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.

Astronomy cast 1&2

Ep. 253: Rayleigh Scattering (Why is the Sky Blue?)
This astronomy cast was about why the sky is blue. The sky is blue due to an effect called Rayleigh Scattering. This effect is caused by gases and dust particles in the atmosphere that scatter a large amount of electromagnetic radiation. Red, yellow, and green get through pretty well, but blue becomes scattered and photons are directed all over the sky. All of the light photons of blue wavelength or shorter are scattered and leave the blue haze that is visible to everyone. It is techinically an absorbtion reabsorption process where the photons act like a ball and the particles like walls. The ball continues to bounce and there are so many balls that they create a visible screen of light. This visible screen happens to be the color blue because of the size of the particles of our atmosphere. The size of the particles has to be just the right size in order for this effect to be utilized. The probability of the light being blue was not any higher than any other color, however the way the planet has evolved has created a system where this is now the norm and will remain this way.
Ep 254: Reflection and Refraction
The way that vision essentially works is that photons are emitted from the sun and are sent towards every object on earth. The photons hit each and every object and they bounce and reflect. They reflect at different wavelengths depending on the material and different characteristics of objects. Green is just a type of material that can reflect light at a green wavelength. Green is really just an interpretation of the brain of wavelengths of light. Objects do not truly have color, its just the mind interpreting the information it recieves from cones and rods in the eyes that absorb photons passing into them. Different materials, dust, interstellar space, and many different factors cause light to be adjusted in terms of speed or constitution. These changes result in all different types of images being detected by your eyes and therefore your brain.

APOD 4.5

This is a picture of both the moon and Mercury. The two celestial objects rose in the early morning sky on April 19th. Last week, Mercury wandered far to the west of the sun. It was joined by the crescent moon only because it is the closest planet to the sun. The greatest angle created by this short distance, which is about 27 degrees is, allows the two to be seen together. The two objects managed to stay about 8 degrees apart from each other as they rose in the early morning sky. The images were taken about every 3 minutes and combined to create this image.

APOD 4.4

This is a picture of Antares, which is  a red super giant star that has gone through several stages of stellar evolution. Becoming a red giant takes a certain amount of mass, which is less than three solar masses. The star evolves and as it runs out of hydrogen to burn, it expands and evolves into a red giant. Antares is 850 times the diameter of our sun, 15 times more massive, and 10,000 times brighter. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius and is clearly visible in the summer night sky from Florida.

APOD 4.3

This is a picture of the constellation monoceros and the Rossette Nebula that it resides in. NGC 2264 is a star forming region that has an array of light and stars that are visible through a telescope. The 2,700 light year away nebula as its reddened light due to a mixture of gases and dust as well as the emission nebula. The blue reflection nebula marks the region of the nebula where star formation is mostly occurring. The image covers an entire 3/4 of a degree which is about 1.5 moons.

APOD 4.2

This is a picture of the bright planet Venus. This picture was taken as Venus passed over the Pleiades and created the interesting light. This photo of the "seven sisters" was taken from Arizona and appear much less bright than Venus. The seven sisters are the stars that make up the Pleiades. The light distortion that is created is from the telescopic lens and not from the apparent "star crossing"

APOD 4.1

This is a picture of rocket trails left behind by one of NASA's recent missions. Five rockets were consecutively launched and left chemical tracers so that the high-altitude jet stream could push them around. This movement of the tracer would help the scientists better understand the high-altitude jet stream. The tracers were left in the ionosphere and were able to be captured in this picture from the shore of New Jersey facing south. The constellations of Saggitarius and Scorpius are visible, as well as the faint clouds of the milky way.

Observations 2

Ep. 247: The Ages of Things
This episode focused on how scientists determine the ages of things that are so much older than humans. It turns out that the primary method for doing this is radioisotope dating that is found in the sedimentary layer. The ability of supernovae to create radioactive isotopes allow scientists to determine the timeline of something through calculations of half-lives. Half-lives are the amount of time it takes for an isotope to decay to half of its mass. The amount of mass decreases the greatest at first but eventually slows down to the point that the original parent substance is considered depleted. The exponential decay function mathematically displays this phenomenon. The only viable element to use for things that are really old is carbon. More recent dating can be found through the use of other elements. Carbon-14 has trouble being dated past 60,00 years however. Uranium-235's half life is 80,00 years, which allows for a much larger range of study. Finding out how old the earth was is a process that was determined through looking for older and older rocks beneath the surface. Rocks are found to be millions or billions of years old through the elements of samarium and neodymium. The use of radioactive elements can be used to determine the age of astronomical objects and earth itself.

