APOD 4.8

The Last Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour
May 18, 2011

I chose this picture because I've always wanted to go to a space shuttle launch and I only have one more chance to do so. The rocket is so powerful that it shakes the earth. Space Shuttle Endeavour is going to be retired after it's touchdown to Earth. Endeavour was named after a ship in the 1600's that sailed to the southern hemisphere in order to view Venus. After being postponed many times, the shuttle took off successfully, with Mr.P watching.The crew consists of 6 members. The commander of which is the husband of Congresswoman Kelly. The crew ventured off for a 14 day trip to the International Space Station in order to install the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. The spectrometer will hopefully be used to better learn the origin of the universe through the research of particle physics. The spectrometer will hopefully increase our understanding of dark matter, antimatter, and strangelets. Dark matter is a tricky thing to define, but a general idea of it is that it is matter that was created when the universe was just seconds old. The matter has no protons or electrons. Antimatter, on the other hand, is basically made of protons and electrons, just the opposite charges. A positron is a positive electron. Strangelets are really complicated, but some scientists think that elemental isotopes might form in heavier nuggets, thus creating strangelets. There is only one more shuttle launch left scheduled for July 8. I really hope that I can go, but if not, then I'll just have to make something to send up there. :)

Vera Rubin Biography

Vera Rubin Biography

              Born in Philadelphia during July 23, 1928, Vera Rubin was an astronomer from the start. At age 10 she started to look up at the stars and wonder about them, while at age 14 she built her own telescope. Throughout high school Rubin was met with much opposition when she stated that she wanted to pursue a job related with astronomy. She attended Vassar College and earned her Bachelors in Astronomy. She then went to Cornell University in order to get her masters degree. While at Cornell, Vera met her to-be husband. Later in life she had four children. All of which are Ph.Ds in some science field or another. I thought it would be interesting to note that while Vera finished college through night classes, her husband had to drive her here and there because Vera never learned how to drive. But anyways, during her last years in college, Vera wrote a thesis paper about the expansion of the universe. This thesis paper was nothing but controversial. At the time the accepted theory about the universe was The Big Bang, in which the universe was at an extremely dense and hot state before it stared to expand. Rubin's paper added to this theory; the universe is not only expanding, but also rotating around a central point. Although not necessarily for the best, this paper made Rubin a well known astronomer.
               Rubin also decided to share her love of the stars to others. She became a teacher of physics and math at Montgomery Junior College. After that she went to Georgetown University to become a research associate astronomer. Soon after that, she moved and worked at University of California at San Diego. Here, she became a professional observer at Kitt Peak Arizona. She is also the first woman ever allowed to observe using the Palomar Observatory. In1965, Vera decided to work for the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. Here she could work freely without the constant anxiety to publish any sort if findings.

               In the 1970's, Rubin really started to investigate the skies, especially spiral galaxies. She concluded that the stars on the outer rims of spiral galaxies are spinning just as fast as the ones toward the center. Rubin thought that there must be some kind of force acting on these stars in order to maintain the gravitation pull on the stars, or else the stars would just spin off into space. Although Rubin's findings were met with much opposition, after a lot of elbow grease and hard work, Rubin had collected enough data to start convincing her colleagues. Rubin's data shows that we might only know of 10% of the mass in the universe right now. There is still the other 90% unaccounted for. This is most likely the dark matter that Rubin discovered. Today, because of Vera Rubin, scientists are researching whether or not dark matter really exists.

Zooniverse Week of 5-9-11

This week I worked on planet hunters and Hubble project. I wasn't able to find as many planets this time as I did last time, but it was still interesting enough.

