APOD 4.8

 

The hour-glass figure of this planetary nebula is ironic -considering how brief this stage in the star's life will last. With the nuclear fuel exhausted, the star is ejecting its outer layers as its core cools to a white dwarf. The "red" of the gas is digitally created to represent nitrogen, the "green" is hydrogen, and the "blue" is oxygen. The clear imaging of the nebula ejection process is helping to solve mysteries of the complexity of planetary nebulas.

APOD 4.7

 

It's strange to think that when you die, the world will go on without you. Science and technology will keep innovating -maybe even to the extent that could have saved your life if it was invented earlier or you were born later. Either way, our current 2015 North Star is Polaris, however, if you were born much later, say, around 14000, your North Star would be Vega. The picture above is how an exposure picture taken in the same place will change on its own. Once a few generations die, Vega will be the "norm" for a North Star -but if you're reading this, there's a good chance you won't live to see that. The shift is caused by the Earth's axis of rotation precession period of about 26,000 years - of which it has been 14,000.

APOD 4.6

I think at one point in our childhoods, when we were all asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?", and all of us answered "An astronaut!". And this picture can do a fine job to answer the follow up question, "Well, why do you want to be an astronaut?". That little speck on the dark side of the picture is the International Space Station -where astronauts can survive for periods of time in space. The ISS gets a nice view of sights skewed by our atmosphere -as well as the ability to look down on Earth. Tools are available on-line to let you know when the ISS will be visible from your location.

APOD 4.4

Go See the Eclipse: And Take a Kid With You. All I've been hearing about in class is this book. But it's understandable, a total eclipse cutting through the center of the United States is a pretty big deal. Mr. Percival (my teacher) is getting as much attention drawn to this occurrence as possible -and I'm hooked. August 21st, 2017. August 21st, 2017. August 21st, 2017! Hopefully my college will be near enough to the path that I'll be able to take a road trip to experience it -and take friends along of course.

APOD 4.3

 

Some 20 million light-years away is the Barred Spiral Galaxy (NGC 2903). It's shine and location within the northern spring constellation Leo -right on the top of the head, make it a premier sight from amateur astronomers. Somehow, NGC 2903 is missing form the Messier catalog. The bright galaxy is filled with stars mid formation and spiral arms. This galaxy is definitely a loss from the "M" objects.

APOD 3.8

Maybe déjà vu is real... Or maybe it's just deflections off of gravitational lenses. This is the first time a supernova explosion has been split into multiple images across intervening masses. The picture above is inside a galaxy cluster, taken in November by the Hubble Space Telescope. The multiplied Supernova, Refsdal, occurred in the universe far behind the cluster. Measuring the locations and time delays between images may allows astrophysicists to understand the amount of dark matter in not just the galaxy, but the cluster too. There is hope that a fifth image presents itself in the near future.

APOD 3.6

The most famous flower in the sky: The Rosette Nebula. The "petals" of the rose are actually stellar nurseries. The nebula is located 5,000 light years away within the Monoceros constellation. The symmetric shape is a result of the winds and radiation from its central cluster of hot, young stars. The stars are a part of the energetic cluster, NGC 2244. The stars are only a few million years old. The nebula is about 50 light-years in diameter. If you have a small telescope, you can see the nebula for yourself.

APOD 3.7

The Coma Cluster isn't just a collection of stars, it's a collection of galaxies; each with billions of stars inside it. The Coma Cluster is one of the densest know clusters, containing  1,000's of galaxies. Light from the Coma Cluster takes 100s of millions of years to get to Earth -the Coma Cluster is so big that for light to even get from one side to the other it would take millions of years. This 2006 image by the Hubble Space Telescope is just a small portion of Coma. Most of Coma's galaxies are elliptical, but there are also plenty that are spiral. Astronomers took interest into the Coma Cluster to investigate how galaxies in rich clusters form and evolve.

