APOD 3.6

February 26 2015
Love and War by Midnight

This picture appealed to me because it is another observance that anybody can see. A lot of the images on APOD are images that most people cannot obtain but this picture is one that anybody could obtain. It shows the Moon, Venus, and Mars being very close together. The picture was recorded from Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The comments state that it was a three second exposure that had the Earth's light illuminating the otherwise dark crescent moon. All of the objects have moved on from this occurrence with the Moon continuing with its cycle, Venus moving westward, and Mars moving eastward. 

Observation Post 2/27

Observation Post

Week of 2/23

The majority of my observations were made at around 8:00 at night and at 5:30 in the morning. They were done in a moderate to cold temperature. The sky on some days was clear while other days were cloudy. I did my observations at home, and on my way to school. On the days with the cloudy sky no observations could have been made. On the days that were not cloudy I observed multiple things. I observed multiple planets, including Mars and Venus. I observed the occurrence of the crescent moon being near the planets Venus and Mars. I also observed the constellation of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. Another observed constellation was Orion, the hunter. Using the location of Orion, and Orion's belt, I was able to locate what I belive was Eridanus, the river. I also observed multiple phases of the moon, including a waxing crescent, a first quarter, and a waxing gibbous moon. 

APOD 3.5

February 20 2015
An Evening Sky Conjunction

This picture appealed to me because is it simple, and very common. Most of the pictures APOD shows are very difficult for normal people, those who do not have access to all the major machines that take a lot of these pictures, to obtain these pictures. This picture can be taken by anybody as it is a simple picture taken from the ground of obvious objects in the sky. The picture contains a forest and a lake towards the bottom, but the picture's main objective is to show the two brightest objects in this picture: the Moon and Venus. The two appear to be very close together in the sky. The comments accompanying this picture state that this picture was taken from Turkey in 2007. The comments state that within the past 8 years very little has changed about the configuration of Venus and the Moon as both will be present tonight in nearly the same location as phase as when they were photographed 8 years ago. The only main difference from 8 years ago is that tonight Mars will accompany Venus and the Moon. 

Observation Post 2/20

Observation Post

Week of 2/16

The majority of my observations were made at around 8:00 at night and at 5:30 in the morning. They were done in a moderate to cold temperature. The sky on some days was clear while other days were cloudy. I did my observations at home, and on my way to school. On the days with the cloudy sky no observations could have been made. On the days that were not cloudy I observed multiple things. I observed multiple planets, including Jupiter and Venus. I also observed the constellation of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. Another observed constellation was Orion, the hunter. Using the location of Orion, and Orion's belt, I was able to locate Auriga, the charioteer. I also observed multiple phases of the moon, including a waning crescent, a new moon, and a waxing crescent moon. 

Q3 Biography Sources

Alvan Graham Clark

1. "Clark, Alvan." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 3. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 288. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
URL:http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CCX2830900909&v=2.1&u=fl_sarhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=ea9578a4b3a59f72e3c9fe85668e0080
2. "Chandra :: Photo Album :: Sirius A & B :: 26 Sep 00." Chandra :: Photo Album :: Sirius A & B :: 26 Sep 00. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.
URL: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2000/0065/index.html
3. Wendell, O. C., and G. E. Hale. "Alvan Graham Clark." Alvan Graham Clark. Astrophysical Journal, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
URL: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1897ApJ.....6..136W
4. "Alvan Graham Clark | Biography - American Astronomer." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
URL: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/119896/Alvan-Graham-Clark
5. "Alvan Clark." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
URL: http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/people/clark-alvan.html
6. Re, Pedro. "ALVAN CLARK (1804-1887), GEORGE BASSETT CLARK (1827-1891) AND ALVAN GRAHAM CLARK (1832-1897), AMERICAN MAKERS OF TELESCOPE OPTICS." A LVAN C LARK (1804-1887), G EORGE B ASSETT(n.d.): n. pag. Astrosurf.com. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
URL: http://www.astrosurf.com/re/alvan_clark.pdf

