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.