Enceladus looms

This is a picture of one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus. The white line at the bottom of the picture is sunlight pouring over Saturn's darkened surface. This light from the sun also lights only a small crescent of Saturns moon as well. This moon has a diameter of about 500 km. By looking at the illuminated part of the moon in this picture, one can see water vapor and ice being ejected from fissures along the surface.These fissures have used the nickname of "tiger stripes" for these fissures along it's surface. Astronomers refer to the ejections from the fissures as plumes. These ice plumes spewing from the surface could be evidence that there is water on the surface of Enceladus. This image was taken from the Cassini spacecraft, only 6,000 kilometers away from Enceladus (which was actually closer than Saturn is to it's moon).

Zooniverse

Over the past four weeks, i have done work with Old Weather as well as MOONZOO on zooniverse.org. It is interesting to do all of the detailed work that astronomers and scientists would do. Although the work isnt always the most interesting, it is vital in making important observations about our Eath and our universe. I have spent about 8 hours altogether in class working on zooniverse.

The Southern Cliff in the Lagoon

For months now I have been writing M8 and  M20 in the miscellaneous part on my constellation quizzes, yet I never knew what they actually looked like. This picture shows M8, which is also called the lagoon nebula. This is a star forming region. In these clouds of dust, many newborn stars are observed. Along with these stars are Herbig Hare objects. These objects are produced by newly formed stars as powerful jets. This is the result of the heat produced by star formation. This nebula is found in the constellation Saggitarius. This colorful picture is not the true color of what this nebula would look like to human eyes, as the image was taken in the infrared. This gorgeous image was captured by the Gemini South Telescope. It is certaintly not a picture of the entire nebula, but rather, a small portion of it.

A starry Night of Iceland

This breathtaking imsge was captured in Iceland, and to no suprise won a photography award for being so beautiful. This is a picture of the largest glacial lake in Iceland, known as the Jokulsarlon.The bright green lights above and reflection off of this lake are called auroral rings. These auroral rings are the result of the collision of charged particles in Earth's atmosphere.This phenomena takes places in the ionosphere, usually at night or around dusk. These lights are directed by Earth's magnetic field and typically occur within polar regions. Amazingly, these auroras can also be seen out in space, and have been found to also occur on planets! In the backround of these auroras, the andromeda galaxy can be seen along with the Milky Way and the Pleiades. As we near the solar maximum, we will experience an increased number of these beautiful auroras.

Shadow of a Martion Robot

This picture doesnt even seem real to me, it could be the cover of a science fiction book! However, this piture is very real as it is the shadow of a robot that was sent to Mars to collect samples and research the red planet. This robot is named Opportunity, and its sister robot is named Spirit, both sent to study Mars. These robots are responsible for many stunning pictures of the surface of Mars and its surroundings in space. Also because of these robots, evidence has been found of water once existing on Mars. The shadow of the robot is being cast toward a crater named the endeavour. The opportunity still continues to help researches gain a greater knowledge of this expansive crater. However, the Spirit is no longer in operation as it has been stuck somewhere on the rocky surface of Mars.

Wonder and Mystery above Chili

This beautiful image shows a wide stretch on the horizon. Included in this horizon are 5 extremely large telescopes canopied by a myriad of stars and astronomical objects. To the far left, one might notice that the bottom of the picture is glowing a rather orange color, although the rest f the sky indicates that it is past sunset. This light is not a sunset but is rather referred to as zodiacal light. This is formed when light reflects off of dust particles in the milky way. Above this zodaical light, Venus can be observed, shining brightly. The reason Venus shines is also a result of the reflection of sunlight. In the middle of the picture, a large arc of our milky way can be seen, and it consumes most of this image. However, this is just one of manyy branches in the enormous galaxy that we live in. Two other galaxies besides our own can also be viewed in this picture, located just under the wide arch of our milky way galaxy. These galaxies are named the small magellanic and the large magellanic galaxies. Many constellations can be seen in this picture including Orion, Gemini, and Centaurus. The orange dot above one of the telescopes is actually the moon, as this picture was taken during a total lunar eclipse.