APOD 3.4

February 13 2015
Aurora on Ice

This picture appealed to me because it is a beautiful picture while having multiple elements of mystery. The dark edges of the picture set the mood to be dark yet appealing. This adds in the element of mystery which is something that I always like. The picture shows a spherical picture that contains a green sky, or most likely green auroras over large and numerous chunks of ice. The comments under the picture states that the picture is a fisheye view from southeast Iceland. The comments include that the beach has black sand and is illuminated by a full moon with a halo. The post finishes by stating that the auroras are present due to the Earth's magnetosphere responding to a coronal hole in the Sun. 

APOD 3.3

February 4 2015

Stars, Sprites, Clouds, Auroras

This picture appealed to me because it is a picture that is very down to Earth. It shows what I believe to be some auroras around a cabin. In the background towards the left there appears to be what looks like low-hanging clouds that are illuminated by the sunset. The top left corner of the picture contained small red marks that appear to be lines. The post that accompanies the picture states that the picture shows red sprites while photographing unexpected auroras over a thunderstorm. The picture was taken in 2013 in Minnesota. The comment states that the red sprites were most likely due to a lightning bolt that had occurred. The comment finishes by stating that this is only the second photo of sprites and auroras together and the first in true color. 

Observation Post 2/13

Observation Post

Week of 2/9

The majority of my observations were made at around 8:00 at night and at 5:30 in the morning. They were done in a moderate to cold temperature. The sky on some days was clear while other days were cloudy. I did my observations at home, and on my way to school. On the days with the cloudy sky no observations could have been made. On the days that were not cloudy I observed multiple things. I observed multiple planets, including Venus and Mars. I also observed the consellation of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. Another observed constellation was what I believe to be Orion, the hunter. I was able to locate these two constellations based upon their in a sense, giveaways. For Pegasus it is the great square, and for Orion it is the belt. I observed the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, relative to Orion. I also observed multiple phases of the moon, including a waning gibbous, a third quarter, and a waning crescent moon. 

Star Formation

http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec13.html
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/outreach/Edu/sform.html
http://t.space.com/all/14832-hubble-views-grand-star-forming-region#1
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050424.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap990604.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040713.html
http://www.spacetelescope.org/science/formation_of_stars/
http://irlab.astro.ucla.edu/research/star.htm
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2409.html
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/cosmic_reference/molecular_clouds.html
http://www.novacelestia.com/space_art_stars/nebulae.html

Observation Post 2/6

Observation Post

Week of 2/2

The majority of my observations were made at around 8:00 at night and at 5:30 in the morning. They were done in a moderate to cold temperature. The sky on some days was clear while other days were cloudy. I did my observations at home, and on my way to school. On the days with the cloudy sky no observations could have been made. On the days that were not cloudy I observed multiple things. I observed multiple planets, including Venus and Mars. I also observed the consellation of Pegasus, the Winged Horse. Another observed constellation was what I believe to be Orion, the hunter. I was able to locate these two constellations based upon their in a sense, giveaways. For Pegasus it is the great square, and for Orion it is the belt. I also observed multiple phases of the moon, including a waxing gibbous, a full moon, and a waning gibbous. 

APOD 3.2

January 30 2015

A Night at Poker Flat

This picture appealed to me because it is a beautiful picture of what appears to be the northern lights, or aurora borealis. As we have studied and looked at the northern lights before, the picture intrigued me to see what else I could learn about them. The picture shows a circular view, almost as if the picture was taken while the camera was spinning or while it was rolling down a hill. The picture shows the northern lights from Alaska. Also towards the bottom of the picture there are streams of what appear to be rockets. The picture's caption states that these are NASA suborbital sounding rockets. They were launched from Alaska on January 26. Two tests were performed at the launch, the M-TeX and the MIST test were used to track vapor trails from the rockets using ground based operations.