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.
No comments:
Post a Comment