APOD 2. 6 Saturn's Hexagon Comes to Light

Saturn's North Pole is surrounded by a mysterious hexagon-shaped cloud pattern that has no known cause. In the early 1980's, Voyager 1 captured the strange feature, but the image was not at a good perspective and scientists did not know what to make of the formation. The Saturn orbiter Cassini confirmed the existence of the hexagon, and recently the pole became illuminated for the first time during the Cassini mission. This allowed Cassini to take images of the hexagon using non-infrared imaging. Cassini has now taken enough images to be able to put together a time-lapse video. This video has shown many unusual cloud motions, such as waves coming from the corners of the hexagon. Scientists are still puzzled by the hexagon and will continue to study the hexagon.

Geminid Meteor Shower Observation

Time (total): 2 hrs 15 min

(11:00pm-11:15pm, 12am-2am)

Conditions: clear

Location: Venice

Observations:

11-11:15: 0 meteors

12-1: 10 meteors

1-2: 16 meteors

Total: 26 meteors over 2:15

APOD 2.5 The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught

In 2007, Comet McNaught became the brightest comet to streak across the sky in the last 40 years and the second brightest since 1935. The comet was visible in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the tail of the comet was visible right after sunset. The tail was measured to be about 35 degrees in length at its peak. This image, taken by the discoverer of the comet, was captured in Australia in 2007 after sunset and the comet reached an apparent magnitude of -6. For comparison, Venus' maximum brightness is at an apparent magnitude of -4.6 and the full moon has an apparent magnitude of -12.6. The head of the comet was extremely bright and was even visible to some observers in cities in the Southern Hemisphere. The Ulysses spacecraft, which was designed to study the sun, encountered the tail of Comet McNaught.

APOD 2.4 Bright Sun and Crescent Earth from the Space Station

This stunning view of the Earth and the Sun was taken from the International Space Station during its rendezvous with the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on November 16th, and returned home on November 27th. The point of the mission was mainly to send spare parts, to repair, and to build upon the ISS. The mission, STS-129, lasted 10 days. As the International Space Station and the shuttle separated for Atlantis' trek home, they were visible streaking across the sky multiple nights in a row. In the image, the Sun is very bright, and a small crescent of Earth is visible that is still in the sun's light. This crescent is a result of the ISS' orbit around the Earth. A long solar panel extends from the ISS and collects the light from the sun in order to keep the space station functioning. This image captures the beauty of the Earth that many people forget about when they go through their life.

Observations

Date: 12/1/09

Time: 8:35-8:50

Conditions: Clear everywhere except in the East, which had cloud cover low, near the horizon. Not many objects visible because it was slightly hazy.

Observations:

Moon: Full, about 30 degrees high in the East. Could see a small halo when clouds passed in front of the moon.

Jupiter: very bright with a haze in front of it. About 17 degrees high.

Capella: About 12.5 degrees of angular separation from the moon, located in the Northeast.

Fomalhaut: in the constellation Pisces Austrinus in the SSW, dim compared to normal.

Andromeda high overhead

Cassiopeia: high over head, slightly oriented to the North. Could not see all the stars of the WorM asterism.

Observations

Date: 11/26/09

Time: 6:35-6:50

Location: Venice, FL

Conditions: Clear

Moon: Waxing Gibbous, high in the SouthEast

At 6:43, in the NNW, the ISS streaked across the sky for about two minutes. About 15 seconds after the ISS appeared, the Space Shuttle Atlantis transited the sky in the same direction. The two were at an angular separation of a few degrees. Both were very bright.

Date: 11/27/09

Time: 7:00-7:15

Location: Venice, FL

Conditions: some clouds, but bright stars still visible

Moon: Waxing Crescent, high in the SouthEast

At 7:06, the ISS again crossed the sky for about two minutes, this time in the WNW. The ISS was very bright.

Apod 2.3 Water Discovered in Moon Shadow

Last month, NASA sent a projectile to crash into the moon. The project was called the LCROSS mission. As part of the mission, one projectile crashed into the moon, followed by another that carried a detector. The detector's purpose was to see if there were signs of water on the moon. The impact occurred in a permanently shadowed crater on the moon's south pole. This past week, results from the chemical analysis of the dust plume showed clear evidence of water. The source of the water is unknown and is the topic of much debate. Whether from a small meteorite, a comet, or from primordial moon soil, the water is a mystery. The water is important because it could help us understand the history of the moon and could be the source of water that would allow astronauts to live on the moon for an extended period of time. NASA has plans to build a lunar colony somewhere between 2019 and 2024, so the presence of water is a big step in the fulfillment of these plans.

