APOD 2.2

This post's picture is what looks like a Long Exposure photograph, but is in fact something entirely different. This photo is simply 90 consecutive photos stacked on top of each other. 

Streaked stars are a result of Long Exposure Photographs.

Now, Long Exposure Photography is when the shutter speed is changed from the microseconds it usually is to very long amounts of time, such as 15 minutes. Normally, for long exposure photographs of the night sky, they set the shutter speed to hours. Here's the catch: You need to be in an area of very little light pollution, otherwise it will blur your photograph. There is obviously a nearby city in this photograph, so what's going on here? As I already explained, they took 90 photographs and piled them on top of each other. Each of these photographs was a long exposure, but only for 90 seconds each. Piled on top of eachother, it reduces the effect of light polution while maintaining the streaking effect that the stars have. Mission Accomplished! 

The Photographer

If you look very closely in the first picture, you will see the ghost of the Photographer. Just kidding, he decided to stand in one of the 90 second exposers!

APOD 2.1

This week's focus picture is an Ultraviolet image of the Andromeda Galaxy. The Andromeda galaxy is the closet Spiral Galaxy to our own, and is visible in our own night sky as M object 31, located in the constellation Andromeda. 

Andromeda Galaxy as viewed in the normal spectrum

The purpose of taking Ultraviolet images is to detect the hottest and brightest objects in the night sky, which might not be discernible through normal optical viewing. You can compare the Optical image (above) to the Ultraviolet image (below). The comparison should reveal concentrated points of light and heat emission, which are the youngest, hottest, and brightest star of the Andromeda galaxy.

Ultraviolet Andromeda

These images are incredibly high resolution, and that's because they are a compilation of over 330 different shots all meshed together to give us this picture. In it's unaltered form, the picture has a digital file size of 85GB. For those who don't know, that's a LOT. The picture also took over 10 weeks to compile. The shots were taken by the Swift satellite, a satellite normally dedicated to taking pictures of novas. 

Observation 3 (10.2.10)

A bit after I observed, but here it is. On Saturday the 2nd, I went out around 8:00 and saw Scorpius very low on the horizon to the South-West, with Sagittarius a bit above and farther to the South. Almost directly above me was the Summer Triangle, with Altair, Vega, and Deneb all very clearly visible, along with their respective constellations; Aquila, Lyra, and Cygnus. Ophiuchus and Hercules were also very visible. To the west, only 5 degrees above the horizon was Venus, and to the North East around 18 degrees was Jupiter.

Astronomer Biography: Jean Picard

Jean Picard was a notable French astronomer who made several noteworthy contributions to Modern Astrology. Picard was born in on the 21st of July in 1620 in La Fleche, a town in France. He died on July 12th of 1682 in Paris. It is safe to say he was probably French. Not much is known about his early childhood, but rumor has it that his father was a book seller and a local merchant. Jean began his formal education at the Jesuit College in La Fleche around 1636, which was probably one of the best educations a young man could receive at the time, the college being run by the Jesuits and all. It is further noted that graduated from the University of Paris in 1650 with an MA in astronomy. Interestingly enough, he also became a Catholic Priest, ordained in 1650. I'm not sure how he graduated from college and was ordained as a priest in the same year, but these are the cited facts. Later in 1666 (a very holy year, I'm sure) he founded the French Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris. It is disputed whether he was actually a founding member, but regardless he was inducted into the leading ranks in 1667 and provided a pension by the Academy, so it is more than likely he was involved in the founding. He also had a crater on the Moon named after him.

Picard is considered the founder of modern astronomy in France. His big claim to fame is being the first astronomer (or anyone for that matter) to use of Tycho Brahe's Quadrant to correctly measure the length of a degree on one of the Earth's Meridians. After successfully measuring a single degree via use of said Quadrant, Picard was then able to establish a Telescopic Positioning Measuring System. He did this using Brahe's Quadrant after attaching a telescopic lens which would be inclined (and rotated) by very small amounts at a time. The Quadrant was so finely graduated, he could observe angles down to the quarter of a minute (not the time minute). He was therefore able to use the stars as a frame of reference given a certain time (which he based off his contemporary Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens' new pendulum clock). This method became the standard for measuring 'right ascension'. He also was able to use this mapping system to figure out how to supply Versailles with water, since he was able to map it's location in comparison to nearby water sources. On a different note, during his observations he discovered the 4th Trapezium star in M object 42.

Unlike many scientists of his time, Picard had a knack for collaborating with his contemporaries. He worked with both Issac Newton, Tycho Brahe, and even Giovanni Cassini, who most considered his arch-rival. His work with Newton is largely unnoticed, and is very important. His measurements of Earth's size through the measurement of the Meridians was able to be used in Newton's calculations to determine whether his law of Gravity was correct. He also had more collaboration with Brahe then just using his Quadrant, he also visited Brahe at his observatory in Sweden to measure his exact location on Earth so that Brahe's observances might be able to be correctly applied to other Astronomers in Europe.  

Astronomer Biography Words Cited

"Jean Picard." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 01 Oct. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459252/Jean-Picard>.
"Abbe Jean Picard (1620 - 1682)." SEDS. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <"Jean Picard." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 01 Oct. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/459252/Jean-Picard>.
The Galileo Project. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://galileo.rice.edu/Catalog/NewFiles/picard.html>.
"Jean Picard." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Picard>.

APOD 1.5

The astronomical find I for you today is probably the most exciting discovery I've heard in my life time. Recently, astronomers have finally discovered another inhabitable planet!! Even better, it's really close. Relatively speaking. It's 'only' 20 light-years away, which is MUCH closer than most of the other systems in our Galaxy. Although it was only recently announced to the public, there is already a LOT known about this new planet (Well, relatively speaking). 

