Apod 2.7

 

     Recently I was looking at the APOD titled "Geminis Fireball over Mount Balang". A few days ago there was a geminid meteor shower that was visible in the night sky. During this shower this amazing picture was captured that shows a meteor descending right over Mount Balang In China. This fireball was actually just a pebble that had intercepted with earth's atmosphere and it only flashed for a fraction of a second. In the background of the picture one can see the three stars that make up Orion's belt. The star Sirius is also visible near the center of the picture as well.

APOD 2.6

     I was looking at the APOD labed Moondog Night. I had prior knowledge of sundogs but moondogs were something that I have never seen before. The picture shows what seems to be an explosion in the night sky when in reality it is actually just a moondog. These moondogs are created when the moonlight is refracted through hexagonal shaped crystals in cirrus clouds. The lower the moon the fainter the moondog. The moon dog in the picture only lasted ten minutes until it had faded into the night sky.

APOD 2.5

     Today I was looking at the APOD titled Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula. This nebula is usually very faint and hard to see, however this picture seemed to capture it perfectly. This nebula has a neuron star and the debris cloud is expanding after the explosion of a massive star. It blows my mind that such a nice picture of this nebula could be taken despite the fact that it is 5,000 light years away. I am also surprised by how much it actually looks like a jellyfish.

APOD 2.4

     Recently i was looking at the APOD titled LDN 988: A Dark Nebula in Cygnus. This APOD stuck out to me because it never occurred to me that star fields actally that many stars. That was something that completely blew my mind when I first looked at it. All of the stars look like tiny pebbles on the ground, almost like sand. This APOd focuses on the nebula pointed out in the picture. It is sometimes called the North Coalsack and is associated with many young stars. Another reason that I picked this APOD was because it has to do with the constellation Cygnus which we had learned of in class. 

APOD 2.3

     I was recently looking at the APOD titled "Descent to a Comet". It is about the first landing of the lander Philae on a comet which is also the first landing ever. This is history and it has taken that lander around ten years to get to where it is now. Despite the fact that the lander's harpoon did not fire, it was still able to land successfully and will conduct its mission for 2.5 days and bring back images and data to the Earth. The lander Philae is able to maintain battery life because it is fitted with extensive solar panels that charge it and allow it to function properly.

APOD 2.2

     
    This week I was looking at the the APOD labeled "NGC 4762: A Galaxy On the Edge" The line on this picture is actually the edge of a disk galaxy. This picture was a perfect photo to show how thin some galaxies are and how they may be hard to classify. Many other Galaxies can be seen in this picture as well. Also the Milky Way Galaxy is though to be as thin as this galaxy. Even though it appears to be thin this galaxy is about 100,000 light years in diameter.

Great World Wide Star Count

     Recently I participated in the Great World Wide Star Count. I was asked to observe the constellation Cygnus. I was barley able to do so and I found out that the limiting magnitude of the sky outside my house is around 3 on the chart.  If I was closer to a town it would have been harder to see the constellation and if I was farther it would have been easier to see. I can see over a hundred more stars after looking at the sky for fifteen minutes than looking the stars right when I walk out of my house. This is because it takes time for my eyes to adjust to the dark.