Observation Blog Quarter 2

First week:
Friday night I went outside and closely observed the Cygnus constellation, looking for similarities between the stars in the night sky and the stars in the magnitude charts. Also, I made an extra effort and went out behind my house to see the other half of the sky, I was able to identify Orion from there.

Second Week
I was trying to distinguish the summer triangle and its constellations, then I realized that I was looking at Casseopeia, recognized by the Worm asterism. Upon realizing I was not looking at the summer sky, I became slightly disoriented due to my lack of fall sky observation experience. I finally found my bearings with Cepheus, and from there was able to identify Pegasus (by the Great Square), Andromeda (also by the Great Square), and Perseus.

Objects Viewed: Cepheus, Casseopeia, Pegasus, Perseus, Great Square of Pegasus, Andromeda.

Third Week
All objects were viewed with the naked eye. 

Objects Observed: Summer Triangle, Aquila, Cygnus, Lyra, Deneb, Alberio, Altair, Vega, Northern Cross.

Fourth Week

This week I really tried to see everything. The sky was decent enough to view. 

Constellations viewed: Pisces Austrinus, Aquarius, Fomalhaut, and Pisces, Casseiopeia, Cepheus, Perseus, Summer Triangle, Altair, Lyra, Cygnus and the Northern Cross, Delphinus, Sagitta, and Equuleus, Pegasus and the Great Square of Pegasus and Andromeda.

Fifth Week
I was able to view a few bright stars, but I was not able to get my bearings because clouds rolled in. I was interested, though, by how far away the clouds seemed to be, which added to the feeling of the atmosphere being either far away or nonexistent. The moon was extremely bright, and I was able to distinguish many of its features. I also saw many of the previous constellation. Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Pisces.

Sixth Week
EP. 349: Mercury 7
Before the Gemini program was the Mercury program. How did they choose them? The Mercury seven were test pilots. They wanted experienced test pilots. Requirements, less than 180 LB, 5"11, and experienced, also under the age of 40 and a bachelors degree. They got many applicants, and looked into their backgrounds. They brought them in 2 groups and the first group was so good that they just took them in. Then they "tortured" them, in other words to prepare them for space. Many of them were weeded out. started out with 69 and ended out with 7. The people were: grysin, cooper, slackem, shepard, carpenter, and shera, and john glenn. They were like family afterwards. NASA was very scared for the people, what would happen when they went into space. Intresting story, that this one guys pissed in his suit and went into space. Many of these men flew again in the Apollo missions.

Seventh Week
EP. 336: Units of Measure
The basic measurement for distance is a meter. It was intially defined by the distance between the Earth's equator to the North Pole. 1 ten million the distance that is. Now it is the path of light traveled. Time is the seconds. Seconds are defined of the period of the radiation of the 2 hyperfile levels of the cesium levels 233. Very confusing way we get seconds. In a cesium atom there is a hyperfile transition that is an energy, it emits alot of period and that is a second. With thwaw two calculations, we can translate this information to aliens to tell them how we measure stuff. The last measurement is gram/kilogram. The kilogram is based of a thing. It is locked away in meteorlogical facilities. Initailly 1 cubic cm of water was 1 gram. However this did not add up to 1 Kg, 1000 ml of water equaled .000005 off.

Eighth Week
This week, because of Mr. Percival, I was able to view the iridium flare on Wednesday. This was soo bright compared to the other stars it was almost hard to miss. The other stars I viewed this week are Pisces, Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Mars, Andromeda, and the Pegasus. In these constalations I was able to see the great square of Pegasus.

Apod 2.8

Cosmic dust clouds and young, energetic stars inhabit this telescopic vista, less than 500 light-years away toward the northern boundary of Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. The dust clouds effectively block light from more distant background stars in the Milky Way. But the striking complex of reflection nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, and IC 4812 produce a characteristic blue color as light from the region's young hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The dust also obscures from view stars still in the process of formation. At the left, smaller yellowish nebula NGC 6729 bends around young variable star R Coronae Australis. Just below it, glowing arcs and loops shocked by outflows from embedded newborn stars are identified as Herbig-Haro objects. On the sky this field of view spans about 1 degree. That corresponds to almost 9 light-years at the estimated distance of the nearby star forming region.