APOD 4.7

Wonder and Mystery Above the Very Large Telescopes
May 9, 2011

I chose this picture for the week because if shows a panorama of the night sky, granted that it was taken in Chile so the Southern Hemisphere is visible. We have just finished our last constellation of the week quiz where we added on new constellations. From here on out, we will just be reviewing them. No more new ones. I wasn't really able to identify constellations in this photo because the perspective is so different. I could point out Orion, but that's about it. An interesting feature of this picture is the amount of light that it captures. The light at the bottom of the photo is called Zodiacal Light. This light is a reflection of the dust in the Zodiacal Cloud. The dust is actually reflecting sunlight. Then of course is the Milky Way Galaxy.  The beautiful band of millions of stars that stretches across the sky. In Sarasota, it is nearly impossible to see the Milky Way, but one day I hope to see it. Like I said before, the picture was taken in Chile, which is in the southern hemisphere. The Very Large Telescopes are located here. The VLS are actually part of the European Space Agency. The aperture of the these telescopes are around 8.2 meters. Also observed in the photo are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These are small irregular galaxies. In addition is the Barnard Loop, found in Orion. Add all these ingredients together and you get our universe, or at least what we can see.

Works Cited for Vera Rubin

"Vera Cooper Rubin." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 380-382. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 May. 2011.

Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3404708108&v=2.1&u=learn&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

 

Zooniverse Week of 5-2-11

This week I participated in Planet hunters and Hubble Zoo. It's very exciting to find new planets of see different kinds of galaxies. I did zooinverse Tuesday and Thursday.

APOD 4.6

Jupiter's Great Red Spot from Voyager 1
May 2, 2011

I chose this picture because of the tremendous detail. The storm is about 3 times the size of  Earth! It's the largest storm known thus far. The colors are beautiful; mixes of reds, oranges, and whites. The detail from this photo is unbelievable! Voyager 1 isn't anything new. It's been around since the seventies, and it's still going. It's amazing that this little spacecraft is still going. It is now officially the furthest traveled space craft, at about 17 billion kilometers from the sun. Even though it's old, it still takes brilliant photos. The storm itself is also a cause of wonder. The temperature in the storm is about 3,000-4,000 degrees Kelvin! Jupiter is so far away from the sun and it can still reach these kinds of temperatures!!! WHOA! Also, the atmospheric pressure is about 1/5 than on earth in the storm. The storm has been on Jupiter for at least 181 years. It could have been there for 360 years though. The storm is crazy, and it's just a tiny blemish on a tiny planet in the humongous thing we call space.

APOD 4.5

The Antennae
April 29,2011

The main reason I chose this picture is because the picture is taken in the constellation of Corvus, the crow. This just so happens to be one of the constellations of the week. I also find it amazing how intricate space is. It is all random, but done in such precise ways. The photo is of two galaxies that have run into each other. The collision is speculated to have lasted millions of years maybe billions, but the central stars did not collide. The constellation of the crow has some interesting mythology behind it. One myth is about  Apollo, and how he fell in love with a beautiful maiden. Soon, the maiden fell in love with a mere mortal, and Apollo's birds, the ravens, spied on her. Apollo was so angry that he punished the crow, turning his feathers from white to black. When we do constellation quizzes, we are only able to touch the surface of each constellation. There is actually so much more that we could learn about each one, granted if we had the time and motivation.  : )

Zooniverse Week of 4-25-11

This week I tried something new. I participated in the planet hunters. This is when you are given the light curve of a star and are asked to classify whether or not there are transits. The transits would appears as dips in the light curve or abnormal drops in luminosity. I have found quite a few stars that might have planets around them, for they are Kepler Favorites for planets.

Zooniverse Week of 4-10-11

This week I also visited Zooniverse. I worked on the Hubble Project and the Galaxy Project. Some of the galaxies are very interesting. It's exciting when one of the photos they give you is of a beautiful spiral galaxy.

APOD 4.4

April 17, 2011
View from Everest

This is an amazing picture. I would have never been able to know what the top of Mount Everest looks like without it. Only 1000 people have actually seen the top of the Mountain in person. The first successful mission was in 1953. The Mountain is located on the Nepal-Tibet boarder. It is approx. 5.5 miles high, and was created 60 million years ago. Many people have attempted to climb the mountain but never reached the top. The facts show that there are 120 corpses somewhere on the mountain. The causes of death are for various reasons like avalanches. The oldest person to climb Everest was 64 years old, while the youngest was 15. There was even a legally blind person that climbed the mountain. There is no way that I would ever had the strength to climb this beastly mountain, but it would be so cool to say that I have climbed the tallest mountain on the planet. The world is huge and behemoth in our eyes, but it is still only a little bitty speck in this big old world universe. 

