APOD 25: STAR FACTORY MESSIER 17

2014 May 27

Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, the star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. This field of view covers nearly 100 light years. The sharp, composite, color image follows faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds against the backdrop of the central Milky Way stars. Stellar winds and energetic light from hot, massive stars formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material, producing a cavernous and misshaped appearance.

APOD 24: OMEGA CENTAURI

2014 May 29

Omega Centauri, a globular cluster also known as NGC 5139, is approximately 15,000 light years away. The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than our Sun; the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy. Omega Centauri exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances, leading to the evidence that it may actually be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way.

Q4 Observations #3

Date: May 29, 2014

Time: 7:30-9:00 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions: new moon, progressing towards waxing crescent. relatively clear

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter & Mars & Saturn

Bright Stars noted: Spica, Regulus, Gamma Leonis, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, Alphard, Archenar, Thuban

Constellations noted: Libra, Virgo, Serpens, Ursa Major, Hercules, Cancer, Camelopardis, Lynx, Auriga, Bootes, Hydra, Gemini, Leo, Draco, Puppis

Binary Star: none known from constellations in night sky

Deep Sky Objects: Big Dipper in Ursa Major
M13 in Hercules
M104 in Virgo
M44 in Cancer
Hydra's Head in Hydra

Other:  Jupiter in Gemini
Mars in Virgo
Saturn in Libra

Q4 Observations #2

Date: May 27, 2014

Time: 7:30-8:30 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions: waning crescent. rained earlier in the evening, but fairly clear.

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter & Mars

Bright Stars noted: Spica, Regulus, Gamma Leonis, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, Alphard, Archenar, Thuban

Constellations noted: Virgo, Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, Cancer, Camelopardis, Auriga, Bootes, Hydra, Gemini, Leo, Draco, Corvus

Binary Star: none known from constellations in night sky

Deep Sky Objects: Big Dipper in Ursa Major
M104 in Virgo
M44 in Cancer
Rosette Nebula in Monoceros
Hydra's Head in Hydra

Other:  Jupiter in Gemini
Mars in Virgo

Karl Jansky Biography

     Karl Guthe Jansky was born in the Territory of Oklahoma on October 22, 1905. His father, Cyril M. Jansky, was born in Wisconsin of Czech immigrants and worked as Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. Jansky’s brother, Cyril Jansky Jr. helped build some of the earliest radio transmitters in the country, including 9XM in Wisconsin. Karl Jansky attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in physics in 1927. A year later he joined the Belle Telephone Laboratories in Holmdel, New Jersey. Bell Labs assigned Jansky the job of investigating sources of static that might interfere with radio voice transmittions. At Bell Labs, Jansky built an antenna designed to receive radio waves at a frequency of 20.5 MHz. As it was mounted on a any-direction turntable, the antennae was nick named “Jansky’s merry-go-round”. After recording signals from all different directions for several months, Jansky categorized them into three types of static: nearby thunderstorms, distant thunderstorms, and unknown origin. After a year of investigating the source of the third type of static, Jansky initially surmised that he was detecting radiation from the Sun. The signal repeated on a cycle relative to the Earth’s sidereal day, instead of the 24-hour solar day. Jansky concluded that the radiation was coming from the Milky Way and was the strongest in the direction of the center of the galaxy. His discovery was publicized greatly, appearing in the New York Times in 1933. Karl Guthe Jansky was the first to discover radio waves from the Milky Way and is considered one of the founding fathers of radio astronomy. In honor of Jansky, the unit used by radio astronomers for the strength of radio sources is called the jansky. Another crater on the Moon is also named after Jansky. The NRAO postdoctoral fellowship program is named after Janksy, in addition to the annual Jansky Prize awarded by the organization. A full-scale replica of Jansky’s original rotating telescope is located on the grounds of the NRAO site in Green Bank, West Virginia. Jansky noise is also named after Jansky, which refers to high frequency static disturbances of cosmic origins. Karl Jansky passed away on Valentines day in 1950 due to kidney failure.

Bibliography

     Ghigo, F. "Karl Jansky." Karl Jansky. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 16 May 2008. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://www.nrao.edu/whatisra/hist_jansky.shtml>. 

     Redpath, Martina. "Karl Jansky: The Father of Radio Astronomy." Astronotes. Armagh Planetarium, 2010. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/karl-jansky-the-father-of-radio-astronomy.html>.

     "Karl Jansky." NNDB. Soylent Communications, 2014. Web. 24 May 2014. <http://www.nndb.com/people/055/000204440/>.

Q4 Observations #1

Date: May 22, 2014

Time: 8:00-9:00 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions: last quarter moon, mostly clear skies

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter & Mars

Bright Stars noted: Regulus, Gamma Leonis, Cor Caroli, Arcturus, Alphard

Constellations noted: Ursa Major, Leo, Canes Venatici, Cancer, Monoceros, Puppis, Corona Borealis, Bootes, Hydra, Gemini

Binary Star: none known from constellations

Deep Sky Objects: Big Dipper in Ursa Major
M44 in Cancer
Rosette Nebula in Monoceros
Hydra's Head in Hydra

APOD 23: ORANGE SUN SPARKING

2014 May 6

The Sun has been observed displaying numerous tumultous regions including the active sunspot regions AR 2036 (near the top) and AR 2038 (near the center). Four years ago, the Sun was emerging from an unusually quiet Solar Minimum, lasting many years. The gradual brightening of the Sun's edges is caused by increased absorption of realtively cool gas, called limb darkening. Just over the Sun's edges, several filamentary prominences protrude, while prominences of the Sun's face are seen as light streaks. The magnetically tangled active regions containing relatively cool sunspots are seen as white dots. Currently at the Solar Maximum (the most active phase in the 11-year magnetic cycle), the Sun's twisted magnetic field is creating numerous solar "sparks", including flares, eruptive solar prominences, and coronal mass ejections which emit clouds of particles that may impact the Earth and cause auroras.