Ep. 252: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
The conversation began with Fraser and Pamela talking about how particles and atoms are not just pieces of matter but waves that interacts with their surroundings. The realization that particles were waves caused a mathematical deilemna and a problem with the understanding of space and time. The production of waves such as tsunamis travel through the ocean and merit the question of where and with what speed. Similarly atoms and particle in space exhibit these same values. Particles such as electrons can be described as many waves interfering and focusing on the position of the electron. The viewing of particles in this way makes momentum impossible to find. The description of particles as waves and vice versa creates problems mathematically. The quantum mechanics of not being able to describe the position or velocity at the same time is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. This theorem explains how energy and time are mutually exclusive values. Position of a particle is found using devices that examine the deflection of a particle. This type of microscope allows for position to be determined, but for velocity to be determined, this must be invalidated. Position and velocity are exclusively known by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

APOD 3.8

 

This is a picture of NGC 1579: Trifid of the North. This nebula is found in the constellation Perseus and is very similar to a more well known nebula, the Trifid. The nebula is about 2100 light years away and 3 light years across, and expresses an interesting color scheme. Similar to Trifid, the nebula displays a red light, however the light source is different from that of Trifid. Instead of hydrogen emitting red light when excited by ultraviolet light, a star inside the nebula creates the energy to produce the colored light. The blue reflection nebula is created the same as Trifid however, from reflection of starlight by dust. 

Hertzsprung sources

http://www.rundetaarn.dk/engelsk/observatorium/hertz.html http://www.nndb.com/people/225/000169715/
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/263944/Ejnar-Hertzsprung

ejnar hertzsprung biography

Ejnar Hertzsprung was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1873. Hertzsprung grew up in an environment where astronomy was fostered, because his father was had studied astronomy, but could not find a position. His father got a job as an insurance director and supported Hertzsprung through his early years that way. Hertzsprung attended grade school in Copenhagen, before moving on the Copenhagen Polytechnics to study chemistry. During the turn of the century, Hertzsprung was working with with acetylene-lightning in St. Petersburg Russia. Hertzsprung began to have success in his field during this time. He studied chemistry at Leziping for a short while, but decided to move back home after the tragic death of his brother. Living back in Copenhagen with his mother and sister, he started his own scientific research. The family was able to support him due to previous financial gains. Hertzsprung began to develop research in the field of stereo-photography and spectrophotometry. He was still not recognized in the astronomy field. After 1902, Hertzsprung decided to continue his career at the University of Copenhagen's Obersvatory. During 1905, Hertzsprung compiled his research and he published "Zur Strahlung der Sterne" in "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Photographie". He was able to discover that stars in the late spectral classes are divided into multiple series. The luminous red stars he found, were the largest. He was the first to understand the connection between luminosity and the spectrum of light that was emitted. He published his work in a different book, and went on to meet Russell, an american scientist. The two had the same results, and thus the diagram that was created to plot luminosity and spectra was named the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram. The diagram shows wavelength of light, visual and absolute magnitude. Hertzsprung recieved Gold Medal for the Royal Astronomical Society in 1929 and the Bruce Medal in 1937 for his work concerning the Hertzpsrung-Russel diagram and estimating the distance to the Small Magelliac Cloud using parallax. He also discovered two asteroids, one of which was named Amor asteroid 1627 Ivar. Hertzsprung passed away with much scientific and astronomical accomplishment in October of 1967 at age 94.

APOD 3.7

This is a picture of the comet Garradd with both of its tails being visible. Comets have ice and dust trails, as well as ion tails. The ice and dust comes from the comet itself, while the ion trails are created from the solar wind ejected by the sun. The two are usually both visible, but are not facing in opposite directions. This view is possible because of earth's current intermediate viewing angle. This special angle with the comet allows viewers to see the comet with opposing tails, and notice the subtle hues surrounding both tails. The grains of the ice and dust trail seems yellow because it reflects sunlight achromatically, while the ion trail appears blue from efficient reflection of light by carbon monoxide.

APOD 3.6

This is a picture of the Auriga Nebulae. The constellation Auriga is visible in the winter sky and has several M objects. It has a clearly visible first magnitude star, Capella. Broadband filter data allows the nebulae to be seen in this picture. The picture spans about 4 degrees across the entire night sky. It is also known as the flaming star nebula. It is red because of the hot class O-star. The bright nebula is visible during winter and is on the plane of the milky way galaxy.

APOD 3.5

This is a picture of the Merope's reflection nebula. Reflection nebulae reflect light from nearby stars by utilizing carbon. The carbon atoms reflect the light away from the nebulae most often in a blue shade. This blue shade is caused by the bluish light being reflected more efficiently. The luminosity of the nebula is actually caused by the composition of the nebula. The size and density of the carbon grains is primarily responsible. This nebula is reflecting the light from the Pleiades.

How Do Stars Form?