APOD 2.2 Stickney Crater

Stickney Crater is the largest crater on the tiny moon, Phobos, which orbits Mars. The crater, almost 9 kilometers from side to side, is almost half the diameter of Phobos itself. The crater is named after the wife, Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, of Asaph Hall, who discovered Mars' two moons in 1887. The impact that formed this crater most likely cam very close to shattering the minuscule Martian satellite. This picture was captured by the HiRISE camera, which is part of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter passed within 6,000 kilometers of Phobos in March of 2008, which is when this picture was taken. The image is color-enhanced, and the presence of a light blue coloration on the crater's rim could mean that the surface is newly exposed. Streaks on the crater may indicate that, over time, material has slid down the crater walls and into the crater itself. Grooves along the surface are also visible, but their origin is still under question.

APOD 2.1 Blue Sun Bristling

This image of our sun was taken at the Hydrogen-Alpha wavelength of the spectrum. Hydrogen-Alpha's wavelength is 656 nm. The image was then inverted to appear blue. The sun is mostly composed of hot hydrogen gas. Taken at the Hydrogen-Alpha wavelength, the sun's chromosphere is easily visible. Spicules, thin long tubes about the length of the radius of the Earth that are composed of magnetically-confined hot gas, can also be seen bursting from the sun. Many people believe that the sun is on fire, but this is far from the truth. The sun has barely any Oxygen, which is essential to fire. In reality, the sun is just extremely hot gas. Energy from the sun is due to the fusion of hydrogen and helium in the core of the sun. Solar prominences can also be seen extending from the sun. Average size prominences extend many thousands of kilometers into space. However, in the picture they appear very tiny. This evidence shows how massive the sun really is. Sunspots, often visible on the sun, were not visible on the day that this photo was taken.

Observations

Date: 10/25/09

Time: 8:00-8:15

Location: Venice, FL

Conditions: Cloudy, but some bright stars still visible

Instruments: Celestron 10X50 binoculars

Observations:

Moon: first quarter, about 31.5 degrees up in the South, Many craters visible along the visible/non-visible line of the moon.

Polaris: About 27 degrees up in the North.

Jupiter: Could see 4 Galilean moons with binoculars.

Summer Triangle: all 3 stars high over head

Northern Cross: could see all 6 stars

Date: 10/26/09

Time: 7:50-8:20

Location: Venice, Fl

Conditions: Clear, but a few clouds over head

Instruments: Celestron 10X50 binoculars

Observations:

Moon: about 3o degrees high in the South, first quarter, could see a very large crater at the lowest part of the moon; it had lots of lines extending from it. Mare visible with and without binoculars.

Jupiter: 29 degrees high in South, could see 1 moon with naked eye, 3 with binoculars.

Polaris: 27 degrees high in the North, could not hold the binoculars steady enough to determine whether the fainter of the two binary stars was visible and able to be separated.

Summer Triangle: all 3 stars visible, high straight up in the sky, Vega the brightest, Altair in the South.

Northern Cross: 4 main stars visible, including Deneb and Alberio, while the two faintest stars are covered by clouds.

Cassiopeia: visible in the NorthEast

Great Square of Pegasus: visible in the East

Andromeda Galaxy: used Great Square of Pegasus to locate the galaxy, which was faint even with binoculars.

Little Dipper: Could see 3 brightest stars, Polaris and the bottom two stars of the dipper.

Apod 1.8 Moon and planets in the Morning

This image wonderfully captures the positions of three planets, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury, and the moon. The three planets have been able to be seen in the eastern region of the sky for the last week or two. This picture, captured in Germany, shows how close to the horizon all four objects, especially Mercury, are. Mercury and Venus have been moving progressively towards the horizon. Saturn has been rising higher and higher into the morning sky. When the three planets were first in the same region, Saturn started out as the lowest, but it has now risen enough to become the highest in the morning sky. The two other visible planets from Earth, Jupiter and Mars, are visible at night. Soon, Mercury will be too low to see. The conjunction between these three planets and the moon is soon to end, but it has been awe-inspiring up until this point.

Great World Wide Star Count

Date:10/21/09

Time: 10:15-10:35

Location: Venice, FL

Conditions: Very Clear

Observations:

Participated in Great World Wide Star Count.

