Observation (12/15/10)

On Wednesday morning at about 5:45 am, at my drive way in Osprey, I saw the Geminid Meteor Shower. I was only outside for about 15 minutes but I was able to see 3 streaks of light above in the north near Ursa Major. The sky was very clear and I could also see Jupiter in the east. It was very bright, and in the southwest I could see Orion and Betelgeuse. This was my second time seeing a meteor shower and it was very exciting every time I was able to spot a streak of light. 

APOD 2.6

A Twilight Occultation (December 10, 2010)

This picture showed a crescent moon that was one day old on Monday, December 6. The moon had just passed in front of Mars which can be seen as a little point of light near the right edge of the moon. This is also known as the occultation of Mars. This picture was taken from De Soto, Kansas. As amazing as this is, the even that people will be looking forward to this month is the total lunar eclipse on the night of December 20 to the 21st. When the moon is completely in Earth's shadow, the moon's surface will appear red because the surface will still be illuminated by the sunlight, reddened and refracted into the dark shadow region by a dusty atmosphere. This will be a wonderful thing to see because I have never seen a lunar eclipse before. Astronomy is a great subject to study because you an actually go outside and see what you've learned.

APOD 2.5

November 30, 2010

This astronomy picture is not as closely related to astronomy as the other pictures but it still has to do with science. This picture shows a supercell in Glasgow, Montana, USA. A supercell is a really large storm with rotating upward winds. These can often become tornadoes with rain and even hail. This is one of the more dangerous and severe storms. However, this particular did little damage and lasted only a few hours. I was not aware that there were storms like these. I only imagined the typical tornadoes that look like the swirling cyclones. I was surprised to see one this big and to know it cause minor damage because of its largeness. These are normally common in the plains which is why this supercell took place in this field in Montana. It looks amazing but it would have probably been terrifying if one was actually there.

APOD 2.4

"Frosted Leaf Orion" (November 17, 2010)

This picture shows the night sky from Earth from Japan. It really illustrates how much living in the city affects my viewing of the stars. From this location away from all the city and the lights, so many stars can be seen. At my home, where I usually make my observations, I would never be able to get the view that this photographer got in Japan.

In this photograph you can see, the constellation Orion. You can clearly see the stars that make up his belt and dagger. You can also see Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, a little blue cluster in the sky, known as the Pleiades open star cluster, and Betelgeuse, the red giant. And, the larger streak that is seen in the left of the photo is a meteor from the Leonid meteor shower. Recently we have learned in star lab that the Pleiades open star cluster is the most famous star cluster on the sky because it can be seen without binoculars even in the city. However, the thing that most surprised me was Betelgeuse. It is a red giant, but I didn't realize how much of a giant it was. Apparently if it was put at the center of our Solar System it would extend to the orbit of Jupiter. That is huge considering the relative sizes and the distances between the planets that we have learned about in class. It still hard to comprehend how large these stars and planets can be.

Great World Wide Star Count and Observations (11/12/10)

Yesterday, (November 12, 2010) at about 8:06 pm outside on my driveway, I located cygnus in the west. The skies were clear and I could see the stars that made up the endpoints of the cross and the star at the center. It seemed to match chart 3 that was shown on the website for the Great World Wide Star Count.

Also at 6:10 am on the same day on my driveway, I was able to see Venus in the east. It was very bright. The skies were clear and the sky was starting to get bright and not too many stars were visible due to the rising sun.

APOD 2.3

NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula (November 12, 2010)

This picture shows the Iris Nebula, which is located in the constellation Cepheus. It is named the Iris Nebula because of its resemblance to flowers. The center of the "flower" is a bright shining light, surrounded by blue petals. The center is actually a hot, young star, and the blueish colors come from the scattering of white light off dust particles that survived the stars birth. This scattering is similar to Rayleigh scattering, which is responsible for the color of the sky on Earth. This also explains why the Iris Nebula is a reflection nebula versus an emission nebula. Reflection nebulae because they cannot create their own light and scatters the light of other stars nearby. Emission nebulae are clouds of hot gas that are hot enough to emit light themselves. This APOD was interesting because I was not aware of the different types of nebulae and I did not know that some nebulae could not create light themselves. I thought all nebulae created their own light. It was also interesting to read about the experiment in "The Feynman Lectures On Physics" which explained in detail why the scattering of light created the blue color we see.

