APOD 3.2

Using concepts first proposed by Kepler 400 years ago, scientists at NASA have now created a spacecraft driven by the solar winds in its orbit around earth. This concept can be seen in the tails of comets, which are significantly effected by solar winds. This idea is extremely interesting, as spacecrafts can gain a power supply similar to the oldest power supply known to boats: the wind. Of course, this spacecraft is not using the Earth's wind, rather the immensely forceful winds ejected by the sun. The idea that we could control spacecraft throughout the cosmos with nothing but this wind power is certainly fascinating, possibly giving scientists the ability to maneuver our solar system far more efficiently. This solar said spacecraft is more an experiment testing how solar winds will work, but it certainly may be an indicator of future spacecraft designs.

Stargaze at Pine View 1/23/11

The sky was extremely clear from 7 to 9 o'clock on Sunday night, which allowed for the most fascinating observation of the stars that I have had yet. I started by locating Orion's belt. With the naked eye, it only appeared to be three consecutive stars, however once enhancing the view with the binoculars I was able to see hundreds of fainter stars all around the belt. However, the really fascinating observations began as the telescope focused on Jupiter. With the initial magnification, Jupiter appeared similar in appearance to the moon, a large glowing orb. The cool part was the four Galilean moons circling it. Being able to see the moons of Jupiter is awe inspiring, as you get to see an entirely different system functioning. When a more powerful lens was put on the telescope, I was able to make out the massive orange stripes that encompass Jupiter.
Another aspect of the night that fascinated me was the observation of M31, the Andromeda galaxy, an object which rests outside of our solar system 2.5 million light years away. The massive ball of energy that was Andromeda was not only incredible to look at, but I also learned that its spiral structure is not in the visible spectrum. This observation of Andromeda made me realize that what we see in photo's on APOD is not nearly the same as what we see when we look directly at the object. Rather, the object we see are stripped of certain aspects, putting additional emphasis on the ball of energy that rests in the middle of the galaxy.
Additional observations in the night included a close-up view of Polaris, the northern star which is also a binary star. Additionally we observed many other M objects, many of which rested in the constellation Orion. The last thing we observed was the star Betelgeuse, which is distinct in the night sky due to its intense red coloration.

APOD 3.1

Saturn is a massive planet, and as a result it produces massive storms. Seen in the northern part of the planet, this storm stretches 1.8 million kilometers, a number nearly incomprehensible on Earth. The storm has been recorded since the beginning of December, and has only been growing in size since then. Storms on gas giants can ferment for years, the most notable being Jupiter's massive red spot. Storms have also been recorded on the Ice Giants, primarily Neptune with its massive dark spot, and some smaller storms recorded on Uranus. This storm however, seems to engulf a significant portion of Saturn, giving an indication of just how much more massive everything is on these gas giants.

Pictures of the Sun

http://space.about.com/od/solarsystem/ss/visualtourss.htm


http://www.solarviews.com/eng/sun.htm


http://www.lunchoverip.com/2007/01/two_tiny_dots_o.html


http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/stereosun/


http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/multiwavelength_astronomy/multiwavelength_museum/sun.html

Joseph Lagrange Biography (Quarter 2)

Joseph Lagrange was born on January 25, 1736 in the city of Turin (located in northern Italy) to an extremely wealthy family. Brought up with the best education available, Lagrange began to find a massive interest in mathematics, primarily influenced by the works of Edmund Halley. Determining to go into a life a math and sciences at the age of seventeen, Lagrange managed to turn himself into a formidable mathematician in only a year, and was soon teaching classes at nearby schools.

            By 1754 Lagrange was delving into advanced mathematics, and began making contact with mathematician Leonhard Euler. Both Euler and Lagrange made significant discoveries in variational calculus within close proximity of each other, and even had a dispute over who discovered it first. These discoveries ultimately culminated in Lagrange’s establishment of the Turin Academy of Sciences, in which at the age of only twenty-two Lagrange began critiquing Newton’s mathematics, recording his discoveries in variational calculus, and wrote volumes on new areas of mathematics and science.

            In 1766, after years of being in contact with King Frederick of Prussia, Joseph Lagrange was finally convinced to spend his next twenty years of life being Prussia’s resident mathematician. Frederick won Lagrange over by calling him the “greatest mathematician in Europe”. Lagrange spent his time in Prussia working as hard as he ever had. Every day Lagrange set himself a goal, and would spend nearly every hour he was awake writing about various subject matters pertaining to mathematics. During this time Lagrange also made some of his most notable discoveries in the area of astronomy. Lagrange was an astronomy theorist however, unlike an observational astronomer he made no discoveries in viewing the heavens. Instead his discoveries were made with the mathematical laws that govern the universe. Lagrange discovered a significant amount on the orbits of planets and comets, and why they behave the way they do. His ability to calculate the perturbations of comets and development of formulas for these perturbations has been the framework for future work on the topic. While making these discoveries, Lagrange worked himself to a point close to nervous breakdowns, and soon learned the importance of pacing himself, in order to avoid going completely insane. The death of his first wife didn’t help either, and his stay in Prussia was becoming increasingly stressful.

            King Frederick died in 1786, and Lagrange saw this as an excellent opportunity to get out of Prussia, which he found to be an extremely stressful environment. This time the king of France, Louis XVI, wanted him. Lagrange’s contribution to the study of astronomy during this tame came in three papers he wrote on the methods of interpolation, which is a method of determining the value of a point based on the values of other points around it. Unfortunately, shortly after Lagrange came to France revolution began to stir up and Lagrange’s comfortable work for Louis XVI was short lived. Although Lagrange constantly feared violence from the revolution, no individual actually wanted him dead, and no threats were made against him.  In fact, Lagrange was mostly rewarded for his continued service, becoming a member of the French Academy of Sciences, and was appointed a professor at one of the French Universities. As Lagrange delved into old age, he was praised as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, being rewarded constantly for his work by the French and Italian government. Joseph Lagrange died in Paris, France in 1813, working on revisions to his mathematical formulas up until the day he died.

            Lagrange’s influence on the world was massive, primarily in the areas of mathematics which delved significantly into astronomy. While not necessarily planning on creating mathematical formulas for the study of the universe, Lagrange’s formulas ultimately became very useful in various areas of astronomy, such as the orbits of objects and their locations. Ultimately, Lagrange was a mathematical genius, on par with Euler, Halley, and even Newton. In fact, Lagrange even found some fundamental flaws with some of Newton’s formulas, and worked tirelessly to perfect them, along with his own work. Lagrange’s achievements are massive, and have been expanded on throughout the past centuries to help expand the human understanding of the universe.

APOD 2.7

 

The picture "Eclipsing the Sun", shown above, is a fascinating photo capturing many interesting objects all in one frame. First off is the lunar eclipse occurring, in which the shadow of the massive dark moon is slowly encroaching on the sun. Then, just above the moon fly's by the International Space Station, which stayed in front of the sun for only a second. The picture had to be lined up and shot within that one second time frame, and the photographer managed to snap it perfectly as the ISS was centered. In addition to these fascinating celestial objects lining up are the presence of massive sunspots, which can be seen clearly in the photo.

Astronomer Sources Quarter 2: Joseph Lagrange

Print Sources:

The Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. Pages 559-573

Web Sources:

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

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Lagrange/RouseBall/RB_Lagrange.html

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Lagrange.html