APOD 2.7: Spiral Planetary Nebula

The mind-blowing picture of nebula NGC 5189, also known as the Spiral Planetary Nebula (and recently called the Christmas Ornament Nebula), was recently taken by the Hubble Heritage Team. To me, this nebula resembles an approaching celestial lion, stepping forward, his tail curled up and around.

NGC 5189 is a highly complex nebula observed by the Hubble Space Telescope; it is a dying star that is part of a binary star system with a slowly-moving symmetry axis. The nebula spans about three light years and is 3,000 light years away from Earth, near the southern Fly constellation. Previous research done on NGC 5189 showed that the nebula is descended from epochs of "material outflow," lik a bright torus running across.

APOD 2.6: Lunar Halo Over Spain x4

The beautiful image, photographed by Dani Caxete, depicts a beautiful moon near Madrid, Spain, whose appearance was crystallized into having a quadruple halo due to falling ice crystals. Such a view, with a 22 degree halo, is very rare. The 22 degree arc is elongated by "column ice crystals" then also further refracted through more distant ice crystals to give the semblance of a 46 degree, rainbow-like halo. The lovely scene, as though it had been taken from a Christmas storybook, is set also by the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. The winter night sky scape includes many of the classic winter constellations with such stars as Sirius in Canis Major, Orion's Belt stars, and Betelgeuse within the arcs.

When the arcs and halos around the moon occur, they can be visible anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours.

Nathaniel Bowditch- Bibliography Listings

Taylor, W. Leonard, M.D. "America's First Mathematician, Astronomer and Philosopher: Nathaniel Bowditch." Fortnightly Club of Redlands. N.p., 9 Mar. 2001. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www.redlandsfortnightly.org/papers/Taylor01.htm>.

Berry, Robert Elton. "The Life of Nathaniel Bowditch." The Scientific Monthly 56.3 (1943): 277-78. JSTOR. Web. 4 Dec. 2012.

O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. "Nathaniel Bowditch." Bowditch Biography. N.p., July 2000. Web. 04 Dec. 2012. <http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Bowditch.html>.

Bowditch, Harold. "Nathaniel Bowditch." The William and Mary Quarterly 3rd ser. 3.2 (1946): 306
07. JSTOR. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. 

10 Skythings I'd like to see on 12/9 Stargaze

1. One of brightest, largest asteroids of the Asteroid Belt - Vesta, among Taurus' stars. It will be at opposition and peak visibility, at magnitude 6.4.
2. The Geminid Meteor Shower should be partially underway this week.
3. Pisces- My sun sign! I always have difficulty in making out this faint, ancient constellation.
4. Jupiter should still be highly visible.
5. Neptune, through binoculars, might be able to be seen although its magnitude will be highest after the 10th.
6. Right before dawn actually, a crescent moon, Venus, Saturn, and Mercury will be visible in the sky.
7. Pleiades please!
8. Orion shall be quite magnificent.
9. The Demon Star, Algol, in the constellation Perseus (HD19356) will be lovely and bright and having just undergone some peculiar processes.
10. Maybe I ought to get a better look at M57, the Ring Nebula, through a telescope.

Astro-Observation Log 2.2 (12.1.12)

Today the fall sky seemed to be nearly at its zenith, because as I used my Star Walk application (which I have actually come to depend upon a little too much) the main constellations were those of the fall night sky rather than those of the summer. Stars were especially bright in my backyard, but the moon was obscured. However, a few day ago, I was taken aback by the brightness of the yellow full moon- known by Native Americans as the Beaver Moon.

I had difficulty making out many of the constellations, but on the ecliptic, I managed most successfully in discerning Aquarius. The circlet and lines of Pisces were rather faint, and I barely cut put the stars together for it. Pisces, I learned, however, is one of the more ancient constellations. There was an extremely bright spot in the sky which surprised me because Star Walk made it seem like it was Jupiter, but it was most likely Algol, a huge star in Perseus. Both Andromeda, the princess, and Cassiopeia, the queen, were also quite visible. The planets are... scattered about.

APOD 2.5: Sand Cascades on Mars

The photo, courtesy of NASA (taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2008) displays odd, pinkish brown chasms, dunes and streaks. The lighter, blueish areas show frost on the dark sand. The spring Sun melted most of the carbon dioxide ice, but some remains at the top of these Mars hills. When dark sand cascades down the dune, it leaves the dark streaks, and it looks like patches of trees growing. The objects are only about 25 centimeters across in reality. The billowy plumes show that the sand was sliding even as the picture was taken. The picture was taken near Mars' north pole!

Constellation Practice ~!

The following are some great sites I found for reinforcing knowledge of the stars:

http://www.uni.edu/morgans/ajjar/Constellations/quiz/index.html

http://www.factmonster.com/quizzes/constellation/1.html

http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/name-the-constellations-quiz.php