Observations

Date: November 5, 2010
Time: 6:10 AM
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Weather: A few clouds but the stars were still visible

Today when I went out this morning the moon was not visible, but I was again able to spot Orion above in the south/southwest. Looking at the other stars in the sky, i tried to find other constellations and i was surprised to be able to identify Ursa Major. It was in the north, and it certainly was larger than Ursa Minor.

APOD 2.2

Night Lights (November 4, 2010)

This picture was taken from the International Space Station. I have seen what a lot of the stars and nebulas looked like, so it was interesting to see what Earth looked like from space. This picture was taken from 220 miles above Earth. In this picture I can see the the Gulf coast and where some of the major cities are like New Orleans and Houston. Following the bright lights, you can even see the central US highway I55. They Earth is covered with all these lines and dots of light that we have created. It puts things into perspective because I never really knew how much light we use. It seems as if the Earth is constantly glowing and there is no where to escape all the light. 

Also, reading about the International Space Station, November 2nd marked the first decade of  continuous human presence in space on board the International Space Station. This was surprising because I didn't even realize that there were people living in space for that long. Some of the people that have been on the station stayed up there anywhere from a month to 150 days. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live out in space for that long in a completely different environment. And from the pictures that are on their website, it looked like is was a tight space to move in, but apparently it is as large as a 5 bedroom home, with two bathrooms, a personal gym. It's amazing that they were able to build something like that and put it into space and be able to live in it.

APOD 2.1

This week, I am looking at "Ultraviolet Andromeda" (October 27, 2010).

This picture is the highest resolution image ever made of the Andromeda Galaxy at ultraviolet wavelengths. It was taken by NASA's satellite, Swift. Swift is usually used to search for distant cosmic explosions. But with the 330 images that it took from May 25-July 26, 2008, it was able to form this amazing image. Using those pictures, an undergrad student at the University of Maryland at College Park who worked with Stefan Immler, a research scientist on the Swift team, was able to process all of that data to make the image that is seen here after 10 weeks of hard work. In this mosaic, it reveals about 20,000 ultraviolet sources in the Andromeda Galaxy, especially hot, young stars and dense star clusters. Studies show that tides raised by the many small satellite galaxies in orbit around M31 help increase interactions withing gas clouds that makes all of these new stars.

I really like this picture because it shows the entire galaxy and when you move your cursor over the picture, you can see the same galaxy in optical light. Compared with the image in optical light, the ultraviolet image appeals more to me just because it's purple. It has more of a fantasy look about it and the ring around it is more defined. But the optical image has more glare from the center and a white haze around the stars so it's a little harder to see them. I was also amazed that this picture was made out of 330 images put together. It turned out very nice and you can get an idea of how wide it actually is by the length of the picture (220,000 light-years across).

APOD 1.8

Vista with NGC 2170 (October 15, 2010)

This picture of the day is in the constellation Monoceros. The picture was taken by VISTA (a survey telescope) in near-infrared light.. It shows the bright stars surrounding  the dust and clouds which is where star formation and other young stars are hidden from view. This was interesting because I wasn't sure exactly what a Monoceros was. I thought it was some terrifying Greek mythological creature, but this constellation is actually modern. I learned that a monoceros was associated with a unicorn and had probably come from descriptions of a rhinoceros. I usually knew where most of the constellation's names came from but this was one of the few that I was unsure of, so it was interesting to read about the origin of it's name and what it was. This picture also relates very well to the chapter on telescopes that we just read in class. Seeing a video of the comparison between pictures taken with visible and infrared light gave me a better sense of why astronomers would want to study space in the different spectrums. The pictures that were taken in visible light had a lot of glare and twinkling from the stars. The colors weren't very bright either. With the infrared picture, the glare was greatly reduced so it was easier to get a view of the background and the star-forming region could be seen as orange/red with the colorful streaks coming out. This made me realize what a difference the sectrum made.

Observation 4

Date: Thursday, October 14, 2010
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Time: 9:10 PM

During this observation, the weather was very clear with few clouds. I saw the summer triangle directly above me. I also saw the moon in the east. It was a very bright half moon.

