APOD 4.8- Unexpected Flare in the Crab Nebula

Over the past few years the Crab Nebula has been observed in gamma ray light by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Scientists have noticed that the nebula pulses occasionally with five times the average gamma rays as usual. No one is completely sure why this occurs however, there is speculation that it is involved with the very compact neutron star at the center of the nebula. This pulsar rotates thirty times per second and could potentially be emitting much of the energy seen by the telescope because of the surrounding magnetic field. The changes in the magnetic field could emit rays of electrons, much similar to the Sun's flares. The pulses from the nebula peak and fade within only a few days.

APOD 4.7- Starry Night of Iceland

Two months ago, over the Jökulsárlón glacial lake in Iceland, this astounding image was taken with a combination of six exposures. The image captures the two green auroral rings. The night sky was full of amazing objects that night as the Milky Way galaxy, the Pleiades, the Andromeda Galaxy and the aurora can be seen in the photo. The auroras were caused by a large coronal mass ejection from the Sun. The auroras are expected to become more frequent as the Sun moves toward the solar maximum, which will result in more coronal ejections.

Margaret Burbudge Biography

      Eleanor Margaret Peachey, later to become Margaret Burbidge, was born in Davenport, England, in August 1919. She is a British-born American astrophysicist. She started studying astronomy in 1936 at the University College in London. She graduated in 1943 with a PhD. She then started to research galaxies through linking a spectrograph to telescopes. At the Yerkes Observatory in the USA her work involved studying B type stars and galaxy structures. In 1945 she was turned down from a Carnegie Fellowship because the Mount Wilson Observatory was only accessible to men at the time. Her undergraduate work was in physics at the University of London where she graduated in 1948. In that year, she married Geoffrey Burbidge, a theoretical physicist. They collaborated on many successful projects in both of their careers.

        In 1950, she applied for a grant at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. She went to the U.S. for two years in 1951. When she returned to England in 1953, she began researching with Fred Hoyle, William Fowler, and her husband, Geoffrey Burbidge. Together, they published a paper in the Reviews of Modern Physics to demonstrate how elements are synthesized in the nuclear reactors of stars. This study created the B²FH theory.      

        Ten years after being turned down by Carnegie, she was admitted to the Mount Wilson Observatory in 1955. She worked as her husband's assistant until administration found out and allowed her to stay as long as she and her husband stayed in a separate cottage on grounds, rather than in the dormitories.  

         In 1957, the B²FH group presented the result of their studies; elements, except the very lightest, are made through nuclear processes inside of the stars. This discovery won the Warner Prize in 1959. One of Margaret's other significant achievements was that she was one of the first to measure the masses and rotation curves of galaxies and was one of the first to make discoveries regarding quasars.

        She has been noted for original research and holding many administrative posts, including director of the Royal Greenwhich Observatory. She has served at the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago, University of London Observatory and the California Institute of Technology. From 1979 to 1988 she was also the first director of the Center for Astronomy and Space Sciences at the at USCD. She has been working in this position since 1962. Margaret Burbidge was awarded by President Reagan the National Medal of Science in February of 1985. The asteroid 5490 Burbidge has also been named after this revolutionary astrophysicist. Her recent accomplishments are the development of a faint object spectrograph in 1990 for the Hubble Space Telescope, and continued research of subjects such as intrinsic redshift. Also, she published Quasi-Stellar Objects, the first comprehensive work on quasi-stellar research.

Quasi-stellar objects have active galactic nuclei and are so distant that their stellar systems cannot be resolved. Quasistellar objects show broadened redshifted spectral lines and emit enormous amounts of radio energy. They are some of the most luminous objects in the universe. They have been discovered because of they are high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy.

	Works Cited
	"Margaret Burbidge Biography." Biography Base Home. Web. 12 May 2011. <http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Burbidge_Margaret.htmlhttp://physics.gmu.edu/~jevans/astr103/CourseNotes/ECText/Bios/burbidge.htm>.

Tenn, Joe. "The Bruce Medalists: Margaret Burbidge." SSU Department of Physics & Astronomy. JST. Web. 12 May 2011. <http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/burbidgem/>.

