Observation 2

Going against the typical observations in the night sky, there was an unusually active lightning storm over sarasota the other night. It was the 23rd, and the lightning storm spanned almost 10 miles at certain points.  The unrelenting amount of lightning was caused by the overwhelming opposite charge in the lower atmosphere with relation to the ground charge. This type of lightning is more commonly known as heat lightning, where the static charge is caused by temperature differentials in the lower atmosphere. Personally, I found it to be really cool because I was able to take really good photos with a long exposure on my Nikon D5000. Great photos, needles to say.

Observation 1

Roughly a week ago, Venus underwent a period of transition across our sky. It was able to be seen as a spot on the sun during the day. Due to the position of venus with relation to our moon, the light that was shone on Venus from the sun caused Venus to be seen as a crescent from Earth.

Zooniverse Stuff

     For our Zooniverse experience, my primary choice of work was galaxy mergers. Galaxy merger showed participants 64 images of each set of galaxies that were merging. The object of the experiment was to narrow down the best computer models that accurately depicted the merging galaxies. I completed around 75 sets of the mergers over the course of the first week.

APOD 4.9

 Tomorrow, May 20, the Moon's shadow will race across planet Earth. Observers within the 240-300 kilometer wide shadow track will be able to witness an annular solar eclipse as the Moon's apparent size is presently too small to completely cover the Sun. Heading east over a period of 3.5 hours, the shadow path will begin in southern China, cross the northern Pacific, and reach well into North America, crossing the US west coast in southern Oregon and northern California. Along the route, Tokyo residents will be just 10 kilometers north of the path's center line. Of course a partial eclipse will be visible from a much larger area within North America, the Pacific, and eastern Asia. This safely filtered telescopic picture was taken during the annular eclipse of January 15, 2010 from the city of Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India.

Description from NASA

APOD 4.8

 It was really not about superheroes as on May 6 the much touted Super Moon, the largest Full Moon of 2012, rose over this otherwise peaceful harbor. And no super villains were present either as boats gently rocked at their moorings near the checkerboard La Perdrix lighthouse on the coast of Brittany, France. But the rise of the Super Moon was preceded by a Green Flash, captured in the first frame of this timelapse video recorded that night. The cropped image of the frame, a two second long exposure, shows the strongly colored flash left of the lighted buoy near picture center. While the Super Moon was enjoyed at locations all around the world, the circumstances that produced the Green Flash were more restrictive. Green flashes for both Sun and Moon are caused by atmospheric refraction enhanced by long, low, sight lines and strong atmospheric temperature gradients often favored by a sea horizon.

Description from NASA

APOD 4.7

What's that in the background? Two famous New York City icons stand tall in the above photo taken last week. On the left looms the Statue of Liberty, a universal symbol of freedom, while on the right rises the Empire State Building, now the second largest building in the city. What's unique about this once-in-a-lifetime photograph, though, is the third icon that appears to Lady Liberty's left. High in the air and far in the background flies the space shuttle Enterprise -- perched atop a 747 jet -- on the way to its new home. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple can visit the test space shuttle at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on the West Side of Manhattan starting July 19.

Description from NASA

APOD 4.6

Although its colors may be subtle, Saturn's moon Helene is an enigma in any light. The moon was imaged in unprecedented detail last June as the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn swooped to within a single Earth diameter of the diminutive moon. Although conventional craters and hills appear, the above image also shows terrain that appears unusually smooth and streaked. Planetary astronomers are inspecting these detailed images of Helene to glean clues about the origin and evolution of the 30-km across floating iceberg. Helene is also unusual because it circles Saturn just ahead of the large moon Dione, making it one of only four known Saturnian moons to occupy a gravitational well known as a stable Lagrange point.

Description from NASA

Q4 Biography: Grote Reber

     For my final biography, I am studying Grote Reber, a noted radio astronomer that lived during the 1900's. Grote Reber was born in Wheaton, Illinois on December 22, 1911 to a fairly normal family. When Reber entered college, he studied at the Illinois institute of technology and decided to take up electrical engineering. Reber graduated in 1933 with a degree in electrical engineering and immediately entered the field of radio applications. For years, Reber worked as an amateur radio operator with many small companies, which provided an outlet for Reber to enter the true field of radio science. At the peak of the Great Depression, Reber learned about  a scientist named Karl Jansky, and subsequently applied to Bell Labs, where Jansky worked. 