APOD 1.7

Moonquakes Suprisingly Common (Oct. 10, 2010)

This picture shows Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon next to a lunar seismometer. Apparently moonquakes, which are similar to earthquakes, are very common on the moon. Over the five years from 1972-1977, there have been a recorded 28 moonquakes. There are typically four types of moonquakes: deep moonquakes, vibrations, thermal quakes, and shallow moonquakes. The deep moonquakes occur 700 km below the surface and are probably caused by tides. The vibrations are caused by the impacts from meteorites. The thermal quakes are caused when the crust expands because of the sun after two weeks of deep freeze lunar nights. Shallow moonquakes are usually 20-30 km below the surface. I thought that the first 3 were major ones, but it turns out that the shallow moonquakes are actually more serious than the previous 3. This is because the shallow moonquakes tend to last longer. They describe it like hitting a tuning fork. It will keep going on and on. It usually lasts for 10 min compared to the half a minute quakes that we feel on Earth. It is amazing that the quakes can last this long. I wasn't even aware that the moon had quakes. From the typical pictures we see of the moon, the moon looks so peaceful and quiet. I was suprised to know that the moon had some similar quakes as we do on Earth and how intense they can really be. I have been through earthquakes that have lasted several seconds, I can't imagine enduring a 10 min one.

Biography of James Gregory (1638-1675)

James Gregory was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He was born near Aberdeen, Scotland in November 1638. He was the youngest son of John Gregory, a minister, and Janet Anderson. As a child he was introduced to geometry by his mother. After his father's death in 1651, his oldest brother, David, sent him to Aberdeen for grammar school, and eventually he would later attend Marischal College there. Encouraged by his brother, who was also mathematics fanatic, James dedicated himself to studying mathematical optics and astronomy.

In 1662, looking for more scientific opportunities, he decided to travel to London. There in London he would publish Optica promota a year later. In this book, he describes the first practical reflecting telescope, which was one of his big contributions to astronomy. Now called the Gregorian telescope, it was revolutionary because it used a combination of mirrors and lenses which made it more effective than previous telescopes using just lenses or just mirrors. Not actually able to built the telescope himself he tried to hire Reive, the leading optician, to build it for him. Unsatisfied, he gave up on the idea of building it. It would successfully be built ten years later by Hooke, who heard of Reive’s failed attempt. Optica promota would eventually earn him some influential friends including Robert Moray, interim president of the Royal Society in 1660.

Continuing to gain scientific knowledge, Gregory then traveled to Italy to study geometry, mechanics, and astronomy under Stefano degli Angeli in Padua. There he would publish two more works, Vera circuli et hyperbolae quadratura (1667) and Geometriae pars universalis (1668). Geometriae pars universalis is really the first attempt to write a text-book on what we would eventually call calculus. After publishing these he returned to London, where he was elected to the Royal Society despite implications from Huygens that Gregory had stole his results and published them in Vera criculi et hyperbolai quadratura as his own. Gregory then published Exercitaiones Geometricai to rebut Huygens.

In late 1668, Gregory presented some of his papers to the Society on various topics including astronomy, gravitation, and mechanics. Most likely with Moray’s influence in the society, Charles II was persuaded to make the Regius Chair of Mathematics so Gregory could continue his mathematical research. He was nominated to this new chair of mathematics at St. Andrews in Scotland. During that time he married a young widow, Mary Burnet, in 1669. They would have two daughters and a son.

Around 1671, Gregory discovered Taylor’s theorem. His friend Collins wrote to Gregory saying that Newton has found a similar result. Remembering his dispute with Huygens, Gregory wanted to wait until Newton published his results first to avoid another dispute. He decided to not go any further with this work out of respect for Isaac Newton.

At St. Andrews, the upper room of the library had a clear view to the south which was a great place for Gregory to put up his telescope. In 1674, he worked with colleagues in Paris to make simultaneous observations of an eclipse of the moon. With this, he was able to find out the longitude for the first time even though he had already started to work on an observatory. In 1673, the university permitted him to purchase instruments for the observatory on the condition that he would have to organize collections for funds to build it himself. He would leave St. Andrews a year later and go to Edinburgh due to the prejudice he felt against him at the university.

