APOD 4.1

Time-Lapse Auroras Over Norway

2011 March 28

This APOD is not on a image but actually a video of the auroras over Norway. These auroras in the video were recorded in the north in locations like the border between Norway and Russia. The video shows a time-lapse  movie of auroras in a nature setting. There are scenes of the mountains, trees, and lakes near Kirkenes, Norway. Auroras are formed from emissions of photons in the Earth's upper atmosphere from ionized nitrogen regaining an electron and oxygen and nitrogen atoms returning from an excited state to a ground state. They are ionized or excited by the collision of solar wind particles being accelerated along the Earth's magnetic field lines. When they emit a photon of light or collide with another atom or molecule their excitation energy is lost and the return to a ground state. Oxygen emissions produce green or brownish-red auroras depending on the amount of energy absorbed. Nitrogen emissions produce blue or red auroras. The sun is predicted to be more active the next few years so there should be more auroras occurring, possibly even in locations closer to the equator. I really like this apod because I have only seen images of auroras. Seeing an aurora in action makes it even greater and more beautiful. It was also really cool to see the stars in the background and sometimes a streak of light could be seen traveling across the sky.

Observation (3/29/11)

Time: 6:00 AM
Location: My driveway in Osprey
Weather Conditions: Clear
This morning, I saw the moon. It was a waning crescent and it was bright. It was in the southeast. In the south Antares was visible and so was the rest of Scorpius. Next to Scorpius was Sagittarius.

Observation (3/26/11)

Location: Service Road at Pine View
Time: 7:30 to 9:00 pm
Weather Conditions: Clear

Today was astronomy night. The skies were very clear and there were many stars visible. At first there were no stars and as the sun started to set the first magnitude stars and 2nd magnitude stars appeared and the rest followed. Sirius was the first star visible. Orion was above and his belt and dagger were visible. I could see Betelgeuse and Rigel and Canis Major next to Orion. I could make out the big dog's back, tail, and legs. Up above I could also see Castor and Pollux in the constellation Gemini and to the right of Orion was Taurus. I was able to draw out the bull's horn and in that constellation was the bright star Aldebaren. As the night went on the stars moved from east to west.

APOD 3.9

Boston Moonrise

24 March 2011

This apod was about the full moon last week. What was special about that full moon was during its full moon phase, the moon was also at its perigee. That is the closest point in the moon's orbit to Earth. Because it was at its perigee the moon looked 14% larger and 30% brighter versus a full moon near apogee which is when the moon is farthest from Earth in its orbit. This picture was taken over Boston and you can see the atmospheric effects it has because the moon has a red and orange tint. This is similar to how it looked during the full moon last week which i was able to see. The moon was incredibly bigger and brighter. It had a little tint of yellow and orange but it wasn't as dramatic as this picture. The next time that we can see the moon this large and bright during its full phase when its at its perigee is next year on May 6. This was very cool to see and i hope to see it next year again.

Observation (3/20/11)

Date: 3-20-11
Location: my driveway in Osprey

Yesterday at 7:40 pm I saw the moon in the east. The moon looked really large and it had a orange glow around it. The skies were clear.

When I came back out to look at it again at 10:50 pm the moon had risen higher into the air and its size appeared normal again. It also lost it's orange glow but it seemed to have a small halo around it.

APOD 3.8

Spacecrafts Streak Over Colorado

(2011 March 14)

This picture was taken at Lory State Park, Colorado, USA. This shows the night sky with two arcs across. These two arcs are the lights of the International Space Station (ISS) and the space shuttle Discovery, which had undocked from the ISS a few hours earlier. This apod talks about drifting "stars" and what they actually are. Most likely, if someone sees a slowly drifting "star" it is probably a spacecraft in low Earth orbit that is reflecting back sunlight as it is orbiting Earth. Two of the brightest spacecrafts today are the ISS and a NASA space shuttle when it is in the sky. Iridium communication satellites are also a common cause for these bright drifting objects. Sometimes they may also reflect sunlight or they will flare up when they are re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Websites like heavens-above.com can be a great way to identify these iridium flares and other bright drifting objects that you are unsure of. It was interesting to read of other objects in the sky that you might see besides meteors. The picture also showed a great view of the path of the two objects and the best part was when you move your mouse over the picture it drew out and identified the constellations that were currently in the sky. You could see Perseus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco, Ursa Minor and Major, Camelopardalis, Leo, Leo minor, cancer and lynx. It really helps to have the constellations drawn out to help people who are still learning to see where it is in the night time sky. Even though starlab is a great way to learn the constellations in the sky, it's hard to take what you've seen there and try to find it in the real sky because it often looks different than it does in the lab.

APOD 3.7

Red Snow Moon Over Edmonton

(28 Feb. 2011)

This picture shows the moon rising above Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This is a very nice picture of the red moon, which seems very large compared to the buildings due to the the angular size of the Moon and the angular width of nearby buildings. It was very cold when this picture was taken. It was - 25 C that steam is rising from oil refineries as we can see in the pictures. The moon appears red because the blue light is scattered by Earth's atmosphere leaving the red. The atmosphere can even make the moon seem a little compressed. There is an effect called the Etruscan vase, where the moon looks so compressed that it resembles a vase.

This full moon is called the full Snow Moon. As we have learned how different cultures interpret the stars and moon, many cultures have different names for this moon. Because the heaviest snow usually falls during February, Native American tribes of the north and east often called this month's full moon the Full Snow Moon. There are other tribes that call it the Full Hunger or Little Famine Moon because it was hard to hunt during the winter. The Celt's call it the Moon of Ice and the Chinese call it the Budding Moon because of the coming of spring.  The next full moon in March is called the Full Worm Moon because the warm temperature will thaw the ground and the earthworms appear calling back the robins. Other names for it is the Full Crow moon because cawing crows signaled the end of winter. It was interesting to read about the different name for the full moons and where the names originated. It really showed how cultures were influenced by the skies.