Astronomy Biography: Kip Thorne

Kip Stephen Thorne is an American theoretical physicist. Kip was born on June 1 of 1940 in Logan Utah. His father was Wynne Thorne his mother was Alison C. Thorne. Both his parents were professors at Utah State University, teaching Soil Chemistry and Economics respectively. Naturally, the environment he was raised in was an academic one, and obviously shaped his career, as it did his 4 other siblings, two of which also became professors.

Kip received a B.S. from Caltech and a Ph.D. from Princeton, before returning to Caltech to become one of the youngest professors in the history of the college. He pursued the path of becoming a theoretical physics professor, and even became the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics in 1991. Apparently he is very enthusiastic about the material he teaches, for the sources indicate he becomes very excitable while teaching. Kip specialized in research on black holes, worm holes, relativity, and gravitational radiation.

Kip is responsible for teaching and mentoring over 50 astrophysicists in his teaching career. His research is primarily focused on gravitational and astro-physics. This field includes black holes and gravitational waves. Kip is thought to be one of the leading experts on gravitational waves. He created LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory), which measures fluctuations in distance from two static points, which would be direct evidence of gravitational waves.

Kip also studies wormholes, and believes that they can be used to achieve time travel. However, he also proved it would be impossible to travel backwards through time, since that a paradox caused by objects traveling through time would be impossible.

Zooniverse 4.3: Old Weather (Again)

Recently I have continued working on Weather Reports of the HMS Acacia. I'm currently working my way up in the "ranks", and am close to another promotion! It's pretty motivating, knowing that you're being "rewarded" for completing these reports!

APOD 4.5: The Antenne AND Zooniverse

This is really cool, and tied to what I did in Zooniverse this week. Here we have a picture of Galaxies colliding, galaxies NGC 4038 and 4039. The galaxies can be found in the constellation Corvus, the Crow. When one thinks of a collision, people thing explosions, crashing, wrecking, etc. However, in a Galactic Collision, they just merge through each other. As if sliding ones hands together, the parts of the galaxies mesh, and form one large galaxies. The gravitational influences of the Galaxies on each other, they stretch and warp.

This APOD also matches with my Zooniverse this week, which was Galaxies colliding. It was the first project I did, but I returned to it to mash some galaxies again. It was fun. I simulated atleast 100 galaxy simulations, and modified them.

APOD 4.4: Elephant's Trunk Nebula

 3000 light years away, The Elephant's trunk nebula is the visible evidence of a new star at the heart of this dark giant. A dark globule is a typical place for stars to form, being made up of mostly Hydrogen and Helium. Dark globules are also extremely cold, and are still a topic of an immense amount of research. The density of the nebulae is unknown, and some astronomers theorize that parts of the globules may be near solid, and it might be possible to stand on them (assuming there was gravity).

APOD 4.3: Yuri's Planet

Approximately 50 Years Ago..well, 50 years from when this APOD was posted on the NASA site...the Soviet Russian "cosmonaut" Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin was shot into space about the spacecraft Vostok 1. He achieved altitude of 200 miles above sea level, and circled once around the entire planet.

An approximate view of what Yuri would have seen.

His competition, the US astronaut Alan Shepard,  wasn't launched until about a month later. When not pursuing pleasure flying through space, Yuri loved to practice flying Soviet Jets and dying while piloting said jets. In 1968, Yuri's MIG jet crashed in a training flight. Not combat, but in a training flight. They then took what was left of him and stored it in the Kremlin Wall. Because what else do you do with your dead heros?

The image itself was taken in 2003, aboard the International Space Station.

Zooniverse 4.2: Old Weather

This week I worked on Zooniverse's Old Weather Project, which actually was a lot more interesting than it sounded. I followed the HMS Acacia, which was a British Sloop from WWI as it traveled around the coast just outside the Straits of Gibraltar, and eventually proceeded through them. It really was interesting, decoding the genuine naval logs from the various days. What was even more interesting was the deviations on some of the logs from the regulations...even though it sometimes made my job harder. It was all in good fun though!

Observations 4.1: Trash Night

So I was taking out the trash...but then I looked up! The winter sky really is fantastic. I easily identified my personal "Big Four" of the sky: Orion, Gemini, Taurus, and Auriga. Those four always seem to stand out to me, being right there in the center of the sky. Canis Major was there too of course, but I never really seem to notice it as much...even though it has the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, in it. Some of the other stars I identified were Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Alnilam, Alnitak, Mintaka, Castor, Pollux, Aldebaran, Capella, and "The Kids". I also picked out the Pleiades star cluster, and easy spot. 

APOD 4.2: Spiral Galaxies

Well, here I go again on another entry concerning Spiral Galaxies. So, Exhibit A: M74.  This galaxy doesn't seem to have a real name, but everyone just loves calling it "The Perfect Spiral". The galaxy is 32 million light years away, and scientists estimate it has over 100 billion stars.