     Four years after Reber applied to Bell labs, Reber began a foray of his own into the world of radio astronomy. In 1937, Reber built his very own radio telescope in his backyard. His telescope was 9 meters in diameter and utilized large sheets of reflective metal. This first telescope he built operated at around 3300 MHz; not low enough to detect radio waves from space. On his second attempt, he reached 900 MHz which was still not low enough. It was not until Reber built a telescope that was able to reach 160 MHz that would allow him to see into space. When reber was able to confirm Jansky's previous discoveries, he got published in the Astrophysical Journal and was offered research positions, which he later declined. Due to his findings and creation of a radiofrequency sky map, he subsequently triggered a radio astronomy explosion.

     During the latter years of Reber's life, Reber dedicated his studies to finding perfect spots and methods for optimizing radio astronomy. With the support of the Research Corporation in New York, Reber moved to Hawaii to build a better telescope, however, the Earth's ionosphere foiled those plans. Due to this inability to observe space on a radio based level, Reber moved to Tasmania where the ionosphere permitted intermittent windows of time to observe space without any interference. In his final years, Reber worked on perfecting a perfectly thermally insulated house, but never quite finished it. In the end, Grote Reber died two days before his 91st birthday on December 20th, 2002 in Hobart Tasmania. 

APOD 4.5

 Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is typically less than the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across and knowing that they were once small pebbles on another world might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s)could not share in every particular experience. Peaking over the past few days, a dark moonless sky allowed the Lyrids meteor shower to exhibit as many as 30 visible meteors per hour from some locations. A bright Lyrid meteor streaks above picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA, in the above composite of nine exposures taken last week. Snow covers the foreground, while the majestic central band of our home galaxy arches well behind the serene lake. Other meteor showers this year include the Perseids in mid-August and the Leonids in mid-November, both expected to also dodge the glare of a bright Moon in 2012.

Description from NASA APOD- 2012, April 25

APOD 4.4

No, they are not alive -- but they are dying. The unusual blobs found in the Carina nebula, some of which are seen floating on the upper right, might best be described as evaporating. Energetic light and winds from nearby stars are breaking apart the dark dust grains that make the iconic forms opaque. Ironically the blobs, otherwise known as dark molecular clouds, frequently create in their midst the very stars that later destroy them. The floating space mountains pictured above by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope span a few light months. The Great Nebula in Carinaitself spans about 30 light years, lies about 7,500 light years away, and can be seen with a small telescope toward the constellation of Keel (Carina).

Description from NASA APOD 2012, April 23

APOD 4.3

        What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros). Pictured above as a star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. The above image spans about 3/4 degree or nearly 1.5 full moons, covering 40 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264. Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose convoluted pelt lies at the upper left, bright variable star S Mon immersed in the blue-tinted haze just below the Fox Fur, and the Cone Nebula near the tree's top. Of course, the stars of NGC 2264 are also known as theChristmas Tree star cluster. The triangular tree shape traced by the stars appears sideways here, with its apex at the Cone Nebula and its broader base centered near S Mon.

APOD 4.2

Explanation: Volcano Tungurahua sometimes erupts spectacularly. Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5,000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud ofdark ash is seen being ejected toward the left. Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance. The above image was captured in 2006 as ash fell around the adventurous photographer. Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years for the last 1,300 years.

APOD 4.1

Seen above are rocket trails in the Earth's Ionosphere with the milky way shown in the background. These rockets were launched on March 27th, and when they reached the ionosphere, they released a white-glowing tracer material that could be seen from Earth. Pretty Cool.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 255 - Observing Hydrogen

The beginning of this episode starts off with a very true, and somewhat humorous fact. The narrator of the podcast originally wanted to call the podcast "Hydrogen", but one other person pointed out to him that there is a near infinite amount of hydrogen in the universe, and that would be way too much to cover in one podcast. So, as a result, they decided to name episode 255 to Observing Hydrogen. This episode really just sums up where hydrogen in most prevalent, and what forms it takes. For the first 20 minutes or so, they talk about the interaction of hydrogen within stars. All stars begin as a giant ball of hydrogen that is slowly fused into heavier elements such as helium, and carbon. Further on in the podcast, they state that there are many forms of hydrogen and different isotopes. "Heavy Hydrogen" is also known as deuterium, or H II. In short, it is a hydrogen atom with two neutrons. To sum up the whole idea, hydrogen is literally everywhere and there are so many different forms and configurations that exist in the universe

Observation 3/27

Last night, In response to the phenomenon that Mr.P talked about, I went outside at around 8:30 to see the crescent moon and Venus in close proximity. Roughly 1/4 of the way in the east of the sky, Venus was less than 4 degrees away from the moon and was perpendicular to the crescent.