Unexpected flares from the crab nebula.

It has been found that the crab nebula puts out flares that dramatically increase its brightness. These flares last only a few days, and have been found to be flares of gamma rays.Objects in the sky that emit a substantial amount of gamma rays are very rare and few are able to be observed from Earth. Because this nebula is a good source of gamma rays, and can be studied from Earth, it is a major subject of research to many astronomers.Because gamma rays have such intense amounts of energy, these flares increase the crab nebula's brightness to five times what is normal.One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that there is a very powerful pulsar at the center of the crab. This would indicate that the crab nebula is a nuetron star with a rotation period of 1/30 th of a second. This an extremely fast rotation for a pulsar. This pulsar has the mass of the sun jammed into a space that is only 12 to 18 miles across,making it extremely dense.

Three arches above Utah

This picture shows three different types of arches, two on Eath, and one not. The arch of our milky way can be seen next to the two arches made from sandstone. The type of galaxy that we live in is a type of spiral galaxy. Because of this, we can see the bands surrounding us in our night sky. These bands surrounding us are a part of the central disk. Millions of stars can also be seen in this picture. So manny can be seen because this picture was taken in the middle of the dessert where there is no other light to take away from the luminosity of the stars in the night sky. Such a view as this could not be seen in a light up city. The sand arches in this picture are formed by erosion of water agaisnt the rock. This breathtaking arch composed of sand is about 150 feet long, and about 90 feet tall.The dark objects that can be seen in the backround of the picture are actually monoliths that were formed in crevices on the floor of an ocean that evaporated millions of years ago. This stunning picture was taken in Utah, which is close to Colorado, which is where i was born! Since today is my birthday i thought i would add that in :)

Astronomer: Gerry Nuegebauer

Gerry Nuegebauer was born in Gottingen, Germany in 1932. Gerry Nuegenbauer obtained his love for space from his father, Otto Nuegebauer, who was a mathemetician and an astronomer. He also found himself married to a scientist, Marcia Nuegebauer, who conducted important research on solar wind. Gerald graduated from Cornell University in 1954 with his A.B in physics. He then continued to attend Caltech in 1960 and graduated with his Ph.D in physics. Shortly after graduating from Cltech, he became the professor of physics there and was named the chairman of the Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy. He also served in the military, working in the jet propulsion laboratory. A talented man of science, Nuegenbauer found his specialty in infrared studies of objects in space. His work contributed greatly to the infrared study of planets, as well as galaxies(including the Milky way) and stars. With help, he built a telescope that allowed him to complete a two-micron star survery in the infrared. This survery of the skies led to the discovery of thousands of new objects that could not be seen before. With his student, Erick Becklin, he discovered an object in the Orion Nebula that is now known to be the brightest object in the sky(following the sun of course). This source of enourmous infrared radiation was named the Becklin-Nuegebauer object. He also became a part of the team observing theIRAS, standing for Infrared Astronomy Satellite. This was an amazing opportunity for him, as this was the first infrared observatory in orbit. Thousands of new objects were detected by this satellite, including galaxies. Nuegenbauer was the first to produce an infrared image of the galactic center. He was also the director of the Palomar observatory and helped to actually build and design an observatory in Hawaii named the W.M Keck Observatory. At the W.M Keck observatory, he observed with others the stars being sucked into the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Other observations that Nuegebauer participated in included missions to various planets by the Spitzer as well as the Hubble, along with the Infrared Space Observatory. Gerry Nuegebauer was extremely succesful as an astronomer, as he not only conducted vital research, but also made many important discoveries in space. His many awards for his efforts include winning the Rumford Prize,the Herschel medal, the Bruce Medal, two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement medals, and the 1985 Space Science award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was named California scientist of the year in 1986 and was elected into multiple elite scientific societies. Gerry Nuegebauer is still alive today and enjoys the legacy of contributing great amounts of knowledge to our understanding of the universe.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Neugebauer
http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Neugebauer/Neugebauer.html
http://www.nndb.com/people/061/000171545/

zooniverse

Over the last two weeks, i have been working on zooniverse's old weather helping scientists to keep old records of past weather changes on ships. This records the wind, sea level, temperature, etc. Often the handwriting is difficult to read and recording this data via computer facilitates scientists researching weather patterns in the past. I have spent 4 hours on this oevr the past 2 weeks

