-15

 8 PM to 9 PM

Went for an hour-long walk around the neighborhood today, and managed to notice quite a few stars.  Quickly located the Summer Triangle, Sagittarius, a planet (unsure which one), and Ursa Minor, but not much else.  I passed a lot of street lights, so I mostly just saw first and second magnitude stars.  The moon was very bright (First Quarter).

Biography of John Flamsteed (Final Edition)

            John Flamsteed was born on August 19, 1646, in Derby, Derbyshire, England.  He was the only son to Stephen Flamsteed.  John was educated at the free school of Derby, but had to leave it in May 1662 before his education was finished because of a rheumatic affection of the joints caused by a chill he caught while taking a bath.  By 1665, John had given up on medical aid, and even started trying mystical cures, but to no avail.  During his downtime, he studied the astronomy findings of the day.  He read everything on the subject that he could get his hands on legally, saw a partial solar eclipse on September 12 1662, and tried to make some measuring instruments.  Pretty soon, this public-school drop-out was very well versed in astronomy, and felt ready to make his debut into the scientific community.

            When he first thought of publishing a scientific paper, he was a little cautious.  After personally deciding that some of his ideas were a little too advanced for most people, John Flamsteed finally submitted an anonymous paper on lunar occultation to the Royal Society.  This paper won Flamsteed acceptance and wide praise, but it was a later choice encounter that won him great respect and the credit he deserved for being a great astronomer.

            One day during the winter of 1674-5, while John was Sir Jonas Moore’s protégé, a French astronomer came to the king’s court where the two were working, and claimed to have solved the problem of determining terrestrial longitudes.  If true, this would mean much safer navigation.  Flamsteed stepped up at this point and replied that neither the positions of the stars nor the movements of the moon were well enough known to make the French astronomer’s method practical.  Upon hearing of Flamsteed’s knowledge of the heavens, the king realized all of Moore’s plans, and founded an observatory in which Flamsteed was to be the “astronomical observer” with an annual salary of 100 British pounds.

            Although Flamsteed never became a household name, he is still remembered for his incredible observations.  Over the course of his lifetime, he observed hundreds of stars, many of which he recorded and cataloged.  He wrote many essays, some on the process of measuring craters on the moon by observing the light given off by stars passing behind it, and others on the apparent diameters of the planets.  However, just as things in Flamsteed’s life started to look good, they took a turn for the worse.

            Just as the observatory was getting off the ground and Flamsteed was beginning to publish his findings, he quickly realized the odds were against him.  The king who had initially been so supportive of Flamsteed only paid a little more than enough to BUILD the observatory, let alone STAFF it or fill it with working ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS.  This, added to the facts that Flamsteed had to train approximately 140 pupils over the years, and that his fellow scientists were now impatient for Flamsteed's latest findings, made Flamsteed realize that he was on his way out.  By the time Flamsteed died in 1719, his “friendly” relationships with Sir Issac Newton and Edmond Halley had completely ended after the unauthorized printing of Flamsteed’s findings in 1712, and most of his lifetime salary had been spent.

Works Cited for 1st Quarter Biography

“Flamsteed, John.” Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 1981 ed.

John Flamsteed. 2010. NNBD. 30 Sep. 2010. <http://www.nndb.com/people/727/000096439/>

Observations 10/4/10

7:15-8:15 PM

Tonight I experienced my first Iridium Flare.  It was amazing to know that a satellite miles away could shine so brightly on any spot on Earth, even if it was just for a few seconds.  On my own, I definitely located Ursa Minor (found Polaris), Sagittarius (found the Teapot), Aquila (found the Summer Triangle star with two slightly dimmer stars bordering it), Lyra (found the Summer Triangle), and Scorpius (found the tail).  I also located the 1st Mag/well-known stars Antares, Altair, Polaris, Vega, and Deneb.  Since the moon is in its final stages of waning right now (meaning it is very dim and only visible for a few minutes before and after the sun rises), I couldn't see it at this time.