Observations

Visual Magnitude Estimates Exercise
Date: 4/28/10
Time: 9-10 PM
Location: Venice
Conditions: Clear, some clouds in West
Observations:
Eta Ursa Majoris: 1.9
Beta Leonis: 2.3
Gamma Leonis: 2.1
Zeta Leonis: 3.5
Lambda Leonis: couldn't see it
Epsilon Virginis: 2.7
Eta Virginis: couldn't see it
epsilon Corvi: 3.1
Epsilon Bootis: 2.6
Beta Bootis: 3.6

Date: May 1
Time: 8:10-8:50
Location: Venice
Conditions: Clear, still a little light near horizon
Observations:
Venus low in West near Aldebaran, both around 10 degrees high
Orion: low in West, can see Betelgeuse but not Rigel, which is blocked by trees
Canis Major: In SW, Sirius easily visible
Auriga: In WNW, Capella blocked by a small cloud, about 25 degrees high
Ursa Minor: Polaris and two other stars visible in N, Polaris is about 25 degrees high
Ursa Major: could see 5 of 7 main stars in Big Dipper
Castor and Pollux visible high in the West
Procyon: about 40 degrees high WSW
Mars: about 65 degrees high in the W, reddish tint, bright very close to Regulus
Saturn: about 60 degrees high in the SE

Date: May 15
Location: Venice
Conditions: partly cloudy
Time: 8:45-9:45
Mars: Bright and red in the west, about 55 degrees high
Regulus/Leo: about 60 degrees WSW, bright. can see general shape of Leo
Saturn: about 65 degrees high in the South, in Virgo
Arcturus: found by using arc of Ursa Major, about 55 degrees in the East
Spica: about 45 degrees in SSE, found by moving from Arcturus to Spica. Could see other stars around Spica but couldn't make out Virgo
Ursa Major: could see all 7 stars in big dipper, could see overall structure of bear
Hercules: could easily see keystone in ENE about 35 degrees high
Procyon:low in West, about 10 degrees high, hardly visible
Castor and Pollux: about 25 degrees high WNW, couldn't see all of Gemini because it was too low
Ursa Minor: could see 4 stars in little dipper

Date: May 22
Time: 9:05-10:05
Conditions: Clear
Location: Venice
Observations:
Moon: Waxing Gibbous, about 55 degrees SSW, could see a lot of lunar surface features
Saturn: SSW about 65 degrees, only about 10 degrees separating the moon and saturn. in Virgo, used binoculars and could see very faint line that appeared to be rings.
Spica: about 50 degrees high in the South
Mars: red and bright, about 40 degrees high in the West
Arcturus: almost directly overhead, by far the brightest star in surrounding area.
Regulus: about 5 degree separation with Mars, about 45 degrees high, a little south of west
Procyon: just visible over the horizon in the West, only star visible in Canis Minor
Castor and Pollux: WNW about 25 degrees high
Polaris: about 25 degrees in the North, could see 2 other stars in Ursa Minor
Vega: was very low when first started observing, by end of observation time it was about 25 degrees high in the NE
Deneb: In NE, could hardly see it because it was so low
Alberio: ENE, about 10 degrees high
Summer Triangle: could easily see Vega, barely see Deneb, could not see Altair
Northern Cross: could see Deneb, Alberio, and one other star. the others were either too low or too dim.

APOD 4.8 Station and Shuttle Transit the Sun

In this image, there are two small dark spots on the sun. However, they aren't sun spots. They are actually the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting the Sun. The bigger object is the ISS and the smaller one is Atlantis. The ISS and Space Shuttles are often seen streaking across the sky together during the night, but it is much rarer to see images of the two objects on the disk of the Sun. The two objects are orbiting about 350 kilometers above the Earth's surface. This image was taken about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station and this mission should be Atlantis' last mission.

