APOD 4.8

Here is a photograph of the night sky as seen from the volcano Mauna Kea. Directly across from the volcano, lies another one in the distance, known as Mauna Loa. By far the most interesting aspect of this photo is that it appears as if Mauna Loa is erupting, but rather than lava, out is coming a magnificent band of the Milky Way Galaxy. Toward the far right of the picture, the moon is visible just above the horizon. Mars and Saturn also appear as faint star-like objects, with a relatively higher magnitude.

APOD 4.7

In this photograph, taken in Gunma, Japan, it is very easy to see the asterism known as the Summer Triangle. The triangle is made up of three stars (the brighter ones visible in the photograph which somewhat border the tree). From left to right they are Deneb of the constellation Cygnus, Vega of the constellation Lyra, and Altair of the constellation Aquila. Also visible in the photograph are smaller constellations that appear within and around the triangle, including Lacerta the lizard, Delphinus the dolphin, Vulpecula the fox, and Sagitta the arrow.

APOD 4.6

Pictured here is the spiral galaxy NGC 2841. While this galaxy is only 46 million light years away, it is humongous, with a diameter of over 150,000 light years, larger than our Milky Way Galaxy. This galaxy is found in the Northern Constellation Ursa Major, and exhibits beautiful pink arms which are star forming regions. Also visible are patches of blue, where clusters of newly formed, young stars begin their life cycle. This image was captured as a composite, merging exposure from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Subaru Telescope.

APOD 4.4

Here is a photograph of an usual spiral galaxy. While most spiral galaxies have 2 arms, this galaxy, NGC 4725, only has one. This galaxy is also very large; 100,000 light years across, longer than our Milky Way Galaxy. NGC 4725 lies 41 million light years across from our home galaxy, and appears to be rotating clockwise, due to the trailing single arm of the galaxy.

APOD 4.3

Photographed is the spiral galaxy NGC 2903, about 20 million light years away from our solar system. This galaxy is visible in the Spring constellation Leo, and is very popular among astronomers. The galaxy features many beautiful colors with innumerable star clusters, producing new stars at a very rapid rate. This galaxy is very similar in size to our own, measuring 80,000 light years across.

APOD 4.2

Sweden is known worldwide as an ideal viewing location for Aurorae, and this stunning Aurora in Kiruna, Sweden proves this perfectly. This aurora greatly resembles an immense flag hanging over the countryside. This aurora was the result of a recent Coronal Mass Ejection, which passed through a channel in the Earth's Magnetic Field. The result- a beautiful aurora featuring a variety of vivid colors.

APOD 4.1

As we are now transitioning into the spring, the familiar constellation Orion is beginning to set in the early evening. Photographed here is Orion, late in the sky. Visible are the two first magnitude stars Betelgeuse and Rigel, along with the asterism known as Orion's belt, and the Horsehead Nebula, M42. Also visible is Aldebaren, the alpha star in the constellation Taurus which borders Orion.

Quarter 3 Astronomer Biography

Edward E Barnard

Edward Emerson Barnard was a noted American astronomer from the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. Barnard grew up in a relatively un-wealthy family, and thus lacked much formal education. At the young age of 9, Emerson began his career as an assistant photographer. From here, his career as an astronomer commenced. His interest in photography led Emerson to find a desire to study the heavens. In 1876, Emerson purchased his first telescope, a 5 inch refractor telescope, with which he discovered his first comet in 1881, and another later that year. In 1889, Emerson made one of his first major astronomical observations; he observed the moon Lapetus pass behind the rings of Saturn. Also, he had unwillingly and without taking notice, discovered spokes in Saturn’s ring, which would then be proven to exist by Voyager 1. In addition to these observations, Barnard was the first to discover the 5^th moon of Jupiter, Amalthea, the first discovery of a new Jovian moon since Galileo in 1609. This was also the last discovery of a satellite simply by naked-eye observation. Barnard’s career as a professional astronomer had launched. In 1895 he became a professor of Astronomy at the University of Chicago. While teaching there, he was able to use the 40 inch telescope at the Yerkes Observatory, with which he took many photographs of the Milky Way, discovering that dark, seemingly empty regions of the galaxy were actually clouds of dust and gas that obscured distant background stars. Barnard photographed many dark nebulae, and he catalogued them with numerical designations, similar to Messier’s catalog. These became known as Barnard objects, and are labeled Barnard 1 – Barnard 370. A few years after the publication of his objects, Barnard died at the relatively young age of 65. Many of Barnard’s photographs are still used to this day, and his catalog allows for the simple classification of dark nebulae today. In addition to this, Barnard discovered a faint star, now known as Barnard’s star. This star is the second closest star to the Earth, following the Alpha Centauri system. The discoveries and observations of Edward E Barnard helped to reshaped astronomy and have allowed for the benefit of astronomers today.



