Observations 12-21

2 AM-3 AM

Tonight my dad shook me awake for the lunar eclipse.  Even though I was tired, had a clogged nose, was unable to go back to bed without my dad screaming at me, and cold even with a jacket on, I was till able to notice Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Taurus, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor.  I also noticed Polaris, Rigel, Betelgeuse, and Sirius.  The moon was located in a constellation near Orion (unsure which one) when it turned dark red.

Observations 12-14

9 PM-10 PM

Tonight I saw Orion, all of Canis Major (not just the area near Sirius), Canis Minor, Gemini, Taurus, Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus, and Auriga.  I might have seen more if the first quarter/waxing gibbous moon hadn't been high in the sky when I was making my observations.

I also saw Jupiter directly below the moon.

The sky was crystal clear tonight, partially because of the temperatures in the 30s, which limited the humidity, but drastically increased the wind chill factor, which forced me to bundle up, limiting my peripheral vision.

Observations 12-10

8:00-10:00 PM

Tonight, I saw the constellations Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini, Taurus, Auriga, Orion, Cepheus, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Andromeda, and Lacerta.  I also identified the stars Rigel, Betelgeuse, and Sirius, as well as the planet Jupiter.  I was able to make these observations because of the small moon, which set very early into my stargazing session.

APOD 2.6 (Too Close to a Black Hole)

December 7

I chose this one because black holes are always popular, and I always wondered what it would look like to be near one (I already know that the inside would be pitch black, for the few seconds my eyes still functioned after I crossed the event horizon before they get stretched out of my skull and start to look like spaghetti pasta right before I become a part of the black hole, slightly increasing its gravitational pull.).  I personally find the optical effects directly adjacent to the anomaly the most interesting.  Who would have imagined that an object that absorbs so much light could create such brilliant light-bending oddities in the sky?

APOD 2.5 (Anticrepuscular Rays Over Colorado)

November 28

While this might look like a strange set of lights caused by either a shiny UFO or a new downtown attraction, it is actually just a common phenomenon involving the sun and some low-hanging clouds.  If you ever go outside during a "cloudy sun shower" (where the sky is partially cloudy, it is raining, and the sun is still brightly shining through, you will probably notice strange lines of light that exactly mimic the openings in the clouds.  Now just place that phenomenon at the right point below the horizon so that everything but the trails is hidden by the Earth's horizon, and you have anticrepuscular rays.

APOD 2.4 (Stephan's Quintet)

November 20

I chose this photo because it shows five of the galaxies that surround our world on every side, all in one small shot via the Hubble telescope.  While one galaxy is obviously not interacting with the others (far off to one side) and another only appears to be part of the group (blue galaxy is actually much closer than the others), the fact that, for the most part, the individual stars in each galaxy are invisible to even one of our most powerful telescopes makes you really think about our significance, since our planet is just one small grain of dust compared to our star, which is microscopic compared to our galaxy at large, so this many galaxies in such a small portion of the sky means our chances of finding a good alternative to Earth before our resources run out look very slim.

APOD 2.3 (Multiverse)

What if there were entire universes parallel to ours on an unseen plane, each one unique from all the rest?  In some, people would just look different because they inherited different genes but made the same choices.  In others, people would make different choices in life, creating a cascade effect that slowly changes the overall layout of that world.  In the most extreme cases, the laws of physics would be different, changing everything that happens, making that universe incompatible with this universe.  However, some multiverse theories even suggest that our universe is constantly being influenced by these unseen worlds (like in some scientific experiments, where even single particles of light tend to follow a wave pattern through a hole in a wall).

At the same time, there are many people who not only don't believe in any of the multiverse theories, but also say that it would be so difficult to prove them that they can never be considered scientific fact.

APOD 2.2 (Spicules)

Almost everyone knows what a solar flare is (a large emission of solar radiation that quickly travels away from the Sun), but only a few know what spicules are.  Basically, it is a lot like the "plop" of water that comes up when you drop something circular in from a great height, at which point a circular area of water moves upward with a force equal to that of the object the moment it hit the water, creating a tubular structure that holds it shape until it runs out of energy to rise upward, and it comes crashing down in the exact opposite way it came up.  Now that the image is fresh in your mind, swap out the water for molten-hot magma gas, and you have the image of a spicule.

APOD 2.1 (A Bucket Wheel Excavator on Earth)

I chose this picture for three reasons.  The first reason is that the NASA crawler that transports the Space Shuttle is dwarfed by this, making it bigger than the largest astronomy-based vehicle ever made.  The second reason is that this could be extremely helpful if we ever need to terraform an extra-terrestrial planet in order to make it inhabitable (example: planet has perfect atmosphere and gravity, but there are so many mountains that farming is nearly impossible).  The third reason is that it is very nice to look at, as are most of the other pictures I have chosen.

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.

Observation 9-20

8 PM-10 PM

Tonight I got a guided tour of most of the skies at a very dim location, ignoring the nearly full moon overhead.  I was able to locate the Summer Triangle (Altair in the Eagle constellation, Vega, and the dimmest of the three stars, Deneb), Scorpio, Sagittarius, The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper, Arcturus, Anterres, and many others.  I also saw Venus "set", changing colors and becoming dimmer as it hit the atmosphere at a shallower angle, changing from white to yellow to orange to red, before it faded into the darkness.

Observations 9-15

8 PM-10 PM

Sitting in my backyard, I noticed Scorpio (recognized the triangular tail with three stars along the stinger's "hypotenuse"), Sagittarius (calculated where to look for Sagittarius, and recognized the teapot), and Jupiter (noticed an extremely bright "star" that was nearly at opposition to the sun and was clearly not part of any constellation).  When I looked at the Moon, I noticed it was just past first quarter, and beginning to wax its way towards a full moon.

APOD 1.3

Opposite the Sun

Here, the amazing phenomenon where three celestial bodies line up almost perfectly is shown on Earth, when there are planets that are half-way through their "retro-grade motion" when they get on the exact opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, making the planet become lit up like a bright star in Earth's night sky.  The fact that Jupiter, the planet whose moons made Galileo realize that the Earth is located in a heliocentric solar system, is one of the two planets currently making its way to opposition is just an amazing bonus.

APOD 1.2

NGC 4911: Spiral Diving into a dense Cluster

NGC 4911 is, in a way, very much like our own galaxy, in that it is a spiral galaxy with many rotating arms and a bright central core.  At the same time, we can see its future based on how most of 4911's neighboring galaxies have turned out.(yellowish elliptical galaxies), we can see this process happening (there are 3 faints rings extending from the galaxy where the neighboring galaxies are pulling 4911 apart), and we can see that 4911 is nothing but a very small part of the big picture (4911 is being drawn into the Coma Cluster of galaxies, which has over 1,000 galaxies inside of it).

P.S. This APOD was supposed to be for the week of September 10th.

APOD 1.1

Hole in the Sun

Every so often, the sun's magnetic field opens freely into interplanetary space, creating a temporary "hole" in the sun's corona.  This type of phenomenon might have even been seen by early astronomers like Galileo and Copernicus, which would have made them realize that the sun had "spots of darkness", leading them to the astronomical theories we remember them for to this day.  At the same time, this loss of field integrity is responsible for another well-known phenomenon here on Earth: the auroral lights, which are produced when the sun's open magnetic field releases solar radiation in our direction, which then slams into our Earth's magnetic field.  It tends to focus around the North and South poles because the Earth's magnetic poles are at almost the same spot as the axis around which the Earth spins.

P.S. This APOD was supposed to be put up around September 3rd.