Apod 2.7

This was an amazing picture of one of the many meteors that rained down from heaven during the Geminid meteor shower. This picture was taken at Mt. Balang, China. It gives off a picturesque surrounding. The foreground are clouds that look like a sea. This picture almost looks edited based on the fantasy like characteristics of it. This picture has orians belt and some of orion. It also contains Sirius. Which is in fact the brightest star of the night. the meteor looks like its tearing through the work making a new dimension. However that big slit is actually just a tiny pebble falling through earth's atmosphere. The pebbel was originally expelled by the sun-orbiting asteroid-like object 3200 Phaethon.

APOD 2.6

                                                           APOD 2.6    
This is a picture of the solstice that occurred at 23:03 Universal time on December twenty-first 2014. This is when the sun reaches its southern most declination with respect to Earth. The solstice marks the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south. In the picture, the sun will mae its lowest arc. That is what the dots mean. This picture was taken at an elevation that looks down at the Tyrrhenian Sea coast. The town they are located is Santa Severa toward Fiumicino, Italy. This picture absolutely stunning though. The bright suns represent important astronomical dates.

George Airy Biography

George Airy Biography

            George Airy had a family of six, William Airy his father and Ann Biddell his mother. George was born and raised by farmers. He attended Byatt Walker's school at Colchester and his classmates disliked him. George did not let this hold him back, in school he learned arithmetic, double-entry bookkeeping, and the use of the slide rule. At a young age he invented many toys he played with, for example, a pea shooter. Georges uncle Arthur Biddell "helped" George by kidnapping him for George to avoid financial difficulties. George spent six years with his uncle, from 1814 to 1819. With this much time he created a connection with his uncle. He attended Trinity College in 1819. George Airy hoarded documents. He would keep checks, notebooks, diaries, math problems, and about any kind of document. Airy married Miss Smith White while he was touring Derbyshire. He proposed to her six years before marrying her. George was a very smart man and when the Cambridge University became vacant in 1828, he told everyone that he was being paid little, this took the University by storm and he got his salary raised from 200 Euros to 500 Euros. He retired as an astronomer in 1881 and was knighted in 1872. Airy wrote an autobiography about himself and created a lot of documents that we  could follow his entire life by. George was very organized and knew his role and the role played by the Royal Greenwich Observatory.

            John Flamstead gave George a lead to  invent a way to navigate precisely and accurately. He proposed an idea that one could use the stars to navigate safely. This idea was introduced by other countries, and helped merchant fleets travel safely and correctly. George was able to sustain his official career because he knew his place, he didn't upset his masters. He recognized the task ahead and made the Royal Greenwich Observatory into an institution that lead scientific discovery. He stated  to the people that they have done a lot in the lower branches in astronomy but have done nothing in the higher branches of astronomy. George Airy is speculated to have discovered Neptune. Airy supplied all the major participants in this discovery with the data he requested. After a young mathematician came to him unannounced saying that Neptune is real and had to exist for the motions of the other planets. Because of Airy's efficiency in the observatory, he was noted by the government as a prototype of the modern government scientist. Because of this he was able to make very little observations afterwards.

            George was not powerful or built, because of this he started to age and shrink. This was mainly because of an increasing stoop. At age eighty-five his health was great, but his mind took a toll on him. He was not into sports or competitions of any sort, however he was an active walker and could endure a lot of fatigue. He invented the astigmatism with a cylindrical lens. He was inspired to invent this because of his huge curiosity of his eyes. This method is still used today. He also created the numerical lunar theory. This theory consisted of observations of the numerical values of the 320 periodic terms in Delaunay's equations for the moons motions.

            George had many great difficulties, one of them was that he was not a great scientist, but could make great science possible. He drew the British observational astronomy into a cul de sac which took numerous years to retreat from.

George Airy Sources

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Apod 2.5

                  APOD 2.5

This amazing picture is made up of young stars and cosmic pillars of gas and dust. The reddish lighting to the right is NGC 7822, it looks like the objects have covered it in a way that makes it look 10x as better. One is also able to see Cepheus the King, the constellation. Cepheus is circumpolar and looks like a house. This picture was taken in infrared light by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The "clouds" are powered by a stars, in this case The Sun, emitting energetic radiation An interesting fact is that in these pillars of heat, stars can be born. This picture may look like a small fraction of the sky, however in reality it spans around forty light-years and that is also the estimated distance of NGC.