Quarter 2 Biography Citation

Here is the links I will be using to do my biography on William Herschel

http://messier.seds.org/xtra/Bios/wherschel.html

http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/wht/

http://www.nndb.com/people/661/000096373/

http://space.about.com/od/astronomerbiographies/a/herschelwilliam.htm

http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/scopes/herschel/

http://www.astrolapalma.com/en/william-herschel-telescope

http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/herschel/fwhershs.html

APOD 2.7

This weeks APOD is taken from today, December 13th and is an image of the Geminid Meteor shower. While this image was taken in 2012, it gives a good idea to the viewer what it will look like tonight. That's right, the night of December 13th and the morning of the 14th will look like this in select places around the world. This is a yearly thing that is looked forward to by astronomer everywhere. This image was taken over three hours with a time lapse camera and it really shows just how amazing beautiful flaming space rocks heading for one's head can look like. Fortunately, we have the atmosphere to protect us from dying and allow us to see the amazing spectacle in the image above. This image was taken in China and this year it will be somewhere else but, unfortunately, us Floridians won't be able to see it. The meteors that rain down are actually traveling at 14 miles per second. I know that I am looking forward to seeing what they looked like this year tomorrow.

Observational Study 11/25 - 12/7

It has been a while since I last made an observational post so I have made several observations to talk about. These weeks, I saw the moon go from waning crescent to new moon to waxing crescent all the while getting closer and closer to Venus until they were right next to each other. I have also been using computers and equipment to watch the movement of Comet ISON as I passed near the sun. I was able to see tons of stars and almost all of the constellations we have studied so far. I also noticed that constellations are changing position slightly every night until they are starting to fall below the horizon and out of view since we are getting into winter and out of fall. There were fewer clouds and it was dark enough to see quite a few things in the sky. On some nights, I went several times and noted the approximate positions of the things in the sky and could clearly see how they changed so much in only a few hours. All in all, not a bad two weeks for observations.

APOD 2.6

This weeks APOD was difficult to pick since there are so many amazing photos to choose from over a span of 2 weeks but I decided to use the one from November 29th 2013.

This is an image of a before (right) and after (left) of comet ISON's trip around the sun. This is an infrared image and is actually screenshots of a youtube video uploaded by NASA that I found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pCroW5ACSE
 ISON actually got within only 1 million kilometers of the sun which sounds far away, but is extremely close which is why it is so much dimmer in the after picture. In the video, you can see that it speeds up greatly when it gets close to the sun. This is not speeding up the picture, the gravity from the sun is so strong it worked like a slingshot that shot the comet even faster than it was already going. I chose this because I actually found it a while ago to use in my project.

Observational Study 11/17 - 11/24

This week, it has been cloudy most nights with little to no visibility. But there have been some days that, with the help of the star walk app, I have been able to see, identify and note things about stars and planets in the night sky over my house. By the time I am awake enough to even think about looking outside, the sun has already risen so need to do my observations at night. This week I got to see the moon go from waxing gibbous to full moon to waning gibbous which made the few days that were clear pretty difficult to see anything from all the light.

APOD 2.5

Today I chose to select the APOD image found on the date November 17th 2013 seen below

 This is an image of the tail created by the Comet McNaught. This was taken in 2007 with a long duration camera exposure with a wide angle lens so that one can see its entire length. This was taken from an observatory in Australia by the discoverer of the comet Robert McNaught. This comet is actually the brightest one to pass near the earth in several decades with its brightness magnitude of negative five. A new comet that I have been monitoring called ISON is approaching and is expected to be even brighter than this assuming that it doesn't explode from the suns heat. The main reason I chose this photo is not only because it is a stunningly beautiful picture, but it is also relevant to the quarters project in class. I am going to present comets and meteors and I have learned a lot in my research. With my new knowledge, I actually can point out parts of the comet above by name such as the nucleus.

Observational Post 11/11 - 11/16

I have noticed some pretty interesting things lately in my time outside at night. I was able to see a couple of meteors that fall through the sky and burn up for a couple of seconds. These "shooting stars" are normally next to impossible to predict for the average Joe like myself but I find that the more time I spend outside, the better the chance I get of seeing something really cool. I, of course, have been able to spot most of our current constellations but have noticed something peculiar... I have noticed that I am able to spot things like planets and specific stars much easier even without technological help. I guess all of this time outside has actually taught me how to do things off the book. I have also noticed that, as we approach the winter and cooler months, that a lot of the stars are particularly bright and are actually twinkling more from the atmospheric disruptions. All in all, a pretty good week for stargazing. 