Adjusted eyes for 15 minutes, participated in activity for 5 more minutes.

Could see all 6 stars of the Northern Cross, meaning that I can see up to 4th magnitude in my skies.

Tried to see the 6 stars of the "V" to reach 5th magnitude, but only 2 could be see.

Observations

Date: 10/18/09

Time: 8:00-10:00

Location: Pine View School

Sky Conditions: Very clear, very little light pollution, could see up to fifth magnitude stars

Observations:

Planets:

Jupiter: Could see one weather band through schmidt cassegrain telescope. Could see 4 Galilean Satellites. Could not see Great Red Spot.

M objects and Clusters:

Coat Hanger Cluster: could see very well through binoculars, too many stars to count in field of view.

M11-Wild Duck Cluster: Viewed through Schmidt Cassegrain telescope, could see hundreds to thousands of stars. Whole field of view was filled with stars; the center of the field of view had the most stars.

M57-Ring Nebula-in Lyra: surrounded by a few stars, appeared as a circle with no center (indeed, like a ring) through the Schmidt Cassegrain telescope.

M13-Globular Cluster- in Hercules: a giant ball of light formed by thousands of stars. Stars appear very close together and very few stars surround the outside of the cluster.

M31- Andromeda Galaxy- in the constellation Andromeda-very faint with naked eye, used the Great Square of Pegasus to help locate Andromeda. With telescope, m31 appeared as a bright bulge that was larger than the surrounding stars.

Pleiades: in the East, could clearly see the main 7 stars with the naked eye, could see about 25 more with the aid of binoculars.

Stars:

Epsilon Lyrae: double double star. Could easily see the two biggest stars. Of the two fainter stars, the one that appeared to be on top of the left star was visible with a telescope, but I could not see two, distinct stars on the right. Could only see 1, blurry star.

Alberio- double star, could see both stars easily with Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. The left star appeared blue; the right star appeared reddish-yellow to white.

Fomalhaut: in the Southeast, first magnitude, in the constellation Pisces, one of the few stars visible in Pisces.

Polaris: North/ Pole Star, could see Polaris' binary star through telescope. relatively bright, very few stars around it.

Constellations and Asterisms:

Summer Triangle: high over head, could see all three stars with no issue. Altair to the south.

Sagittarius: could see low in the south, about to set.

Teapot: part of Sagittarius, was tipped on its side, "pouring out" onto the stars below.

Northern Cross: Part of Cygnus, could see all 6 stars that form the asterism. Two of the stars were faint, but were still visible. Northern Cross was high overhead.

Keystone Asterism: part of Hercules, visible low in the West.

Job's Coffin: Part of Delphinus; was visible in the South. forms a small rhombus.

Cassiopeia: in the Northeast, could see all the main stars of "the queen". next to Cepheus, "the King"

Pegasus: Very large constellation, Great Square of Pegasus was easily visible

Little Dipper: Could see the three brightest stars with ease (Polaris and the two stars of the square). Could occasionally see the two top stars of the square, depending on the amount of lights on in the surrounding area. Polaris was the only visible star of "the handle".

Sagitta: could see the arrow-like formation. Small and in the South. Above the Archer, Sagittarius.

Miscellaneous Objects:

Flock of Birds: migrating birds flew overhead in a loose V formation.

Iridium Flair: appeared in the North around 8:30, reached first magnitude before fading.

Meteors: Saw two meteors during the observation, streaking across the sky

Milky Way: Could see traversing the sky from the South to the North. Passed through Sagittarius, Aquila, and the summer Triangle. Much easier to see in the South than the North due to light pollution.

Apod 1.7 LCROSS Centaur Impact Flash

This is an image taken by the LCROSS spacecraft that followed the Centaur projectile to the moon. The image captures the plume of lunar surface that was sent skyward by the upper stage of the Centaur rocket. The LCROSS spacecraft followed the Centaur rocket into the surface of the moon. The Centaur spacecraft was used to cause debris to fly into the air, and the LCROSS spacecraft was used to fly through these debris and analyze them before crashing into the surface itself. Before hitting the surface of the moon itself, the LCROSS was able to capture details of the impact of the Centaur projectile crashing into the surface of the moon and the resulting crater and debris cloud. The data collected by the LCROSS spacecraft will be analyzed for evidence of water on the moon.

