Observation 2

Friday September 28th, 2012
7:00pm
East Laurel Road
Near sunset, the sky was cloudy and bright

Driving east, I suddenly noticed how large and bright the moon was in the evening sky.  It was not yet sunset, yet the moon had just risen, meaning it is nearly a full moon.  I attempted to photograph what I saw, with the following results.

APOD 1.5

NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula

The Pencil Nebula, named for it's distinguished long and slim shape, is a remnant of a supernova explosion that occured about 11,000 years ago.  This supernova occured when a star in the constellation Vela grew 250 times brighter than Venus, to be visible in the daytime sky.  Gaseous debris from this huge supernova have been left in the sky.  This nebula is only a small part of the total debris (which is about 100 light years across), but distinctive enough to have gained its own name.  It is about 5 light meters long and about 800 light years away.  The nebula is made up of strong bright concentrations of gas and smaller patches of diffuse gas.  The nebula is so bright because the shock wave from the supernova continues to move at 500,000 kilometers per hour, slamming it into gases and interstellar debris.  However, 500,000 kilometers per hour is nothing compared to the millions of kilometers per hour at which the supernove shock wave travelled at first.


APOD 1.4

A Solar Filament Erupts

Solar filaments are long, thin regions of dense gas.  Pictured is the arc of plasma and gas material that was flowing between two sunspots right before it erupted into space.  This filament was about 200,000 miles across, nearly the distance from the moon to Earth, and it travelled 900 miles per second.  Filaments are usually seen on the surface of the sun before they erupt, causing Coronal Mass Ejections which shoot electrons and ions, some of which reached Earth, affecting its magnetosphere and creating auroras 3 days after the eruption.  The sun is expected to have a maximum amount of activity the next two years, causing more Coronal Mass Ejections and auroras.  The peak is said to happen next year, which will be followed by intense solar storms and flares.  This could possibly damage satellites and cause power blackouts, but cause no real damage to humans.  Certainly, there will be plenty of beautiful auroras to view, in extreme latitudes, due to so much solar activity.

APOD 1.3

Milky Way Over the Bungle Bungles

This panoramic photograph shows some of the wonders of the earth and the sky. The Bungle Bungles in Western Australia are the product of years of sandstone, rock, and sediment, shaped by wind and rain erosion.  In the sky, one can clearly see the band of the Milky Way, which is the disk in the spiral-shapped galaxy where the brightest stars and our sun are. In this band are star clusters, emission nebulae, reflective nebulae, dust, and dark matter.  Surprisingly, astronomers say that this amazing sight is visible almost anywhere, as long as it is a clear night away from city lights. In adequate darkness away from urban lights, a bright strip of sky marks the shape of the galaxy within which the Earth exists. However, due to the great amount of light pollution that is now threatening dark star-gazing skies, many areas of Europe and the United States no longer have the opportunity to experience such an amazing view of something thousands of light years away from us.

Biography of Christen Severin Longomontanus: Sources

Severin, Christian." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 12. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 332. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 11 Sep. 2012.

Westfall, Richard S. "Severin [Soerensen, Longomontanus], Christian." The Galileo Project. Department of History and Philosophy of Science, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/severin.html.>

"Christian Longomontanus (Danish Astronomer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/347617/Christian-Longomontanus.>

Observation 1

Saturday September 8th, 2012

5:00am to 6:00am 

Laurel Road, East of I75,  Facing directly East
Sky was clear, with minimal clouds visible passing over the bright Last Quarter moon

I am lucky to live away from most city lights, being past I75 and closer to the edge of Myakka State Park. From my bedroom window I can see most of the sky. For observation purposes I went outside for a better view.

Almost directly overhead was the moon in the last quarter phase. The closest bright object to the moon was Jupiter.  Nearer to the horizon was Venus, easily the brightest object in the sky after the moon.  

It is a great feeling to recognize objects in the night sky.  With my limited knowledge of where the planets and constellations would be this week, and the help of an iPhone app to identify the things I saw, my first deliberate observation session was a success.

APOD 1.2

M45: The Pleiades Star Cluster 

The Pleiades Star Cluster, or Messier object 45, is also called the Seven Sisters, due to the 7 main bright stars in the cluster.  This photo of the stars shows clearly that they are near bright blue, reflective nebulae.  These nebulae are colored as such from the reflection of the stars within them.  The Pleiades are around 380 light years from Earth, according to parallax measurements.  About 3000 stars exist in the cluster, although only the main seven can be seen with the naked eye.  These seven stars, however, are so bright that they are nearly always visible, even from a brightly lit city (in winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere).  Greek mythology says that these seven stars are the daughters of Atlas and Pleione.  The cluster is estimated to be about 100 million years old and will survive for another 250 million years before dispersing due to gravitational interactions with surrounding objects.