APOD 2.6

Today I am writing about the Leonids Meteor Shower. Not only can many meteors from the meteor shower be seen but the way the stars orbit in the sky can also be seen very easily in this picture. They make a very interesting pattern in the sky and the circumpolar stars make a complete circle over the course of the night. Because the meteors can be seen in combination with the path of the stars this picture appears very amazing and is why I chose to write about it.

APOD 2.5

I chose to write about the supercell thunderstorm over Montana mainly because it happened on Earth. However, just by looking at it, it is hard to tell that this is something that could actually occur on Earth because it looks like something out of a science fiction movie more than reality. It is several kilometers in diameter and can last for several hours. It can also create many tornadoes and release extremely large amounts of rain. In this picture the torrential downpour of rain appears more as mist, but at a closer look it can be seen that it is actually large amounts of rain pouring down from this one massive cloud.

APOD 2.4

This picture of spiral galaxy M66 puts in perspective the size of various objects of our universe. In the picture a few stars from the Milky Way Galaxy can be seen and they are only a few hundred light years away at the most. The galaxy M66 is about 35,000,000 light years away. At this distance it should be infinitesimally small, but compared to the stars, which are much closer, it appears massive and dwarfs them. This shows how large it truly is, if it is 35,000,000 light years away and still appears gigantic compared to the much closer stars of our own galaxy. In the caption it is stated that it is about 100,000 light years across, which is indescribably large. Other galaxies can be seen in the background as only small specs of light, which displays their distance as almost immeasurable.

APOD 2.3

I chose to write about this picture because of the facts that were provided along with it and because of how it looks. Not only does this picture simply look amazing but what is actually going on in it is even more amazing. This is a picture of Centaurus A in multiple parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is even better though because it is the result of 2 galaxies colliding and one being annihilated by the other. The simple of thought of this ever occurring is ridiculous, but due to the fact that it actually did occur and can be seen in this picture is astounding and that is why I chose to write about it.

Worldwide Star Count

On Monday November 18 I observed the Constellation Cygnus and was able to see up to 3rd magnitude stars from my house.

APOD 2.2

Today I chose the picture "Star Trails and the Captain's Ghost" to talk about. I chose this picture for a few reasons, but mainly because of the time lapse effect that can be very clearly seen. This time elapse shows how stars become brighter as they move higher up into the sky, as can be seen by the widening trail of light as they move higher. This picture also demonstrates how stars appear to move to us, and it can be seen that the stars on the right frame of the picture are closer to north because they have more circular paths, which means that they are close to north. This picture also makes it very easy to tell which stars have brighter magnitudes because many of the dimmer stars fade in and out with the time lapse, but the brighter ones stay constant, if not brighter. These are the reasons as to why I chose to write about this picture.

APOD 2.1

This week I chose to write about the Andromeda Galaxy in ultraviolet and visible light. In this picture it is very easy to see the applications of other wavelengths of light outside of the visible spectrum. Ultraviolet, as can easily be seen here, penetrates cosmic dust and other impediments much easier than visible light. This give us a much clearer view of the object that is being looked at and also provides information that visible light simply cannot tell us. One example of this information is the fact that only hotter stars will be seen because they in order to radiate in the ultraviolet spectrum, they must be extremely hot. This is useful because many stars do not radiate only in the visible spectrum, which means all the possible data they give off can not be picked up by using visible light, which is why studying other wavelengths is helpful.

Observation 10/24/10

Tonight at about 9:10 I saw the Summer Triangle, which consists of Cygnus the Swan, Aquila the Eagle, and Lyra the Harp at slightly to the west of the zenith point. The moon was also very large in the Northeast at about 30 degrees above the horizon and it was in its waning gibbous phase, but it appeared to almost be a full moon. I also saw a very bright star about about 50 degrees above the horizon in the Southwest, but I wasn't able to identify it.

APOD 1.8

Today I chose to write about NGC 2683 because what it is. Many of the pictures are often of stars or other celestial objects that are in our own galaxy. However, this picture shows an entirely different galaxy from our own, one that is 20 million light years away. This distance has no meaning to people, as distances such as this, or anywhere close to this, are never encountered in a human life. It is also amazing that the galaxy that is seen in this picture is 20 million years old and that it could have completely changed and we would have no idea about it until 20 million years later. This is why I chose to write about NGC 2683.

APOD 1.7

This week I chose to write about the Globular Star Cluster NGC 6934. I chose this picture because of the vast span of it. This star cluster is about 50,000 light years away, which is far, but not as far as many of the other astronomical objects that we study. However, it is not this that astounds me, but it is the physical range of the picture. This picture spans 50 light years from side to side. This is so amazing to think about, the fact that we can view an area of the sky in such high resolution that is 50 light years across. This distance is ridiculously large and this is why I chose to write about this picture.

