"Dorothea Klumpke Roberts Biography, Life and Career Facts, Invented." Web log post. Info. Page Rank Studio, 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://pagerankstudio.com/Blog/2010/09/dorothea-klumpke-roberts-biography-life-and-career-facts-invented/>.
Jones, Jane H., and Don Stone, comps. Dorothea Klumke and the 1899 Leonids. Rep. Leonid MAC, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://leonids.arc.nasa.gov/Klumpke.html>.
Roberts, Dorothea Klumpke. "Woman's Work in Astronomy." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 31.182 (1919): 216-19. JSTOR. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40692050>.
Stone, Don. "Dorothea Klumpke Roberts, Pioneer Woman Astronomer." AANC. Astronomical Association of Northern California, 2002. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <https://sites.google.com/site/aancsite/articles/donstone>.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
..::h e l i x n e b u l a::..
NGC 7923. Also known as Caldwell 63. Best known as the Helix Nebula. Sometimes referred to as The Eye of God.
This planetary nebula is well-deserving of the dramatic nickname due to its beauty and shape. And God would get a pretty decent view of Earth anyhow, because of all the bright planetary nebula, the Helix Nebula is one of the closest to our planet- about 700 light-years away.
The Helix Nebula is located in the constellation Aquarius (...some say that the Age of Aquarius has dawned!). The very bright core we see in pictures is a nucleus that is to become a white dwarf star; it is so energetic that gases expelled around the area glow bright. In the attached image, this core is bright red from the infrared wavelength used for the picture. Around the core, the excitation temperature changes frequently in different areas. It is estimated that the age of the planetary nebula is about 10,600 years, give or take a couple thousand. In the helix there are also many "cometary knots"which are the result of an electric discharge phenomenon.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Astronomy Observation Log 3.2 (Astronomy Cast - Nebulae)
In place of an astronomy observation, I decided to listen to a podcast from astronomycast.com on my favorite celestial object- the nebula.
Dust and gas compose the beautiful nebulae that we all see in pictures. One of the speakers of the podcast denoted them as "everything-" having to do with stars, I think. They are huge.
Cold temperature condenses regions, keeps them dark. With emission and reflection nebulae, however, the heated gas gives off light in different colors.
I learned that if you're seeing a star "on the other side of the nebula," you're going to see it as red. But if you see one off to the side, you see the blue and the green (in reflection nebulae).
When you crank the energy up, that's when you get emission nebulae. In emission nebulae the stars also tend to be embedded in the cloud of gas. -I am now less confused about the differences between the types of nebulae- Reflection nebulae are cooler, emission ones are hotter.
The light we see does not come directly from the stars, but from absorption lines, where the light is re-emitted. We see oxygen lines in planetary nebulae, as they are still hot.
Gas becomes tens of thousands of degrees, and gravity pulls the gas together, but something has to cause it to collapse.
The bubble structures we see in nebulae are stars beginning to ignite and blow matter around them. And to see stars forming within them, we need infrared light.
The female narrator discussed stars that were likely to go supernova, and star clusters that show what our Sun may have looked like during its formation. Planetary nebulae and supernova are the forms of dead stars, on the other hand. The crazy shapes we see in nebula are defined by the physics of how the gas is moving. Some nebulae form over long periods of time (brightening, expanding, fading...), others form in a sort of "splat," depending on the stars.
Dust and gas compose the beautiful nebulae that we all see in pictures. One of the speakers of the podcast denoted them as "everything-" having to do with stars, I think. They are huge.
Cold temperature condenses regions, keeps them dark. With emission and reflection nebulae, however, the heated gas gives off light in different colors.
I learned that if you're seeing a star "on the other side of the nebula," you're going to see it as red. But if you see one off to the side, you see the blue and the green (in reflection nebulae).
When you crank the energy up, that's when you get emission nebulae. In emission nebulae the stars also tend to be embedded in the cloud of gas. -I am now less confused about the differences between the types of nebulae- Reflection nebulae are cooler, emission ones are hotter.
The light we see does not come directly from the stars, but from absorption lines, where the light is re-emitted. We see oxygen lines in planetary nebulae, as they are still hot.
Gas becomes tens of thousands of degrees, and gravity pulls the gas together, but something has to cause it to collapse.
The bubble structures we see in nebulae are stars beginning to ignite and blow matter around them. And to see stars forming within them, we need infrared light.
The female narrator discussed stars that were likely to go supernova, and star clusters that show what our Sun may have looked like during its formation. Planetary nebulae and supernova are the forms of dead stars, on the other hand. The crazy shapes we see in nebula are defined by the physics of how the gas is moving. Some nebulae form over long periods of time (brightening, expanding, fading...), others form in a sort of "splat," depending on the stars.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Protostar
The Protostar is what we consider to newly-forming star to be when it is in stages four and five. A solar-mass star typically lasts about 100,000 years as a protostar.
