APOD 2.4

 

Another day another APOD. Today I chose Sisters of the Dust Sky. This is a beautiful image of the Seven Sisters star cluster in the top left, which is extremely well know for its blue output, and the reflection nebula behind it. Something I have always wondered is just how close a star cluster can get. Just how close do all these stars get to each other, and how does it look when they collide? Well this APOD did not answer these questions, but it did talk of the massive dust cloud that encases the cluster. The cluster is sore of a beacon of hope in the cloud, sucking up large amounts of dust, as seen in a larger picture of the star cluster itself. LBN 777 can be seen in the middle of the photo, but is not extremely interesting from what I read. It actually seems to be just weirdly formed dust. Another APOD, another beautiful sight.

APOD 2.3

Thin Galaxy Is Thin

Quite an awesome sight to behold, this thin galaxy, also named NGC 4452, this galaxy is just another awesome reminder of the amazing range of objects in our night sky. This picture was taken by Hubble, and it was taken when the galaxy was nearly on edge. The whole galaxy extends 35,000 light years end to end. This is absolutely astonishing to me. How anything can be so dang large, and still have that much depth and detail. It is also amazing that it emits so much light, which is partially due to its low dust levels. At the center of the galaxy must be an enumerable amount of stars, and emits this really strong glow, that I personally even find hard to look at on a computer screen. The awesome thing about this picture thought is the galaxy's proximity to other galaxies. Maybe many thousands or millions of light years away, hundreds of galaxies can be seen in the background, some of which might even be looking back at us.

APOD 2.2

Sunset from the ISS

What a beautiful sight, and a great way to see why our sky is the colors it becomes. The Troposphere during sunset becomes a orange/yellow color. The Troposphere is where the majority of Earth's clouds can be found. It is what creates the majority of the beautiful colors we see during sunset. The Stratosphere is a light blue band, that when mixed with the troposphere creates all the pink colors. It is a thin layer, and contains some hefty bacteria. The Stratosphere is also where airplanes fly, I guess I might know this if I had ridden in a plane more than once... Above the Stratosphere are many other upper atmospheric layers which are thin and eventually become the emptiness of space. The APOD also stated that sunset for the ISS is no big deal because they can see it up to 16 times a day.

APOD 2.1 THE SUN

That sure is one scary sun monster. It is actually a solar prominence that is the most massive eruption prominence ever recorded. This could easily escape from the sun in a Coronal Mass Ejection, and oh, you know, straight towards whatever planet it feels like at the moment. This prominence is huge though, and it would be extremely possible to fit up to two Earths into the prominence. An eruption prominence is expelled hot gas that is held into the sun by magnetic fields, and may last for a few hours or greater. The sun is also about to reach solar maximum, which occurs about every 12 years. This means more solar prominences, and greater possibility of death. FUN!!

APOD 1.8, "It's not a commet" said Arnold

M27

The list of awesome Messier objects we have studied increases. M 27 in Vulpecula is most definitely not a comet. From this APOD I learned that Messier's objective was to take chronicle of all the astounding objects in our sky that are not comets. This in a small telescope appears to be a planetary nebula, but is actually a  gaseous emission nebula, formed from a star that basically ran out of fuel, and now is expanding in a supernova. Great use of the emission spectrum, and different kinds of light gathering techniques, due to the fact that M 27 emits large amount of ultraviolet light, which is invisible. This is a very unique photo in the fact that not many photos of the Dumbbell nebula include the halo. Overall a very pretty object, and it definitely piques my interest in more Messier not-a-comet objects.

APOD 1.7

Rocky Plains of Mars

Opportunity keeps on chugging across the rough terrain of Mars every day. It is well on it way to the crater Endeavor, but still has quite the trek ahead of it. Seeing this awesome terrain makes me hope even more that we will be able to visit our neighbor planet one day. NASA is sending Opportunity to this crater in hopes that the asteroid uncovered enough of the planet to reach any evidence of previous life on the red planet. I personally cannot wait for the rover to reach the crater, and am a huge proponent of sending multiple higher quality rovers to the planet once we have better technology. Nothing would get us answers more quickly than having a lot more rovers on the surface.

Johannes Hevelius Essay

Rion Koball

Mr. Percival

D.E. Astronomy

15 October, 2010

Johannes Hevelius

            Hevelius was a very accomplished Polish astronomer. He was so well known in fact, that a king and a queen visited him at his home to look at his home-made observatory. One reason his observatory was so great was that he had created a telescope with a 150 ft. focal length, by himself. He published many works, and was even considered the founder of lunar topography. Aside from being an astronomer, he was the town’s brewer and councilor. He was such a successful brewer that he ran the Brewer’s Guild for 12 years. He was a very well-rounded man and experienced a combination of careers in his lifetime.

            Johannes Hevelius’ observatory was a true masterpiece, spanning across three rooftops. His main instrument was his150 ft focal length telescope that he made simply with wood and wire. This was the single longest tubed telescope invented before aerial telescopes made their appearance.

            Hevelius had many visitors, all well-known in their own right. His observatory was visited in 1660 by the Polish Queen Maria Gonzaga, and in 1678 by the Polish King John III Sobieski. In 1679 he was visited by Edmund Halley, who had been instructed by Robert Hooke and John Flamsteed to convince Hevlius to use the telescope to make astronomical measurements. Hevelius then proved to Halley, in comparing data, that he could make more accurate or just as accurate measurements with his naked eye as Halley could with a telescope. He made the majority of his extremely accurate measurements by using the quadrant and alidade system; this made him the last major astronomer to not use a telescope for taking measurements. It is amazing that he still had good enough eyesight to make these measurements after the copious amount of time he spent staring at the sun observing sunspots.

            Johannes spent four whole years of his life dedicated to mapping the surface of the moon. Johannes’ major work was Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio. This book was a collection of all of his observations, and his most successful work. He outlined in the book how his work was unique from Galileo’s, and that Galileo’s research felt like something was missing. One of Hevelius’ greatest pieces was a map of the topography of the moon. He is also credited with discovering the Moon’s libration in longitude (the effect of its eccentric orbit around the Earth). His work was considered so strong that it survived as one of the bases of information about the Moon for over a century. Some of his names for certain features of the moon still survive today.

            He also made other contributions to astronomy. He invented and created the constellation Scutum. It was originally published in one of his books, which was mostly printed in his own home, and engraved by Hevelius himself. He discovered four comets that moved in a parabolic path, which led to the thesis that they revolved around the Sun.

            Johannes may not have as well-known a name as Galileo, but he made a lot of major contributions to astronomy that still survive to this day. He was a pioneer to the study of Lunar topography, and was quite the handyman in creating observing tools. He was a very well rounded individual who had great success as a brewer and an astronomer. Johannes Hevelius’ naked eye measurements showed just how great an astronomer he really was.