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.