APOD 2.4

Today's APOD is taken from November 9th and is an image of a comet called Lovejoy.

The bright stars near the comet is called the M44 star cluster but better known as the Beehive cluster. This is currently the brightest comet in our night sky and is actually visible from the naked eye. NASA is showing this picture to get people excited about the upcoming ISON comet that has recently become much brighter and will probably be visible to people with the naked eye.The green color the comet has is coming from the coma of the comet aka the center and is radiating with heat from passing near the sun. Lovejoy is currently about half of an AU away from us and a little over 1 AU from the sun.  That white glow at the bottom of the photo is actually a really bright star called Delta Cancri. The main reason I chose this photo is because I am studying comets and meteors for my astronomy project for the quarter and am actually learning a lot from both the internet and the textbook.

Observational Post 11/4 - 11/10

This had been a very boring week so there is not much to say. I have been going out every night to look at the stars and make observations but there aren't any real observations to make. I watched the moon go from being out every night to setting very early with the sun which has made the nights very dark and good for star viewing. I can still see most of the constellations that I have in the past as well as Pegasus and Andromeda which is always cool to see new constellations. Sorry I don't have more news or cool astronomical observations but every night has been uneventful since that partial solar eclipse. Until next week, I'll keep looking up at the stars.

APOD 2.3

This weeks APOD is a photo of the partial solar eclipse that occurred last Sunday

This is taken from New York at sunrise and is just visually stunning. The sunrise was an hour earlier due to the daylight saving time ending. I chose this photo because I got to see the same thing, start to finish, from Florida in my backyard. While America only saw a partial eclipse, off the coast off Africa people were able to see a total eclipse. This was something that people payed thousands of dollars and spent weeks preparing to be able to see the total eclipse while I got to see some of it from my back yard. The reason that it was partially eclipsed here and fully eclipsed in Africa is because this was a hybrid eclipse. That means that parts of the Earth saw the moon at an odd angle in some places creating partial eclipses. This is just another wondrous thing about the stars and the planets that are super beautiful and incredible just think about and even sometimes have the privilege to see.

Observational Post 10/27 - 11/3

Well this was an eventful and special week! Not only did daylight savings time end which means that everyone will be able see more stars at a much earlier time in the afternoon. But there was a very special solar eclipse today that occurred directly at sunrise. I got up to see it but was only able to see the sun over the the obstructions by the time it was almost over. Still, it was an amazing event that few will ever see. This weeks night skies were also very clear so I was able to see a lot of stars, constellations and even the space station fly overhead for a couple of seconds. Now that summer is completely over and winter is approaching, the night skies will be much clearer and the stars will be easier to see. Plus as time goes on, new constellations will be visible as we rotate around the sun. Until next week, I will continue to look up and see new and interesting things in the night sky.

APOD 2.2

Today's APOD is the first post of November and the last one before daylight saving time ends! It is from October 31st and is a photo that is taken on Earth but looks out of this world!

This photo was taken on a volcanic site in Iceland and shows just how amazing our planet is. It is also kind of appropriate that this spooky photo was chosen to be displayed on the 31st of October as that is Halloween, the spookiest holiday of the year! This place is named Hverir and is located in the Northeast of the country. The green lights in the sky are an auroral display caused by a geomagnetic storm. The gas clouds are caused by the lava just underneath the vents located on the surface. I really like this picture because it shows me just how amazing our world is and how amazing it must look from space with the lights and movement and uncommonly known geological parts of the surface.

Great World Wide Observation

Last night, I went out and used the Great World Wide pdf document on Mr. Percival's site to gauge the magnitude visibility in the night sky near my house. After following the scale, I was able to see all six of the main stars in the northern cross which means that I had a magnitude of about 4 which is much better than places that suffer from light pollution.