Apod 4.7 Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula

The Tarantula Nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud and is the largest, most violent region of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. It is also known as 30 Doradus. It is an emission nebula, indicated by its red and pink coloring which is caused by the Hydrogen Alpha line radiation. Supernova remnants and dark nebula also exist there. The brightest region, which is just left of center is called R136 and contains many of the most massive, hottest, and brightest stars known. This star forming region would take up half of our sky if it were at the distance of the Orion Nebula. This is the most detailed image of this region ever taken.

Apod 4.6 Iguaçu Starry Night

This image was taken at the Iguacu Falls National Park on the border of Brazil and Argentina in the Southern Hemisphere. Many prominent objects are visible in the night sky and in this image, including Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri, the Coalsack, the Southern Cross, both Magellanic Clouds, the Carina Nebula, Sirius, and Canopus. From our location, only Sirius and Canopus are visible in the constellations Canis Major and Carina, respectively. It is nice to see this image because we have also studied Alpha and Beta Centauri, and both Magellanic Clouds, but have so far not been able to see them in the sky because our latitude is too high in the Northern Hemisphere. Another intriguing feature is the influence of light on the picture coming from Argentina's Iguazú Falls International Airport. The center of the image is very bright from the light coming from the airport, so either the airport must be very close and/or very bright. I didn't realize an airport could cause that much light and affect a region of the sky that is so large.

Apod 4.5 The Antennae

This image parallels with our study of galaxy interactions. This image shows two galaxies colliding in the constellation Corvus, some 60 million light years away. Their collision has triggered rapid star formation near the center of the collision. One of the most interesting features of the image is the presence of two tails extending from opposite sides of the collision. They were created by matter being flung from the scene of the collision by gravitational tidal forces. These two streaks give the constellation its name, The Antennae.

Interacting Galaxies

http://hyakutake1957.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/colliding-galaxies.png
http://cosmology.net/images/Collidinggalaxies5678.jpg
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/10/images/061019-galaxies_big.jpg
http://www.spacedaily.com/images/supernova-discovered-pair-colliding-galaxies-antennae-bg.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3614/3490531897_6426a8d0e7.jpg
http://www.foxnews.com/images/366647/0_21_galaxies_hubble_6.jpg
http://talklikeaphysicist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/collidinggalaxy-1.jpg
http://physics.uwyo.edu/~stark/outreach/galaxy/colliding/
http://www.twinlitworlds.com/hubble/pix/jpgsfull/collision.jpg
http://mainland.cctt.org/biolab/images/Colliding_Galaxies_HST_Gif.gif
http://www.noao.edu/gateway/intergal2.gif
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/3462762896_e4fdd54774.jpg
http://www.spacedaily.com/images/arp-87-pair-interacting-galaxies-bg.jpg
http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/images/d5/vv150b.jpg
http://www.etsu.edu/physics/wars/arp107.jpg
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_kids/learn_sirtf/images/interacting.gif
http://astro.uchicago.edu/~grodnick/gallery/galaxies/m51-irg_hogg.jpg
http://housefly.astro.princeton.edu/~rhl/PrettyPictures/M51-4x4.jpg

Apod 4.4 The Bloop: A Mysterious Sound from the Deep Ocean

This picture is a visual representation of the Bloop, which was a sound recorded in the Pacific Ocean in 1997 using deep sea microphones that had been spy microphones in World War 2. In the graph, time is shown on the horizontal axis, deep pitch is shown on the vertical axis, and brightness designates loudness. It is the loudest sound ever recorded in an ocean at over 150 decibels and was audible 5,000 kilometers away and by two different microphones that were over 3000 miles apart from one another. The sound is similar to that of a blue whale, but the blue whale isn't large enough to create such a monstrous sound. Two potential explanations are that there could be a gigantic life form at the bottom of the ocean that we have yet to discover, such as a prehistoric animal that survived through the extinction periods, or that an iceberg calving, an undersea earthquake, or an undersea volcano caused the noise. Since the bloop was recorded, no other bloops have been heard.