Observation

Thursday January 24, 8pm
East Laurel Road Facing East
Cloudy, with a nearly full Moon

Looking up at the bright moon, I noticed a very distinct halo around it. I saw a similar, although much wider, halo 2 nights prior, so I decided to research what causes a halo of light to form around the moon. I found that lunar halos are usually caused by high thin cirrus clouds, which makes sense because the sky was fairly cloudy when I noticed this occurring. I even noticed some of the distinct colors in the layers of this neat optical phenomenon.

APOD 3.2

ISS and the Summer Milky Way 

I first chose this image because it is absolutely gorgeous. But past its initial beauty, the photo contains many familiar objects in the sky. The long streak across the sky is the track of the International Space Station over a 5-minute-long exposure. There are a few atmospheric clouds in the sky, but past that are actually starry clouds and nebulae, which appear more blue and bright. The Milky Way is clearly visible from this view in Buenos Aires, Argentina which is currently seeing the summer Milky Way sky.

APOD 3.1

NGC 1309: Spiral Galaxy and Friends 

NGC 1309 is a spiral galaxy 100 million light-years away. It is about a third of the size of our Milky Way Galaxy, but no disappointment to view. The bluish spirals are caused by small stars and lanes of dust particles. The galaxy lies near Eridanus, which is one of the constellations we studied this week. This is a stunning photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope which also shows many other galaxies which are more distant in the background.

Observation

Thursday January 3rd, 2013
12:00am

Because of inclement weather in Sarasota, the night of the Quarantid meteor shower, some of my friends and I drove south, to Fakahatchee State Park, where there was a clearer and darker sky. There were still some clouds and a last quarter moon which partially obscured our view, but between us we managed to see some 15 meteors in the few hours we watched the sky.

James South Biography

 
James South is a British astronomer, born in October 1785, to parents in Southwark, England. His father was a chemist, and first inspired South to become interested in the sciences. After becoming married to Charlotte Ellis, a wealthy daughter of statesmen, South gained the financial capital to begin pursuing astronomy. He built an observatory near his home and began his work intensely. He is most remembered for his participation and aid in finding the Astronomical Society of London in 1820, renamed in 1831 The Royal Astronomical Society. It was under his presidency of the society that they obtained a royal charter from William IV. The society was created to support astronomical research and succeeded in publishing quarterly scientific journals and papers which have greatly benefited astronomical knowledge. As a member of the Royal Society, South worked closely with John Herschel, whose father William Herschel initially found many of the known double stars, to catalogue 380 double stars from the very first observatory South built. Continuing his work alone, South observed an additional 458 double stars.
South was acknowledged with many titles and awards for his great work in astronomy, including the Copley Medal for his paper “On the Discordances between the Sun’s Observed and Computed Right Ascensions” and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1826. However, soon after he received those honors, South became involved in many disputes and conflicts within the society that led him to abandon his work and nearly leave Britain. In 1831 he was knighted, and gained the motivation to stay in Britain and continue his work.
Perhaps James South’s greatest achievement was his work on an equatorial-mount telescope. In 1826, he began his plans for a telescope that would be newer and larger than ever before. This telescope contained what would be the the largest achromatic object lens in the world, a 12-inch aperture lens which cost 1000 pounds. He planned to contain this telescope in a new observatory. The telescope was completed, then suddenly dismantled around 1838 because of a faulty mount, which led South to sue its manufacturer. South lost and the famously large lens was later put into a Grubb equatorial mount which functioned more accurately, and still remains to the current day. The stress of his last endeavor led South to give up his large work in astronomy. Continuing his work in the form of a hobby, South made small leaps such as observing Encke’s comet and Mauvais comet. He wrote more papers on his discoveries and observations, earning recognition from the Academy of Sciences in Brussels and Cambridge University. Craters on Mar and the Moon were named in his honor.
In his observatory on October 19th 1867, South passed away and his large collection of astronomical instruments were sold to collectors. His contributions to astronomy were influential and will always be remembered.

James South Biography Sources

Bitterman, Jay. "The Lake County Astronomical Society." LCAS. The Lake County Astronomical Society, Oct. 1999. Web. 9 Jan. 2013.


"James South." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 01 Dec. 2012. Web. 9 Jan. 2013.

Ranero, Karin. "Today In Astronomy." Web log post. The Portal to the Universe. European Southern Observatory, 28 Dec. 2006. Web. 10 Jan. 2011. <http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/blogs/posts/view/53681/>.

APOD 2.8

AE Aurigae and the Flaming Star Nebula 

This image shows the flaming star AE Aurigae, surrounded by the aptly named Flaming Star Nebula. The star is not flaming, due to a lack of adequate oxygen for fire to appear, but it does appear to be surrounded in thick plumes of smoke. This is actually hydrogen which contains traces of carbon-rich dust, which appears dark and cloudy like smoke. The bright flaming star is in fact so hot it looks blue. The nebula is pictured 1500 light years away and is about 5 light years across.

APOD 2.7

Yosemite Winter Night 

What initially drew me to choose this APOD photograph was the distinctive shape of Orion, rising above the mountaintops. Orion's belt has become a familiar sight which I also notice rising every evening in the east. Although I don't have the picturesque view over Yosemite Valley as shown in this photo, it is satisfying to recognize and identify familiar constellations in the nighttime sky. The brightest part of this photo is Jupiter, which is currently shining in the constellation Taurus. Behind the moon, Jupiter has recently been the most noticeable, resplendent object in the sky. The plane of the milky way is also very visible in the sky, and further left the twin stars of Gemini are in view.