Astronomy Picture Of The Day: Aurora Over Norway, 2010 September 20.
We've all seen pictures of the Aurora Borealis from the Alaskan ground. Auroras are photographed often due to there beauty. This specific picture taken above Tromso Noway is unlike anything I personally have ever seen. The sky it stretches is absolutely incredible. It's superbly bright. Even the landscape below is beautiful. It's interesting how the subscript points out the auroras never block light behind them (for example stars, planets, or even airplanes). Thus everything behind this aurora is still visible which makes for an even more beautiful sight. Auroras are caused by collisions between charged particles from the magnetosphere and air molecules from Earth's atmosphere. They are even visible from space. The combination of its beauty and its scientific prerequisites makes the aurora one of the coolest, most interesting things in the sky in my opinion.
P.S. LOOK AT ALL OF THOSE STARS.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Observation 9/16/10
I was walking around my development at night at approximately 10:10 pm. The Moon had just started to become more and more (waxing) gibbous. The outline of the unlit Moon has been completely lost as opposed to being very visible during its crescent phases.
Due to poor lighting now many stars were visible, if any. It was very difficult to find any significant constellations or asterisms. However, the part of the sky that specifically stood out to me was the Milky Way. It was extraordinarily bright and clear, extremely visible from where I was standing.
Hopefully there will be better conditions in nights to come so I can start to find specific stars.
Due to poor lighting now many stars were visible, if any. It was very difficult to find any significant constellations or asterisms. However, the part of the sky that specifically stood out to me was the Milky Way. It was extraordinarily bright and clear, extremely visible from where I was standing.
Hopefully there will be better conditions in nights to come so I can start to find specific stars.
APOD 1.3
APOD 2010 September 16th: The Veil Nebula
This is yet another supernova remnant. The light from the explosion of the previous star reached Earth approximately 5,000 years ago. It's interesting to see the varying bright and dim parts of this specific nebula. For instance there are two specifically bright spans located at the very top and the very bottom. In comparison to the other streaks of gas these two areas are exceedingly bright. This may explain why one of these areas has been named; that is how much it sticks out in the night sky. It's called The Witch's Broom and spans three times the angular distance of the moon. This is a huge bright area in the sky that is extroardinarily beautiful.
P.S.: The beauty of the Veil Nebula takes all of the attention originially. However I looked past it for a second and realized that the number of stars photographed is simply mind blowing. This is only one tiny portion of the infinite sky.
Friday, September 10, 2010
APOD 1.2
APOD Post of September 10th 2010: Vela Supernova Remnant
I was originally drawn to this post for aesthetic purposes considering the picture is absolutely incredible. The nebulous aftermath of an exploding star clearly is an appealing subject as well. However, going into the subject more deeply, the science behind the picture is just as interesting. During the explosion of a supernova for a brief time the explosion can be brighter than an entire galaxy. The shock wave that is released after the explosion picks up an expanding shell of gas and also sweeps up interstellar dust which then creates a supernova remnant. This specific supernova is located in the constelation Vela. The light from the explosion is estimated to have reached Earth 11,000 years ago and is approximately 800 light years away. Figures like this are so hard to grasp and yet so interesting. This supernova remnant is said to be part of the Gum Nebula which is also supposedly of the same nature, only is said to have exploded over 1 million years ago and is so close to Earth that it is hard to see.
Take some time to go look at pictures of other supernova remnants. They are incredible, literally almost unbelievable.
-Samuel
I was originally drawn to this post for aesthetic purposes considering the picture is absolutely incredible. The nebulous aftermath of an exploding star clearly is an appealing subject as well. However, going into the subject more deeply, the science behind the picture is just as interesting. During the explosion of a supernova for a brief time the explosion can be brighter than an entire galaxy. The shock wave that is released after the explosion picks up an expanding shell of gas and also sweeps up interstellar dust which then creates a supernova remnant. This specific supernova is located in the constelation Vela. The light from the explosion is estimated to have reached Earth 11,000 years ago and is approximately 800 light years away. Figures like this are so hard to grasp and yet so interesting. This supernova remnant is said to be part of the Gum Nebula which is also supposedly of the same nature, only is said to have exploded over 1 million years ago and is so close to Earth that it is hard to see.
Take some time to go look at pictures of other supernova remnants. They are incredible, literally almost unbelievable.
-Samuel
Friday, September 3, 2010
APOD 1.1
APOD Post from August 30th 2010: Comanche Outcrop on Mars Indicates Hospitable Past
I had always heard of fictional stories regarding "extraterrestrial life", some involving the heroic actions of a young adult Will Smith, and others not. Regardless of alien portrayal in Hollywood it is more interesting to realize that a planet in our solar system had a chance of housing life. The skepticism prior to the discovery of Comanche was that Mars was believed to have water in anceint times but that the water would be too acidic to sustain life. The reason why Comanche is so important is because it has a high concentrate of magnesium iron carbonate. Carbonates dissolve in acid. Thus, in this specific area there was a good chance of there being water pure enough to create and sustain life. This is the first real informational, understandable, down to earth (forgive the pun), scientific article I have read and fully grasped that explains the possibility if not probability of there being life on Mars at some point.
Pretty boss.
-Samuel
I had always heard of fictional stories regarding "extraterrestrial life", some involving the heroic actions of a young adult Will Smith, and others not. Regardless of alien portrayal in Hollywood it is more interesting to realize that a planet in our solar system had a chance of housing life. The skepticism prior to the discovery of Comanche was that Mars was believed to have water in anceint times but that the water would be too acidic to sustain life. The reason why Comanche is so important is because it has a high concentrate of magnesium iron carbonate. Carbonates dissolve in acid. Thus, in this specific area there was a good chance of there being water pure enough to create and sustain life. This is the first real informational, understandable, down to earth (forgive the pun), scientific article I have read and fully grasped that explains the possibility if not probability of there being life on Mars at some point.
Pretty boss.
-Samuel
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