Zooniverse

over the past two weeks, i have spent about 4 hours working with Old Weather on Zooniverse.org.

It's raining on Titan

It has been discovered that there is a methane rain on Titan. Obviously this is not a real picture but it is a very cool illustration by a very talented artist about an awesome phonemnonnn. Titan is in fact, Saturn's largest moon. These rain storms are seasonal, and have been found to be the cause of the darkening on Titan's surface. These showers were seen by the Cassini spacecraft,. along the moon's equatorial regions. Not only is there methane rain on Titan's surface, but there is also methane lakes and rivers! The recent weather on Titan is comparable to the weather experienced in our tropics. The temperature on Titan is -290 degrees fareignhight, so obviously this rain is very different from the rain we experience on our home planet, Earth. In the nitrogen thick atmosphere of Titan, lighting from clouds could also be a possiblity, yet there is no direct evidence we have found to support this.

Observation

On Saturday, March 26, I attended Astronomy night at Pine view school. At 9:30 I could identify the constellations Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Canopus in Carina, Canis Major, Ursa Major, Leo, and Capella clearly in the sky. Through a telescope, I could see the many stars that make up the Pleiades star cluster. At 10:00, through an even larger telescope, I observed Sauturn, and could see the shape that its rings made! This was an absolutely amazing experience for me and i really enjoyed it.

Spacecrafts streak over Colorado

On rare occasions, spacecraft can be seen drifting over Earth. They are usually most visible in the night sky as they reflect back sunlight to us. These spacecrafts circle Earth every 90 minutes. When a spacecraft is visible to us, it is usually about 2,000 km above Earth or lower. This is defined as a low orbit. You can usually tell if a bright object in the sky is a spacecraft or a star because a spacecraft will change brightness as it moves across the sky and reflects light from different orientations above Earth. Three types of spacecraft that are commonly seen above Earth are the ISS (International Space Station), the NASA space shuttle, and Iridium Communication Devices. The two that can be seen in this picture are the ISS and Discovery, the NASA space shuttle. The path of the ISS crosses over the constellations Cassiopeia, Camelopardalis, Lynx, and Leo.The path of Discovery crosses over only Leo, but is located directly above Cepheus, Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, and Leo Minor. I especially found this picture interesting because of the beautiful landscape of Colorado, which is where i was born.

Iridescent clouds

In this striking image of clouds, iridescent clouds, formed by diffraction, can be seen. This difraction occurs when a cloud is very thin and is composed of droplets uniform in size. The colors created by this diffraction can be seen from the entire color spectrum, are usually very delicate. These iridescent clouds are formed most commonly in lenticular clouds. They can also be seen is altocumulus and cirrocumulus clouds, as well as in trails left by rockets or airplanes. They are usually seen in clouds that are newly forming, due to the similar age and size of droplets that make up the cloud. This picture was taken in Canada, from the Top of the World Highway.

Cooling Nuetron Star

Cassiopeia A, is now a supernova after its violent explosive death. The fact that Cassiopeia A is now a supernova tells us that it was an extremely massive star during its lifetime. The light from this massive explosion reached Earth 330 years ago. This is because this supernova lies at a distance of 11,000 light years away from Earth. The extremely dense, collapsed core is a nuetron star, and it is classified as a white dwarf while it is cooling. Once it cools completely it will be a black dwarf. The rapid cooling of this star has made astronomers come to beleive that this core may be secreting a nuetron superfluid. This stunning image is an X ray/optical composite image.

