Saturday, November 27, 2010
Observation 11/27/10
Tonight, I went outside to observe the sky at 10:30 pm from my driveway in Sarasota. It is a very cloudy night, and I could not see the moon. But, if I would have been able to see the moon, it should have been in its waning gibbous phase because it was in its full moon phase just a few days ago. I couldn't see any stars or planets either, because of the clouds that were blocking them.
Friday, November 26, 2010
APOD 2.5
For this week's APOD, I chose the picture called Flame Nebula Close-Up, uploaded on November 26, 2010. It is a picture of the big Flame Nebula, also known as NGC-2024. NGC-2024 is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. The nebula appears to be on fire, but it isn't actually on fire.
The nebula appears to have a reddish color, which is because of the glow of hydrogen atoms. The nebula is in the process of forming a star cluster. The hydrogen atoms are on the edge of Giant Orion, which is a molecular cloud about 1,500 light-years away from our solar system. The hydrogen atoms have been stripped of their electrons, or in other words, they have been ionized. By losing electrons, the atoms become positively charged ions. The glow is caused by the the atoms and electrons recombining with each other. In this picture of the nebula, there is a central dark lane of absorbing interstellar dust, which is prominent as a dark silhouette when compared to the hydrogen atoms glowing next to them. This can actually hide the true source of the Flame Nebula's energy from optical telescopes. At infrared wavelengths, young stars can be seen behind the dark areas. The most probable source of ultraviolet radiation and ionization of hydrogen gas in this nebula is a young, massive star in the cluster.
The nebula appears to have a reddish color, which is because of the glow of hydrogen atoms. The nebula is in the process of forming a star cluster. The hydrogen atoms are on the edge of Giant Orion, which is a molecular cloud about 1,500 light-years away from our solar system. The hydrogen atoms have been stripped of their electrons, or in other words, they have been ionized. By losing electrons, the atoms become positively charged ions. The glow is caused by the the atoms and electrons recombining with each other. In this picture of the nebula, there is a central dark lane of absorbing interstellar dust, which is prominent as a dark silhouette when compared to the hydrogen atoms glowing next to them. This can actually hide the true source of the Flame Nebula's energy from optical telescopes. At infrared wavelengths, young stars can be seen behind the dark areas. The most probable source of ultraviolet radiation and ionization of hydrogen gas in this nebula is a young, massive star in the cluster.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
APOD 2.4
For this week's APOD, I chose the picture called Home From Above, uploaded on November 15, 2010. It is a picture of an astronaut looking down on Earth, and the the picture shows the Earth out the windows of the spacecraft. The image was taken in late September by Dr. Dyson, who used to be a lead vocalist in the band Max Q.
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is about 350 kilometers in The International Space Station, or the ISS. The picture was taken through the ISS's Cupola window bay. The ISS was high enough up above Earth that the surface of the Earth appears to be curved. Usually, there could be something blocking the view of the horizon, which is why the curvature of the Earth isn't very pronounced. The moon's curvature, on the other hand, can be seen from the Earth easily because it has a smaller diameter, making the curvature more pronounced. In the picture, through the windows, the Earth appears to be blue and white. The white being seen is Earth's complex cloud structure, and the blue is the oceans that inhabit the Earth. The space station is capable of orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. People living below the ISS are able to look back toward it, seeing a bright light drifting overhead right after sunset. Telescopes use individual frames to construct composite images, and can resolve the overall structure of the space station.
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson is about 350 kilometers in The International Space Station, or the ISS. The picture was taken through the ISS's Cupola window bay. The ISS was high enough up above Earth that the surface of the Earth appears to be curved. Usually, there could be something blocking the view of the horizon, which is why the curvature of the Earth isn't very pronounced. The moon's curvature, on the other hand, can be seen from the Earth easily because it has a smaller diameter, making the curvature more pronounced. In the picture, through the windows, the Earth appears to be blue and white. The white being seen is Earth's complex cloud structure, and the blue is the oceans that inhabit the Earth. The space station is capable of orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. People living below the ISS are able to look back toward it, seeing a bright light drifting overhead right after sunset. Telescopes use individual frames to construct composite images, and can resolve the overall structure of the space station.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Observation 11/17/10
Tonight, I viewed the sky from my driveway in Sarasota at about 8:00 pm. The sky was cloudy and I couldn't see any stars. I saw the moon in the southern portion of the sky, in its waxing gibbous phase. The moon was about 90% of the way illuminated. In the southeast portion of the sky, somewhat close to the moon, I could see the planet Jupiter, shining brightly.