Johann Gottfried Galle (Essay)

Johann Gottfried Galle

Born in June 9, 1812, to J. Gottfried Galle and Henriette Pannier Johann grew up in the small German town, Dübener Heide. Galle attended school in Radis, Germany, and was then selected by local Clergymen for secondary school at Wittenberg. Galle studied at Wittenberg from April 1825 until April 1830, when he moved on to study at the Berlin Academy of Sciences. One of his teachers, Encke, would prove to be vital to his future. In 1833 Gall began teaching mathematics; in March the following year he was made assistant teacher at the Friedrich-Werder Gymnasium.  While still teaching secondary school, Galle kept in touch with his old educator, Encke. In 1835, Encke had become the director of the newly rebuilt Berlin Observatory, and invited Galle to be his assistant.

            Galle spent the next 16 years of his life dedicated to astronomy, more specifically astrometry. Galle was a dedicated observer of comets, including Halley’s Comet’s 1835 passing, Boguslavky’s comet, and Encke’s comet. In 1839 to 1840, Galle discovered three of his own comets –this feat attracted attention from both experts and royalty. In 1836, Alexander von Humbolt invited Galle to assist him in computing the astronomical material he had collected while on his journeys. For about 30 years, Galle also frequently did computational work concerning the minor planets, especially Pallas. In 1838, Galle observed the crepe ring of Saturn (though he did not publish this discovery).

            With government funding, Galle received his doctorate in theoretical studies on March 1, 1845. His thesis, Olai Roemeri triduum observationum astronomicarum, was based upon unanalyzed data from three days of meridian observations made by the Danish astronomer Roemer in 1706. Thinking the observations could be of value to Urbain Le Verrier, Galle sent him a copy. Le Verrier replied with the presumed position of a planet beyond Uranus –computed mathematically by Le Verrier and John Couch Adams from Uranus’s motion. Le Verrier did not have access to adequate telescopes in Paris, so he asked Galle to confirm his predictions. Galle was the first to see the planet, less than 1 degree from the predicted position. With his assistant Heinrich d’Arrest, Galle located the planet within the first few minutes of searching. Galle wrote, “I discovered a star of the eighth magnitude—not at first glance, to tell the truth, but after several comparisons. Its absence from the chart was so obvious that we had to try to observe it. Encke, who had been informed of all the details, took part in the observation on the same night. We observed the star until early morning; but, despite all duplications of effort, we did not succeed in discerning a definite motion, although a trace of change in the required sense seemed to occur. Full of excitement, we had to wait for the evening of 24 September, when our research was also favored by the weather and when the existence of the planet was proved”. The planet was at first named “Le Verrier’s planet” but was changed to Neptune to fit the Greek mythological names. Galle was modest about this discovery, refusing to capitalize from it.

            After the Neptune discovery, Galle continued his research in Berlin under Encke. Along with several other findings, Galle made several distance measurements of double stars. In 1847, Galle published a list of all comet orbits computed up to that time. Accepting an opportunity to start an independent career, Galle took the position of director of the observatory at Breslau. Galle continued his work in Breslau for 46 years. Galle taught all aspects of astrometry and meteorology. Though he dedicated most of his efforts to studying comets and planetoids, Galle became an avid lecturer who attracted large audiences. Galle found out that there is a relationship between the meteor showers recorded over the centuries and the appearance of comets. This led him to attempt computing the orbit of the Lyrid meteor shower around the sun to show its connection to Comet 1861 I. Galle successfully established the relation between meteor showers and the decomposition of a parent comet, which he classified as hyperbolic. Galle determined solar parallax by using corresponding data on minor planets. Although he specifically didn’t make the discovery, Galle’s methods were used to discover Eros.   

The poor equipment available at Breslau prevented Galle from making any pioneering discoveries. However, he was still able to participate in astronomical-geodetical tasks. Galle assisted in the determinations of longitude between berlin and Breslau. A streetcar line further limited his visibility and led him to turn to examining the magnetism of the Earth in relation to the Northern Lights and other terrestrial and even cosmic conditions. Galle went on to publish a series of works on climatology and weather forecasting. Later works by Galle dabbled in several minor matters in an array of fields.