The video is about protostar V1647 Orionis; we derive information about it from its emission.
Protostars develop into main sequence stars with the formation of a T Tauri Star, found near molecular clouds.
The video is about protostar V1647 Orionis; we derive information about it from its emission.
Protostars develop into main sequence stars with the formation of a T Tauri Star, found near molecular clouds.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
APOD 3.5:Aurora in Alaska
Friday, February 8, 2013
APOD 3.4: Shadow at Point Lake on Mars
The picture was taken by NASA's Curiosity rover, which has landed on Mars in August, on Gale Crater. Curiosity has been looking for more signs that water once ran through the planet, and also clues that life existed. The picture, taken in November, shows its shadow in the direction opposite the sun at "Point Lake." There are some areas near there that appear to have been dried streambeds. In the next few years, Curiosity is to climb Mt. Sharp, which has been a spot scientists have long been wanting to study.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Astro-Observation Log 3.1 (2.2.13)
Last night, in the crisp air, my stargazing group identified a number of objects and constellations in the sky with the help of the binoculars we were afforded, the telescope, and the instructor's profound knowledge of the cosmic neighborhood.
Jupiter was found in the constellation of Taurus, and through the telescope I actually was able to see some of its red patterns! It was found overhead as were the Pleiades, in the horns of the Bull, although they were less easily visible than they were at the last stargaze.
I hadn't realized that the belt of Orion was so easily identifiable, and that Betelgeuse and Rigel emitted different colors. Rigel is a blue supergiant and Belegeuse is a red supergiant.
I also learned that Betelgeuse, one of the most notable stars in Orion, is very unstable and likely to become a supernova within 10,000 years. Although it is unlikely, Betelgeuse may reach the end of its lifetime during my lifetime, and when it does so, it may even leave an impact on our solar system and what we see and the sky and our Sun.
Cassiopeia, Leo, and Perseus were among the other constellations I saw. My instructor informed us that the north star Polaris and the two dippers were more unreliable than usual to use as references at their current locations, as they were harder to observe.
Through the telescope, I observed a few pairs of binary stars (Sirius being one of them), and also, albeit faintly, the Andromeda Galaxy, which is the nearest one to our Milky Way Galaxy. I also saw some other "M" numbers such as M42, the Orion Nebula.
On my sky calendar beforehand, I observed that the moon was apparently very near Spica (the brightest star in the constellation Virgo)- but this occurrence was only visible in Madagascar and southern Africa. From the calendar map, however, I also discerned that tonight, the moon is to be seen very near Saturn and it will also be a last quarter moon, meaning it will look half-illuminated.
Jupiter was found in the constellation of Taurus, and through the telescope I actually was able to see some of its red patterns! It was found overhead as were the Pleiades, in the horns of the Bull, although they were less easily visible than they were at the last stargaze.
I hadn't realized that the belt of Orion was so easily identifiable, and that Betelgeuse and Rigel emitted different colors. Rigel is a blue supergiant and Belegeuse is a red supergiant.
I also learned that Betelgeuse, one of the most notable stars in Orion, is very unstable and likely to become a supernova within 10,000 years. Although it is unlikely, Betelgeuse may reach the end of its lifetime during my lifetime, and when it does so, it may even leave an impact on our solar system and what we see and the sky and our Sun.
Cassiopeia, Leo, and Perseus were among the other constellations I saw. My instructor informed us that the north star Polaris and the two dippers were more unreliable than usual to use as references at their current locations, as they were harder to observe.
Through the telescope, I observed a few pairs of binary stars (Sirius being one of them), and also, albeit faintly, the Andromeda Galaxy, which is the nearest one to our Milky Way Galaxy. I also saw some other "M" numbers such as M42, the Orion Nebula.
On my sky calendar beforehand, I observed that the moon was apparently very near Spica (the brightest star in the constellation Virgo)- but this occurrence was only visible in Madagascar and southern Africa. From the calendar map, however, I also discerned that tonight, the moon is to be seen very near Saturn and it will also be a last quarter moon, meaning it will look half-illuminated.
APOD 3.3: Andromeda Galaxy
The infrared image displays a view of the Andromeda Galaxy from the Herschel Space Observatory. As I have just learned, this galaxy (which is more than roughly twice the size of the Milky Way Galaxy) is the closest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way, at a distance of 2.5 million light-years. On Messier's list, the Andromeda Galaxy is M31. Cool dust lanes and clouds comprise the galaxy, which is shown in false color in the picture. The red hues on the exterior parts designate starlight-heated dust, while the blue colors in the interior designate hotter dust warmed by stars in the central core. The dust is a tracer of molecular gas, and reveals that Andromeda Galaxy is stocked with a huge supply of material for future star formation.
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