            In Edinburgh, Gregory would become the first person to hold the Chair of Mathematics there. However, this would be short lived because he would pass away one year later. His death was very sudden. One night when he was observing the moons of Jupiter to his students with his telescope, he suffered a stroke and became blind. He would die a few days later at only the age of 36.

Over time we can finally see just how brilliant he was. He anticipated Newton in discovering the interpolation formula and the general binomial theorem. He discovered Taylor expansions more than 40 years before Taylor discovered it himself. He had solved Kepler’s famous problem of how to divide a semi circle by a straight line through a given point of the diameter in a given ratio. He gave one of the earliest examples of a comparison test for convergence, which would essentially be Cauchy’s ratio test. And he also gave a definition of the integral which was pretty much the same definition Riemann would give later. James Gregory was indeed a great man of science.

Works Cited

"Gregory (More Correctly Gregorie), James." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 524-530. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Roberston. "James Gregory." MacTutor History of Mathematics. JOC/EFR, Sept. 2000. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Gregory.html>.

APOD 1.6

"Io in True Color" (October 3,2010)

This astronomy picture was taken by the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995-2003. What makes this picture interesting is that, it was taken so this is how Io would look if we were able to see it. Io is one of Jupiter's moons. Io has many volcanoes all over its surface. This is why the moon is yellow. The sulfur and molten silicate rock that are created by the erupting volcanoes have a yellowy color which is why Io is yellow. The many volcanoes on the moon are mostly cause by the friction from the tidal force between Io and Jupiter's other moons. This friction heats up the molten rock and inside of the moon which causes the volcanoes to explode. Erupting volcanoes are very common on this moon. Just looking at the picture, I believe the many black spots on the moon are where there are or were recent volcanic activity. The constant eruption and creation of sulfur and silicate rock makes the moon look very beaten up, scarred with the unappealing yellowish color. I did not know that volcanoes could be cause by the tidal gravity between other moons. This just shows how strong gravity can really be, but I can see how eruptions are so common because I can easily relate it to my experience with ceramics. If we make a sculpture, we have to hollow it out. If we don't make an escape hole to let the hot air escape when it's in the kiln, the trapped air will get hotter than the air outside and will expand causing the piece to explode. It doesn't really require a lot to cause an eruption.

APOD 1.5

The astronomy picture of the day that I chose to read about was Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tidal Tail (9/26/10). This picture shows the Tadpole Galaxy. This galaxy does indeed look like a tadpole because of the tail of stars, dust, and gas that forms it. It is thought that the tail was formed from a close encounter with another intruder galaxy. When the intruder galaxy crossed in front of the Tadpole galaxy, their gravitational forces drew them together and the stars, dust, and gas was drawn out from the intruder galaxy as it was slung around behind the Tadpole Galaxy. Its tail of stars is about 280 thousand light years long! Eventually though, they say it will lose its tail as it gets older (just like a frog) because the stars clusters will become small satellites to the galaxy.

This is interesting because it showed how galaxies can interact with each other and what could happen from that interaction. I was not aware that galaxies could even move like that. What resulted from these two galaxies was merely a drawing out of some star clusters. In other examples that they have shown, the larger galaxy could have absorb the smaller one into itself over a period of time. I also liked the fact at how appropriately the galaxy was named because it did indeed look like a tadpole and it will become like a frog when it loses its tail.

Observation 3 (9/30/10)

Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2010
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Direction: Directly Above
Time: 6:10 A.M.

During this observation when I had to take my dogs out, I saw the moon directly above me. There were a few clouds, but over all, the sky was very clear. The moon seemed to be in its third quarter phase. It was very bright and when I saw the moon I noticed that there was a large ring of light surrounding it.

Sources for Astronomer: James Gregory (Gregorie)

Works Cited

"Gregory (More Correctly Gregorie), James." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 524-530. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.

 

"James Gregory." MacTutor History of Mathematics. JOC/EFR, Sept. 2000. Web. 30 Sept. 2010. <http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Gregory.html>.

APOD 1.4

This week I chose the picture of the day on September 19, 2010 on the "Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula". This picture shows the molecular clouds in the Carina Nebula. The clouds look like smoke and floating phantoms. The high contrast of the light and colors add to the eerie feel of the picture. The clouds are actually formed by the molecular dust and gases in space. The shapes of the clouds are actually influenced by the other stars in the nebula. The energetic light and winds that the nearby stars give off eat away at the clouds and that is what gives them their shapes. If they are left alone long enough they can form into stars or planets.

