APOD 2.6

Observation To-Do List

1. M45 (Pleiades)
2. HD 173582 (Epsilor Lyrae/double double star)
3. M31
4. M27
5. Venus
6. Mars
7. Neptune
8. HD 123299 (Thuban)
9. Orion Constellation
10. NGC 7293 (Helix Nebula)

Observations

Earlier this week I went outside and saw the rising moon twice in the early night sky. It has been cloudy a lot recently and I was unable to see much besides the moon. I also happened to be in Disney World over Thanksgiving and I noticed the immense amount of light pollution there. I could only see 5-7 stars each night.

APOD 2.5

This is the APOD from November 23rd, 2012. It is depicting the Pipe Nebula. It is located east of Antares and Ophiuchus is visible in this picture. It was discovered by E. E. Barnard in the 20th century. This was taken as a 24 hour exposure from the Atacama desert in Chile. It is about 450 light years away. The dark center of this image is created by gas and dust collapsing and creating stars.

APOD 2.4

This is the APOD from November  15th, 2012. It depicts the solar eclipse that happened a few days earlier on November 13th. Most of it could be visible in the southern Pacific. The closest land to its track was Australia. This picture was taken from Queensland. In this picture, the sun is almost completely covered except for the small bit at the top. It is also surrounded by a faint solar corona.

Constellation Quizzes

Holla
Click Me
Tell Me I'm Pretty
Feed Me, Seymour

APOD 2.3

This is the APOD from November 3, 2012. This is a picture of the full moon during late October. It was taken over the Italian Alps. This was the second full moon after the Autumnal Equinox. For many it is called the Hunter's moon. This is because they used the light from the moon to hunt in preperation for the harsh winter. The sun in this picture is setting and the mountains depicted are around 11,000 feet tall.

APOD 2.2

This is the APOD from October 31st, 2012. This picture contains the constellation Cepheus, a mysterious cloud and the VdB 152 nebula. The ghostly cloud is around 1,400 light years away. This is along the northern Milky Way. The blur light in this picture is created by the reflecion of stars in space.

Observations

On October 7th my friends and I went to the area by Casey Key Fish House that you held stargazes at for about an hour in hopes of seeing stars, but the moon was very bright in its waxing gibbous phase. The sky was clear so a few off the stars could be seen but not well enough to determine what they were. I did notice the moon though on this morning of the 29th.

APOD 2.1

This is the APOD from October 23, 2012. These oddly shaped clouds are called Mammatus clouds. They differ from regular clouds by having curved bottoms that are formed by water droplets rising and forming at various heights because of the specific temperatures that correspond. This can create cloud pockets that hold ice or water. These often form when very turbulent storms are near. This picture was taken in Saskatchewan over summer.

Chapter 5 Notes

5.1

• telescope: light bucket that captures photons and focuses them for analysis
• optical telescopes collect what is visible to naked eye; refract and reflect
• refraction: bending of a beam of light as it passes from one transparent medium into another
• refracting telescope: uses lens to gather and concentrate a beam of light
• reflecting telescope: uses curved mirror to focus incoming light
• prime focus: focus of primary mirror
• astronomical telescopes used to make images of field of view
• often magnified by lens to be seen by human eye
• chromatic aberration common problem with refracting telescopes
• some light absorbed which hinders infrared and UV observations
• large lenses can hinder viewing
• Newtonian telescope: light is intercepted before it reaches prime focus and is deflected to side eye piece
• Cassegrain telescope: secondary mirror used to reflect into equipment
• Hubble space telescope still functioning today

5.2

• light gathering power and resolving power have increased over time
• collecting area: total area capable of gathering radiation
• perceived brightness is proportional to area of mirror
• telescopes are much easier to manufacture now
• infrared telescopes are becoming more and more popular
• very large telescope (VLT)  in Chile
• angular resolution aides in distinguishing objects
• diffraction hinders ability to focus on specific objects
• diffraction-limited resolution: best angular resolution of light

5.3

• charge-coupled devices: electronic detectors
• pixels: 2 dimensional array of many tiny picture elements
• CCD chips used in many astronomical telescopes
• more efficient than photo plates
• image processing used to reduce background noise in pictures
• computers help compensate for instruments not available
• large reflectors used o form narrow fields of view
• ccd make telescope basically used as a high power camera
• photometry is brightness
• filters used to limit measured wave lengths
• photometer: measures total amount of light received in field of view
• spectrometer: used to measure spectrum of incoming light
• can be studied in real time or stored on ccd for later usage

Observations

Every morning this week when I leave for school, I looked up and say the moon as a waning crescent and Venus which was always close to it. Thursday night I went out star gazing for about an hour with a friend that had gone to both stargazes so he tried to show me all of the things that was shown at the stargaze Tuesday and Wednesday night.

APOD 1.8

This is the APOD from October 5, 2012. This picture that was taken in September near Tromso in Norway depicts not only the beautiful Northern Aurora light, but also a fire ball. Once it fell to earth it only amounted to the size of a small pebble but it light up the entire mountain side. The high speed that the pebble was falling at accounts for the brightness of the fireball. I love all the colors of this Aurora and the trail left by the fireball adds more to the picture. Surprisingly this coinciding of events happens more often than presumed. 

