APOD 2.4

In this picture you are looking at what is called the crab nebula. It is a m1 object of the famous Charles messier from the 18^th century. Messier listed many thing that were not comments. The crab is supposed to be remnants of a supernova. A supernova is a explosion of a massive star. The crab pulsar is one of the most exotic objects for modern day astronomers. A crab pulsar is a neutron spinning 30 times a second and is viable as bright spot near the center. This nebula spans about 12 light years and is about 6500 light years away in the constellation Taurus .

2.3 APOD

In this picture you are seeing the Rosetta mission landing safely on the comet. On the left it appears Philaes feet are on the surface.  Philae bounced twice before settling and returning images from the surface. The surface panorama suggests the landers has come to rest titled and near a wall. The solar panels on it are getting less illumination than hoped. The instrument are working as planned and the data is being relays during communication time periods. They can only do this when the Spacecraft is above the landers new Horizon. 

2.2 Apod

IN this picturing you are seeing a dusty and shape less emission of the region Sh2-155, also know as the Cave Nebula. Data was taken through narrowband filters tracks glow of ionized sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in red, green, and blue. This nebula is about 2400 light years away. The picture lies on the plane of the milky way toward the northern constellation of Cepheus. Studies show that it has formed a massive Cepheus B Molecular cloud, young starts of Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized interstellar gas The bright rim energized by radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright star just above picture center. The ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. The cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.

2.1 APOD

A spectre in the eastern Veil. In this picture it is showing the Eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil nebula is a large supernova remnant, the debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive start. The Veil is brought in a circular shape and covers about 3 degrees in the sky in Cygnus. Also known as the swan and is a constellation.  This portion of the eastern veil spans ½ degree the size of the moon. The estimated distance is 12 light years. The colors are formed by emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is show in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms in blue. The Western part lies in another season apparition called the witch’s broom which is ironic since today is Halloween.

1.8 APOD

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141017.html


In this photo you can see the greenish coma and told of comet siding spring. This comet is 2000 light years away and is is the messier 6 cluster. In the picture they seem very close together. They are in the same line of sight as the constellation named Scorpius. One of the constellation we have learned this year already.  The comet will be just passing mars by 139,500 km. Thats is almost 10 times closer that any know comet to by earth to this day. If it were to impact it would have no direct effect on us other than the comet dust moving 56km per second. The encounter will be followed closely by the spacecraft and martian orbit and rovers.

Observations (stargaze)

This Sunday Oct. 12 I went to the stargaze at pine view. It was my first stargaze and it was a awesome experience. For the first time i was able to pick out what we were learning in class in the sky. We saw the stars in the summer triangle. Also you could see the milky way dimly.  We pinpointed the summer constellations we have been learning and some of the new falls ones to come. We Looked at Saturn, mars, Specific stars and a galaxy outside of our own. I even saw Saturns ring through the telescope. The Andromeda galaxy is the only one we can see from earth that outside of our own. Overall the stargaze lasted from 730-930 and it was a great time. I am looking forward to the next stargaze!

1.7 APOD

Eclipse at moonset.This picture is capturing an eclipse. this picture was taken at the Pacific ocean and Chilean coast that lies below some clouds. What is seen in the predawn colors is a partially eclipsed moon growing dark. You can see the curved edge of planet earths shadow still cuts across the middle of the moon. From the southern hemisphere and much of eastern america the moon completely immersed within earths shadow.. To the west total phase could be followed for almost an hour. This makes the mood turn a dark red.  This captures the beauty of space.