APOD 3.4: The Milky Way Setting

What I like mosta bout this picture is that is shows what the sky truly looks like. A couple of years ago I went to Idaho on a rafting trip. Since I was in the middle of nowhere there was no light pollution. The result was amazing- although the stars came out a lot later, the sky was incredible. This image reminds me of it. Millions of stars and the Milky Way as clear as the brightest stars. I wish there were spots in Florida where we could go to see this.

Friday- January 19, 2007

Paul and I were getting food then did a quick stargaze for a few minutes, pointing out the same constellations in the winter sky that we know (Orion, Gemini, Canis Major and Minor, Pleadis). While looking, I noticed a shooting star in Orion, heading Northeast, from the star Rigel.

3.3 Keppler Nebula

This supernova remnant was first seen in the 1700 when Keppler observed a new star in Samual Jackson- I mean Opheuchis, the Serpent Handler. It's unknown what type of star this was, but Keppler apparently made osme astounding observations of the object without the use of a telescope.

APOD 3.2 The Goat Hanger Asterism

There has been a debate whether which this group of stars0 visable with Binoculars- is a Star Cluster or Asterism. Due to measurements taken on Earth's orbit around the sun (i.e., measuring distance using Paralax), there seem to be angular differences int he stars' orbits, making it likely that they are in fact just an asterism, a chance group of stars, and not a cluster.

Friday- Janurary 5th, 2007 Observations

With the use of a new tool my dad got for identifying constelations, Giancarlo and I made some great observations on Friday. The easiest constellation to find in the Winter sky is Orion, so, having located that, we proceeded to use the winter star chart to find nearby constellations. I was easily able to locate Canis Minor, and then thanks to Canis Major's 1st magnitude star we located that. Gemini was our next stop, though we had some trouble making out the stars of puppis, since it was at the southern horizon. Perseus and Andromeda were still up, so we saw those. Perseus was easy to see, but I couldn't make out Andromeda too well. GC also pointed out the Pleides, and I found Polaris, of Ursa Minor.
When messing around with the search function, we tried looking for some planets. Venus was apparently in the water (we were out on the dock).

Another Past Observation

On the first Monday of Winter Break, Paul Martin and I made some observations. Among the usual constellations we always see- Orion and the little dipper, Paul pointed out to me some Winter Constellations that we had not learned yet. He was able to point out Canis Major and Minor, which I suppose we'll learn soon. I just wish we had learned the Winter Constellations before break- not that I couldn't have looked them up, but it wouild have been easier.

The Moon as of Late

Wednesday night while I was in the shower I was looking out the small window there and happened to notice the moon. The moon was full recently, maybe on that night, but what shocked me is that it appeared to be really small. As I've been following it the past few nights it still looks a bit small compared to other nights, but bigger than that night. It could just be me, but I thought it was worth posting.

APOD 3.1:A Day on Mars

This picture is interesting because although Mars and Earth both orbit the sun, the placement of the Sun at the same time every day is different. On Earth it's two lines passing around each other, compared to this circle shape.

Thursday's Observations

Me, Giancarlo, and some other people were at the beachf or a couple of hours and we decided to do some observations. We think we saw Pagasus, and of course definitely saw Orion.