Star Trails At Dawn 2.7

For this APOD I chose to do the picture of the wide-angle, long exposure of the night sky. It details how the stars near the celestial equator appear to move in almost perfectly straight lines as the Earth rotates on its axis, while the stars to the north and south seem to rotate around the poles. Orion, Venus, Sirius, and an Iridium satellite are all visible in the picture as well. The picture was formed using 477 consecutive 30-second exposures over 4.3 hours.

A Jet from the Sun 2.6

This week I chose to do the picture of a jet of plasma coming from the sun. These jets are a possible explanation for the solar wind, but we do not fully know what specifically causes them. The pictures were taken by the Japanese Hinode satellite and the jets themselves are causes by magnetic reconnection events, in which magnetic field lines quickly move and drag electrons and protons alog with them.

Guided Observation 12/6

Date: 12/6/07
Time: 7:00-9:00
Location: Church off Clark Road Extension

Tools used: Naked Eye, telescope, binoculars, laser.
Light Pollution: Very low, some lights visible to the east , west, and north, but it was minimal.
Cloud Coverage: 7%
Temperature: 60-65 degrees Farenheit
Moon: Not visible, but it was a waning crescent at apogee. 406,000 km approximately from Earth.

Constellations observed: Andromeda, Ursa Minor, Aries, Lyra, Delphinus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Pegasus, Perseus, Pisces, Cetus, Cygnus, Aquarius, Taurus, Aquila, Eridanus
Planets: Mars, Uranus
Stars:Mira, Vega, Deneb, Altair, Polaris, Gemini twins, Achernar
Misc: M47, Andromeda galaxy, M36, M103, Comet Holmes

Double Cluster in Perseus 2.5

For this week, I chose to do a picture of a starfield in Perseus near the comet. The two star clusters are visible to the unaided eye and are about 7,000 light years away. It was first seen in 130 BC by Greek astronomoer Hipparchus. They are now known as chi and h Persei, and they both contain stars younger and hotter than the sun. The two clusters have similar ages as well, showing that they both were formed from the same star-forming area.