Michael Mästlin

Kenny Smith

Mr. Percival

Pd. 0

16 Oct. 2009

Michael Mästlin

Michael Mästlin was a German astronomer who lived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Mästlin was born in the small town of Göppingen on September 30^th, 1550. He attended Tübingen University, where he would later go on to teach for 47 years. Mästlin taught a total of 51 years, including 4 years at the University of Heidelberg. Mästlin married Margarete Gruuninger, with whom he had six children. When she died, he remarried. His new wife was Margarete Burkhardt, the daughter of a professor at Tübingen, with whom he had eight more children. Mästlin would live until the age of eighty-one, dying on October 30^th, 1631.

Mästlin made a lot of contributions to astronomy. His excellent observational skills gained him fame throughout astronomical society. His observations of the supernova of 1572 and the comets of 1577 and 1580 helped establish new views that revolutionized the way that humans saw the universe. When he analyzed his observations of the nova of 1572, he found that they could only be explained by the assumption that the nova was as far away as the fixed stars that did not change position in respect to one another. This challenged the Aristotelian model of the universe, which stated that all changes in the universe were located closer to the Earth than the background stars that did not change positions. The significance of Mästlin’s findings caused his essay on the subject to be included in Tycho Brahe’s Progymnasmata. Mästlin’s accurate observations of two comets, those of 1578 and 1580, also led him to develop a ground-breaking idea. When he calculated the orbit of the comets he had been observing, his results showed that the comets orbited the sun, rather than Earth. Mästlin’s findings supported Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the universe. The comets’ orbits around the sun also went beyond the distance of the moon, which was another challenge to the geocentric system, which dominated the minds of people of the time. Although Mästlin’s approach to the problem was not firm, his new data added on to the already overwhelming evidence that had been gathering in favor of the heliocentric model of the universe. Based on Mästlin’s new found data and other convincing factors, Mästlin adopted Copernicus’ heliocentric view of the universe.

In 1582, Mästlin wrote his own textbook, Epitome Astronomiae. Although Mästlin was a proponent of the Copernican universe, he wrote his textbook based off of the Ptolemaic model. Copernicus’ ideas were still new to society and if Mästlin had written about them, it could have cost him his job. Mästlin used his textbook to teach his classes, so his classes were based primarily off of the geocentric model of the universe; however, when Mästlin taught more advanced topics and when students came to him for extra knowledge, he was more than willing to provide his students with his views on the heliocentric system.

This willingness is now what he is most famous for. Mästlin imparted his knowledge on a young man by the name of Johannes Kepler. Johannes Kepler created many influential ideas in the astronomical world, including his laws of planetary motion, which helped him become known as one of astronomy’s Big Five. Mästlin’s influence on Kepler led him to adopt Copernicus’ ideas. Mästlin was Kepler’s teacher at Tübingen University from 1589 to 1594. When Kepler sought extra knowledge from Mästlin, Kepler received lectures about how the heliocentric model of the universe was better than the accepted geocentric model. Mästlin showed Kepler how the data he had produced fit the heliocentric model of the universe much better than it did when it was plugged into the Aristotelian model. Kepler attributed his belief in Copernicus’ system to his teacher. The two men became great friends and communicated regularly after Kepler had moved on from the university.

Michael Mästlin is also known for a few other important findings. He is credited as being the first person to explain earthshine, which is the phenomenon that you can see the dark part of the moon because of the Earth’s reflection of sunlight in the direction of the moon. Mästlin is also attributed with being the first person to accurately calculate the golden ratio. In a letter to Johannes Kepler written in 1597, Mästlin states that the golden ratio has a value around 0.6180340. Modern thought even credits Mästlin with being responsible for Galileo’s heliocentric views of the universe, but this fact is still widely debated today.

Michael Mästlin’s impact on astronomy is truly revolutionary. From his amazingly accurate observations and calculations to his influence on his students, specifically Johannes Kepler, Mästlin has made an immense imprint on how we view the heavens today. Nobody knows what our views would currently be like if Michael Mästlin had not existed. Who knows how long it would have taken for heliocentricity to be adopted if it were not for Mästlin’s influence on the astronomy of his day. Michael Mästlin, although not always given the credit he deserves, is no doubt one of the most influential astronomers of all time.