M74: "The Perfect Spiral"

You can clearly see why everyone loves this one so much, since it really does have a perfect spiraling appearance. Although the disk looks flat to us from this vantage point, the reality is that the center of the spiral really bulges out to be over twice as thick as the rest of the galaxy is. Below is another shot of M74, in a slightly different lighting. Perhaps this photo was taken in a different spectrum, and converted differently.

Another shot of M74

Zooniverse 4.1: Merging Galaxies

This week in Zooniverse, I participated in the "Galaxy Zoo: Mergers" project. The project involves matching simulated galaxy collisions with actual colliding galaxies. I had to run several simulations, and then I had to manipulate factors within each collision in order to get a more accurate match. The galaxy that we were trying to match was galaxy SDSS ID 758877153600208945, seen below:

APOD 4.1: Boston Moonrise

I love brilliant Moon rises. And Boston. Therefore, it only makes sense for me to cover this extraordinary picture this week. The shot depicts the Bostonian skyline with a rising, red tinted moon in the background.

The Boston Skyline + A Moon = Brilliance

I covered the Moon Effect in a previous posting, but here we once again see the unexplainable enlargement of it's appearance. Some other noteable aspects about it: It appears to be really red, and really blurry. The red tinting is a side effect of the light's refraction upon entering the atmosphere, and possibly combined with any pollutants in the air above the city...but since Boston isn't really hardcore industrial, I doubt that
's a significant factor. The blurriness can possibly be attributed to rising heat distorting the air above the city, and I would suspect that as a likely factor. All in all, it's a pretty cool picture.

Observation 3.3: Astronomy Night

Astronomy Night was awesome. We saw a lot of stars. I personally assisted Captain Perseus in manipulating the large reflecting telescope we had set up. I helped spot Sirius, the dog star, as well as Jupiter.  I identified several constellations for myself, my peers, and visitors. I located Auriga, as well as it's star Capella along with the Kids. I saw Orion, and it's plentiful stars Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. I also saw Gemini with the twin stars Castor and Pollux, in addition to Taurus with it's star Aldebaran and the Pleadies and Hyadies star clusters.

APOD 3.8

Brace for impact!! Impending collision with the Moon in 5...4...3...2...No, just kidding. While the impact really was a jest, it certainly looks like that's a possibility. In this picture, the Moon seems abnormally large. Huge, in fact. Well, just as always, there's an explanation for that.  Well, sorta. It's called the Moon Illusion.

So what is the Moon Illusion? Honest to god, we have no idea. That's right, our world's top scientists don't have a clue what causes this. Countless explanations have been brought forth, but each and every one has failed. By every known scientific fact, the Moon should appear SMALLER when closer to the horizon, due to both increased distance and the atmospheric effects (Yes, the atmosphere should cause it to be smaller. Theoretically). So then why? If you know, please share. Not a soul in the world knows elsewise. And about the Parthenon? That's just there for show.

Observations 3.2

So last night I went to the Jazz Under the Stars event as Pine View, where I was able to listen to our award winning Jazz Band play while looking at the amazing Winter Sky. I watched as the constellation Orion appeared, along with Canis Majoris. I was able to distinguish all of the Winter sky's notable features, including the stars Aldebaran, Arkenar, Sirius, Castor, Capella, Pollux, Procyon, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. There were plenty of Constellations visible, in addition to the incredibly bright Supermoon! The last night the Moon was the closest it is going to be in orbit to the Earth in 18 years!! Brilliant, eh? Yup.

APOD 3.7

It must be Aliens. Or, just some NASA Astronauts in orbit in the Space Shuttle Discovery as it prepares to dock at the International Space Station. And it's just that. Captured in a combined series of Long Exposure photographs, the ISS and Discovery are shown moving rapidly across the sky, with the Moon and Jupiter. Actually, the photo exposures aren't that 'long', being only a mere 4 seconds, but compared to the frame speeds of normal photography, that's still considered long.

Discovery, Jupiter, the Moon, and the ISS.

The long streak across the sky is actually both the ISS and Discovery. Since they're about to dock, they are of course on the same Great Circle orbiting the Earth. Below, the very large bright spot is none other than the Moon. One might then ask, "Alright, but where's Jupiter?" Well, it's right below. See that bright speck on the horizon? Well, there aren't many celestial objects that are going to stand out when they're that close to the horizon, not with the Sun right around the corner.

APOD 3.6

Oh man. This one gets me every time. All throughout school, we learn how Earth isn't the biggest planet in the Solar System. We were taught that Jupiter and Saturn are atleast 10 times the size of Earth. Then we learned that Jupiter is dwarfed by the Sun, easily 100 times the size of Earth. Well now, within this video, is more learning. It's time to learn that our very own Sun, is NOTHING compared to some of the larger objects within out Solar System. Take a look.

