APOD 2.1

"Ultraviolet Andromeda" provides the highest resolution photo ever of the Andromeda Galaxy in ultraviolet light. Andromeda is the closest galaxy to the Milky Way at 2.5 million light years, and is the only galaxy visible to the naked eye at night. The ultraviolet photo is actually composed of 330 high photos of each specific area, creating an extremely high resolution picture. While the ultraviolet spectrum is not visible to the naked eye, computer programs are designed to translate the images into a visible spectrum, which allows us to see densities of various parts of Andromeda, and parts that may be invisible normally. "Ultraviolet Andromeda" gives a fascinating view of our neighboring galaxy, and insight on its composition in other parts of light's spectrum.

APOD 1.8

"It Came From the Sun" is a picture of one of the largest ever recorded solar eruptions. The mass of gas is enormous, as can be seen from its size in comparison to the Sun. The explosion is far larger than the earth itself, providing insight on the sheer size of the Sun. The fact that explosions larger than multiple Earths can occur on it without the slightest effect to its composition, orbit, or the orbits of other objects around it shows the awesome power that the sun possesses. Although the explosion is extremely hot, it pales in comparison from the amount of light emitted by the surface of the sun, and therefore appears much cooler. However the truth is that the eruption still reaches temperatures vastly greater than those reached on other planets. Large eruptions such as these are expected to continue as the Sun reaches a vital stage in its maturing process, which means more informative observations and exciting pictures.

APOD 1.7

50,000 light years away in the constellation Delphinus lies the Globular Star Cluster NGC 6934. This massive, beautiful ball of stars is an ancient artifact of our Universe, dating back to as many as 10 billion years. The cluster, with all stars being held together by their own gravity, is nearly 50 light years long and wide, taking up a massive amount of space. The stars give a fascinating look at the beauty of our Universe, and how many interesting objects their are hidden in the night sky. Globular Star Cluster NGC 6934 truly is majestic.

Astromer Biography Quarter 1: John Flamsteed

     John Flamsteed was born into a wealthy family in Derby England in the year 1646. An especially intelligent child, Flamsteed was also quite sickly, and as a result was unable to attend a University when he came of age, unlike most people of his intelligence. This may have actually worked out for the better for Flamsteed however, as in his free time at home he began focusing on his hobby, astronomy. Soon Flamsteed was submitting his observations of astronomical objects to the Royal Society, possibly the most prestigious organization of scientists in the world at the time. Soon Flamsteed’s work was noticed by Sir Jonas Moore, whose interest in science helped to launch Flamsteed’s career in the Royal Society. In 1675 John Flamsteed was appointed by the King of England to an observatory with a payment of 100 pounds a year to publish as much scientific research on the sky as possible. Flamsteed put and incredible amount of effort into scientific research at the observatory. After only two months of working there, Flamsteed began a three thousand star catalogue of the heavens. This process would become his lifelong achievement, as he focused a majority of his funds and time cataloguing each and every star visible to him. One object of which he identified was Uranus, which he had inaccurately identified as a star. This is the first known recording of the planet Uranus, which is not visible to the naked eye.
    Flamsteed’s work at the Royal Society coincided with many other astronomers and their massive discoveries in that field. Newton, Halley, and many other reputable astronomers all happened to work at the same time as Flamsteed, and they all looked over each others work, correcting errors and checking facts. This means that not only were such greats as Newton and Halley were looking over Flamsteed’s work, but Flamsteed was also looking over their published works as they all collaborated (for the most part) for scientific discovery. However, Flamsteed did have some extreme difficulties with his social skills, and ended up making enemies with many members of the Royal Society, especially Halley. In 1712, under a lot of pressure from the Royal Society (Newton was president at the time), Flamsteed refused to publish some of his works that the King had given him the money to research. Newton and Halley took matters into their own hands, and published Flamsteed’s work, without giving him credit. The reason for Flamsteed’s refusal seemed to be his extreme value of accuracy, and he insisted that he be certain of every single calculation he made. The Royal Society, headed by Newton, determined that this would take too long, and made the move to publish it. Flamsteed ended up buying a large quantity of the books, and burnt them in front of the Royal Observatory, to demonstrate his bitterness towards Newton and Halley.
    Flamsteed is primarily known for his focus on observational work, as opposed to the theoretical aspect of astronomy pioneered by Kepler and Newton. Flamsteed spent vast quantities of his life creating a record of the stars and the universe, and had the technological breakthrough of the telescope to make the first observation of Uranus and many other stars the previously could not be seen. Flamsteed died in 1719, however his final work was published by his wife in 1725, called Historia Coelestis Britannica. The completed work (unlike the work Newton published) contained a catalogue of nearly three thousand stars, with the most accurate locations of each star than any other previous work. This book would go down as Flamsteed’s greatest achievement, which paved the way for future astronomical discoveries.

APOD 1.6

The photo "Two Planet Opposition" is an excellent picture of both Uranus and Jupiter at their closest point to Earth, at the same time. In the upper left hand corner is the bright green Uranus, which resonates among the stars around it. The most fascinating part about Uranus in this photo is that you can just barely make out its massive ring swooping around the planet. This view of Uranus' ring provides a good example of the immensity of the ring, which takes up an area nearly double of what the actual planet does. Meanwhile, on the right side of the photo the behemoth Jupiter and its moon are made extremely clear. The physical appearance of Jupiter is extremely clear due to its proximity to Earth, and this photo gives an excellent view of the varying distances of Jupiter's moons. The furthest left, Oberon, seems incredibly far to still be in Jupiter's orbit.

Observing ISS and Stargaze 9/30/10

At 6:04 in the morning (Eastern Time) the International Space Station was as bright as Venus as it passed in the North. There was also a shooting star that I saw beforehand, which became one of the two shooting stars I got to see that day. Watching the International Space Station dip under the horizon was really cool, and things only got better at the stargaze that same night. Using Mr. Percival's telescope, I got to see Venus in its crescent phase, Jupiter and its moon (up close!), and a close up on parts of the Milky Way. The most fascinating part was definitely watching Jupiter's moons in orbit. Once again I got to look at all of the constellation I have learned, and a few M objects which are always really cool.

Astronomer Project sources for John Flamsteed

Print Sources:

The Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. p22-26. 

Web Sources:

The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 51, No. 297 (Dec., 1927), pp. 309-311 

http://www.jstor.org/stable/863460?seq=1&Search=yes&term=Flamsteed&term=John&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DJohn%2BFlamsteed%26gw%3Djtx%26acc%3Don%26prq%3DJohn%2BFlamstead%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=3&ttl=639&returnArticleService=showFullText&resultsServiceName=null

"John Flamsteed" http://seds.org/messier/xtra/Bios/flamsteed.html

APOD 1.5

The picture "Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tidal Tail" gives a great example of the enormous size of galaxies, and the way in which they are constantly interacting with each other. The tadpole galaxy is the focus of this picture, as it peculiar shape is of interest. The galaxy's tail stretches outside of its spiral, over 280,000 lightyears long. Scientists believe that the cause of this long tail was the gravitational pull of another galaxy passing by it. The idea of galaxy's interacting in that way is extremely interesting, as the passing of a single galaxy completely changed the structure of Arp 188, turning it into the "tadpole" that we see today. The passing galaxy tore massive pieces from the galaxy, and makes me wonder whether it through many of the solar systems within Arp 188 into chaos. It would be interesting to study the effects a galaxy passing through another galaxy has.