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.