There were previously two models for star formation. One way that was proposed was the accretion of material by star seeds. Material from gas clouds would accumulate on the seed and the star would grow. This model was eventually disproved because of the lack of observational support. The more explainable option is the gravitational collapse theory. In this model, huge clumps of molecular material that break down into smaller cores that form stars. This model supports the common formation of different types of stars, such as brown dwarfs and massive stars. Essentially, the gas clouds and dust form masses due to turbulence within the clouds. These masses then begin to collapse because of their own gravitational attraction. As the system begins to collapse, the center of the material begins to heat up. This area is labeled the protostar. This model suggests that the material breaks into several blobs, which supports the observation of stars forming in pairs or triplets. The material that isn't turned into the star can form asteroids or other planets. The core does attract more surrounding material however. Thus stars are formed through the accumulation of large mass from interstellar clouds of material that break apart and form cores that attract more material.

astronomy cast qt 3 pt. 1

"What if Something Were Different?"
In this episode of Astronomy Casts, Fraser and Pamela discuss what would happen to us and our solar system if several things were different. The first topic that they discuss is the density of our galaxy. It turns out that galaxies with large densities essentially eliminate any star formation. This would eliminate some constellations and nebula such as the Orion Nebula and the Pleiades. Conversely, if our galaxy had its matter spread to thin the sky would essentially be empty. The next thing they discussed was the formation of our sun. If our sun was formed earlier, close to the big bang, then our sun would have lacked a lot of the metals that helped cool it down. Without cooling off, the sun would have had a much shorter life and we would possibly not exist. If the sun had tried to form trillions of years later, it may not have been possible. Star formation continues and matter is used, but eventually it is spread too thin for there to be continued star formation. The universe is continually expanding so eventually star formation will cease to exist. They then talked about the location of our solar system in the galaxy. If we were closer to the more turbulent center of the galaxy, the integrity of the solar system could be ruined by passing stars. These stars could affect planets in the outer region by changing their orbit or even the star that they orbit around. Being on the outside of the galaxy could lead to a dearth of metals that could inhibit planetary formation. This would have prevented our solar system from ever truly developing. The two primarily discussed how the solar system and our lives would be affected if our location and surroundings and even time frame were changed.

"Carina Constellation"
In this episode, Fraser and Pamela discuss the Carina Constellation. The first discuss how it is part of one of the greatest star forming parts of the universe. Carina was also a group of stars that attempted to go supernova but failed to do so. The went off on an interesting tangent about the location of someone on earth to their view of the sky. People in the southern hemisphere get a different view of constellations than those in the north. We are able to view Carina because we are far enough south. The brightest star currently is Eta Carinae. The nebula is able to viewed during July and August and appears to just be a fuzzy area. The brightest star in the constellation used to be alpha carinae, but that was due to a process where the star almost exploded but did not quite go supernova. The Carina nebula is a large area, appearing to be about 7 times the size of the moon, and gives off red light. This part of the constellation is the part that is responsible for the continued formation of stars. Eta Carinae, the almost supernova star is imminent to explode for real, but imminent is defined as tens of thousands of years. Finally, the constellation has two double cluster stars in its system.

APOD 3.4

This is a picture of the nebula NGC 6752. Taken by the Hubble Telescope, this picture shows a nebula that is 13000 light years away towards the southern sky constellation Pavo. This object holds over 100 thousand stars in a sphere only 100 light years in diameter. This picture is of the internal 10 light years. Blue straggler stars appear that are relatively young, and do not belong in clusters with stars twice as old as our sun. Many of the visible stars are clusters and groupings of stars that have supporting arguments with each other.

APOD 3.3

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This is a picture of the Eagle Nebula, M16. It is a picture from 1995 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The color scheme was created using composite images from the Herschel Space Observatory. Infared sensors pick up the energy emitted from the nebula and give a significant amount of information about the nebula. XMM-Newton telescopes pick up X-rays that reveal the remainder of the emitted spectra. 

APOD 3.2

This is a picture of mars from the view of the land rover, Opportunity. Winter is rolling around on mars, and the lack of sunlight has adverse affects on the rover's sunlight powered system. The rover was instructed to climb a large hill so that it could receive more sunlight. This is a picture of Greely's Haven, that hill that the rover climbed. The impact crater is also visible in the picture, and will be explored by this rover once winter is over.

APOD 3.1

This week's picture is one of Orion, a constellation easily seen in the winter sky. The picture was taken in Ireland, and contains pictures of bare trees and a lake. The star Betelgeuse is unusually yellow, and is located above his shoulder. The opposing star, Rigel, is near his foot and is extremely blue. The sword hangs with a three star cluster from his belt.The pink fuzzy blotch near the sword indicates the Orion Nebula.

APOD 2.8

This is a picture of a supernova SNR 0509-67.5. The impressive thing about this particular supernova is that the companion star of the exploded star is not visible. There is no visible light where the star should be, but it must exist. Therefore the companion star is suspected to be a faint white dwarf that is similar to the detonated star. This picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in visible light, x-ray light, and red imaged/false green imaged light.