Observation 2

Place: Casey Key Beach
Time: About 6:00 A.M.

This morning, from about 6:00 to 6:30 A.M. I was able to see a cluster of planets located a few degrees above the horizon line right before the sunrise. I saw Venus, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars were all within one degree of each other. Mars was difficult to see, but I believe that the two planets that were the brightest were Venus and Mercury. As the sun rose, all of the planets increasingly faded, however Venus stayed visible much longer. It was a unique occasion to see four planets with the naked-eye at one time, as there are only five planets that can be seen without a telescope.

APOD 4.6- Dawn of the Planets

       In Argentina, on May 5th, a spectacular sight ocurred as four out of five planets that can be seen with the naked-eye were visible. The planets, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars were all grouped closely together and visible near the horizon line at sunrise.Venus was the brightest while Mars was barley visible through clouds. As the month progresses, the planets will move up toward the Sun, so that soon Mars and Venus will be more easily seen in the morning sky.

Zooniverse

As I have competed about ten hours of work on the Zooniverse website, I have become much better at recognizing "bubbles", galaxies, dark nebulae, star clusters, and green knots within the pictures of the Milky Way gathered from the telescopes. It is interesting to see the differences between pictures of different parts of the universe; some pictures are merely black with stars scattered about, whereas some photos are full of bubbles with green knots and bright red objects within them.

APOD 4.5- The Antennae

Nearly 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Corvus, molecular clouds of two galaxies are colliding and causing mass star formation to occur. Although the clouds of dust are colliding together, NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, the stars within the galaxies, are not colliding. This process of collision will take hundreds of millions of years for the galaxies completely move together. The two galaxies span about 500 thousand light-years across and parts of dust and stellar material expands out even further from the collision as it has been moved by gravitational tidal forces. As the trails of dust material is left behind, it form what appears to be the antennae of the galaxies.

APOD 4.4- The Cat's Eye Nebula

The Cat's Eye Nebula, NGC6543, is three thousand light-year's from Earth and is over half a light year across. It is a planetary nebula, an emission nebula that consists of a shell that glows with ionized gas that has been ejected late in the star's life. The star  of the Cat's Eye Nebula is very similar to the sun. The shells surrounding the nebula are outer layers being ejected in regular convulsions. The sun could have a death similar to this one in about 5 billion years. The inner structures of the nebula and their formations are not understood by scientists. Much research has been conducted with pictures being taken by the Hubble telescope such as this one.

APOD 4.3- Young Stars in the Rho Ohpiuchi Cloud

Rho Ophiuchi is located near the constellation of Ohpiuchus about 400 light-years away. In this area, there is one of the closet star forming regions. Young stars in the cloud radiate with infrared wavelengths because they heat the surrounding dusts in the cloud complex. Most of these stars are just 300,000 years old, fairly new in terms of stars. The cloud consists of cold molecular hydrogen gas from the newly forming stars.The nebula appears pink and blue in the image from WISE, however these stars are not visible in optical telescopes. The red region is encompassing the star Sigma Scorpii. It appears red because of reflected light from the stars. Newly formed, glowing stars are shown as bright pink dots behind the dust cloud in the photograph.

Zooniverse-The Milky Way Project

On the Zooniverse website, I have been working in the Milky Way Project. In this project I classified Green Knots, Red Fuzzy Objects, Star Clusters, and Dark Nebulae. The goal is to find and identify 'Bubbles' and other interesting objects in the Universe and submitting the images in hopes of finding undiscovered objects in space. I have put approximately five hours into the project so far.

APOD 4.2-The Milky Way Over Tenerife

This amazing image of the Milky Way Galaxy band in the sky over Tenerife is actually a compilation of several enhanced photographs of the panorama. The half-circle shaped band is the disk of the Milky Way's spiral galaxy. Earth is inside of the spiral disk, so the band appears in a circle around the planet. The red tinted ring underneath the band of stars in Barnard's Loop. Inside of the arch, the waxing moon can be seen along with opens star cluster, the Pleiades. The photo also shows the Spring and Winter constellations of Vela, Puppis, Canis Minor and Major, Hydra, Perseus, Auriga, Orion, and Casseopia.