Gibbous Europa

This picture shows a familiar moon phase on an unfamiliar moon. One of Jupiter's moons, Europa, is shown here in the gibbous phase. Having a diameter of 3,121.6 kilometers, it is the 15th largest body in our solar system. As can be seen in this photograph, the surface of this moon is very chaotic, covered in deep cracks and dark spots along with domes and various raised regions.These strange regions on the surface are thought by scientists to be the result of convective motions taking place in the interior of Europa. The surface of this moon is covered in ice, and has a temperature of about -260 degrees F. Suprisingly, it's atmosphere is composed of mainly oxygen. However, this is a different type of oxygen than the kind we have here on Earth. Galileo spacecraft, which is responsible for this picture, has confirmed that there is an ocean located deep underneath the surface of Europa. It is beleived that this deep ocean may be home to some living organsisms. On Earth, we would call these organisms that might possibly live there extremophiles. Extremophiles are organisms that can thrive under extrememly severe or averse conditions. This mysterious ocean is a place that is hoped to be more thoroughly researched in the future.

Sauturn's Hyperion

Hyperion is definitely one of the oddest of Saturn's moons. It was discovered in 1849 by William Cranch Bond, George Phillips Bond, and William Lassel. This moon has an unusul sponge like texture caused by the many deep craters and its surface appears to be many different colors. Its low density tells us, however, that it is mainly composed of water-ice and very little rock.The variation in color is said to be the result of  the differering chemical makeup of the surface. At the bottom of the deep craters is said to be an "unknown dark material" This picture was taken from the Cassini orbiter, sent to photograph Hyperion and help scientists to find out more about what lies at the bottom of these deep craters.

Ice Fishing for Cosmic Neutrinos

This IceCube Nuetrino Observatory is located in the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station in Antartica. This telescope consists of thousands of DOMs, or, Digitaln Optical Modules.  These DOMs contain photomultiplier tubes and a computer that sends data received to the counting house. DOMS are lowered into the ground as deep as  2,450 meters. These holes are drilled into the ice using a hot water drill. This neutrino telescope is looking to detect the point sources of nuetrinos which could possibly tell us where the highest cosmic energy rays are originated. This telescope is very skilled not in detecting the number of netrinos, but the few neutrinos that it does detect is in very high resolution.

Heber Curtis

Heber Curtis was an American astronomer born June 27, 1872  in Muskegon, Michigan. The first attended the University of Michigan . However, his education at this university had very little to do with astronomy. The degrees he earned at this school was in classical languages. He then moved on to teach Latin at the Napa College. It was at this college that he discovered his penchant for astronomy by looking at the reflecting telescope that was held there. In 1895 he married Mary Raper and had four children. In 1897 Curtis switched his teaching profession over to being an astronomy and mathematics instructor. In 1902 he attended the eclipse in Georgia where he met other astronomers who encouraged him to continue his astronomical research at the University of Virginia. It was there that he recieved his PHD in astronomy. He was then easily hired at the Lick Observatory where he continued the research started by Keeler on nebulae. Heber Curtis worked at the Lick Observatory for 18 years.In 1917 Heber Curtis observed the nova S Adromadae within the Great Adromeda Nebula. It was there that he studied in depth and wrote a research paper regarding spiral nebulae. It was the presentation of this paper to the National Academy of Sciences that started the Great Debate that he is most famous for. In this debate,  Curtis argued that spiral nebulae were a seperate group of stars outside of the Milky Way galaxy. On the opposing side of the great debate was Harlow Shapley, who beleived that spiral nebulae were actually located inside of the Milky Way Galaxy. Later it would be found out that by Edwin Hubble that Curtis was in fact correct in his argument. This also proved that there are galaxies outside of our Milky Way. Shapely was correct , however in a different aspect of the argument that the Sun is not even close to being the center of the Universe. He ws also correct in his assertion that nebulae orbit the milky way much more frequently than beleived by Curtis. Other great accomplishmments of Heber Curtis in the field of stronomy included; becoming the president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1912 and in becoming the director of the Allegheny observatory in 1920. He also took part in the development of the McMath- Hulbert observatory on Lake Angelus. After a full life of mny accomplishments, Heber Curtis died in 1942 of a severe thyroid disease.

