apod 3.8

This is a picture of the two galaxies called "the Mice." These two galaxies are pulling apart after colliding. The description said that these galaxies will probably collide again. It is strange to think that there could be a whole other solar system and possibly life within these galaxies and we just don't know about it.

Observation 3.2

Wednesday February 20th

Clear skies
approx 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm

Lunar Eclipse

The lunar eclipse happened tonight! I began watching the sky around 10:00, when the eclipse began. When the eclipse was fully illuminated it was a very reddish/orangish color. The eclipse ended around 11:00. It was very cool to be able to see the movement of the moon throughout the hour. I also found this picture on NASA's website.

apod 3.7

(i was absent this week)

This is a picture of the horsehead nebula which is a red emission nebula. I don't really understand why people call it the horsehead nebula because I don't think it looks like a horsehead at all...Blue reflection nebulae are also seen in this picture.

apod 3.6

This is a picture of the Rosette Nebula. The long stem is made of glowing hydrogen. The central cavity of it is about 50 light years long! It is amazing how random things in the cosmos can produce such beautiful images that can even be related to real world objects like roses. this is a perfect picture for valentine's day.

Star Visual Magnitude Estimations (observation 3.1)

Monday, February 10th
Clear skies
approx. 8:30 pm
Observation time: 1.5 hours

These are my visual magnitude estimations for the "unknown" stars

Eta Aurigae: 3.0
Beta Eridani: 2.7
Gamma Orionis: 1.6
Beta Tauri: 1.8
Delta Orionis: 2.3
Zeta Orionis: 1.7
Mu Geminorum: 2.9
Xi Geminorum: 3.4
Sigma Canis Majorum: 3.3
Eta Canis Majorum: 2.6
Alpha Geminorum (Castor): 2.0

apod 3.5

This is a picture of one of the new sunspots of the sun's new 11 year cylce. I like this picture because you can see the sunspot on the sun and the activity occuring on the edge. I think it is very interesting that something so far away can have such observable and calculated cycles.

apod 3.4

This is a picture of the young star cluster Westerlund 2. The black and white part of the picture is from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the purple part, which is in false color, is from the Chandra X-ray image data. The description says that this cluster of stars could be over 2 million years old! it is hard to fathom something that old. It makes the earth seem like a baby.