APOD 3.9

Seen above is messier object #9 close up. Within M9, many stars are forming, and it is one of the most active regions in space. M9 is located near the center of our galaxy, and lies about 25,000 light-years away from earth. 

APOD 3.8

An aurora that occurred above Iceland is seen above. Auroras are caused by charged particles hitting the magnetosphere close to earth. This picture is also interesting because it was taken with a wide-angle lens. 

APOD 3.7

In each of the girl's hands, are the planets Jupiter and Venus seen from Earth. I thought that this was an amazing picture because it combines a bit of art with astronomy. This also stood out to me because the exposure for this photo must have been longer than 30 seconds which is pretty long...

APOD 3.6

Seen above is the moon rising behind the lick observatory in san jose california. This was an interesting picture because it shows the moon from a much different perspective. I also decided to choose this picture because it was my birthday.

Quarter 3 Biography - Asaph Hall

          Pictured above is the man known as Asaph Hall. Hall was an astronomer who's contributions came late in the 19th century. Hall is most commonly known for discovering the moons of Mars - Deimos and Phobos. Other contributions he made to astronomy included discovering the mass of mars and determining orbits of various satellites. Most, if not all of his contributions have had some relation to other discoveries made by past astronomers. Mathematics that were required to determine many of his discoveries were invented by other noted astronomers that came before his time such as Kepler and Newton. 

          To begin with, Asaph Hall's more accurate legal name was Asaph Hall the Third. Hall was born to Asaph Hall II and Mrs. Hannah Palmer. Asaph's father was a clockmaker and had a penchant for creativity. When Hall turned 13, his father passed away, resulting in financial troubles for the family. Subsequently, Asaph had to leave school to help support the family. Later in his life, after working as an apprentice carpenter, Asaph enrolled in school again and took up the study of mathematics. While studying at Central College, he met the love of his life - Angeline Stickney. To further his career in academics, Hall took up jobs at Harvard's observatory and the US Naval Observatory, respectively. Here at the US Naval Observatory, Hall obtained a UNSO 26 inch telescope which allowed him to see Mars' two moons, and determine the rotational period of saturn.

          In the later years of Hall's life, he retired from the Navy, but not after making even more significant discoveries. Hall submitted a paper that defined pi in a series of experiments detailing random trials where a fine wire was tossed upon a wooden plate between two equidistant lines. Hall and his wife had four children, one was even named Percival! When Hall's wife passed away, Hall remarried to a woman named Mary Gauthier. In 1907, Hall died in the care of his son Angelo. 

APOD 3.5

Seen above is an example of a reflection nebula, in this case, Merope's reflection nebula. Reflection nebulas are characterized by a large amount of carbon dust which is able to reflect blue light more easily.

APOD 3.4

Seen above is the Rosette Nebula which resides in the constellation Monoceros. I thought that this APOD would be more relevant than others seeing as how Monoceros was one of our constellations of the week. 

Observation 1/29/11

Last night, Mr. Percival posted on Facebook that there was a celestial event occurring - Jupiter was extremely close to the moon, and was very easy to see because of its relative brightness to other stars. I also observed other constellations pretty near to the moon at roughly 8:00pm. At this time, the moon sat right in the valley of the tied tails of pisces. To the right of the right fish of pisces I was also able to see the great square of pegasus and the beginning of Andromeda. Other than these constellations, the only other one I was able to see was Triangulum which was about 20 degrees of arc above the right fish of pisces.

APOD 3.3

This picture is unique in the sense that it shows a different view of a very typical thing - A galaxy. Most galaxies have some kind of organized shape; a spiral, a cloud, etc... However, this galaxy (NGC 3239) seems to be pretty amorphous.