APOD 4.1- NGC 5584: Expanding the Universe

The Type Ia Supernova explosion, NGC 5584, is one of eight galaxies being studied by scientists in order to improve upon Hubble's Constant, in order to better measure the Universe. This galaxy supports the theory that dark matter is the cause of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion. The spiral arms of the galaxy are full of dark dust lanes and young clusters of stars. The numerous red spots in the image are many distant galaxies. NGC 5584 is 50,000 light-years across and 72 million light-years away from Earth, toward the constellation of Virgo. Over 250 Cepheid stars, stars that have evolved off the main sequence into the Cepheid instability strip and are regular radial-pulsating that are ideal to be used as primary distance indicators, are found in this galaxy.

'Astronomy Night' Stargaze

Time: 8:00-10:00
Place: Pine View

On this past Saturday night the skies were clear and perfect for stargazing. The moon was in the waning crescent phase, so the skies were not obstructed by any lunar light. I enjoyed pointing out stars and constellations, such as Orion and Taurus, to friends who are not in astronomy. Betelgeuse and Rigel were bright in the sky to the north and south of Orion. Saturn was also visible, and spectacularly bright.

APOD 3.8- The Red Square Nebula

An infared image formed of combined exposure from various telescopes, such as the Keck-2, the Mt. Palomar, and the Hale telescope, have shown the MWC 922 nebula to be depicted in the shape of a square with extended light at the corners. It is unsure what phenomena could cause a nebula to take on a rectangular shape, however it is believed that the central star expels cones of gas late in its developmental stage. It is difficult to be sure of the cone theory, because if we were to view the nebula at a different angle, the square may appear more like rings like the ones seen in supernova 1987A. This leads astronomers to conclude that the red Square Nebula, MXC 922, may become a supernova relatively soon.

Observation 4

Time: 10-10:30 P.M.
Place: Casey Key Beach

This past Saturday night the skies were fairly clear and the moon was just passing through the full stage as the Vernal equinox and the beginning of spring had was just taking place. The equinox is the event at which the Sun crosses the equator and goes north. The full moon was the largest it has been in 19 years. On Saturday night, the moon (around 10 P.M.)  was located in the constellation of Virgo. Saturn was visible near the east just below the moon, not quite half way between the moon and the horizon. I believe I saw the star Spica just below Saturn as well. The reason the full moon was so large was because it occurred on the same day as perigee. Also, standing on the beach, I noticed the tides were extremely high because of the close proximity of Earth to the moon. The moon stayed bright and full for the rest of the night.

APOD 3.7- Sideways Galaxy NGC3628

The NGC 3628 galaxy appears almost as the shape of a line in the night sky, however this galaxy is actually a spiral galaxy seen from its side from the perspective from Earth. The Sideways Galaxy is located in the constellation Leo nearly 35 million light years away and is approximately the size of the Milky Way Galaxy. There are hints of red in the galaxy's star-forming regions. The shape of the galaxy seems to fan out at the edges while a faint arm is extended to the upper left, which suggests that this spiral galaxy is interacting with other members of the Leo triplet galaxies, M66 and M65. NGC 3628 has a tidal tail extending 300,000 light years from the edge of the disk. The tail, full of blue star clusters and star-forming regions, is drawn out from the galaxy because of past interaction with other galaxies.This galaxy is not in Charles Messier's catalog, although it is a member of the Leo triplet galaxies.

APOD 3.6-NGC 1999: South of Orion

1,500 light years away, on the edge of the constellation of Orion, lies the reflection nebula called NGC 1999. The nebula appears to have a large sideways T-shape at its center. The entire NGC 1999 is about 10 light years wide.The dark T-shape is believed to be a hole that was formed through the nebula by the energy of young stars. Young stars within the nebula produce their luminosity from the powerful outflows of shock waves. V380 Orionis is a star within the nebula that provides NGC with its illumination. The red objects in the photo are shock waves named HH1 and HH2. Infrared images show that stellar jets of shock waves push through interstellar materials at hundreds of kilometers per second, forming large dark spots, along with the shock waves, like the ones seen in NGC 1999.