Sources for Q3 Astronomer Biography

Edward E. Barnard 

Sheehan, William. The Immortal Fire Within: The Life and Work of Edward Emerson Barnard. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995. Print.

"The Bruce Medalists: Edward E. Barnard." The Bruce Medalists: Edward E. Barnard. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

"Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923)." Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923). N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

"Edward Emerson Barnard | Biography - American Astronomer." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

APOD 3.0

This photograph was taken just West of the Ural Mountain Range in Russia, in an area where one of the 7 natural wonders of Russia reside, the Seven Strong Men. These 40 meter tall towers of rock remain a mystery to scientists, as they do not understand how or why they were formed. Above the pillars reside millions of beautiful stars, with a band of our Milky way Galaxy visible running from the top left of the frame to the bottom right. 

APOD 2.9

Here the Moon is pictured in the background near a windmill, in Fuerteventura, an Island off the coast of Morocco. This photograph was taken on the night of January 4/5, and was the first Full Moon of the year. In North America, the first Full Moon of the New Year is known as the Wolf Moon.

APOD 2.8

Here, the galaxy NGC 1097 is pictured in the Southern sky. This galaxy lies around 45 million miles away from the constellation Fornax, which was presumably discovered by French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille, whom I recently posted a biography about. Thia galaxy also has a smaller galaxy very close to it. NGC 1097 is a Seyfert galaxy, one of two of the largest galaxy groups in the Universe. At the center of the galaxy lies a supermassive black hole, consuming everything in its immediate path.

Q2 Astronomer Biography

Nicolas Lacaille

            Nicolas Louis de Lacaille was a prominent French astronomer who lived during the 18^th century. Born on the 29^th of December, 1713 in Rumigny, France, Lacaille attended school in what is now known as Mantes-la-Jolie, and eventually went on to study philosophy and rhetoric at the Collège de Lisieux, and then theology at the Collège de Navarre. After graduating, Lacaille became an Abbé, a position in the Catholic Church. Lacaille worked in a few universities as a professor throughout his life, and one of his earliest accomplishments was the correct re-measurement of the French arc of the meridian. For this, a pyramid was built in his honor.

            One of the primary desires of Lacaille was to measure the distances of the planets trigonometrically. He wished to travel to the Cape of Good Hope, at the Southern tip of Africa. His voyage was sanctioned by Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière, a French governor. Lacaille stayed there for two years, making observations on a nightly basis. His observations resulted in a thorough catalog of roughly 10,000 stars. In addition, he also observed and recorded 42 nebulous objects. Along with these catalogs, Lacaille was able to successfully determine the parallax of the moon and the sun, using Mars as an intermediary. This tedious work required simultaneous observation from a partner of his in an observatory in France, Jérôme Lalande. His astronomical catalogs were published posthumously, resulting in 14 newly discovered constellations, which have since become standard. During his 2 year stay in the Cape of Good Hope, Lacaille also measured the radius of the Earth in the Southern Hemisphere. Being a very meticulous and astute calculator and mathematician, Lacaille used triangulation to determine these measurements.

            During his return to France, Lacaille realized how difficult it was to make measurements and determining positions while at sea. On his return to Paris, he produced a set of tables of the Moon’s position that was accurate enough to use for determining time and longitude by Lunars, or Lunar distances. In addition to these impressive calculations, Lacaille also produced a table of eclipses that occurred, spanning 1800 years. A colleague of his, Jérôme Lalande, said of Lacaille that during a relatively short life, he was able to make more calculations than any other astronomer until then. He also stated that the quality of his work was just as high as the quantity, and that his strong, respectable personality earned him a great deal of universal admiration.   

            In Paris in 1757, Lacaille published his Astronomiae Fundamenta Novissimus, which contained a list of 400 bright stars with their positions corrected due to atmospheric aberration. He also carried out calculations on the orbits of comets, and was actually responsible for giving Halley’s Comet its name. The crater Lacaille on the Moon was named in his honor, and the asteroid 9135 Lacaille was named after him as well. In addition, a 60 centimeter telescope in Reunion Island will be named Lacaille Telescope due to his studies of the Southern Hemisphere sky.