Jean Baptiste Delambre

Jean Baptiste Delambre was a French mathematician and Astronomer that lived from September of 1749 to August of 1822. Delambre had a childhood illness that left him with very sensitive and changed eyes. Because of his fear of blindness, Delambre began to study as much as he could before he would lose his eyesight. Delambre became fluent in English and German, and memorized extensive works that he could recite. After publishing his first work, Regles et methodes faciles pour apprendre la langue anglaise, Baptiste was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. After the Academy was commissioned to measure the distance between the North Pole and the equator so that the exact measure of the meter could be established, one of the expedition members to measure the distance quit, so Delambre was put in charge. Delambre also studied astronomy and mathematics in school. Delambre is also famous for calculating his table of Uranus, which helped get him elected into the Academy of the Sciences. He became secretary of Mathematics for the Academy in 1803. His final years were spend researching and studying mathematics and science. He created many works, some astronomical such as his tables of Jupiter. He was also very involved in measurements of the earth, writing works involving latitude and longitude. He spent a lot of work researching the planets and the earth, and gave data and measurements that he calculated that would further research and exploration of our solar system and universe. 

Astronomy cast q.2 part 2

Cast 1: Calendars: The calendars that are used across the world are mostly based on astronomy. There original calendars were based on the movement of constellations throughout the sky. Charts were made and people recognized when the constellations were in the exact same spot, and created leap years accordingly. Religious conflicts often affect calendars. The Islamic calendar has completely ignored the astronomical part. Islamic calendars are completely religious events and do not account. The calendar that is commonly used today uses a system where a leap day is added every four years to made up for the portion of the day that is missed on the regular 365 days. This calendar is called the Gregorian Calendar after Pope Gregory. The catholic church endorsed this calendar and once again religion played an impact in the calendar.

Cast 2: IO: Io is one of the 4 Galilean moons. The satellite of Jupiter has a diameter of 2263 miles and is the fourth largest moon of the solar system. Galileo discovered Io in January of 1610. Io is an extremely volcanic satellite. This is caused by the force of friction that is caused as Io is pulled between Jupiter and the other Galilean moons. The gravitational pulls are similar to squishing a ball, which does warm it up. The volcanoes eject sulfur and sulfur dioxide that go miles into the sky. Unlike most moons in the outer solar system, Io is made of mostly silicate rock and has a molten core. These traits make Io more similar to earth then other planets closer to Io. Io is relatively colorful due to its coat of sulfur that creates many different colorful compounds. Io has seen multiple flybys and is partially responsible for the calculations of the speed of light, Kepler's laws, and models of the solar system. Life on Io is very unlikely, unless exophiles are able to live in the extreme temperatures. The archaic type of bacteria can live in toxic, explosive environments like Io.

Astronomy cast qt.2 part 1

Astro cast 1: Tunguska event: The Tunguska event was an occurence near the Tunguska River in Russia. This event is considered to be an impact of a meteorite. It is really suspected to not be actual impact, but an impact of a column of air created by a meteorite. The object was only suspected to be a few meters across. Despite exploding in the air and causing air to impact the earth, the impact had energy similar to 30 megatons of TNT. It caused a significant amount of destruction, knocking down 80 million trees over 830 square miles. The significance of this occurence is that it has prompted discussion on how to prevent predicted collisions with celestial objects and earth. The lack of residue from impact suggests that the event was caused by a comet. Comets are mainly composed of ice and dust, so any traces of it would be difficult to find. Therefore the Tunguska event could be considered an indirect impact by a comet.

Astro cast 2: Binary Stars: Binary star systems are two stars that revolve around their common center of mass. The larger of the two stars is called the primary, while the smaller is called the either the secondary or the companion. They can be identified using optics or measurements of parallax with devices that allow for both star to be identified. These systems are extremely important because it allows for the mass of the stars to be calculated accurately. Density and radius can be indirectly measured and estimated. There are several different classifications of binary stars. Visual binaries, spectroscope binaries, eclipsing binaries, and astrometric binaries are all observed phenomena. Binary star systems evolve from formation to mass transfer and accretion, finally to nova. Matter can transfer between the two stars, but if the mass cannot be transferred fast enough, it can be lost through solar wind. Contact can sometimes be made and star systems can develop into runaway stars.

APOD 2.7

This is a picture of an aurora that appeared in Norway about one moth ago. Auroras are caused electrons and protons that hit earth's atmosphere and create this light. Auroras often appear as circles around the pole of earth. The camera angle and digital effects of horizontal compression create the image that you see.

biography 2 sources

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=fl_sarhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE|CX2830901126&&docId=GALE|CX2830901126&docType=GALE


http://www.surveyhistory.org/jean_baptiste_delambre1.htm

http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Delambre.html