APOD 2.8

Reflections on the 1970s Orion was the one thing I always looked for in the night sky when I was younger. Well, that and the Little Dipper which I now know is only an asterism for Ursa Minor. Anyways, it's always fun to look up at the sky at night and see all the stars and the pretty moon. I like the moon. It's very bright and pretty as I said before.

APOD 2.7

T Tauri and Hind's Variable Nebula

I don't really know if these stars can be seen by the naked eye or if they can be viewed through binoculars or if they might even need to be viewed through a telescope. Obviously you can't get that good of a picture with the naked eye. Either way, this is a really pretty picture and I'll have to do more research on whether or not these may be viewed just by looking up at the night sky.

APOD 2.6

M74: The Perfect Spiral This is pretty cool. I do not know why we did not have it on our constellation quiz, but that's okay. One less "M" object to worry about. Anyhow, I wish that I could see this for myself through the Hubble telescope. The observation of possible black hole tendencies of this M object is absolutely amazing. Black holes really fascinate me. Guess I will have to keep checking on this development.

APOD 2.5

Moon Over Pigeon Point Lighthouse

I really don't know why they only light up the lighthouse once a year. I mean, wouldn't it be a good idea for boats and other things in California? They have cruises that set out of there and stuff so why would it be beneficial for the place to be lit up only once a year? Anyhow, it's a really pretty picture and I think it would be a pretty cool sight to be out on the water and see this. Also, why would a 800 pound pig named Lester be the one guarding the area? Oh well.

APOD 2.4

Cosmic Rays from Galactic Centers

I googled what cosmic rays are since I basically had absolutely no idea what they were or how they were produced. Hannah blatantly pointed out that I am no expert and I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about when I was talking about galactic cosmic rays. Apparently the galactic cosmic rays have more "violent" movement when compared to other cosmic rays such as anomalous cosmic rays. How exciting.

APOD 2.3

Skyscape with Comet Holmes It is so amazing at how fast stars and other planetary objects move. In October the magnitude of this comet apparently went from having a magnitude of 17 to a magnitude of about 2.8 which makes it extremely easy for people to view with the naked eye. Looking at these APODs give me a real interest in pursuing studying about the planetary objects and other things.

APOD 2.2

Halloween and the Ghost Head NebulaThis picture is really pretty. It does somewhat look like a ghost head and it's funny. Well, it's cool at the same time. The colors are really pretty. I wish it was visible to all of us down here. Then again the long exposure photographs enhance the colors. So it really would not be as pretty as it looks in this picture. I have never really seen any other pictures of star forming regions so I do not know if they all look the same or if they all look different.

APOD 2.1

Enceladus Ice GeysersThe Cassini discovered this very thin atmosphere. Ionized vapor on Enceladus is the main component and these ice geysers are found in the south pole. This gives the idea what Enceladus is supplying the particles of Saturn's e-ring. I only wish I could be able to work with these kinds of things. They are so fascinating.

James Bradley Report

James Bradley was an astronomer born at Gloucestershire in March of 1963. He was most famously known for his discovery of the aberration of light. The aberration of light is known as an astronomical phenomenon which produces an apparent motion of celestial objects such as stars and planets. Bradley decided the cause was from the finite speed of light and the motion of the Earth around the Sun. The true position of an object depends on the velocity of the observer. The velocity will vary for people on Earth though seeing as the rotation of the Earth around the Sun will affect the velocity at which a celestial object is seen.

The maximum amount of the aberrational displacement of a star is approximately twenty arc seconds in right ascension or declination. People often confuse aberration with stellar parallax. The parallax is determined based on the distance between the observer and the object being observed. With stellar aberration, however, the distance really has nothing to do with what is being observed. It only depends on the observer's velocity with respect to the incoming light beam at that particular point in time. The beam of light must basically shoot straight at the observer for it to be seen and have no transverse velocity otherwise the light beam would never be seen. Light-time correction is another term that is mixed up with aberration. This is actually due to the motion of an observed object. It depends on velocity and the distance of the emitting object. Light-time correction has absolutely no relation to the motion of the Earth with respect to the Sun.

With the help of Samuel Molyneux, Bradley discovered this apparent motion of the stars. Molyneux had noted no change in position to a particular star which was being observed. When Bradley started to observe it, however, he noticed the slight change in position of the star. They thought at first that maybe the telescope had made an error, but there were no apparent problems with it. Bradley and his colleague observed the motion of the star for the next year and attempted to explain it. They figured that the motion was not due to parallax and it was not due to observational errors. The two worked out several different explanations for what might have gone wrong or in hopes of finding out what was really going on. The first idea thrown out was that the star's declination varied because of short-term changes in the orientation of the Earth's axis relative to the celestial sphere. Because this is a change to the observer's frame of reference, it would therefore affect all star equally.

Bradley made his own telescope a year or so into the study. This telescope had the advantage of a larger field of view and he was able to obtain precise positions of a large number of stars that transited close to the zenith over the course of about two years. Due to the observations that Bradley was able to make, he was able to formulate a set of rules that would allow the calculation of the effect of any given star at any specified date. No one really knows if Bradley really ever discovered a true reasoning for the cause of aberration. A few years before he died, Bradley discovered the existence of the nutation of the Earth's axis which he has originally believed was the cause of aberration but he had nothing to support his beliefs at that point in time.

APOD 1.7

Aurora, Stars, Meteor, Lake, Alaska

This is such a cool picture and is one of the many reasons why I would love to travel to Alaska or anywhere else where auroras can be seen. I also think that being able to study these when I go off to college or something would be pretty interesting. The variety of colors that auroras can be is amazing. They just look so not real in pictures and I think it would be cooler to be able to witness this amazing event in person.

APOD 1.6

Starburst Cluster in NGC 3603 I was thinking how amazing it must be to be able to travel up into space and be able to see this by looking out the window from some space aircraft. Stars are amazing to me in general and are always really fun to look at when going outside and just laying on the ground staring up at the sky. Just to think that millions of stars are formed every day is amazing. To be able to see them this in depth though would be even cooler.

APOD 1.5

Saguaro Moon

I love this APOD. The moon looks like it is so close and is just a brilliant color with the background of it either rising or setting. The addition to it being near cacti gives it a pretty cool effect. It was almost that pretty here on Wednesday while I was on my way to school. Driving on I-75 I could see the moon and it looked so close and so big! I would have loved to stay up all night just to see this moon rise and to see the effects of the full moon.

APOD #1.4

Tungurahua Erupts

As usual, I picked this astronomy picture of the day because it's pretty. The only volcanoes I have ever seen are in Hawaii and there was not lava and hot magma flowing out of them while I was there. It would be cool to see though, long as I was like in a helicopter or something away from the hot stuff which could kill me.

APOD #1.3

Six Rainbows Across Norway

This is another beautiful image as have been the last two APOD posts of mine. Since it is such a rarity to see so many rainbows at one time, it would be amazing to witness one of these in real life rather than just through pictures. The first rainbow is rather easy to explain, but as more and more rainbows start appearing, it becomes harder for scientists to explain them.

sIX

APOD #1.2

The Colorful Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi

The clouds of Ophiuchi are so pretty. The colors would be amazing to be seen by the naked eye, but because of the high wavelengths, it is can be difficult to see the bright colors.