Annie Jump Cannon Biography

Annie Jump Cannon was born in Dover, Delaware on December 11, 1863. Annie’s passion for astronomy and the stars was inspired by her mother, who taught her about constellations when Annie was a child. She attended Wellesley and majored in the fields of astronomy and physics, where she learned many of the astronomical skills she later used in her studies. She later returned to Wellesley to teach as a junior physics teacher as well as being a student at Radcliffe. Later, Cannon was hired by Edward Pickering and became a member of “Pickering’s Women” and did her astronomical calculations while working for Harvard College Observatory.

Annie Jump Cannon’s significant contributions to astronomy began when she was put in charge of a project for classifying stars. She developed the system in which stars would be classified in spectral classes using the letters O, B, A, F, K, M (which can be remembered with the acronym Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me). She studied spectroscopy, in which light is broken up into component colors, which form the colors in the spectrum of light. By studying the spectra of stars scientists can learn an enormous amount of information about them. Annie Cannon discovered a total of over three hundred stars and classified over a quarter of a million stars into the Henry Draper Catalog before her retirement in 1940. She was also voted one of the top twelve greatest American women. She was named Curator of Astronomical Photographs at Harvard. Annie Jump Cannon contributed significantly to the fields of astronomy and physics and laid a foundation for future astronomers and women in her field of study through her discoveries and developments. Annie Jump Cannon died on April 13, 1941.

Observation 3- Stargaze: Sunday, February 21

 Place: Pine View School
Time: 8:30-10:00 P.M.

On Sunday night, the skies were extremely clear. Ten first magnitude stars could be seen above the horizon, some of which being, Sirius, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Algol and Polaris. Through the telescope I was able to see emission nebulae, such as the Orion nebula, several binary stars, and M35 and M41. I also identified the location of the ecliptic, along which I could see the winter zodiacal constellations. The constellation of Orion served as a starting place from which I could identify various other stars, constellations, and M objects in the night sky. Around ten o'clock the moon began to rise and a few clouds covered up the stars.

APOD 3.5- Stars Versus Mountains

6,400 light years away, in the head of the constellation of the Hunter, Orion, NGC 2174 appears to be mountains of dust speckled with stars. These mounds of dust are actually dark stellar nurseries being dispersed by the formation of large nearby stars. The nurseries are made of small amounts of opaque interstellar dust. Sulfur and red hydrogen emissions are apparent and give the dust clouds their glowing color. As more stars are formed in the nurseries, more of the clouds dissipate and eventually it will completely disperse.

APOD 3.4- Rosette Nebula

The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237, is an enormous emission nebula located in the constellation Monoceros, nearly 5,000 light years away and 100 light years in width. An open cluster of stars about 4 million years old  is inside the nebula is home to many bright young stars, NGC 2244. The nebula appears to glow because of ultraviolet light being emitted from the star cluster. The center of the Rosette Nebula appears to be darker because it is a hole, surrounded by hot gas and gas, being created by stellar winds.

Annie Jump Cannon Biography Bibliography

"ACannon." Home Page. The Woman Astronomer, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.womanastronomer.com/acannon.htm>.

"Annie Jump Cannon Biography." Biography.com. 1994-2010 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.biography.com/articles/Annie-Jump-Cannon-9236960>.

"Annie Jump Cannon." Novelguide: Free Study Guides, Free Book Summaries, Free Book Notes, & More. Novelguide.com. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ewb_03/ewb_03_01102.html>.

"Annie Jump Cannon: Theorist of Star Spectra." San Diego Supercomputer Center. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. <http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/cannon.html>.

Observation 2

Time: February 8. 10:30 P.M.
Place: Casey Key

Around 10:30 the moon was relatively bright as about one third of it was illuminated. The brightness of the waxing crescent moon, along with cloudy weather, makes it difficult to view the skies. However, I was able to see Venus appear nearly ten degrees below the moon as the sky became darker but I could not see Uranus due to cloud cover.

