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.