APOD 4.3

50 Years Ago Yuri's Planet
April 12, 2011

I chose this picture because I think the horizon of the Earth looks spectacular. The clarity and the color of the image add to the awe-inspiring picture. Space really looks like a giant black hole with nothing in it, when compared to the blue Earth. It's hard to believe that it has been 50 years since we've got a man in space; we've come so far. Yuri Gagarin was the first man to be in space, as he embarked from Russia. He orbitted the Earth once and then returned home. The sad thing is that he was killed in a flight practice when his plane crashed.  He was give the funeral rights of a hero, and his name will be forever remembered. Vostok-1 was the spacecraft that carried this man up 200 miles and then around the Earth. Twenty years later, the USA would be sending a space shuttle with a team of astronauts. The picture here is from the ISS in 2003. It is just beautiful. I wish that I could go up there for myself and see it.

Zooniverse Week of 4-15-10

This week I participated in the Hubble Zooniverse and the Galaxy Zoo. I found quite a number of interseting galaxies that I was asked to classify.

Observation 4-8-11

9:30 PM
At my friend's house in Sarasota

We were swimming in the pool when I looked up in the sky and saw the waxing crescent moon. The moon appeared to have an interesting halo. The halo wasn't round, but in the shape of a cross. I had never seen anything like this before. There were four points of light coming out from the top, the bottom, and both sides. I asked my friend if she saw it too, and she said yes so it wasn't just my eyes. I also made a point to identify all the constellations I could to her. She was impressed. : )

Observation 4-7-10

8:30 PM
Outside my house, on my street

My dad and I went to walk the dog, and I told him about how the moon should look differently. The orientation anyways. And what do you know, Mr.P was right. He told us in Star Lab that the orientation of the waxing moon would be different than normal. The moon now appears to be lying down, looking like a smile. Before, the moon would fill horizontally, now it's vertically. I also pointed out Sirius, Orion, Columba, Lepus, Gemini, Taurus, Pleadies, and more. He was thoroughly impressed.

APOD 4.1

Time Lapse Auroras Over Norway
March 28, 2011

I really liked this video for a simple reason. It's beautiful. I've never seen Aurore in my life, but I hope that one day I will be able to go to Alaska or some other place, and see these amazing phenomena. The movie showcases one of the largest Aurora displays in Norway. The video was made in Kirkenes, Norway. The magnetic fields of the earth and the process that happen on the sun, combine to form these extraordinary shows. The colors respond to the gases in the atmosphere. The most common being green, which represets Oxygen. However, sometimes other gases are seen and appear to be reds and blue colors. These are porbably caused by Nitrogen or other gases in the atmosphere. Even though Nitrogen is almost twice as more common in the air than that of Oxygen, the majority of the time, the aurora are green. The electrons in the atrmosphere get excited and when they fall back down to their original state, they release energy in the form of light. The best time to see these amazing features in when the sun is approaching solar maximum. This is when the sun will have the most activity. Activity on the sun = great aurore.

APOD 4.2

April 5, 2011
The Milky Way Over Tenerife

I chose this picture because it gives a good recap on all the constellations that we've learned thus far. I can't believe how many of the constellations I know! I was outside with my father walking the dog last night, and was able to tell him almost all the stars and constellations that I saw, give the fact that only 1 magnitude were out then. The beautiful band of jewel like sparkels are stars from the milky way. Probably not in Sarasota, but in other places the Milkyway is able to be seen without the use of a telescope. It must be very dark though. This picture was taken in the Canary Islands in Spain. The panorama view is spectacular. The photographer took 9 shots to compose this 360 view of the Milkyway. The sky is full of intersting and wonderful objects! It is amazing to see all of them.

Observation 3-26-11

March 26, 2011
8:00-10:15 PM
Pine View Service Road

Tonight was astronomy night. It was a great turnout of people. It was also really practice for identifying the stars and objects in the constellations. It felt really good to be able to identify and name almost all of the constellations. my favorite telescope viewing was that of Saturn. Saturn was able to be seen in the Southeast. The rings were able to seen bright and clear through the telescope. Also, I was able to answer a lot of questions posed by my friends. They all were really interested in what I had to say, and eager to learn. They all especially like Mr.P's magical pointer of wonder. It was a lot of fun! There were almost no clouds so the sky was crystal clear. My friends are really interested in taking astronomy now.