Astronomer sources

http://www.astro.virginia.edu/research/observatories/26inch/history/curtis.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Debate

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/Curtis.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heber_Doust_Curtis

http://apod.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/debate_1920.html

http://www.astrosociety.org/pubs/mercury/30_03/seasons.html

http://incubator.rockefeller.edu/?p=266

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/147181/Heber-D-Curtis

Observation

On sunday, February 20, I attended the stargaze at Pine View Scool. There I viewed the pleiades star cluster through binoculars. I also identified Orion and it's belt, along with Beteguese and Rigel. I could also see the horsehead nebula through a pair of binoculars. I  identified Sirius along with Canis Major, the contellation that it is located in. I could make out Lepus faintly below Orion, next to Canis major. I could also see Taurus, above orion, as well as Auriga and Gemini, high in the sky. Canopis could also be seen low in the horizon, shining brightly. I also viewed Jupiter and its moons through the telescope that Mr. Percival set up for us :) It was really fascinating because I could faintly make out the coloration of Jupiter and some of its swirling storms that cover its surface. It was also really cool to see the moons that I have learned about so clearly.

DOUBLE RAINBOW ALL THE WAY

When viewing a rainbow, the sun must always be always behind you. However, in this breathtaking image, composed of five different photographs, we can see the 360 degree view of the sky, in which a sunset is located on the opposite side of a rainbow. A rainbow as we all know (hopefully) is caused by the internal reflection of photons in light rays emitted from the Sun by water droplets, or water vapor in the sky. the fainter arcs seen within the primary-or brightest- arc of the rainbow. Also there is a third,dimmer arc that can be seen above the rainbow.

3.1 Crepulscular rays over Lake Michigan

Crepulscular rays are rays of sunlight that appear to pour in through a single whole in a cloud and seperate into many different rays, appearing as though heaven is pouring in through the cloud.Crepulscular rays are rays of sunlight that stream in through gaps of a cloud. The name crepulscular was derived from the time at which these rays are formed; the crepuscular hours-around sunrise and sunset. Although these lines are in fact, parallel, we perceice them as diverging because of our linear perspective from Earth. It is the diffraction, reflection, and scattering of photons by particles in the air that makes this beautiful phenomnenon visible to us .Anticrepuscular rays can not be seen in this image, but they usually appear at the same time as crespulcular rays; at the antisolar point, on the oppsite side of the sky. Anticrespuluclar rays are not as bright or prominent as crespulcular rays

Observation 3.1

On Sunday, January 23rd, 7:00 PM,  I observed Orion and his belt in the middle of the Western sky. It was a very clear night and great for viewing stars. I was standing in my pastor's driveway.

Sunrise, Moonrise.

This beautiful picture is a composite of the partial solar eclipse that took place on January 4th. This is one of the few instances in which the sun and moon observably rose together. Each composite piece of the picture was taken at a  15 minute interval to show the progression of the sun across the sky. This picture was taken from Graz, Austria, right behind the clocktower. This breathtaking event was the first solar eclipse in 2011!

Sun pictures for Mr. P

http://judysolar.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/sun_solar_flare.16973421.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/06/article-1300874-0AB553CF000005DC-272_964x539.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih6BFWOVIa0UI4UF6VkfySDBzyFyR8zGRwNoAMuit5wbNY1KIGRRpq0Xq7-W-U1CEeX7Svpxm5dPTLX_Vqu3GIOgczfB_28-sPOfIrv02MdAWCKtclgpCMN5-JOGhjtE0i7bjlGR9PEz2A/
http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/images/Comparison_Sun_and_earth.jpg
http://stanleyvarghese.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/solar.flare_.2005.jpg