Johannes Regiomontanus Biography

Johannes Regiomontanus was a well known German mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer. He was born June 6th, 1436 in Unfindan. He went through his schooling at a very advanced level. By the age of 21 he was teaching others. He was Georg von Peurbach’s mentee until his death  in 1461. He traveled around Italy and ended up copying various mathematical and astronomical manuscripts. He was one of the first to use symbolic algebra. During this time he followed around Bessarion and helped him in his studies. He accompanied Bessarion to the Venetian Republic and did some lecturing at the University of Padua. While there he witnessed a total lunar eclipse. Later he moved to In 1471 he moved to Nuremberg and he started the first scientific printing press. He used it to publish he first astronomical text book. He also built an observatory to view the stars and create various instruments. He discovered the relation between the distance between earth and the moon and how that could be applied to navigating on the seas. In 1475 he went to Rome to work with the pope and assist with reforming the calendar. He died July 6th, 1476 of unknown causes. It is believed that he died because of a passing epidemic. After his death his massive volumes of research were discovered. It turned out that he was one of the first to have the theory of heliocentrism. In 1561, Daniel Santbeth published a collection of Regiomontanus’ work. There is a crater on the moon named after him. Much of his work has helped in the study of algebra, astronomy, and trigonometry.

APOD 1.7

This is the APOD fro September 27, 2012. It depicts the constellation of Corona Australis and the surrounding area. There are also some noticeable dust clouds blocking numerous stars. This dust cloud is about 8 light years long.  The beautiful blue light that accompanies this picture is from the reflection of light off of hot stars. The yellow light is coming from the nebula NGC 6729. 

APOD 1.6

This is the APOD from September 29, 2012. This is a picture of NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula. It is often compared to a flower. The "petals" are clouds of space dust and various gases. It is 13,000 light years away near the constellation Cepheus. This picture well depicts the varieties of color in this nebula. This is all surrounding a bright, new star. This picture is mostly blue due to the reflection of light off of the star's dust. This mebula is 6 light years across.

APOD 1.5

This is the APOD from September 26, 2012. It is a picture of the space shuttle being carried by another plane. Due to the end of the space shuttle program, the shuttles are being transported to various locations around America. It was on its way to land at LAX. After arrival, it will be taken through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center. While Endeavour is going to LA, the Enterprise is going to New York City. Both shuttles were taken to iconic sites around their respective cities to take pictures.

Observations

I have started viewing the moon on my way home from work at around 9:10. It is too bright now to see much else in the sky. In the mornings I've seen Venus a few times. There has been a lot of cloud cover though which has made it hard to do.

Sources Quarter 1

"Johann Muller Regiomontanus." Regiomontanus Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Regiomontanus.html>.

"Museo Galileo - Johannes Regiomontanus." Museo Galileo - Johannes Regiomontanus. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://catalogue.museogalileo.it/biography/JohannesRegiomontanus.html>.

"Regiomontanus." Starry Messenger: Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/regiomontanus.html>.
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 11.  Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. p348-352. Word Count: 3493.

Observations

So far this year I have maybe remembered to look up at the sky before I leave about 10 times. I'm usually in a rush because I have to drive other students to shool and I forget. The few times I have looked up, I've seen the moon, Venus, and Jupiter. At night when I've tried to observe with friends, it has been quite the ordeal. Only one time has it been clear. Two of the nights we got kicked ot by cops. One night we saw scorpius and a few other constellations. I think we saw Aquilla.

APOD 1.4

This is the APOD for September 21st, 2012. This picture is depicting some fantastic colors in the sky while being centered around  a tree. The joint showing of the tree and the sky is a nice contrast. The beautiful, flowing colors in the sky are made by what is called the northern/aurora lights. This is a phenomenon that will start occuring ore readily post equinox. The northern lights are, obviously, better looking the more north you are. If you live in the northern states you might be able to see the northern lights once a year. If you live up in alaska or northern canada you will be able to see these beautiful lights alomst every night. This picture also offers a look at some nearby stars including Polaris, Shedar, Kochab, and Altair.

APOD 1.3

This is the APOD for September 13th, 2012. This is a picture of the Cocoon Nebula. The large, eye drawing red and blue section is a where stars are formed. A star forming region can be identified by the red center that contains glowing hydrogen gas and the glowing new blue stars around it. This nebula alone is 15 light years wide and 4,000 light years away. The darker areas that seem to be trailing the glowing center are covering other stars that are newly formed.

APOD 1.2

This is the APOD from September 5th, 2012. In this picture the little and big dipper are drawn out so they can be seen and the main focus of this picture is the green glowing among the stars. When the sky and all other conditions are right, the faint glow can be seen from earth. It is about 90 kilometers away. This can often be seen out in space looking in too. This is caused by very excited atoms that are being influenced by ultraviolet rays. Similar phenomenon can be caused by lightning and aurorae. To even have the possibility of seeing this image you would need a camera with a very wide lens and with a long exposure.

APOD 1.1

This is the APOD from March 26, 2001(my birthday). I found this picture particularly interesting because of the interesting look and color of the stars. They are like that because the focus of this picture was Haley's Comet. At this time in 2001 Haley's comet was still spewing gas and going along despite many others opinions. It is assumed to have a diameter of 50 kilometers which could possibly account for its longevity. The reason the stars look so stretched out is because this picture was exposed 14 times and each was centered on the comet and not the surrounding stars.