APOD 3.8

Boston Moonrise
March 24, 2011

This picture is so amazing! I love the way that the moon was able to be caught just as it arose over the Boston city line. The moon appears to be so large because it was at the perigee or the closest point around the Earth. The farthest point, or apogee, has a luminosity 14% less then at this phase, and a 30% smaller appearance.  Although the moon appears to not be perfectly round, it's just the atmosphere messing with you. The moon actually is round, but the dust particles from the earth mess up the picture. This is the same reason why stars appear to twinkle. The moon also appears to be red because of the scattering of light caused by the sun. I didn't get a chance to see the moon a this point, but next year on May 6 the moon will be at the perigee, and resemble how it did this year.

Observation 3-24-11

March 24, 2011
6:50 AM
Driving to school on the interstate, and at school

I looked up at the moon and saw a brilliant halo around the moon. It was so prominent that it looked like there were rays coming out from the moon. The moon was a waning gibbous at that point so the moon was more than half illuminated. Venus was of course able to be seen in the east.

Observation 3-20-11

7:00 AM
March 20, 2011

I went to take a look outside to see the moon at sunrise. The moon didn't appear to be as large as I thought that it might be, but it was beautiful nonetheless. It was about 30-35 degrees in the sky towards the West. Also, on the eastern part of the sky was not only the Sun coming up, but also Venus. Venus was about 40-45 degrees in the sky.

APOD 3.7

AE Aurigae and the Flaming Star Nebula
March 11, 2011

I picked this photo since we were/ are studying nebulae. The gas and dust creates such ornate and beautiful patterns in space. This one in particular is really pretty. I like the contrast between the blue and the red. The nebula is located in the constellation of  Auriga, the Charioteer. The star embedded within the nebula is a variable O-star. This means that the star is extremely hot (around 30,000 K). The heat form the star ionizes the dust around it causing it to glow the blue hue. The gas is made up of a lot if Hydrogen which correlates with the blue color. The star, though, was probably not created in the Auriga constellation. In fact scientist think that the star was formed in the Trapezium Cluster found in Orion. They think that gravity caused this star and another, Mu Columbae, to be be ejected from the Orion nebula almost 2 millions years ago, probably the effect of a supernova explosion. Mu Columbae and the Auriga star formed a binary system, but eventually ran into another binary star system and have be spreading apart ever since. The two stars are approximately separating a speeds of 200 kilometers a second!

APOD 3.6

Discovery Visitis the Space Station
March 1, 2011

I really like this picture because it shows how far we've come as a a nation, sending astronauts into space to further our knowledge of the unkown. I think that it would be so cool to be able to go into space and look back at the place that 6 billion people call home. Space Shuttle Discovery was launched February 24 at about 4:50 PM. I was unable to see the shuttle launch, but I have a friend that went to see it. He said it was amazing. The space shuttle has flown numerous missions since its fabrication in 1984. After this flight though, the shuttle will most likely be retired. The crew consists of 6 members, 1 being a female. Their expedition is projected to last until March 7, 2011. On board is the Japanese Kibo. It will help in research and is the first Japanese space facility. I really like the picture as well. The picture of Earth in the upper part of the picture looks like it's glowing. The background of the picture shows complete darkness. The stars really are there, it's just that they are really faint, so they cannot be seen. On the other hand, this darkness can also be thought of as what we do not know about space. As far as we've come, there is still so much more to learn and to discover about space.

