Observation 2 27 Sept 2012

Observation 2 27th Sept. 2012

    At my house on the Island of Venice, I made the following observations at about 9:00.

    The skies were mostly clear except for a few Cirrus clouds around the moon.  Also, the baseball park near my house left their field-lights on so the stars to the south were not very visible.  

    I identified Sagittarius first by finding the teapot shape.  Then, using my star app I found Arctures (also known as M5) and then the star Vega in Lyra.  Scorpius was visible and using the app I identified Antares and Altair within it.  Last, I found Andromeda.  The moon was very close to full; the next full moon will be Sunday the 29th.  

Johannes Hevelius Biography Sources

Johannes Hevelius Biography

Sources:

"Hevelius, Johannes." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 6. Detroit: Charles Scribner's      

     Sons, 2008. 360-364. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web.

"Hevelius, Johannes." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. Web.

APOD 1.5 A Space Shuttle Over Los Angeles

A Space Shuttle Over Los Angeles: 26 Sept 2012

    On September 21st, the space shuttle Endeavour made its last flight and landed at LAX.  It was carried atop a Boeing 747 from Florida to California on a three day journey.  It is now located in the California Science Center museum where it will be on display starting in October.  In order to move the spacecraft, 400 trees had to be cut down in LA.  People who live in LA were not told in advance of the plan to cut down the trees and now the streets are left with hundreds less mature trees than before.  This will substantially affect the air quality, which is already poor, in LA as even though they plan to replace the trees, the newly planted ones will be smaller and take decades to mature.  The California Science Center has offered to plant new trees, repair sidewalks, and offer scholarships and job training to make up for the lost plants which the residents are upset about.

APOD 1.4 September's Aurora

September's Aurora: 21 Sept 2012

The day after this picture was taken (September 21st) marked the Autumnal Equinox.  The Autumnal Equinox occurs when the sun crosses the descending node on the Celestial Equator.  During the times near equinoxes, auroras tend to be more spectacular.  This picture was taken on the coast of Norway along the sea coast.  Although it does not appear so from Earth, the lines in an aurora are parallel.  Polaris is visible in this image to the upper right of the palm tree.  Also, in the green area in the lower left of the image, Altair (a star in the constellation Aquila) can be seen.  

Observation 1: Sept 12

September 12th: Venus and the Moon

At about 12:00 PM I observed Venus through a telescope from campus.  Venus appeared very bright in the telescope and was roughly round.  Also, I observed the Moon through binoculars (also from campus).  The Moon was in its waning crescent phase and was very visible through both the binoculars and with the naked eye.

At about 1:00 PM, I again observed the Moon through binoculars.  It was still very visible; its appearance had not changed.  Also, without telescope or binoculars, I observed the Moon and Venus. The Moon was fairly high in the sky and Venus was approximately 4.5 degrees (2/3 of my fist) to the north east (from my position) of the Moon.  The Moon was not difficult to locate with the naked eye but Venus was fairly hard to find.  I found it by imagining a line drawn between the tips of the crescent moon and extended out.  .

This is approximately how the Moon and Venus appeared to me except Venus was much fainter because I made my observation during the day

APOD 1.3 M7 Open Star Cluster in Scorpius

M7 Open Star Cluster in Scorpius: 14 Sept 2012

An open star cluster is a group of stars held together by gravity.  The star cluster pictured above, located in Scorpius, is one of the most visible in the night sky.  The myth surrounding the constellation Scorpius is that he was sent to kill Orion by the Earth goddess Gaia after Orion attempted to kill all of the animals on Earth.  This star cluster is located in the tail of the scorpion and is commonly referred to as M7.  The star cluster is about 1000 light years away and contains around 100 stars.  Ptolemy observed this star cluster in 130 AD, before it was numbered by Messier.

The Big 5: Capernican Revolution

Nicolaus Copernicus initiated the Copernican Revolution.  He published a book called On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Sphere in which he claimed that the Earth is not the center of the universe and that we, on Earth, do not see the universe from a special perspective.  He started the revolution but did not provide evidence which proved Ptolemy’s previous theory wrong.

Tycho Brahe developed the Tychonic system proving the heavenly spheres were not physical objects but mathematical devices.  The evidence pointing to this was that comets and planets pass through each other’s spheres.  Also, his observations became the basis of Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. 

Johannes Kepler developed a new model including planetary orbits as ellipses.

Galileo Galilei observed the phases of Venus and those of Jupiter’s moons proving that the Moon’s orbit is not uniquely anomalous. 

Giordano Bruno was a writer who claimed the universe is unending.  He believed that distant stars were suns. 

Isaac Newton wrote Philosophiae Naturalis which was physical proof that gravity was the force responsible for the planet’s orbits. 

APOD 1.2 M45 The Pleiades Star Cluster

M45 The Pleiades Star Cluster: 3 Sept 2012

The Pleiades Star Cluster, also known as M45, has been observed since early times because it is one of the brightest star clusters visible to the naked eye.  The cluster spans about 2 degrees and contains a total of about 500-3000 stars (depending on your source) although they are not all as bright as the seven main stars in the cluster, commonly referred to as the Seven Sisters.  This cluster is mentioned in Homer's Ilius and Odyssey and in the Bible as well.  The Pleiades are in a blue reflection nebulae and contain several faint brown dwarfs.  In the night sky, the Pleides are in the direction of the constellation Taurus. 

APOD 1.1 On A Blue Moon

On A Blue Moon: 1 Sept 2012

           On the 31^st of August, a phenomenon that is popularly (yet incorrectly) known as a ‘Blue Moon’ was visible.  Originally, Blue Moons were defined by the Maine Farmers’ Almanacs of 1819-1962 as the third full moon when four occurred in a season.  They named the third ‘Blue’ and not the fourth so that the fourth would retain its name such as the moon Before/After Yule which tells its time of occurrence relative to the equinox or solstice.  This definition was replaced by the modern one in 1946 when Sky and Telescope published an article by an amateur astronomer who incorrectly cited the almanac as calling a full moon Blue when it was the second in one month.  After Sky and Telescope and several other astronomical radio stations and magazines repeated this claim and referenced the article, the new meaning stuck.

            This picture was taken in Nottingham, UK and the photographer slightly enhanced the colors using Photoshop.  In the lower left corner of the image, the ray crater Tycho is visible.  Its rays are very prominent because it is one of the youngest craters on the near side of the Moon.  Also, just to the right of the center, the Sea of Tranquility is visible and even appears blue.