In 1857, Galle married C. E. M. Regenbrecht, a daughter of a Breslau professor. Before she died in 1887, the couple had two sons. One, Andreas, went on to be an astronomer and geodesist at Potsdam. During his life, Galle received many honors and memberships to numerous scientific societies around the globe. Galle died in Potsdam, Germany on July 10^th, 1910 at the incredible age of 98. His teachings left his legacy far from over.

Planetary Nebulae

Name: NGC 6751 "The Glowing Eye"

Constellation: Aquila
Distance: 6,500 light-years
Size: 0.8 light-years
Other: Observed by Hubble in 1998


Name: NGC 6210

Constellation: Hercules
Distance: 6,500 light-years
Size: Unknown
Other: It contains stars similar to our Sun, in their final stages, giving us insight to the fate of our Sun


Name: NGC 6537 "The Red Spider Nebula"

Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 3,000 light-years
Size: Unknown
Other: This nebula contains one of the hottest stars in the Universe, and generates 100 billion kilometer high waves

Name: IC 4406 "The Retina Nebula"

Constellation: Lupus
Distance: 3,900 light-years
Size: 30 arcsec
Other: It is a symmetrical nebula

Name: IC 418 "The Spirograph Nebula"

Constellation: Lepus
Distance: 2,000 light-years
Size: 0.3 light-years
Other: Resembles a shape that could be made on a spiroraph -a toy which produces geometric patterns

Name: NGC 6853 "Dumbbell Nebula"

Constellation: Vulpecula
Distance: 1,200 light-years
Size: 8 x 5.7 arcmin
Other: one of the most photographed planetary nebulae in the night sky

Name: NGC 7293 "Helix Nebula"

Constellation: Aquarius
Distance: 700 light-years
Size: 16 arcmin
Other: one of the closest planetary nebulae to the Earth

Name: NGC 6720 "Ring Nebula"

Constellation: Lyra
Distance: 2,300 light-years
Size: 2.5 arcmin
Other: discovered by the French astronomer Antoine Darquier de Pellepoix in January 1779

Name: NGC 6543 "Cat's Eye Nebula"
 
Constellation: Draco
Distance: 3,000 light-years
Size: 25 arcsec
Other: first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated by the English amateur astronomer William Huggins, demonstrating that planetary nebulae were gaseous and not stellar in nature

Name: NGC 2392 "Eskimo Nebula"
 
Constellation: Gemini
Distance: 2,870 light-years
Size: 0.8 arcmins
Other: discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1787

 

 

APOD 3.5

 

Spiral galaxies are some of the most photogenic objects in the universe. Their complex makeup makes them, under color enhanced imagery, beautiful to look at. When people want astrology themed tattoos, make now are getting pseudo-galaxy images. M106, pictured above, has an unusual and captivating center. The core is glowing under radio waves and x-rays; the blue are made of gas and stars, the red indicates dust lanes. The glow is thought to be an example of the Seyfert class of galaxies, or unimaginable amounts of glowing gas thought to be falling into a massive black hole. This galaxy is located 23.5 million light year away, spanning 60 of those light years across. M106 can be seen, due to its brightness, through a small telescope towards the constellation Canes Venatici, or "Hunting Dogs". 

Johann G. Galle Sources

Johann Gottfried Galle

·         "Johann Gottfried Galle." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 5: 1800 to 1899. Detroit: Gale, 2000. 495. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

·         "Galle, Johann Gottfried." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 256-259. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

·          "Galle, Johann Gottfried." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th Ed.. 2014. "Galle, Johann Gottfried." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2008. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.