Gliese 581g; most Earth-like planet known to man.

This new planet, designated Gliese 581g, is one of several planets that orbits the star Gliese; a dwarf star in the constellation Libra. Designated Zarmina's World by one of the astronomers who found it (naming it after his wife), the planet is one of three planets that orbit Gilese in what is known as the 'inhabitable zone'. However, 581g is the most accommodating to human needs. Not too cold, not to hot, but just right. This led to the media labeling it the 'Goldilocks Planet'. This better be improved, because currently all three names suck in my opinion. However, this is not our primary concern. We probably should consider figuring how to get there, so we can try and colonize it!

APOD 1.4

The subject of today's picture might be better suited for Valentines Day, but here it is now: The Heart Nebula. The picture from NASA (below) shows a zoomed in view of the Nebula, whose label is IC 1805, where false color imaging has rendered hydrogen in green, sulfur in red, and oxygen in blue. 

False Color Imaging shows the different gas composition.

Within this region, there are currently stars forming, and have been for the past 1.5 million years, from all the gases. The notable shape that the gases take influenced by the 'solar winds' and other emission released by the forming gases. The Nebula spans approximately 40 light-years in width. 

The Heart Nebula (right) and the Soul Nebula (left).

The Heart Nebula has a neighbor, as seen above, name the Soul Nebula. Now, it is apparent why the Heart Nebula is called so, because it has a shape similar to one. It is also referred to as the 'Running Dog' nebula, because it takes the shape of a dog running right across the sky.

Observation 2 (9.26.10)

Sunday morning, I was out around 5:30 before leaving for a regatta I had that day. It was moderately overcast, and it seemed more foggy than cloudy. While I was unable to observe any constellations, an object of high magnitude was approximately 25 degrees above west, which I assumed to be Jupiter. 

APOD 1.3

The Autumnal Equinox is upon us! Well, actually it already passed. It occurred yesterday (Sept 23) at 3:09 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), and at 11:03pm for us here on EST. The word 'Equinox' literally translates to 'Equal Night' from Latin. For those of you who know Latin (like myself), you might be thinking "Well wait a minute, Equi (from Equus) means Horse!" Well, the 'equi' that means equal is actually derived from Aequus, which does literally translate as Equal. 

Now, while the translation of Equinox is 'equal night', the concept is that the length of the night is equal to that of the day. Why they didn't call it 'Equidies' (dies means day) is beyond me, since you'd think they'd care more about the day, the time they get to spend awake, then the night. However, it is one less syllable, so they probably just liked it better. 

Now, the picture assigned to the Equinox celebratory day is slightly irrelevant, but it still looks cool. 

False-color image showing Ultraviolet light.

Here we have a image of the Sun. Now, what gives the sun it's interesting aura is not the fact that it is emitting light on the visible spectrum, but the ionized atoms within. The Iron that makes up less than 1% of the Sun's composition is emitting ultraviolet light due to the immense amount of ionization it has undergone. With this image, NASA was able to capture that light.

Now, on another interesting Equinox related story, there are two 'Equinox' themes for Ubuntu, a popular distro of Linux. It's a very aesthetically pleasing theme, and comes in several varieties. I'm actually currently using it's Equinox Glass variant. Here's a picture of the default theme: 

Standard Equinox Theme with Avant Window Navigator dock-bar in Ubuntu

Observation 1 (Sept. 13th 2010)

A bit overdue, but I realized I had not gotten around to posting this entry, so here it is.

I was taking a bike ride just after sunset, and had not planned on doing any observing, but the thought occurred to me shortly after departing. I began my ride going West, and observed a bright object about 15 degrees above the horizon, which I assumed to be Venus. To the north, I found nothing, but when I turned around and headed back south, I was able see the Moon, which seemed to be right in it's first quarter, with only half showing. While also heading South, I observed a bright object to the ENE, but after making a series of turns along my path, I was unable to locate the object again. Shortly, I arrived at my house and decided to search for some constellations since It was now actually dark enough for stars to come out. I located Sagittarius and Scorpius, although I had trouble at first due to not realizing the size of the constellations. With my favorite two constellations found right over my house, I decided to call it a night. 

APOD 1.2

In this picture, we have a remarkable view of what is known as the 'Vela Supernova Remnant'. As the name implies, it is the leftovers of the Vela Supernova. It gets its name from its location, in the constellation 'Vela', or 'The Sails'. The star that left behind the gas after it exploded is unknown to us. Since the light released from the explosion reached Earth 11,000 years ago, the star exploded long before that. 

It is believed that the Remnant is approximately 815 light years away, and is the closest Supernova Remnant to our galaxy.


A Supernova, which leave behind Supernova 'Remnants', are extremely large explosions of stars. In the matter of a few seconds, vast amounts of light and radiation are released, amounts that are greater than the light and radiation our sun will produce in it's entire life.

APOD 1.1

Here we have a picture of the 'Small Cloud of Magellan'. These clouds were discovered by Magellan on his voyage around the world. They are visible primarily from the southern hemisphere.

The Small Cloud is what is known as a 'Irregular Dwarf Galaxy', a galaxy that acts as a satellite to our own. This relationship is similar to the relationship our moon has to Earth. Being the 'Small' Cloud, it has a sister galaxy known as the Large Cloud of Magellan (Those astronomers sure were creative namers!). To the naked eye, it appears to be a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, but is in fact beyond. 210,000 light years beyond to be exact. It is of irregular type, which means it has been deformed by the gravitational influences of our galaxy, and it's sister, the Large Cloud of Magellan.