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.