APOD 3.4

Grand design is right. M100, a spiral galaxy is made up of over 100 billion stars. The defined spiral arms are similar to the one's we can find right here at home in the Milky Way Galaxy. M100 stands out as one of the brightest members of the larger Virgo Cluster of galaxies. M100 or NGC 4321 is 56 million light-years away, located near the constellation Berenice's Hair, or Coma Berenices. This particular image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. The bright blue star clusters and intricate winding dust lanes are the hallmark of the grand design galaxy class. This particular galaxy has been critical in helping astronomers determine the size and age of the Universe.

Star Formation Regions and Stellar Nurseries

Star Formation Regions and Stellar Nurseries

• http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/02/astronomers-observe-multiple-star-formation-stellar-nursery/
• A new stellar nursery was discovered in the area known as Barnard 5 (B5), around 800 light-years away in the constellation Perseus.

• This gas complex will become a multiple-star system in about 40,000 years

• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150211-starstruck-multiple-star-birth-astronomy-science/

•  http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/Cyberia/Bima/StarForm.html 

APOD 3.3

Sometimes, the United States gets to witness cool things too. Unexpectedly, auroras appeared over a thunderstorm in Minnesota in May of 2013. The streaks are red sprites, a brief instance of rarely imaged high-altitude lighting. The flashes were so bright they were witnessed by many. The sprites likely followed an extremely powerful low-altitude lighting bolt. The energy accompanied the green aurora pictured next to the house. This image is thought to be the second known case of sprites and auroras photographed. It is thought that it is the first time the two have been photographed in true colors.

APOD 3.2

Amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich carries on the tradition of big discoveries by the underdogs of the astronomical world. On July 6, 2008, Jurasevich discovered what is now know as the "Soap Bubble Nebula". The symmetrical Soap Bubble Nebula can be found within the constellation Cygnus (the Swan), which makes up the Northern Cross and one of the 3 points of the Summer Triangle. The Soap Bubble Nebula is most likely a planetary nebula -a final phase in the life of a star similar to our sun. 11 days after Jurasevich notified the International Astronomical Union on his findings, other astronomers were confirming the existence of the (then) unknown nebula.

Another win for the rookies.

Observaiton Post (1/26/15)

About 9 hours of fly time west took me to foggy San Francisco, California. But on the last night I was there, the fog cleared. Standing on a vista overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, far enough away from the light pollution- I was able to see an unfamiliar sky. Stars I couldn't recognize amazed me all the same as the ones familiar to me at home. New patters and asterisms had me shivering in the wind, but content all the same. I was happy I was able to get the view that I did.

APOD 3.1

A new little surprise to the APOD archive was the "Super Planet Crash" game. With a 2.00 AU game field, 6 planet sizes to choose from, and 10 choices -the object of the game is to keep the planets orbiting for 500 years without a collision. The gravity from the central star and other objects make the judgment a puzzle, but a fun one. Being a Pine View student and growing up around educational-based games naturally drew my attention and kept me attempting for a decent amount of time. With a little bit of luck, and some expert "pin the planet on the orbit" I was able to come close to beating the game before losing patience.

APOD 2.8

 

Adorning the Southern Crown is a melee of dust clouds and young, energy filled stars. Corona Australis is less than 500 light years from Earth, close enough for the dust clouds to put the Crown in the spotlight by blocking out light from background stars of the Milky Way. The Crown even has a reflection nebulae, giving the area it's blue hue as light from the young, hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. Another nebula bends around The R Coronae Australis star. The Herbig-Haro objects loop and glow as arcs of new stars form. A truly dazzling region.

APOD 2.7

 

The gap in the image of Molecular Cloud Barnard 68 is not a black hole. It's a dark molecular cloud. The denseness of the dust and molecular gas in this area absorbs almost all of the visible light emitted from the background stars, though it is possible to look straight through the cloud in infrared light. The dark abyss looking cloud are, as could be predicted, one of the coldest and darkest places in the universe. Barnard 68 is located near the constellation Ophiuchus (the Serpent Handler). The size of the absorption gives astronomers the impression that Barnard 68 is about 500 light years away and spans half a light year. It is still unknown how dark molecular clouds form. It is predicted that Barnard 68 will collapse and form a star system.