Friday, November 12, 2010
APOD 2.3
For this week's APOD, I chose the photograph called Two Views, Two Crescents. The picture was uploaded on November 11, 2010, but the picture was taken on November 5, 2010. The photo is a picture of two separate scenes, with interesting views of objects from space.
On November 5, 2010, Venus rose just before the Sun did. It was in its crescent phase, and could be viewed through binoculars or a telescope. This planet goes through phases just like our Moon does, as it is fairly close to the Earth. The phases on Venus are the different variations of lighting seen on the planet's surface, much again like the lunar phases. On the same day, the moon was seen in its waxing crescent phase, hugging the eastern horizon in Earth's morning skies. The celestial pictures were taken from two different places. The image on the left was taken from an Alpine Mountain (in Italy), and is a picture of two crescents hovering over the clouds. The two crescents were separated by less than one degree, meaning Venus and the Moon appeared very close to one another. The picture on the left is a telephoto taken from the Alborz Mountains in Iran, and was taken before an earlier sunrise. The tiny crescent of the Moon is apparently sliding towards Venus, in steady skies, with Venus's compact crescent just clearing the mountainous horizon. As of right now, Venus is able to be seen with binoculars on early November mornings.
On November 5, 2010, Venus rose just before the Sun did. It was in its crescent phase, and could be viewed through binoculars or a telescope. This planet goes through phases just like our Moon does, as it is fairly close to the Earth. The phases on Venus are the different variations of lighting seen on the planet's surface, much again like the lunar phases. On the same day, the moon was seen in its waxing crescent phase, hugging the eastern horizon in Earth's morning skies. The celestial pictures were taken from two different places. The image on the left was taken from an Alpine Mountain (in Italy), and is a picture of two crescents hovering over the clouds. The two crescents were separated by less than one degree, meaning Venus and the Moon appeared very close to one another. The picture on the left is a telephoto taken from the Alborz Mountains in Iran, and was taken before an earlier sunrise. The tiny crescent of the Moon is apparently sliding towards Venus, in steady skies, with Venus's compact crescent just clearing the mountainous horizon. As of right now, Venus is able to be seen with binoculars on early November mornings.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Moon Observation 11/11/10
Tonight, I looked at the moon from my driveway in Sarasota at about 8:30 pm. I saw the moon in the southwest direction of the sky, but I could only see a couple of stars. The moon appears to be in the waxing crescent phase of its cycle, and is about 40% of the way illuminated.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Observation 11/7/10--World Wide Star Count
Tonight, I did the World Wide Star Count Activity. I viewed the sky from my driveway in Sarasota at about 9:00 pm. Using the W2U/UCAR Geocoder, I found out that I was viewing from a spot that has a latitude of 27.28899, and a longitude of -82.4683. I could not see the moon from my location, but I did see a fair amount of stars. I was able to distinguish the summer triangle, and from that I could identify the constellation Cygnus. With a level 3 limiting magnitude, I was able to see the four stars that make up this northern cross.
Friday, November 5, 2010
APOD 2.2
For this week's APOD, I chose the picture called Spicules: Jets on the Sun, uploaded on November 2, 2010. It is a picture of thousands of young spicules on the sun. This picture is the highest revolution yet of these solar flux-like tubes.
If one were to imagine a pipe made of a transparent magnetic field as wide as Florida and as long as the Earth, filled with hot gas moving 50,000 kilometers per hour, one would be envisioning one of the thousand spicules on the sun. Spicules are glowing tendrils of hot gas that project from the sun's surface. They last for about five minutes before they vanish, making them hard to study. They start out as tall tubes or rising gas, but they tend to fade back down as the gas reaches its peak, and then falls back down to the Sun. These spicules line the frame in the picture, the solar active region 11092, which crossed the Sun just last month. The spicules seem to converge at the sunspot, located in the lower left of the picture. Scientists still do not know what determines the creation and dynamics of spicules, and they are actively researching the topic.
If one were to imagine a pipe made of a transparent magnetic field as wide as Florida and as long as the Earth, filled with hot gas moving 50,000 kilometers per hour, one would be envisioning one of the thousand spicules on the sun. Spicules are glowing tendrils of hot gas that project from the sun's surface. They last for about five minutes before they vanish, making them hard to study. They start out as tall tubes or rising gas, but they tend to fade back down as the gas reaches its peak, and then falls back down to the Sun. These spicules line the frame in the picture, the solar active region 11092, which crossed the Sun just last month. The spicules seem to converge at the sunspot, located in the lower left of the picture. Scientists still do not know what determines the creation and dynamics of spicules, and they are actively researching the topic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)