Apod 1.6

M8, a Messier object located in the zodiacal constellation Sagittarius, is the home of many new, young stars and hot gas. M8, whose common name is the Lagoon Nebula, is over 100 light years across. Only 5 light years away from Earth, this nebula can be seen easily without the aid of a telescope. Recently, in astronomical terms, an open cluster formed inside of the Lagoon Nebula and is home to many visible, bright, young stars. Open clusters contain hundreds of stars, many of which are bright, young, and blue. Open clusters tend to have irregular shapes. This particular open cluster's name is NGC 6530. Another bright object inside M8 is the Hourglass Nebula, which is close to the center of M8. The presence of globules, clouds of interstellar gas and dust, prove that the Lagoon Nebula is still forming stars.

Observations

Date: 8/24/09

Time: 9:20-9:25

Location: Venice, Fl

Conditions: A few clouds, but not many.

The moon: Waxing crescent, relatively low, in the southwest, very slight earthshine.

Date: 8/25/09

Time: 10:30-10:35

Location: Venice, Fl

Conditions: Dense cloud cover

The moon: can only see the bottom of the moon, slightly higher in the sky than 8/24/09

Date: 9/1/09

Time: 8:05-8:10

Location: Venice, Fl

Conditions: a little bit of cloud cover, but not much

The moon: Waxing gibbous, about 25 degrees high in the sky, in the southeast, could see the moon very well before sunset

Date: 9/30/09

Time: 8:00-8:50

Location: Siesta Key Beach Parking Lot, Sarasota Fl

Conditions: Very cloudy, can only see high magnitude stars, the planets, and the moon

Jupiter: Can see multiple (3) weather bands on the surface of Jupiter

Can see four moons of Jupiter, 2 on each side of Jupiter

Date: 10/4/09

Time: 8:15-9:00

Place: Venice, Fl

Conditions: extremely clear, only a few clouds in the entire sky

Moon: Full, low and to the east, about 11 degrees high in the sky, could see a few large craters and lunar maria

Jupiter: about 27.5 degrees high, between the S and SE, observed a slight twinkle over elapsed time

Summer Triangle: Asterism high over head, can clearly see Altair, Vega, and Deneb, Vega is brightest, then Deneb, then Altair.

Cassiopeia : could see, but vaguely, in the NE

Arcturis: about 6 degrees high in the W, very profound twinkle for a star

Fomalhaut: Low in the SE, about 11.5 degrees high, not extremely bright compared to most first magnitude stars, but still brighter than most objects in the sky

Polaris: about 27 degrees high in the N, relatively few stars around it

Antares- in the constellation Scorpius, but couldn't see the other stars of the constellation, very low, about 7 degrees in the SW

APOD 1.5 Saturn at Equinox

Every 15 years, Saturn's rings point in the direction of Earth and seem to disappear. This is caused by the fact that Saturn's rings are so thin and the Earth is so close to the sun that when the rings point in the direction of the sun, they appear so thin that they can't be seen. The amazing photo of Saturn at equinox was taken by the imaging satellite Cassini. No photos had ever been taken of Saturn's rings at equinox, but the development of technology has allowed for photos to finally be taken. The launching of satellites into the orbits of other planets has given us the ability to see many more images than we could from earth. The rings appear very dark and cast a small shadow on the surface of Saturn. These photos are truly stunning and could eventually help us understand the size of the components of Saturn's ring and the orbital motion of the rings.

Works Cited

Works Cited

"Michael Mästlin | Science and Its Times: 1450-1699 Summary." BookRags.com: Book Summaries, Study Guides. 01 Oct. 2009. .

O'Connor, J J, and E F Robertson. "Mastlin biography." GAP System for Computational Discrete Algebra. July 2008. 24 Sept. 2009. .

plus the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, but I don't know all of the book's data for citation as of now

Apod 1.4 CoRoT

As astronomers continue to search for another Earth-like planet in the universe, many new but uninhabitable (for humans) planets have been discovered. These new discoveries have really enhanced our knowledge of the universe. Before the recent explosion of new planets many light-years away, barely any planets were known outside of our solar system. Recent discoveries have provided so much information that almost everyone thinks that it is possible that another Earth-like planet really does exist. Unfortunately, the new discovery, CoRoT-7b, is not that similar to Earth. Although it is only 5 times the mass of Earth and its radius is equivalent to 1.7 Earths, CoRoT-7b's orbit is smaller than that of Mercury. Orbiting around a star similar to the Sun, CoRoT-7b has an orbit that only lasts 20 Earth-hours. Since the new planet is very close to the star, the planet is far too hot for human habitation. CoRoT-7b is thought to be composed of rock. It was discovered by slight variations in the brightness of the star it orbits.