A Galactic Star Forming Region in Infrared 1.5

I found this picture particularly interesting because I do not know how stars form, nor have I ever seen a picture of one. The picture shows a section of the Milky Way in which stars form, some of which are so dark that if we lived there, we would see an empty sky. Some of the dust and clouds are so cold that even in infrared light, they appear utterly black. Below one of these, we can see the red supernova remnant of a young star that rapidly exploded due to its extreme mass.

Observations:0 hr-3 hr

Monday August 20th: 9:00-9:30. This was my first observation session of the year. I went outside to observe the relationship between Antares, Jupiter, and the moon. They formed a small, clear triangle.

Tuesday August 21st: 9:00-9:30. On this observation session, I again viewed Antares, Jupiter, and the Moon, but tonight they seemed to form a line. I attempted to record how far apart they were, but I lost the sheet of paper on which I wrote it.

Wednesday August 22nd: 9:15-9:45. On the third night, I again located Antares, Jupiter, and the Moon, and they again formed a triangle, but this time the triangle was flipped, with the moon on the opposite side. Again, the distance between them was lost with the measurements of Tuesday.

August 28th: 5:30-6:30. On this morning, I woke up an hour early so that I could attempt to see the lunar eclipse. When I first walked outside it was obscured slightly by clouds, but within 5-10 minutes it was clear. While I was watching, the majority of the moon ended up being covered before I went inside to shower.

September 7-8: 8:55-9:10. On these two days, I went outside to attempt to see the Iridium Flares. I missed them on both nights, however before I went inside I was able to find Scorpius, although I didn't find Sagittarius or Corona Borealis.

Coronet in the Southern Crown 1.4

For this week, I choose to do the picture of the Coronet Cluster in Corona Australus. I thought the false-color picture appeared spectacular. The observations apparently suggest that extremely energetic x-rays are emanating from the hot coronae. The view spans roughly 2 light years and was taken from the Chandra Observatory and the Spitzer space telescope.

Scorpius Sky Spectacular 1.3

I found the picture of the scorpius constellation very interesting. The picture, despite being taken from Earth, was nothing like I have ever seen in the sky. I especially found the Dark River interesting, as I never realized that streams of dust were named. Additionally I found the various colors of the nebulae, caused by the different types (reflection and emission) fascinating. This picture was nothing like I have ever seen while attempting to observe Scorpius.

Lunation (1.2)

I found the animation of the moon's lunation, or lunar cycle, very interesting. I was under the impression that the face of the moon towards us never changes, and therefore was surprised to see the variance in its diameter as well as its libration. Additionally, I found that, through the libration link, there is a slower animation of the moon's lunation that is significantly easier to see than the one on the APOD site.