Astronomer Biography Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Pehr_Wilhelm_Wargentin/
Dictionary of Science Biography

Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin

     Pehr Wilmelm Wargentin was a Swedish astronomer as well as demographer. He was born on Septe mber 11, 1717 and lived to be 66 years old. He deceased on December 13, 1783. The event that sparked this man's interest in astronomy was actually currently able to observed by us only a few weeks ago. It was his viewing of a total lunar eclipse at thwelve years of age that got him interested into the study of astronomy. In his younger years, he was an extremely gifted young child. He was declared smart enough to attend a university directly after his elementary years. His father however, wished that he did not loose a part of his full experience being a child and demanded that he attend middle school. This was very boring to him due to the fact that the teachers were "lacking in the education of sciences", according to him. Wargetin quit before finishing his fourth year. He was then was admitted in to the University of Uppsala, where he was very successful. There he was taught by another famous swedish astronomer, Olof Hiorter. He there received his filosofie masters degree as well as his docent. A docent is a European degree that is a little below what we know to be a professor. This meant that he was eligible to teach an astronomy course. In 1749 he replaced Pehr Elvius Jr. as secretary of the Royal swedish Academy of Sciences. This job he continued to hold through out the rest of his life, making him the very first long serving secretary of the academy. Wargentin made a very signifigant contrubution to the academy as he helped very much in leading the academy to its golden era. Wilhelm was also the first director of the Stockholm Observatory. This observatory was founded by the academy that he was a long term secretary of. Pehr diligently studied the moons of Jupiter and published a research paper in the Acta of  the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala. After his busy life of many accomplishments, he then married his wife, Christina Magdalena Raab. With this wife he had three daughters. While attempting to give birth to their fourth child, his wife Christina had a miscarriage, that tragically, was fatal. One of Wargentins post mortal accomplishments was the naming of a crater discovered on the moon after him. This crater on the surface of the moon is named Wargentin.

Skylights over Libya

In this beauttiful photograph, many stars can be observed. Our milky way galaxy can be seen in the upper right part of the image. The appeared cloudy look is caused by billions of star's lights combined together. To the left of the picture, zodaical light can be seen if looked at closely. Zodaical light is a band of light coming up from the sun that is basically dust particles that reflect photons emitted by the sun. This "dust" is given off by comets. Zodaical light may also be called a comet's "death glow". It is called by this name sometimes because the dust particles are given off when a comet begins to fall apart. Jupiter can also be seen at the very top left of this picture.

A Twilight Occultation

This picture shows the moon's occultation of Mars. In other words, the moon passed over the orbit of mars, covering mars. the word occult literally means to cover. The moon is a very very thin crescent in this picture, and only a few degrees above the horizon. Mars can also be seen as a tiny dot of light next to the middle of the sunlight side of the moon. This picture was taken in the United States, in Desoto, Kansas at twilight on Monday, December 6. Only a small band crossing over North America were able to see this lunar occultation.

M82: Galaxy with a supergalactic wind

This galaxy is informally known as the "cigar galaxy". It is 12 million light years away. It is also classified as an irregular galaxy, its shape being elliptical. A spiral galaxy passing by has recently stirred up the cigar galaxy. There is a red glowing gas that is seemingly being omitted from this strange galaxy. Particle winds from multiple stars are combining to form what is called a superwind. It can be seen using a telescope when looking toward Ursa Major. This red glow is created by ionized hydrogen and it extends about 10,000n light years from the galaxy. When the night sky is looked at using infrared light, this glaxy shows up to be the brightest galaxy.

Sisters of the dusty sky

In this picture is shown the star cluster known as the seven sisters, its more formal name the Pleiades. their name is derived from mythology, as the pleiades were seven sisters. It contains B type stars of very hot temperature. It can be seen by the naked eye as it is one of the closest star clusters to earth. The seven sisters are located in the constellation taurus. In this star cluster is the beautiful reflection nebula. This nebula is made up of interstellar grains of dust that reflect and scatter very short wavelengths of starlight.