APOD 18: THE ANTENNAE GALAXIES IN COLLISION

16 March 2014

When two galaxies collide, the stars that compose them usually do not. Galaxies are mostly entirely empty space, and stars only take up minute space. During the slow, hundred million year collision, one galaxy can still rip each other apart gravitationally - dust and gas DO collide. Dark dust pillars mark massive molecular clouds being compressed during galactic encounter, causing rapid birth of millions of stars - some bound in the same massive star cluster. 

APOD 17: ORION NEBULA

25 March 2014

The Orion field - approximately 1600 light years away - is immersed in intricate light patterns of dust arrangement. Dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool stars and expelled by strong outer wind of particles. Trapezium and other forming star clusters are present. Filaments of dust surrounding M42 and M43 appear gray in the above image, while central glowing gas is highlighted in brown and blue. Orion's dust will be destroyed in the next few million years by the stars being formed now, or dispersed in the Galaxy. 

Q3 Observations #4

Date: March 23, 2014

Time: 8:00-9:00 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions: cloudy, can still see most stars. Moon at 3rd Quarter

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter & Mars

Bright Stars noted:Aldebaren, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Algol, Castor, Pollux

Constellations noted: Taurus, Ursa Major, Orion, Leo, Canes Venatici, Cancer, Canis Major, Puppis, Perseus, Gemini, Virgo

Binary Star: Algol (eclipsing binary), Rigel, Sirius B

Deep Sky Objects: Hyades & Pleiades (The Seven Sisters) in Taurus
Big Dipper in Ursa Major
M42, Horsehead Nebula, Orion's Belt in Orion
Cor Caroli in Canes Venatici
Crab Nebula in Cancer

Other: Jupiter in the constellation Gemini, Mars in Virgo

Q3 Observations #3

Date: March 21, 2014

Time: 8:30-9:30 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions:somewhat cloudy, clear enough to observe. Moon at Waning Gibbous

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter

Bright Stars noted:Procyon, Aldebaren, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Archenar, Capella, Algol

Constellations noted: Taurus, Orion, Leo, Canis Major & Minor, Perseus, Auriga, Hydra, Puppis, Cassiopeia, Eridanus

Binary Star: Algol (eclipsing binary), Betelgeuse (red supergiant), Sirius B

Deep Sky Objects: Double Cluster in Perseus
Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Taurus' Hyades & Pleiades, the Seven Sisters
Hydra's Head
Rosette Nebula in Monoceros

Other: Jupiter moving away from the constellation Orion

Q3 Observations #2

Date: March 18, 2014

Time: 8:00-9:00 PM 

Place: Sarasota, FL (Southgate)

Sky Conditions: few, large clouds. full Moon

Instruments Used: no binoculars or telescopes. 

Planets: Jupiter

Bright Stars noted:Gamma Andromeda, Aldebaren, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius, Archenar (hard to see entire constellation, Eridanus), Capella, Algol

Constellations noted: Taurus, Andromeda, Orion, Leo, Cancer, Canis Major, Monoceros, Perseus, Auriga

Binary Star: Algol (eclipsing binary), Betelgeuse (red supergiant)

Deep Sky Objects: M41
M42 & the Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Perseus's Double Cluster
Taurus' Hyades & Pleiades, the Seven Sisters

Other: Jupiter near the constellation Orion

APOD 16: MESSIER 63 - THE SUNFLOWER GALAXY

2014 March 13

Messier 63 is about 25 million light years away in the northern sky near constellation Canes Venatici. NGC5055, the majestic island universe is 100k light years across, about the same size as our Milky Way. Messier 63, aka Sunflower Galaxy, has a bright yellow core, with sweeping blue spiral arms, streaked with with cosmic dust lanes and dotted with pink star forming regions. M63 has faint, extended features, due to the gravitational interactions with nearby galaxies. M63 shines across the EM spectrum and is thought to have undergone bursts of intense star formation.

Q3 Observations #1

Date: March 1st, 2014

Time: 7:00-9:00 PM (with Percival & Dacey, ~ 4 hours credit)

Place: Pine View Service Road

Sky Conditions: Clear skies. Moon not present,  new moon.

Instruments Used: binoculars (10x50),12 inch telescope, 8 inch telescope, 10 inch telescope

Planets: Jupiter & moons, viewed in 12 in. telescope

Bright Stars noted:Betelgeuse, Rigel, Polaris, Castor, Pollox, Aldebaren, Sirius, Algol, Capella, Procyon

Constellations noted: Gemini, Taurus, Orion, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Canis Major, Perseus, Auriga, Eridanus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia

Binary Star: Castor (visual binary), Algol (eclipsing binary), Betelgeuse (red supergiant)

Deep Sky Objects: M41, viewed in 10 in. telescope
M42 & the Horsehead Nebula in Orion
Perseus's Double Cluster
Taurus' Hyades & Pleiades, the Seven Sisters

Other: Jupiter located in the constellation Gemini.

APOD 15: NGC 1333 STARDUST

6 March 2014

NGC 1333 can be seen as a reflection nebula in visible light, only 1,000 light-years away from the constellation Perseus, lying at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. This image spans about two full moons, showing detail of the dusty region along with hints of bluish reflected starlight, contrasted red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas originating from recently formed stars. NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old. 

Jacobus Kapteyn Biography

Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn was born in Barneveld, Netherlands on January 19, 1851. He attended the University of Utretcht to study mathematics and physics in 1868. After finishing his thesis, he worked in the Leiden Observatory for three years, before becoming the first Professor of Astronomy and Theoretical Mechanics at the University of Groningen. He volunteered to measure photographic plates taken by David Gill , who was constructing a photographic survey of the southern hemisphere stars at the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope. The collaboration publication, Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, catalogued 454, 875 stars - including values for density, functions of distance, brightness, and spectral class. He devised a sampling system in which the thourough counting of stars in small, selected areas gave indication to the Milky Way's structure. During his observations, he discovered the phenomenon known as stellar streaming; stating that peculiar motions of stars are not randomized, but rather grouped around two opposite, preffered directions in space. Later consideration revealed Kapteyn's data had been the first evidence of rotation in our galaxy, leading to the final conclusion of galactic rotation. In 1906, he launched a major study of the Galaxy's distribution of stars, involving the measurement of apparent magnitude, spectral type, radial velocity, and proper motion of stars in 206 zones - this being the first coordinated statistical analysis in astronomy.

In 1897, his collaboration brought the discovery of Kapteyn's Star - having the highest proper motion of any star until the discovery of Barnard's Star in 1916. He retired from Leiden Observatory in 1921 at the age of seventy. His life work, First Attempt at Theory of the Arrangement and Motion of the Sidereal System, was published in 1922. He discovered a lens-shaped island universe, today known as the Kapteyn Universe. Jacobus Kapteyn has a moon crater, a star, and a telescope named after him for his accomplishments. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1902, the James Craig Watson Medal in 1913, and a Bruce Medal in 1913.