APOD 4.4

This photo is about M101, which is a massive spiral galaxy that lies about 25 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Major. The sheer size of this galaxy is breathtaking, it is over twice the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy, or about 170,000 light years across. The amount of stars that our contained in this galaxy is equally astounding as it contains many more stars than our own and therefore greatly increases the possibility that it contains planets that are suitable to life or perhaps even planets that already have life forms on them. Galaxies such as this one provide much hope that there could be life other than our own.

APOD 4.3

Today I chose to write about the far side of the Moon because it is something that is astronomically very close to us, yet has been seen by very few people. Because the Moon is locked in a synchronous orbit with the Earth only one side of the Moon can ever be seen from Earth and it is this side that almost everybody is familiar with. This picture however shows the other side of the Moon and it is very interesting how much this side varies with the side we can see. There are no lunar maria on this side, but instead it is covered with a massive amount of craters and appears very rough. Overall it is very interesting how much the Moon can vary simply by looking at one side or another.

Zooniverse

I have been doing planet hunters on Zooniverse for the last several days. So far I have found 2 stars that have been identified as stars of interest and are among the most likely candidates to have planets orbiting them. Looking through the data is very interesting, especially trying to figure out why some of the light curves happen the way they do, and seeing the variable curves of stars in binary systems.

APOD 4.2

This week I chose to write about M74, which is a massive spiral galaxy that is about 32 million light years away. This galaxy is positioned so that it is almost face on with our own, and so the many spirals of it can be seen very well. This galaxy is estimated to have about 100 billion stars in it, which is much larger than our own. A merge between this and a nearby galaxy can also be seen as the smaller galaxy is sucked into M74's core. Furthermore, the idea that when we see this galaxy we are actually looking 32 million years into the past is astounding, because if somebody were to look at earth from this distance they would see it without humans, but with dinosaurs and other extinct creatures. This is why I chose to write about M74 this week.

APOD 4.1

Today I am writing about Island Universe NGC 5584. This is a spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way, but it has several interesting features. Among these features are a recently exploded Type I Supernova and over 250 Cepheid Variable Stars. Other amazing facts about this galaxy is its size, which is over 50,000 light years, and its distance which is over 72 million light years away. Another interesting fact about this galaxy is that it was used as data for part of a recent study which helped to improve the accuracy of the Hubble constant, which states how fast the Universe is expanding. Even more amazing than this is that this study actually supports the theory of dark matter, which so far is the only theory that explains why the Universe is expanding even faster.

Astronomy Night

The first star that I saw was Sirius at about 8 PM shortly after the Sun set. The next 2 were Procyon and Canopus, which are both first magnitude stars and among the brightest in the sky. After it got dark we identified, Orion, Orion's Belt, Canis Major and Minor, the area where Monoceros should be, some stars that were part of Columbus and Lepus, The Big Dipper, Triangulum, Auriga, Hydra, Leo, Gemini, and a few others. We identified Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, Castor, Pollux, Sirius, Canopus, Capella, Aldebaron, and the Kids in Auriga. There was also one satellite that we saw that was visible for about 30 seconds. Through the telescopes we saw M42 in Orion and Saturn which was very detailed and the space between the planet and the rings was actually visible. Overall it was a very fun stargaze and we were able to identify a large number of celestial objects.

APOD 3.8

This is a picture of NGC 3628, which is an island universe. It is believed to be a spiral galaxy that is seen on its side. This image shows how thin these galaxies can be, especially when compared to their diameters. This is also an interesting picture because it is about 35 million light years away which is unbelievably far, but is seen in fairly high resolution, which is an astounding achievement. Overall this is an amazing image because it shows an entire galaxy in high resolution that is extremely far away and more than likely harbors some kind of life form due to the very large number of stars, and more than likely planets.