Observation 1

Time: February 1, 2011. 7:30-8 P.M.
Place: Casey Key beach

On the night of February 1st an iridium flare was predicted to be seen at about 7:45 P.M. and 20 degrees above the horizon. At 7:40 I began to look for the flare and just before 7:45 I looked above the horizon due  south, and saw the beginning of the flare. The flare only lasted for approximately 25 seconds, however, it did not seem to reach the maximum predicted magnitude of -8.

APOD 3.3- Zeta Oph: Runaway Star

Zeta Oph is an enormous runaway star made of compressed interstellar material nearly 460 light years away. It is believed that the star was at one time a member of an binary star system, however, it outlived its companion and is now moving through the universe. The star itself is approximately twenty times larger than our Sun and 65,000 times more luminous, however because of the high speed at which the star is traveling (24 kiliometres per second), Zeta Oph creates a trailing interstellar bow. The high speed winds in front of the star compress and heat the materials within the star. Zeta Oph, if it were not obstructed by interstellar dust, would be the brightest star in the night sky.

APOD 3.2- The Rippled Ribbons of SNR 0509

This photograph was taken by the Hubble Space telescope in 2006. SNR 0509 is located in the Large Magnetic Cloud about 160,000 light years away, near the constellation of Dorado and it spans 23 light years across. The ribbons on SNR 0509 are remnants of a supernova and appear red because the telescope used a filter that would detect energetic hydrogen. It is believed that the red outer ring was caused by a Type Ia supernova explosion nearly 400 years ago which created the speed and light echoes depicted with the red ring. A type Ia supernova explosion is an enormous explosion of a white dwarf star.The fainter ribbons from the supernova are more difficult to explain but it hypothesized that they are related to either impacted or ejected gas. It still remains a mystery why the explosion of the supernova was not recorded when it would have been seen from Earth approximately 400 years ago.

APOD- 3.1

This photograph of the Orion's Belt depicts three prominent stars in the winter sky: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Within the constellation of Orion, these three stars are 1,500 light-years away from Earth. The bright blue stars are hotter, and larger than the Sun and were created from Orion's interstellar clouds. Alnitak is located near large dust clouds such as the Horsehead Nebula and the Flame Nebula. Alnilam is located in the middle of the other two stars in the belt and is by far the most luminous. Alnilam appropriately means 'string of pearls', a name which Orion's belt clearly represents. Mintaka is a double star and is located only a quarter of a degree away from the celestial equator. These three stars make a beautiful arrangement in the night sky as some of the brightest stars in the winter sky.

APOD 2.8- The Antikythera Mechanism

This device was found at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Greek ship. Scientists have identified the find as an ancient antikythera mechanism, a clock-like tool that could have been used as an orrery which would calculate the positions of stars and planets, possibly even retrograde motions. It could have also predicted solar and lunar eclipses. This discovery is remarkable since scientists believed that these kind of technologies were not developed until at least 1000 years later.The antikythera mechanism also provides evidence that the Greeks in the Hellenistic Age were far more intelligent and advanced than any other culture. The device is remarkable also for the reasons that it is cast from one single sheet of low-tin bronze and is made of series of gears and parts that resemble the second hands on a clock. Studying this ancient Greek antikythera mechanism gives scientists information about the Greeks' knowlege of mathematics and astronomical events, as well as a closer look at the behavior of the culture. Both astronomers and historians are reevaluating the history of astronomy because of this magnificent discovery.

Recent Pictures of the Sun

 Most Recent SOHO Images:
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/Fil_erupt_Jan.jpg
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/synoptic/sunspots_earth/mdi_sunspots_1024.jpg
 Solar Wind:
http://umtof.umd.edu/pm/
Different Wavelengths:
http://umbra.nascom.nasa.gov/images/latest_sxt.gif
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Spotlight/Today/ultraviolet.html
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Spotlight/Today/visible.html
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/ypop/Spotlight/Today/infrared.html
http://solar.nro.nao.ac.jp/norh/html/10min/realtime.html

Video:
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/174598main_AllColorFull.mov
3D Images of the Sun:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/stereo3D_press.htmlhttp://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174602main_FullDisk3D.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174613main_Image4.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/174607main_Image1.jpg

Joseph Lagrange Biography

      Joseph Louis Lagrange, an Italian-born French mathematician, was born on January 25, 1736 and lived until April 10, 1813. Lagrange made a number of significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy. He had a propensity for math as a child and was a mostly self-taught mathematician. He also developed his own methods, which he called 'Calculus of variation'. By age 25 he was recognized as one of the greatest living mathematicians because of his papers on wave propagation and maxima and minima of curves. He became renowned for his textbook Mécanique analytique (1788), which is used today as a base for modern mathematicians. 

