Zooniverse

On zooniverse i spent my time doing two different activites. I looked at variable stars a little, but spent the majority of my time trying to find planets around stars by looking at light graphs from kepler spacecraft. The stars were interesting when trying to determine if they were variable or not and if they were irregular or consistent. I learned a lot about variable stars and planets being hidden by stars, or planets revolving around stars.

Karl Jansky

Karl Guthe Jansky was born in the territory of Oklahoma. When he was born, his father was the Dean of an engineering school in Oklahoma. This undoubtedly influenced him to enter the profession which he later did. His father's love for physics led his son to follow in his father's footsteps. He received his BS in physics in 1927 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He began working at Bell laboratories to investigate the effects of short waves with atmospheric pressure to be applied to telephone communication. Jansky created an antenna to detect radio waves from the frequency of 20.5 Mhz. He mounted it on a rotating turntable that allowed the antenna to point in any direction and pinpoint a signal. He found three different kind of radio data with the antenna. Near thunderstorms, far thunderstorms, and a low hiss that was always around. The hiss had an intensity whose maximum rose and fell once a day. This led to his original theory of detecting the sun. However, he found it was in accordance with the sidereal day instead of the solar day. The strongest signal met up with the center of the constellation saggitarius, and the center of the milky way. He began publishing papers and appeared in the newspaper in 1933. This was essentially the only work he was able to do with astronomy, and was denied future funding for radio research. He was not necessarily regarded as correct for awhile because of his little training as an astronomer. His observations were also made in a time of economic turmoil in america and were neither important to the people nor ready to be risked. Eventually this was followed up by Grote Reber who advanced Radio Astronomy greatly. Jansky died at the age of only 44 in New Jersey from a heart condition.

Astronomy Cast 3&4

Ep. 255: Observing Hydrogen

Hydrogen makes up about 70% of the universe. Hydrogen has a huge number of uses. It powers cars, its used in all types of chemistry, but probably most important it is part of the fusion process that allows the sun to create the energy that keeps the planet warm. The energy delievered by the sun is a result of the hydrogen fusion reaction into helium. The huge stores of energy that are transferred to earth are the only reason that we continue to exist. Plant life needs the photons for energy, we need light to see, and the planet has to be warm enough for us to inhabit it. The sun is a necessary celestial object and it is only a useful star because of its hydrogen fusion. We can see hydrogen lines when using binoculars and looking into the sky. Alpha-Hydrogen lines are observable lines that come from almost all nebulas and are derived from hydrogen. hydrogen is all throughout our universe.
Ep. 238: Solar Activity
The sun is an object in the sky that is constantly changing. Sunspots are discrepancies in the suns surface that are caused for several reasons. They are visible when looking at the sun with a proper device. Viewing these sunspots allowed astronomers to decide that the sun is a constantly changing object. Solar activity is a constant and during an 11 year period the sun will go from having 0 sunspots to being covered all over with them. These sunspots can be miles across. An interesting way to measure solar activity is through ice cores. By digging deep into the artic ice and looking at different layers of ice, one can tell how the earth has seen significant differences in temperature and solar activity throughout its history. The sun is constantly changing and often releases particles into space called solar wind that can affect happenings on earth such as radio transmission.

APOD 4.8

This picture is of the Hydra Cluster of stars. Two stars in our own Milky Way galaxy are in the picture two however. Over 100 million light-years away, the hydra cluster is still visible in this photograph. There are three prominent galaxies in the middle of the picture. Two elipticals and one big blue spiral. They are about 150 thousand light years across each. These galaxy clusters are some of the closest to the milky way, although they are still some 200 million light years away. This picture captures about 1.3 million light years of space from left to right.

APOD 4.7

This picture is of a solar eclipse taken in Texas. The moon obfuscated the view of the sun but only partially, resulting in a partial solar eclipse. It was easily photopgraphed and has been appearing everywhere. The image of the red setting moon behind a windmill makes for an interesting picture. It was taken in the town of Sundown, ironically enough. The ring of fire efffect had just subsided.

Jansky sources 5/9

http://www.nrao.edu/whatisra/hist_jansky.shtml
http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/jansky.html
http://news.discovery.com/space/jansky-very-large-array-120201.html

APOD 4.6

The large magellenaic cloud is depicted above in the tarantula nebula. This cloud is the largest and most violent star forming region we have discovered. It is so large that if it were as far away as the orion nebula we would only be able to see it. The size of the magellanic cloud would cause it to envelop the entire sky. The red and pink gas shows that there is an emission nebula as well as supernova remnants. This picture was taken by the hubble space telescope and has provided a lot of information about star formation.