Observations

3/6/10


On Saturday march 6th, 2010 I had the privilege of helping conduct the astronomy night viewing for many parents, students, and astronomy inspired observers. I was there for a total of about 5 hours I believe. This was a great experience, and I was truly surprised how much I could remember when it cam time for me to do this without the complete assistant of my teacher. I was able to direct telescopes to m45, and also explain the location in the telescopes of Jupiter. My favorite moment of the night had to be the Jupiter viewing; it was possible to see the rings of the planet as it just slanted within the sky. It was also possible to see about 2 of the moons that hung bright, and extremely close to this amazing planet. A lot of people showed up, and regardless of the cold chill; people were generally excited and stayed for the entire night. The hours I spent at astronomy night strengthen my confidence to identify constellations, and have the ability to spread my knowledge with others as well. It was very interesting to also have a lesson with the laser pointer, and it seemed a lot of people were excited every point of the night when you used it to explain something. I had an enjoyable night, and learned more from my own abilities then I ever thought.

apod 3.8

This weeks apod posting is a photo called “Phobos from Mars Express.” The origins of Phobos is the larger of the two moons that orbit Mars . The photo above is Phobos in a flyby shot of the ESA Mars Express. This is a robotic spacecraft that began orbiting Mars In the year 2003. Phobo has a very irregular shape and is about 25 kilometers in length. Phobos does not have enough gravity to compress into a ball. The orbit is so close to mars that in the next 20 million years there will ne a tidal deceleration, and it will break up the rubble moon into a ring whose pieces will spiral downwards and crash onto the red planet. The Photobo –Brunt is a Russian space mission and is scheduled to launch the land on Phobos some day next year, this will give every a better understanding of this oddly shaped moon. As the photo expresses, the moon is strangely dark and has numerous unusual grooves. It is a true spectacular chain of craters that crosses across the image presented in front of us. This is truly a very interesting photo, and I think it is a very good idea for the moon to be labeled with a north pole, so that it is easier to put yourself in the perspective of observer. The odd shape makes this an even more interesting moon. I am very happy that I had the chance to do my apod blog on this particular photo of the day.


http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100317.html

APOD 3.7

This Apod blog is titled: Deep Auriga. This photo is the plane of ourMiley Way Galazy that is extedning though the Chatiteer constillation.There are some star clusters, that are labled by the M numbers.For example this perticular apod has the star Elanath that lies near the bottom right portion of the photo. This links Auriga to the Taururs constillation.Charles Massier's M36, M37, and M38 are the three open star clusters. To identify the Auriga M numbers this awesome photo allows you to wave your cursor over the image to reveale the correct lableing. I truly love the photo, and the cool features that it is composed of. This allows the student or person to be interactive. I feel that more APOD photos should be like this one.


http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100305.html

Apod. 3.6

This is considered the jewel of the southern sky which is known as the NGC 3372, or more familiar as the Great Carina Nebula. This nebula spans over 300 light-years. The Carina Nebula is one of the galaxy’s largest star-forming regions. The Eta Carinae makes its home in this galaxy. The Eta Carina is an extremely massive star which is well over 100 times the mass of our own sun. Located in the lower left of the cosmic canvas is a large star forming region, which is most known for the title: The Running Chicken Nebula. Towards the center of the nebula is a 10 degree wide fields that includes the star clusters: NGC 5576 and NGC 3603. This photo is a interesting and beautiful photo. The sheer size makes this just unreal to me.