APOD 3.5

Star Size Comparisons
February 22, 2011

I chose this APOD because I thought that it was a really good eye opener to just how big stars are. We are studying stars right now and how they are formed, so I found this to be perfect. The Sun is not a large star by any means. Our G2 star is just average on the main sequence. Stars, like Antares can get huge! Red Super-giants are the biggest stars that we know of so far, being very large, but not very hot. Stars that are huge take a shorter time to form when compared to small stars. Gas and dust collapse on themselves and form a dense center. After millions of years, the nebula forms a photosphere, now officially being a protostar. Then, the center heats up even more so that nuclear fusion can occur.  Once the protostar has nuclear fusion, the protostar is a star. The star will stay on the main sequence for 90% of its life, where there won't be much change. The other 10% is where it gets interesting. The universe is an immense blackness covered in stars and galaxies, as well as nebulae and planets. The human race will most likely never be able to discover and see everything in space, but we have a good idea how large it can get.  :)

Maria Mitchell Biography

Maria Mitchell Biography

      Maria Mitchell was born in 1818 in Massachusetts. She was the third of ten children and was, for the most part, taught by her father.  She is also the first cousin four times removed of Benjamin Franklin. Her father began teaching Maria astronomy very early. Since her family was Quakers, they believed firmly in the importance of education, although in 1842, Mitchell converted to Unitarianism. But anyways, Maria was able to achieve an education equal to that of a male. This helped to spur Maria into becoming an educated women and set up the building blocks to become a great woman. By the age of 12, Maria was calculating the exact movements of an annular eclipse.

       When Mitchell was 18 years old, she acquired the job of a librarian at Nantucket Athenaeum. Mitchell kept up with this job for some 26 years while all the while still managing to look up at the heavens. In October 1847 at the age of 29, Mitchell spotted a new comet, Miss. Mitchell's Comet. The King of Denmark awarded her a gold medal that made Mitchell world famous because she was only the second woman to be awarded this impressive prize.  From 1849 until 1868, Maria worked at the U.S. Nautical Almanac Office charting the positions of Venus. In 1865, Maria was hired as a faculty member of the all woman's college, Vassar Female College.  Here, she was a teacher of math and astronomy. Most of the other professors thought that is was interesting for an unmarried woman to be a teacher. Mitchell challenged her students with lots of reading and writing assignments. Mitchell wanted to give the young women the best education that they could get. Very soon, Maria started to work for Women's Rights. She formed an Association where hundreds of women professionals gathered, and soon became president of the association. She had to resign, though,  from the Nautical Office because her job at the college needed her full attention. Maria Mitchell also participated in many prestigious clubs and organizations as well as being the director of the Observatory at Vassar College. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Women are just a few of the associations that Mitchell took part in. 

      While at Vassar College, Mitchell became the first professor of astronomy. She ended up retiring from the college in 1888, and dying the next year on June 28th. Although Mitchell lived for 71 years, her legacy is still visible today. The Maria Mitchell Observatory is located in Nantucket Island. It was founded by American women that wanted the memory of Maria Mitchell to remain alive. There is also a public school located in Denver, Colorado named after her, as well as a crater on the moon.  Another example of a tribute to Maria is the World War II liberty ship called the SS Maria Mitchell. As you can see, Maria is a genius woman who put heart into her work. Without Maria Mitchell, the notion of woman astronomers probably would have been delayed, and some discoveries would not have been made since she helped to encourage women into the science field.
   

Stargaze 2-20-11

Service Road behind building
7:20-9:15 PM

I brought my telescope and tried to work it, but there was no luck in finding Jupiter. We only had a limited amount of time since Jupiter is already very low on the horizon. We did however manage to find M42, the Orion Nebula, and view it using our telescope. After seeing the nebula through the 20mm eyepiece, we switched to the other more magnified eyepiece and saw a much closer view. Gabi and I also took turns trying to identify constellations and stars. It's a lot harder then it looks! The sky is much larger then what we anticipated. We thought that the constellations would be a lot smaller, but when Mr. P showed us the first constellation, Eridanus, we were way off. The constellations are a lot more spread out across the sky. But finally I now able to recognize some of the constellations that we've been learning. Before, I could point them all out to you on paper, but now I have had the chance to see what they look like on a clear night. Thanks Mr. P for your help with the telescope!