Quarter 1 Biography: Ole Roemer

Ole Roemer

            Ole Roemer was born in Aaruh, Denmark on September 25^th , 1644 and died in Copenhagen, Denmark on September 19^th 1710. Most of his adult life was spent in Copenhagen where he held a multitude of jobs, including astronomer royal, director of the observatory, master of the mint, inspector of naval architecture, harbor surveyor, ballistics expert, professor of mathematics at the University of Copenhagen, and the head of a commission which inspected highways. Despite all of these very prestigious jobs, he is best known for making the first accurate estimation of the speed of light. At this time in history very few astronomers even believed that there was a finite speed that light travelled at, most simply believed that it was instantaneous. Roemer was able to accurately determine the speed of light through very careful measurements over long periods of time. Roemer had his own observatory, the Tusculaneum, built between Copenhagen and Roskilde, which he filled with his own accurate instruments; he perfected the transit circle and is the first person to have attached a telescope to one. This observatory, in conjunction with the ground breaking instruments of that time allowed him to make very accurate observations of the heavens. He is alleged to have made just as many observations of Tyco Brahe, if not more. Roemer also had access to Brahe’s observations because he was appointed the editor of them by his brother Erasmus Bartholin. Brahe’s calculations were compounded by his own and with these 2 things Roemer was able to accurately calculate the speed of light, which was an amazing feat. The way that Roemer went about calculating the speed of light was through observations of the eclipses of Jupiter’s moons. He realized by looking at the observations of himself and Brahe that the eclipses either took place about 10 minutes earlier or later than they were predicted to, depending on the distance from the Earth to Jupiter. When Jupiter was closest to the Earth he noticed that they were about 10 minutes earlier than the calculations had predicted and while Jupiter was farthest away from the Earth he noticed that they occurred about 10 minutes later than they were predicted to. This led him to the realization that light had a finite speed, which few believed at that time. Because he now knew the difference in the time of the predictions that resulted because of the differing proximities of the Earth and Jupiter he was easily able to calculate the speed of light. His calculations stated that the speed of light was approximately 140,000 miles per second, which meant that the light coming from the Sun would take 11 minutes to reach the Earth. The current accepted speed of light is about 186,000 miles per second, or 8 minutes 20 seconds. This was an extremely close approximation for the first ever attempt at quantifying the speed of light and was clearly within an order of magnitude. The error that he experienced was caused by perturbations of Jupiter that he was unaware of at that time. Despite these findings, many people decided not to believe this fact and continued to believe that light had no finite speed. After this finding Roemer continued to do astronomical research along with his other multitude of jobs. Another creation that he isn’t famous for, but essentially designed is the thermometer. It was his idea to use the boiling point of water and the melting point of snow as the 2 base marks on a thermometer and it is alleged that he actually did more work on designing them than Fahrenheit did, but he is not known for this, which is why he is instead known as the person who first successfully approximated the speed of light.

APOD 1.6

I chose to write about the auroras over Alaska because they continue to fascinate me. In the picture it appears as if it is the middle of the day and that the auroras are actually clouds that are being lit up from the Sun's light. However, it is actually night and the auroras are adding the light that is seen in the picture. The fact that an aurora can add enough light to make it appear as if it was the middle of the day is a very astounding fact in and of itself, which is only compounded by the brilliant colors that are released from it. Also, due to the very long time exposure of the picture, the path of the stars in the sky can easily be seen. This not only is very pretty to look at, but it also helps to increase the understanding of the motion of the stars during the night because the circular paths that they travel in is very easy to see and helps visually explain why some stars are circumpolar and can always be seen.

Biographer Sources

My two sources for Ole Roemer's biography are:
Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 11. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. p525-527. 
and
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/cosmic/p_roemer.html

APOD 1.4

Today I picked the Arp 188 and the Tadpole galaxy to write about because not only does it like astounding, but the dimensions that are involved in this picture are simply beyond comprehension. The largest object in this picture, which appears to be fairly close, is actually 420 million light years away. I cannot even fathom how far that is, because lengths of that quantity exist in very few places in the entire universe. It also astonishes me that the image of the galaxy that we see from earth is actually 420 million years old, and that it has more than likely substantially changed in the time that has passed. These facts just amaze me, which is why I chose to write about this picture.

APOD 1.4

I chose the picture of the Sun for a few reasons. First off, it just looks awesome, even if the colors aren't what we see and are from iron atoms. Also, I think that it is really cool that you can see the actual magnetic fields on the surface of the Sun. To be able to actually see these fields on the Sun proves that there is iron, or at least some kind of ferrous metal within the Sun or else the fields wouldn't be able to be seen. I think that it is just amazing how things like this can exist in the universe, let alone our own Solar System.

Observation 2 9/20/10

Today at the stargaze we saw many different celestial objects. We saw 6 1st magnitude stars, Antares, Altair, Deneb, Vega, Fomalhaut, and Arcturus. We also saw the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. We watched Venus set below the horizon and it turned a bright red right before it went down. Also, we were able to see 4 moons orbiting Jupiter; Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede. Some of the constellations that we saw were Sagittarius (and the Teapot), Scorpius, Aquila, the Summer Triangle, Scutum, Hercules and the Keystone, and the Little Dipper. We could also barely see various M objects with the binoculars because the moon was in its waxing gibbous phase so it blocked out dimmer sources of light.

Observation 1

Tonight it was very cloudy out but I saw the moon in its waxing gibbous phase, almost a full moon, at 9:15 in the South-East about 60 degrees altitude. I also saw the summer triangle at about the zenith point at the same time.

APOD 1.3

I choose the Northern Lights this week because they have always fascinated me. I think that it is amazing that something like that can exist on the Earth because it seems more like science fiction than reality. It is so awesome how the interactions of the ionosphere and solar wind can create such beautiful colors and motions in the sky. I have always wanted to see them, but unfortunately we went to Alaska in the summer so the Sun never set far below the horizon, so the conditions weren't right. However, I hope to go when the conditions are right so that I can see them one day.

APOD 1.2

The picture of the Vela Supernova Remnant is an amazing picture and the details are amazing. The colors are very beautiful and might be a result of the red/blue color shift or just an artist's rendition, but either way it is awesome to look at. Also, the pure distance to this nebula is mind boggling, even at over 800 light years away it is still one of the closest nebulae in the universe and the size of it is extremely large as well, which makes everything about this nebula simply awesome.

APOD 1.1

I chose the bubble nebula because of how it looks. It looks very small and fragile, but the sheer size of it is bind boggling and it is simply amazing that things like this can exist in real life and not only in fantasy. Not only this, but it also looks amazing and the colors and shape of it are very pretty.