Diagram of Lagrangian points. L2 is the smaller satellite that
would be, in theory, stationary under the influence of the
 gravitational forces of the Earth and Moon.

      

     Joseph Lagrange largely contributed to celestial mathematics. In 1772, he created what is known as Lagrangian points (or libration points), which served as a solution to the three-body problem. Lagrangian points are the five different positions within an orbital, where a smaller celestial astronomical object could be relatively stationary to two other larger objects, for instance, a satellite relative to the Earth and Moon. The Lagrange are where the combined gravity of the two larger objects would cancel the centripetal force (the force that causes objects to follow a curved path) required to for the smaller object rotate with them. At Lagrange's time, this was merely a theory, however in 1906 Trojan Asteroids moving in Jupiter's orbit became the first examples, as the Trojans were relatively stable under the gravitational pulls of Jupiter and the Sun. Lagrangian mechanics (re-formulations of the laws of conservation of momentum and energy) were a large accomplishment as well as they simplified some earlier difficulties in mathematical equations. 

          Many other discoveries and papers are credited to Lagrange about subjects, some of which including: motion of planetary nodes, the secular equation of the Moon, stability of planetary orbits, interpolation and the attraction of ellipsoids.

Joseph Lagrange Biography Bibliography

Calvin, Hamilton J. "People in Astronomy." Views of the Solar System. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://www.solarviews.com/eng/people.htm>.

D., Wilkins R. "Joseph Louis Lagrange (1736 - 1813)." TCD School of Mathematics. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Lagrange/RouseBall/RB_Lagrange.html>.

Eric, Weisstein W. "Lagrange, Joseph (1736-1813) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography." ScienceWorld. 1996-2007. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Lagrange.html>.

Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. New York: Scribner, 1981. Web. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=fl_sarhs&authCount=1>.

"Joseph LaGrange." U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/LAGRANGE/DI151.htm>.

"Lagrange Biography." School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Lagrange.html>.

"Lagrange, Joseph (1736 - 1813) - Space and Astronomy Definition - Online Dictionary and Glossary Definition of Lagrange, Joseph (1736 - 1813)." Space & Astronomy at About.com. Web. 04 Jan. 2011. <http://space.about.com/od/glossaries/g/josephlagrange.htm>.

APOD 2.7- Fireworks Galaxy

The Fireworks Galaxy, NGC 6946, is a spiral galaxy behind the constellation Cepheus and it is nearly ten million light years away and 40,000 light-years across. The galaxy gets its name because of the way its stars shift colors, from yellow light of old stars in the center of the spiral to blue light of new stars on the outside. The galaxy has a lot of gas and dust, and has a high rate of star formation. The Fireworks galaxy has produced at least nine supernovae in the last century, an outstanding number of death explosions of large stars.

Observation 4- Lunar Eclipse on the Winter Solstice

 Beginning of eclipse: about 1:00 a.m.

 Mid-eclipse: about 2:30-2:50 a.m.

 -Visible reddish hue- about 3:00 a.m.-

End of eclipse- nearly 4:00 a.m.

Total Lunar Eclipse

Location: Pine View

Time: December 21th, 1:00 A.M. - 4:00 A.M.

On December 20th, a total lunar eclipse was visible for nearly three hours. Skies were clear and the visibility of the stars changed as the eclipse progressed. As the full moon entered the Earth's shadow (the penumbra), the light being emitted decreased and more stars came into view. The moon took on a reddish hue during the middle of the eclipse, which is caused by substances in the Earth's atmosphere that obscure the light being reflected off of the moon. The totality of the eclipse lasted for over an hour, which is the longest recent total lunar eclipse. The winter solstice also occurred that morning, meaning that the Sun was at its lowest point in the sky, thus marking the beginning of winter.