APOD 3.4

The Rosette Nebula
February 14, 2011

I picked this photo because I saw it very fitting that it was one of the objects for this week. One of the two constellations of the week is Monoceros. The Rosette Nebula happens to be located in this desolate constellation where no bright stars are visible. The Rosette Nebula is a beautiful nebula that is home to an open cluster of fairly new stars. These stars are approximately 4 million years old, young in the eyes of a star. The gas and dust around the stars is slowly being pushed away from the cluster because of the emanating solar wind. The actual nebula though, is an emission nebula, meaning that the stars are exciting the gas around them causing the gas to glow. The nebula is a HUGE marvel. It measures 100 light years across! That's 588 trillion miles! The nebula can be seen with a small telescope, so maybe next time I'm out with mine, I try and look for it.

Astonomy Cast "Exotic Life"

This podcast was created shortly after NASA's finding of arsenic making bacteria. This bacteria was found in California. The lake that the bacteria was found in, was highly polluted with arsenic. This is the reason why the bacteria and is believed to be able to replace phosphorus with arsenic in making and replicating DNA. People were getting excited that arsenic life forms might be out in space. The reason why the switch from phosphorus to arsenic was possible, is because both elements have 5 valence electrons. This means that there is still 3 space for other electrons, and thus a great window of bonding opportunities. The main part of the bacterium is still made out of carbon. There still has been no find of life without the use of Carbon. Other places in the solar system have been searched for other life. Titans, one of the moons of Saturn, has an abundance of methane. The temperature on Titan is at methane's triple point, or the temperature in which all three states of Methane can exist at the same time. In my opinion, there is a possibility that life might exist elsewhere in the universe. The finding of arsenic to me is only a matter of the pollution that happened in the lake. Pollution can cause life to behave in crazy ways and mutate, which is what happened. NASA should not have made the giant claim about this huge new finding.

Astonomy Cast "Albedo"

This podcast was all about albedo of the amount of light that is able to be reflected off of an object. The object with the most albedo is snow and ice. Snow and ice is very good at reflecting the light that hits it. Some objects in space, like Eris, have even been discovered only because of the albedo of a nearby planet.  Albedo can refer to any wavelength, but the most common is visible. The reflected light from the object's albedo causes heat to escape the Earth. As the polar ice caps melt though, the soil underneath is revealed and the light from the Sun is not reflected, but absorbed. Thus, albedo is a very important factor in regulating the Earth's temperature. Albedo is also helpful in determining the composition of other objects in space. The albedo can be used to measure the rate at which an body of mass is rotating. The amount of shininess can also tell how new the ice is on an object. The more shinny the object is, the newer the ice. Albedo is a great help in determing many aspects of celestial objects.

Works Cited for Maria Mitchell

"Mitchell, Maria." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 9. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008.  421-422. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Sarasota County Public Schools. 14 Feb. 2011

"Maria Mitchell." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Vol. 11. 2^nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 61. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Sarasota County Public Schools. 14 Feb. 2011

DEROCHE, CELESTE. "Mitchell, Maria." American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present. Ed. Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf. Vol. 3. 2^nd ed. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 151-152. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Sarasota County Public Schools. 14 Feb. 2011 

Kohlstedt, G. Sally. Maria Mitchell: The Advancement of Women in Science. The New England Quarterly, Inc. 1978. Database, Web. 24 Feb. 2011

APOD 3.4

Star Colors in Orion
February 11, 2011

This photo seemed especially fitting because of the current topic of study in class. It's funny that we were just studying about properties of stars and that their spectra are changed from different factors of interstellar space and movement of the stars, and that today's pictures talks about just that. Obviously the main difference in the stars of this picture are the different colors. The upper left star of the constellation Orion is red because that star is a red giant. The color difference is caused by the temperature difference of the stars. The red color means that the star is cool. The blue color corresponds to a very hot temperature. The color of the stars can be messed up with the interstellar dust particles and the gas. Sometimes, the color of the star will look completely different. Stars are so far away, yet they can shine thousands of light years away. The star of Betelgeuse is so large, that the orbit would reach out to Jupiter if it was superimposed in place of the Sun. Stars are amazing features of our Solar System that should have more time devoted to studying them. 

