APOD 3.2

This cluster, found in Perseus, contains starts much younger and hotter than the sun. You can see the Double Cluser with your naked eye, but it has to be very dark for you to do so. This picture, similar to my last APOD, illustrates the immensity and complexity of the universe, and is beautiful to look at. These things are what make Astronomy interesting in general for me, and I'm a visual learner, so looking at pictures helps me to contextualize things much better than hearing or reading about them.

APOD 3.1

Pictured above is the "Seagull Nebula", and as seen from Earth it is near the star Sirius which is the brightest in the sky. The atomic hydrogen is what gives this nebula its reddish glow. We estimate this nebula lies about 3,800 light years from Earth and spans about 100 light years in diameter. This nebula is beautiful to look at and displays a miraculous amount of stars. Images like this give insight as to the massive size of the universe, and the amazing creations within it.

Observations

Date: October 27, 2013
Time: 6-8p
Place: Siesta Key Beach
Sky Conditions: few clouds on the horizon, but mostly clear. Moon not present.

Instuments used: binoculars

Planets: Venus

Bright Stars Noted: Polaris, Antares, Vega, Deneb, Altair (summer triangle overhead), Fomalhaut

Constellations Noted: Cassiopeia, Picis Austrinus, Aquila, Cyngus, Lyra, Hercules, Sagittarius, Capricornus

Date: December 2, 2013
Time: 6:00 -8:00 PM
Place: Siesta Key Beach

Observed the sunset, Cygnus, Lyra and Aquila. The moon was barely a sliver, as tomorrow is the new moon. The app on my phone is hard to read, so finding planets other than Venus and Jupiter is difficult. Venus is near the moon, slighlty lower. Jupiter rose around 7pm. Gemini and Orion are also easy to find as they are more overhead now that it is winter.

Date: December 6, 2013

Time: 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Place: Siesta Key Beach

Sky Conditions: Sunset, new moon, clear skies

Instuments used: Phone application

Planets: Venus (viewed closely to the moon), Jupiter in the east

Bright Stars Noted: Gamma andromeda, Mira

Constellations Noted: Gemini, Orion (and belt), Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Andromeda, Cetus

Other: observed the stars that appeared as the sun set

Date: December 21,2013
Time: 7:00-9:00 PM
Place: Siesta Key Beach
7-9pm
Siesta Key Beach

Observed Sirius, and noticed it's changing colors due to it's being near the horizon. Upon further research, this is a fairly common phenomenon. Sirius is actually commonly reported as a UFO around December due to it's greenish color. Located Jupiter and Venus easily due to their brightness. The moon is a waning crescent which makes it easier to locate objects.

Astronomer Bio Sources

"German Astronomers: Carl Friedrich Gauss, Johannes Kepler, Friedrich Bessel, Johann Bayer, August Ferdinand Möbius, William Herschel." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.

"Friedrich Bessel." Friedrich Bessel. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.

"Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel." Bessel Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.

Astronomer Bio: Friedrich Bessel

Friedrich Bessel was born in July, 1784 and died in March of 1846. He was a contemporary of Carl Gauss, also a mathematician and astronomer. He attended the Gymnasium in Minden for four years but found Latin difficult, and soon became an apprentince at an import-export concern in Kulenkamp. He was proficient in mathematics and soon became skilled in navigation, which peaked his interest in astronomy. Initially his interest served only to tell longitude using the stars, but eventually he made important contributions to astronomy as we know it today. He drew the attention of a prominent German figure of the time, Heinrich Olbers, by producing more accurate calculations of Halley's comet. Shortly following this, he left Kulenkamp for an observatory near Bremen, Germany where he worked under James Bradley to produce precise stellar observations for over 3000 stars. His work gained him some notoriety and at the age of 26 he was appointed the director of the Koningburg Observatory by Frederick William III of Prussia. He went on to win the Lalande Prize from the Institute of France for his published reflections on Bradley's observations. He calculated the positions of over 50,000 stars during his time at Koningburg.

His main claim to fame is that he was the first to use parallax to calculate the distance to a star, beating several notable astronomers with his delcaration that 61 Cygni had a parallax of .314 arcseconds. Bessel's measurements also allowed him to notice deviations in the motions of Sirius and Procyon, which he assumed must be caused by unseen "dark companions". His publishing of this theory lead to the discovery of Sirius B. He was later elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and the largest crater in the Moon's Mare Serenitatis was named after him. Bessel was one of the few astronomers to lack a university education and yet still gain notoreity and respect for his findings. He was awarded a degree by the University of Gottingen, on the reccomendation of Gauss, because without the title of doctor he could not become the director of the Observatory.

APOD

The "Bubble Nebula" has it's shape because of wind from a nearby star. The center of the galaxy houses an extremely hot "O Star" which is several hundred thousand times more luminous and 45 times as massive as our Sun. The nebula lies near the constellation Cassioepeia. I chose this photo because of it's supernatural appearance, and because Cassiopeia is an easy constellation to observe.

APOD

I chose this photo of auroras over Alaska because we recently covered auroras in class. This auroral activity was triggered by a geomagnetic storm, as high speed solar wind buffeted the Earth's atmosphere. Auroras are beautiful natural phenomenon, and knowing how they work makes them even more interesting to see.

APOD

The horsehead nebula is one of the most well known nebulas in the sky. The red center is visible to us from Earth because it is an extremely opaque dust cloud that lies in from of the bright red emission nebula. The emission's red color is due to the combination of electrons recombining with protons to form hydrogen atoms. I chose this photo because it's something that is possible to observe, and I have added it to the things I look for during my observations.