They tend to form stars or planets because of their low temperatures and high density. They also have their own gravitational force, and when it's force to collapse the cloud is greater than the outward force pushing to prevent it, a star can be formed.

I found this very interesting because the picture looked great itself, and I never knew where stars came from and how they were made. It was very interesting to read about the molecular clouds and how they were involved in forming the stars. I also liked the idea that the clouds could be sculpted into different shapes by the light and winds from other stars. It really does make the universe seem like a work of art.

Observation 2 (9/22/10)

Date: September 22, 2010
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Direction: East
Time: 10:10 P.M.

Tonight, there were some clouds but it was mostly clear. There were not any stars visible. But I was able to see the moon again. It was a full moon in the east and near the bottom right of the moon was a single bright dot. I believe it was the planet Jupiter. 

Observation 1 (9/22/10)

Date: September 22, 2010
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Direction: East/Southeast
Time: 6:10 A.M.

This morning I saw Orion. This is pretty much the first constellation my older sister taught me to identify because it was easy to spot the 3 stars that made up his belt and the 4 stars that made up his shoulder and knees. It was a pretty clear morning, there were a few clouds, but the stars were very bright. Off to the west/southwest the moon was visible. It was a full moon and it was surrounding by clouds.

APOD 1.3

This week, I chose the picture "Aurora Over Norway" (2010 September 20). The auroras are caused by the magnetic field around the Earth. The field lines go into and out of the Earth around the Earth's magnetic poles. There are also electrons and positive ions in the the surrounding magnetic field. Those charged particles move along the magnetic field lines which are like wires. When they accelerate along these lines into the upper atmosphere they collide with gas atoms. This causes the atoms to give off light. Another component of auroras is solar winds. The Sun's atmosphere is made of particles that are constantly boiling off the Sun and streaming outward at very high speeds. The Sun's own magnetic field and particles are called the "solar wind". When the wind pushes on the the Earth's magnetic field, the energy from the solar wind is constantly building up in the magnetosphere , and this energy powers auroras.

This is very interesting because I never knew how auroras were formed. And just from the picture itself, I never really took the time to look at auroras even though they are often in our textbooks with explanations. I never thought that the auroras were this bright with these many colors, and even though the sky is all lit up, the stars can still be seen. It's amazing what you can see in the sky.

APOD 1.2

This week my post is on the pic of the day on Sept. 5, 20101: GRO J1655-40: Evidence for a Spinning Black Hole. It is an image of a black hole that is spinning and at the center is a swirling whirlpool of hot gas. The spinning of the gas is caused by x-rays that the holes emit, but they also pulsate periodically which is why it flickers. Still, this is still being researched.
Also, I found this image very interesting. Even though it was created from someone else's idea of how a black hole should look, I never imagined black holes to have any color or even spin. I had the generic idea that it was literally just a big black hole. Following up on the links, I enjoyed reading more into what a black hole actually is the the answers and explanations of FAQs about black holes like "What would happen if I were to be sucked into a black hole?" Depending on the size of the hole, one would ultimately feel stretched out until you were ripped apart due to the tidal forces. Even though this is expected I always figured that things would appear different from the inside of the hole but apparently, things don't appear too much different besides a little distortion. Reading about this pic of the day really gave me a better understanding of what black holes are like.

APOD 1.1

The Bubble Nebula was NASA's astronomy picture of the day 2 Sept. 2010.

It actually does look like a bubble floating in space. The colors that form the bubble surrounding the star inside is caused by the star's winds and intense radiation blowing the material outward. Another example that is created by this process is Thor's Emerald Helmet. It is a colorful cosmic cloud that was created by the winds blowing from the star within. The stellar winds of the Bubble Nebula can go as fast as 4 million mph, and the nebula is 10 light years in diameter and is about 7100 light years from Earth. This picture was taken from Mount Wilson Observatory in Mount Wilson, California. It's amazing that they have the technology to take pictures this clear and colorful from so far away. It's also interesting that the winds can create so many different colors just from one star.