APOD 3.3

Six Worlds For Kelper-11
February 3, 2011

This diagram represents the newly found "solar system" by the Kepler space craft. The star in the center is much like our own Sun, but the orbits aorund it are far less in size. Most of the orbits by the exoplanets are within teh orbit of Mercury. There is probably little chance for life there since the temperatures are so extreme. The new planets are in the constellation Cygnus, 2000 light years away. Three planets were transitting the newly found planetary system at the same time! This has never before been discovered. In the 1/400th section of the sky that the Kepler space craft was looking at, it happened to find the new "solar system." This means that there are probably millions of other planets orbitting around the stars that surround our Solar System. NASA has announced that they ahve found at least 50 planets that lie in the habitable zone. These planets range form Earth sized planets to Jupiter sized planets. We've still got a long way to go until we have studied and searched our galaxy through to see if there are anymore planets that are habitable to life. Also, once we're done with our galaxy, what's next? Should we star on the next?

APOD 3.2

Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
January 21, 2011

I thought that this picture would be especially fitting because Orion is one of the constellations of the week. The picture shows the belt of Orion, housing the three stars Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Alnitak is the hottest O class star in the sky, a hot blue super giant.  Alnilam is just as bright as the other two even though it is the farthest away. Alnilam is 18,000 times brighter than our Sun!!!! The surface temperature, color and mass are roughly even across the board though. Orion is probably one of the most commonly know constellations in the sky. It is easy to point out and find, and is relatively a large constellation. The constellation is packed full of interesting objects to observe and take pictures of. The horsehead nebula is also located in the Orion Nebula. It is an emission nebula so it is only visible if there is a source of light coming from behind it, in order to light up the dust clouds. Not only is the Horsehead nebula located within Orion, but also the flame nebula. This nebula is made mostly out of ionized Hydrogen. It's cool to see a constellation that you can recognize in the sky, and know that it is full of wonder and amazing celestial objects.

APOD 3.1

1-15-11
A Total Eclipse at the End of the World

I chose this picture because I love how the view looks. and how passionate some people are about astronomy. The picture is amazing. The way that the photographer was able to piece together photos in order to see the corona is really cool. Also, the the moon is perfectly in line with the sun and blocks out the transition and photoshpere regions of the sun, leaving behind the breath-takingly beautiful image of the corona. I also think the fact that people, who don't normally live there, ventured down to ANTARICA to see a total solar eclipse is awesome. I was reading the blog of one of the people that went down there, and they said it was worth it. Even though they had to eat cold and tasteless food, the view was perfect and it was magnificent. I know that the scene looks amazing but I'm not sure that I would go all the way down there to see one. Maybe I will one day..... Any who, I really hope to see a total solar eclipse. I think that one is coming up in a few years. I would really like to visit Tenn. and see it. Space acts in marvelous and mysterious ways, that sometimes just need to be experienced.

APOD 2.8

January 11, 2011
The Cosmic Web of the Tarantula Nebula

At first I picked this picture because I thought it was cool to look at. Then when I started to read into the information on the page, it was really interesting. The Tarantula Nebula as formed from the explosion of the Supernova next door. The star exploded and formed part of the Magellanic Cloud. The Tarantula Nebula was caused because the explosion was so huge. The supernova was a gigantic star that lived very quickly (for a star)and then decided to blow up. The result being a fantastic and beautiful nebula. The cloud is a whopping 1,000 light years across. The APOD website informs it's readers that if this cloud were to be placed at the distance of the Orion Nebula, it would span the distance of 60 full moons in the sky!

Observation 1-12-10

8:00 PM
1-12-10

Tonight I was outside my house and saw something very interesting when I looked up. Right now the moon is in the first quarter phase. The interesting thing is that around the moon tonight, it looked as though there was a halo made out of fog or something. It was a perfect circle around the moon and it didn't look like any sort of clouds, just a fuzzy ring around the moon. Orion as always is clear and I was able to make out that Betelgeuse is in fact red.  I also was able to clearly see Venus this morning. It was super bright like always. It was probably 6:30 AM when I saw it in the SE approx. 18-24 degrees high.