Observational Post 10/20 - 10/26

This past week has been pretty uneventful since four of the seven days has been so cloudy that it is impossible to see the moon, let alone the stars. On the other three days though, it was clear enough to see the usual stars and to watch the movement of some planets across the sky throughout the night. I recently bought a new pair of binoculars that allow me to see some larger and/or brighter things like the Moon, Mars, or Venus much more clearly and in greater detail. It is becoming apparent that summer is finally going and fall is coming as the skies are becoming clearer and much cooler by comparison to how it was before. Next week, daylight saving time ends which will mean that the sky will get dark sooner and that the winter nights are approaching which will allow for better stargazing. But for now, I have to make due with the rare and far between clear nights where only so much can be seen.

APOD 2.1

Today is officially the first submission of the second quarter! This APOD is from October 21st of the astronomy picture of the day website. It is an image of Saturn from an angle that one could never see from earth.

This is a photo from above Saturn taken by the robotic Cassini Spacecraft that is orbiting the ringed planet to this day. That black circle that you see on the left side of the rings is not a problem with the image... no, it is the shadow of the planet on its rings. I really like this picture because I never really think of the rings as a solid or near solid but instead as a gas. This photo is one of few that shows that full expanse of all the rings and is really representative of just how big the rings are in comparison to the planet itself. Just another incredible photo of a distant planet in a place out of our reach.

Observational Study 10/13 - 10/19

Well, there is not much to tell this week. As the moon has been getting bigger and bigger until climaxing in a full moon, there has been little to no visibility of any stars or planets. It has also been very cloudy every night to the point that even the moon is either hazy or not visible. On Friday night, I attempted to view the meteor shower that Mr. Percival told us to look for but I had no luck as it was way too bright and cloudy to see anything. I may have seen one or two meteors fly by, but it may be my imagination. Sorry I don't have any better info to write about this week, but its the weathers fault... not mine. I'll keep a look out, and keep my fingers crossed for clearer skies.

APOD 1.8

Todays APOD is from the actual APOD site today because the government is back in business! It is taken from October 16th and is a picture of Draco the constellation.

It is actually a very close up view of it and shows the three galaxies that are within Draco from our point of view from Earth. This group of galaxies is called the Draco Group and is found in the upper right corner of the constellation. The galaxies are called (from right to left) are edge on spiral NGC5981, elliptical galaxy NGC5982, and face on spiral NGC5985. The coolest thing is that this is taken in one telescopic view that is only a little bigger than half of the full moon which tells you just how close these are to each other from our point of view. These galaxies are all about 100 light years away from us. If you look closely enough, you can see that a lot of the stars in the background are actually more galaxies that are just tinier from us as they are further away. I chose this picture not only because it looked cool, but also because it seemed appropriate that I did a picture on a relevant topic in our class. We just took a constellation quiz where one of the two new constellations was Draco!

Observational Study 10/7 - 10/12

This week was actually very good for viewing the stars. Like last week, I was able to see tons of stars and almost all of the constellations we have studied so far. This week ended with the moon being at waxing gibbous and nothing but clear skies all week. As Mr. Percival told us, I have been keeping an eye out for Venus' movements and noticed some changes. Using my own observations as well as the star walk app for assistance, I see that Venus is slowly moving away from the ecliptic as well as the moon each night. But I also noticed that constellations are changing position slightly every night until they are starting to fall below the horizon and out of view. Not much else has changed since last week, but I will keep an eye out.

APOD 1.7

Todays APOD is from today, October 11th 2013 It is an image of a spiral galaxy from the side and is truly amazing.

This galaxy spans over 100,000 light years and is currently 30,000,000 light years away! This galaxy is very similar to our own galaxy in shape as well as content. The spots in the background are actually all different galaxies and if you try hard enough, you can actually discern some of the less bright ones' shapes. The white glow surrounding the galaxy is actually dust that has been shot out by stars' supernova explosions and formation activities. I really enjoyed this photo not only because it is beautiful, but also because it looks kind of like the eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings.