APOD 3.2

Seen above are the winter constellations projected over the canary islands. Outlines of the constellations have been superimposed over the night sky to make them more visible to observers. From this view, it is easy to see the major stars in the constellation Orion. Betelgeuse, Reigel, and The Orion Nebula are all included.

APOD 3.1

Seen above is the nebula titled Cygnus-X. It has been hailed as the largest observed star-forming region in our universe. I like this picture because it shows where those massive balls of glowing plasma actually come from.

Pierre Simon LaPlace Biography

             Pierre Simon LaPlace has been hailed as one of the greatest astronomers of all time. LaPlace is the creator of many great contributions to the field of astronomy. Up until he came into the picture, the field of astronomy was one of limited scope. Our solar system was regarded as a bunch of spheres neatly organized. He was the one who was able to make the leap from basic geometric ideas to ideas involving calculus. The involvement of calculus was the first step in creating a branch to more complex and in-depth queries of our universe.
             Born on March 23, 1749, LaPlace was born in Normandy, France; and was born into a middle-class farming based family. From his early years on, his education was fueled mostly by his desire, and was assisted by wealthy figures in his community. Later on in his scholarly career, LaPlace applied for a position at the University of Caen and began to study theology. He quickly dropped this subject and attempted to study astronomy. A turn of events led him to take an early interest in mathematics, and he was a quick study. By earning a higher teaching position at the Ecole Militare, LaPlace was able to obtain a more stable source of income, therefore allowing him to begin his own individual research which proved to be more invaluable than LaPlace could have ever imagined.
              The first, and arguably the most important discovery that LaPlace made has been dubbed the "LaPlace Equation". The applications of said equation are many, however the concept that he introduced was revolutionary. The equation reflected on the behavior of fluids under gravitational conditions, and also described the behavior of electric, electromagnetic, gravitational, and other various fields. The idea of the equation began when LaPlace started studying the mechanics of fluid dynamics. To put it in more simplistic terms, the LaPlace equation puts The rate at which the distance of a path on the outside of a sphere changes with an increasing or decreasing radius. LaPlace was also the first to theorize on more complex ideas relating to stellar interaction with intense fields of gravity. Pierre postulated that under a certain amount of gravity any stellar body would eventually succumb to gravitational collapse. This in turn led to his idea of how black holes were created and how they were able to exist. IE: If a supermassive body of mass, star or not were to have a strong enough gravitational field, the mass would collapse into a super-dense object of mass and would become a black hole, therefore exerting an even greater amount of gravitational attraction. Let it be noted that LaPlace only theorized the idea and that his belief that any body (not a star) was able to become a black hole has been proven incorrect.......or at least not observed to date.

Biography Sources

Wikipedia. "Pierre-Simon Laplace." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace>.

"Laplace Biography." University Of St. Andrews. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Laplace.html>.

"Pierre Simon Laplace (1749 - 1827)." TCD School Of Mathematics. TCD School Of Mathematics. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. <http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Laplace/RouseBall/RB_Laplace.html>.

APOD 2.8

The planet in the frame above is actually a representation of our planet: Earth. Noticed in the background past the planet is the almost faded tail of the Comet LoveJoy. Also seen in the background are the bright stars Canopus and Sirius. 

APOD 2.7

Seen above, is astronaut Bruce McCandless breaking the record for longest untethered free flight in space. He ventured out over 100 meters from his spacecraft and was able to do so with the help of an unmanned propulsion unit

APOD 2.6

The picture above is a picture of the crab nebula taken from the Hubble Telescope. This nebula is actually what remains after a supernova occurs. This cloud of gas is comprised mostly of lighter gasses such as H & He, but in the heat of the moment, heavier elements such as C, Fe, and U are created. 

APOD 2.5

The large Hadron Collider is a machine that was built to prove the existence of subatomic particles that have been theorized to exist in all atoms. To recreate these particles, very high speeds and temperatures need to be produced.

APOD 2.4

Seen above are scientists scouring antarctica for meteorites. Antarctica has proven to be good hunting grounds for meteorites because there is a very low chance for anything other than ice showing itself in sheets of blue ice, and chances are if a rock is found, it's probably from space. I also like this picture because it shows how astronomy relates to Earth, instead of distant stars and galaxies.