Well? Shocked? Scared even? VY Canis Majoris is a monster. And it dosn't even take that much size to make the Sun look small. Rigel and Betelgeuse, and even Antares make the Sun seem like a tiny speck in space. Because it is!! Even after the stars, you were shown how huge the Universe is, filled with the countless Galaxys in which even behemoths like VY Canis Majoris are no more than meer pinpricks of light, indistinguishable from the rest of the Milky Way's glowing mass.  

APOD 3.5

Look out! Well, not really. Recently, the Sun released a Class X Solar Flare. It's not going to do much other cause some Auroras near the poles. What is a flare? Well, a flare is the release of a pent up energy stored inside some twisted magnetic fields (usually located on sunspots) on the Sun. The release of energy causes radiation on all levels of the EMS, or ElectroMagnetic Spectrum.

An X-Class Flare on the Sun.

So that's the flare, but what does "X-Class" mean? It doesn't mean some fancy doomsday flare by some evil villain, despite literary authors love for the letter 'X'. Actually, the classification of 'X' reflects the size of the flare. Flares are divided into three sizes; 'X', 'M', and 'C'. Respectively, they mean Large, Medium, and Small. Large X-Class flares have been known to cause planet-wide radio blackouts, and some long lasting radiation storms. Now, since we haven't experienced any of these effects, I'm going to assume the flare wasn't pointed in out direction. In addition, flares are usually accompanied coronal mass ejections, but I believe I've covered them in a previous blog entry...

APOD 3.4

Hey guys, look! It's Orion! No, really, it is. You don't believe me, do you? Well, allow me to explain. This is a "step-focus" image that allows us to determine the heat, and therefore the class, of stars. If you look at the center of each "bow-tie", then you can connect those dots to reform the familiar constellation of Orion.

A step-trace photograph of Orion

The most notable stars within this photo are the top-left and the bottom-right. These stars are respectively Betelgeuse and Rigel. Betelgeuse has a more orange hue to it because it is the only star in the constellation to be classified as a red giant star, with temperatures of 3000 Kelvin, where as Rigel is a blue super-giant, with temperatures of 30,000 Kelvin.

APOD 3.3

This picture seems simple enough. Here we have a shot of the module Kounotori2 preparing to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). The Kounotori2 was launched a week prior to this photo being taken.  One might wonder; who would wait such a long time from being launched to finally arriving at the station? Robots. The Kounotori2 is a remotely controlled module that is guided up by staff on the ground. The convenience of this method is being able to launch when a window opens up, and then spend as much time as needed in transit to the ISS once in orbit. If it were a human controlled module, then it would need to be launched at a certain date in order to arrive at the ISS within it's limited transit time. Shorted up: Robots give schedule flexibility.

Kounotori2 preparing to dock at the ISS

The arm being extended to capture the incoming module is the Canadarm2. Any ideas where it's from? Canada + Arm = Canadarm. Brilliant, eh?

APOD 3.2

Here we have not a new, super-impressive, ground-shattering shot of some space phenomena hundreds of light years away, but rather a simple picture of one of Jupiter's moons. Or rather, half of one. Europa is one of Jupiter's four primary, or otherwise known as Galilean, Moons. The other 3 are Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. It is approximately the size of our own moon, and is the 15th largest body in the Solar System.

Half of a fracture-marked Europa.

Now, it would seem that Europa's surface is similar to that of our moon's: dry, dusty, and definitely no water what-so-ever. However, that is wrong. Europa's entire surface is composed of ice! Beneath this ice, there is a subterranean sea between the ice layer and the core. Now, what would one make of the cracks on the surface? Those cracks (more properly sized as gorges) are the result of gravitational stresses on the moon by the other moons and Jupiter itself. The bodies pull on the moon in different directions, so it is only natural that it begins to fracture due to the stress. Luckily, the moons have different orbital periods, or Europa would be ripped apart entirely! Another question: How did all the lines get all skewed like that, surely the other moons don't have orbits that swing them around like that? The answer goes back to the ice layer and the subterranean sea. Scientists believe there isn't an anchor between the ice layer and the rocky core, which means that the ice has the ability to swing freely. Neat, isn't it? Below is a picture of Europa in it's entirety.

 

APOD 3.1

Today's picture is a snazzy shot of the trio of stars that make up Orion's Belt: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka (Left to right in the photograph). Just by looking at the picture, you can tell that these stars are HUGE. You visibly notice their diameter in the photograph, but now take in to account that these stars are light years away. Their size dwarfs our sun immensely. By a lot. These stars are Big.

Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka

This trio is among the brightest of the Winter sky, and by far the most noteworthy. Nowhere else in the sky are there three stars which are lined up so perfectly. In fact, a study has shown that Orion's Belt is one of the most widely know astrological asterisms simply because it is so easy to recognize. Ironically, it is also commonly attributed to other groups of stars, often by small children or dull adults. This happened to me when I was a child, and I wanted to call any group of stars that seemed to vaguely line up Orion's Belt. Also visible in this picture are the Horseshoe and Crab nebulae, even though there only appears to be one located around Alnitak.

Astronomer Biography: David Rittenhouse

David Rittenhouse was one of the first renowned ‘American’ astronomers, in addition to being a Surveyor, Clockmaker, and the first Director of the American Mint. Born in April 1732 and died in 1796, Rittenhouse was an incredibly intelligent man who was very important for his time, since few people had the skills at such as level as he.

David was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a small town known as ‘Rittenhouse Town’. David received no formal education, but instead taught himself mathematics and sciences. When he was young, he inherited a set of carpentry tools from his uncle. Being the intelligent, self-taught young boy he was, he began to use these tools to invent things. Some of the things he made included a working miniature model of his grandfather’s paper mill and a working water wheel. By the time he turned 13, David had mastered Newton’s laws such as Gravity and the Laws of Motion. By the time he turned 19, David started a scientific instruments shop near his father’s farm. He used his skill with clockworks to create to small models of the Solar system for Rutgers University, and in return received a scholarship to study philosophy. An interesting note, it would seem uncommon today for Mathematicians to study Philosophy, but that’s how they did things back then. Rittenhouse married twice, first to Eleanor Coulston in 1766 and then to Hannah Jacobs in 1771.

One of Rittenhouse’s most notable achievements was observing the Transit of Venus in 1769. According to rumor, he even fainted from excitement. Another was to be the First American to sight the planet Uranus in 1781. Then, in 1784 he along with surveyor Andrew Ellicott he completed a survey of the Mason Dixon line between Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Rittenhouse also participated in the American Philosophical Society. He was allowed membership in 1768 and served as a librarian and secretary. However, after Ben Franklin’s death, Rittenhouse was elevated to Vice President. Later, he was moved up to President in 1790 until 1799.
Rittenhouse was the treasurer of Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1789. President George Washington noticed his efficiency at keeping the books, and therefore selected to be the first director of US Mint. David was very diligent on perfecting the design of the first American coins, since he sought to create a work of art without breaching the new American etiquette.
Rittenhouse has a crater on the moon named after him, in addition to a square in Philadelphia.

Sun Pictures

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/images/3/32/Ultraviolet_Sun.jpg

http://images.nexopia.com/galleryfull/1/1209643/349242.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174723main_LEFTBlueCUSun.jpg

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1004/SunSDOfulldisk.jpg

http://interface-associates.net/images/Iron_Sun.jpg

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/promquad.jpg

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/images/UV/SOHO_EIT_ultraviolet_corona_image.gif

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Ultraviolet_Sun.jpg

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0607/uvsun_trace_big.jpg

http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images/latest_aia_171.gif

http://www.spaceweather.com/images2010/04dec10/darkfilament.jpg

http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/eit/images/latest_eit_171_full.gif

http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/latest_1024_0304.jpg

http://www.photoweeklyonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/sun.jpg

APOD 2.3 & Lunar Eclipse Observation

This picture is one taken at the International Space Station. One of the major things noticed about this picture is the background. The picture provides an extraordinary, even though obstructed, view of the Earth at night. The cluster of lights most prominent in this photo is New Orleans, directly above the left wing of the spacecraft docked at the station.

A very noticeable aspect of the sky is the aura of light visible around the atmosphere. While it is uncertain what the source of this light is, it is most likely the light from the sun refracting around the planet. A notable effect of this phenomena is when the Moon glows red during a lunar eclipse, due to the refraction of red light at that end of the spectrum.

Speaking of Lunar Eclipses, I recently attended a Lunar Eclipse watch at my school with my amazing Astronomy Teacher, Mr. Percival. During the actual eclipse, an extraordinary amount of stars became visible, more stars than I had ever seen in the sky before. Many 'blank spaces' in some of my favorite constellations became filled with a sea of small pricks of light, which was really an astonishing sight.

I also made use of a telescope that was already set up to observe the planet Saturn. The sight was surreal almost, since it was defined well enough to see the bulge of the rings, but not enough to see the stripes on the planet. It almost seemed like a small painting.

Astronomer #2 Biography Words Cited

Works Cited

"David Rittenhouse (1732-1796), University of Pennsylvania University Archives." University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.archives.upenn.edu/people/1700s/rittenhouse_david.html>.

"David Rittenhouse (American Astronomer and Inventor) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/504662/David-Rittenhouse>.

"David Rittenhouse." NNDB: Tracking the Entire World. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/172/000172653/>.

"David Rittenhouse." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rittenhouse