Giovanni Cassini Biography

Giovanni Cassini also known as Giovanni Domenico, Gian Domenico Cassini, and Jean Domenico Cassini is a very famous astronomer who has made many discoveries and innovations that have greatly benefited the world of astronomy. He was born in Italy in 1625 in a Roman Catholic family, Cassini worked in the family business of astronomy by making maps including one of the first topographic maps of France using Frisius’s technique of triangulation. At a young age, he studied rotational periods of planets before moving to France upon invitation by King Louis XIV. In 1648, he began work in the Panzano Observatory with instruments he bought from the Marquis Malvasia. Using these, he observed a comet in 1652 and named it after the Duke of Modena. He actually used methods set up by Galileo to make the first accurate measurements of longitude and used that to measure the size of France. Cassini is the first person to observe four of Saturn’s moons, Iapetus in 1671, Rhea in 1672, Tethys in 1684 and Dione in 1684. He named them Louisian Stars after King Louis. Iapetus had variations in brightness, which he accurately ascribed to the presence of dark material on one hemisphere, which is now called Cassini regio in his honor. In 1672, Cassini collaborated with a man named Jean Richer who went to Cayenne so they could both make observations of Mars and to calculate the parallax to find the distance between Earth and Mars. This actually allowed for the first estimations of the dimensions of the solar system. He also discovered the Cassini Division in the rings of Saturn in 1675 as well as the Great Red Spot on Jupiter in 1665. In 1712, Giovanni Cassini died in Paris, France thus ending the list of a long series of discoveries and observations made by an amazing astronomer.

Observatioanl Study week 9/29 - 10/6

The clouds have finally cleared! After weeks with little to no visibility of the night sky from clouds and rain, it has cleared and I can finally see! This week I have gone out almost every night and seen nothing but clearness and stars. I was able to see almost all of the constellations including Cepheus, Hercules, Corona Borealis, Vulpecula, Aquila and many more. I saw the summer triangle and planets like Uranus, Venus and Neptune. I found out that the Star Walk app that I use sometimes has photo recognition, which means that I can hold my phone up to the sky and the app will connect the constellations and name the planets with a live video feed from my back yard. It has become even easier to notice stars and constellations even when I am just walking my dogs. I thought at first it would never happen, but it has.

APOD 1.6

Today's APOD is from the date 10/02/13 on the NASA website

The above picture is of the visible colors created by the sun. This can be obtained through using a complex and high tech stereoscope. A stereoscope is designed to use either a prism or of a kind of film to split light into a visible spectrum for the viewer. The black lines that are seen between the radiant colors are called absorption lines. A basic stereoscope can only see a few lines but this is clearly a highly advanced technological one that can read the data on a far more expanded scale. In fact, it was taken by an observatory called the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory. This image proves that the sun radiates all visible and several non visible spectrum of colors. Even today, we still have not identified all spectral absorption lines even with our advancements in science and engineering. I chose this image because I like the way that it shows that nature is full of hidden amazing things that we don't even see or know exist yet.

Observatioanl Study week 9/22 - 9/28

This is a very bland observational post since this entire week has been stormy and cloudy. The first 4 days of the week was constant rain and lightning. And the rest of the days were dark, cloudy and plain gloomy which amounted to zero night sky visibility for the entire week. On one of the mornings, though, I was able to see the moon for a little while before it set. Other than that.... I have no new info, experiences, or statements to make.

APOD 1.5

This weeks APOD is a photo that was released on September 22nd and is really amazing. It is called "Apollo's Anamella"

This is a time lapse photo taken by a camera over the course of an entire year. Every 24 hours, this camera would take a photo of the sun on one piece of 35 mm film.That right there is an achievement since the person had to find a place that would not disturb this camera at all. The curve that the multiple suns make up that looks kind of like a skewed infinite symbol is called a Analemma. The average length of a day is 24 hours but this photo allows us to see that, because of the elliptic curve of the rotation, the hours vary by a little bit that makes a big difference over time. This is a sort of symbolical photo since the structure under the multiple suns is actually the temple of Apollo which is the god of the sun. The point where the two loops meet in this stitched photo is actually the time of the equinox. This photo captures how there is so much we don't even notice in our skies every day and how much a little change from a perfect circle in our rotation can make such an amazing difference over the course of a single year.

Sources for important people project

My person that I will be doing my project on, assigned by Mr. Percival, is Giovanni Cassini and my sources are as follows

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Cassini.html

http://www.space.com/18902-giovanni-cassini.html

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=fl_sarhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=4&contentSet=GALE|CX2830900805&&docId=GALE|CX2830900805&docType=GALE

http://www.nndb.com/people/258/000095970/
 

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/98187/Gian-Domenico-Cassini