APOD 1.4

Today, September 23rd the sun crosses the equator passing south an event known as the autumnol equinox. I was really excited to see this picture as I was aware that this event was takign place today! It crossed at approximatley 3:09 Universal Time. With the sun on the celestial equator, we will experiance 12 hours of daylight and darkness. Days in the northern hemisphere will continue to grow shorter as winter approaches and the sun decends lower in the sky. This picture is really awesome to look at - you can see loops and arc that trace the glowing plasma!

Observations 9/5/10 - 9/20/10

9/5/10
Last night at about 10pm, I went out on to my driveway and to my surprise, I was able to identify Sagittarius and the Corona Australis. I was looking for the Teapot and It was relatively easy to spot! I also managed to see Venus.

9/11/10
Observing from my driveway, approximately 9pm, it looked as if the moon had almost reached the first quarter so I figured it was in the last moments of waxing crescent phase. The moon was in an eastern position against the sky. I was not able to identify any specific constellations-only the planet Venus, which is still pretty cool.

9/17/10
Friday night I was on my friend's beach on casey key. I observed that the moon was waxing gibbous making it so bright, that it was really difficult to point out specific constellations. Nontheless, far to the east of the moon, I managed to make out a super bright star that I thought was Venus. Looking at the sky from the beach was really great due to the relative darkness of my surroundings- I'll have to be sure to go again when the moon is in a better phase.

9/20/10
Although I did not manage to make it to the scheduled Observation, I did manage to do some observing of my own outside my house at about 9pm. When I looked directly overhead, I could see the summer triangle which includes the stars Vega, Altair, and Deneb! I was able to spot scorpius, and its brightest star Antares, made it easier for me to spot.

APOD 1.3

Northern Lights over Prelude Lake (9/17/10)

This depicts shimering green light cross over this intense skyscape. The Prelude lake is located about 30 kilometers east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. These northern lights or, the aurora borealis, come from high northern latitudes and are also becoming a more farmiliar sight. I was delighted to be able to recognize the big dipper and realize myself that since we are close approaching the equinox, this aurora will be able to seen more easily and for a longer of time. It's definitely worth a trip to Alaska or some northern territory- Everyone should see the corona borealis once in their lifetime!

APOD 1.2

Picture  - GRO J1655-40 Evidence for a  Spinning Black Hole (10 Sep 2010)

Inside a center of a swirling whirlpool of hot gas is what appears to be a black hole; something that has never before seen directly. What drew me to this  picture was obviously the bright light that is emitted by the swirling gas. The surounding gas has a flickering of about 450 times per second. Astronomers estimate that the center object inside is about seven times bigger than our sun. I have never before seen an image of what a black hole actually looks like, its usually a ridiously wrong mental image most people gain from movies and the like. This picture demonstrates how much research and scienfic gain will be made in the future. One day we will be able to answer questions like what physical mechanisms actually causes this flickering? The graphic image is amazing!

APOD 1.1

Picture- Sep 2nd 2010

The Bubble Nebula

I picked this picture because I have never seen anything like this in space before! It looks very mystical- It has a majestic aura especially accentuated by the blue circle that surrounds the bubble and is within the re-toned sky and pink looking stars. Above and to the right of the bubble's center is an O-Type star which is several hundred times more luminous 45 times more massive then the Sun. Call me ignorant but before I saw this picture I had no idea there was any celestial object in Space brighter than the Sun! The Bubble Nebula lies 11,000 light years away.