Pictures of the Sun

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/Fil_erupt_Jan.jpg

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2010_12_28/
(this is the 2000th comet discovered by SOHO)

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/tricomp_prev.jpg
(sun approaching solar maximum)

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/spotcollage_prev.jpg

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/xmascomet.html
(comet and sun)

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/20031202c2eit304.html

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/solcycle_prev.jpg

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/c2panel00_prev.jpg

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/284cycle_prev.jpg
(solar cycle)

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/Movies/latest.html
(there are around 10 videos on this page, but I had a hard time playing them; had to keep restarting and pausing) (good luck though)

George Airy Biography

Hannah Clode

Percival

Astronomy P.1

9 Jan. 2011

George Airy Biography

On July 27, 1801 in Northumberland, England, George Airy was born. George was born to family of farmers, and was soon made the eldest child after his mother had 3 more children following himself. George seemed to be a bit of a brat when he was young and did not make many friends because of this. In the early years of his youth, Airy grew fond of his uncle Arthur Biddell, a renowned farmer of the time. Airy’s father had just lost his job so; he decided to move in with his well-educated uncle since his current surroundings looked hopeless.

George attended the Cambridge University and in 1823 Airy graduated, surpassing many of his fellow classmates. Airy continued to study at the Trinity College in 1824. Airy was a very organized person throughout his entire life. During his life, he never threw out anything, old checks, notes, and letters. Airy consonantly kept a diary of almost every thought, jotting down different ideas that came to him throughout the day. Airy is also a man of persistence. Airy fell in love with Ricarda Smith, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Richard Smith after two days of seeing her. He asked of he could marry her, but her father said no. After six years of asking, the Reverend accepted his offer and allowed his daughter to be married off.

 In 1828, Airy became a professor and director of observatory at the Cambridge University. As a professor, Airy was one of the first to analyze the diffraction around a point of light when using a refracting telescope. The name for this phenomenon is stilled called an Airy disk. In 1835, Airy accepted the position of Astronomer Royal and moved to Greenwich. At the Royal Observatory, Airy helped with the transmission of telegraphs for the Post Office and railroads. In the 1850’s Airy became a government scientist that helped the government on a variety of issues; for example, working on topic like harbors, railway gauges, sewers, coinage, ordnance surveys, sale of town gas, and meteorology.

Airy is also associated with the discovery of Neptune. There are controversies whether Airy helped to find Neptune or if Airy withheld information causing a delay in finding the eighth planet. Many side with the fact the Airy contributed many calculations that helped to discover Neptune, since the discovery was based on the effects Neptune had on other celestial bodies. As Airy aged, his body slowly told him that it was time to retire. At eighty-five Airy’s eyesight deteriorated. This actually allowed Airy to discover the cure for astigmatism, corrective lenses. Airy was now just working on calculations for a theory and observations. At the age of 91, George Airy died on January 2, 1892. A crater on Mars has been named of Airy in honor of his contributions to astronomy.

Observation 1-6-11

1-6-11
9:50 PM

I went outside with my father and my new telescope that I received for Christmas. I was planning to look at Jupiter and see if I would be able to see Jupiter's moons. Jupiter was far in the west and beginning to set. Orion was visible almost directly above near where the Pleiades were. The Pleiades looked almost like the Little Dipper. The moon was already set and was not able to be seen, but earlier in the night, the phase was waxing crescent. I never did find Jupiter because it set too quick.

APOD 2.7

1-7-11
Eclipsing the Sun

I chose to do this picture because I thought it was really cool how a photographer was able to capture both transits in the same shot. The ISS is located in the corner and the moon, beginning to eclipse the Sun. You can clearly see the detail adn the solar panels of the ISS which makes the picture truly astounding. The picture was taken with a 1/5000th second exposure. At this rate the ISS zooms by the sun in less than 1 second. The timing is impeccable. I also cjose this picture since I saw it very fitting since we are studying the Sun. The Sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace. It has sunspots too, which are clearly visible in this picture too. The combination of the ISS, moon, and the spots make this a truly remarkable picture.

Works Cited for George Airy

"Airy, George Biddell." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 1. Detroit: Charles Scribner's  
               Sons, 2008. 84-87. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Jan. 2011. Autobiography of Sir        George Biddell Airy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press,  1896. Print.
Waff, Craig B. "Airy, George Biddell." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 19.
              Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 24-26. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Jan. 2011.