apod 2.8

This picture caught my eye because the colors in the sky, the neautiful landscape, and the quality of the picture.  These constellations range from Sagittarius, Scorpious, and Pegasus. In this image you can see the milky way band. This band can be seen anywhere on a clear night on a wonderful Eaarth night. The large rock formatino show in the picture is known as Castildetierra. This rock formatin is located in Spain in Bardenas Reales. 

observation

I observed from the location of Sarasota, FL. I found Hercules, Capricorn, Andromeda, Cepheus, Draco, and Ursa Minor. It was difficult to observe throughout the week because the weather did not permit, and also the fact that i had finals this week did not allow me to star gaze for very long. :(

observation

I was observing from Sarasota, Florida between the hours of 7-9 PM. I saw Mars shining bright on Monday night. I also noticed comet ISON as well. It resembled a meteor shower with a bright glow. I also noticed the Summer Triangle high up in the sky even though it is December. Vega appeared to the brightest star out of three. The second brightest was Deneb and then Alberio followed. On Wednesday, I saw a beautiful waxing crescent. I also saw a video of Jupiter's moon slowly disappearing into Jupiter's shadow. Thursday I saw another crescent moon.

apod 2.7

In Spain, the sun was setting as a giant cloud appeared out of nowhere. It came straight to the Veleta peak. This cap cloud was formed from air forces around the mountain peak. The gravity and pressure in the environment also plays a major role in the reason behind this. This is a quite unusual thing to happen and it causes the air to move horizontally, which causes the other surrounding clouds to become flat. As you can see in the picture, there are vertical waves that cause another layer to be on top of the clouds. 

apod 2.6

This picture is called the Fairy of the Eagle Nebula. This picture shows the dust sculptures slowly evaporating into the thin air of space.This picture shows alot of character and figures. This picture shows figures of mythiological beasts coming out within the nebula. This picture is also explained as a large alien fairy that is rougly 10 light years tall. It also releases radiation that is hotter than your average fire. The larger Eagle Nebula, also known as M16, is a large shell of gas slowly absorbing the dust from the thin air. In fact, this picture was reassigned colors that were released in 2005. 

apod 2.5

his picture was taken on September 6 and it captures a rocket from NASA launching off. This rocket was names Minotaur V and its flight is from the Wallops Island in Virginia. This picture also shows the Milky Way on a starry night. THis picture is truly stunning to the human eye. This picture was taken at a 35 second exposure as the rocket is launched and leaves a streak behind. As the days go by, humans tend to rush things to get it out of the way. This picture made me realize that it is important to slow down and just enjoy life sometimes.

observation

This week's observation from the week of November 17th is filled with a multitude of things. On Monday evening, there was a beautiful full moon. I stood outside of my house located in Sarasota around 9 pm and I then saw Orion rise right below it. Throughout the rest of the week I saw the waning moon right above Capella which was to the left of the moon. I saw Jupiter shining brightly in the lower left hand of the sky. Wednesday I saw the waning moon once again in the east. I saw Orion's foot in the southeast of the sky as well. Just like every week, I point out the constellations including, Cepheus, Draco, Andromeda, Grus, and I even saw Perseus!

apod 2.4

 I chose this picture because the colors caught my attention. Below Antares you can see emission nebula IC 4628. It is around the constellation Scorpius as well. You can make this constellation out from the picture. Ginormous stars, that are extremely hot and millions of years young, give light to the nebula with UV invisible light. By doing this, it takes the electrons away from the atoms. However, these electrons usually find the atoms again and join once again. As a result of this, a nebular glow is produced and taken over by he red emission from hydrogen, This region is about 6,000 light years away. When I first read this, it was just a number. As I think about it more and more, that "just a number" is huge and more. 

apod 2.3

This pictures shows the Sun's disk being eclipsed. This is known as a Solar Eclipse. This picture is taken in northwestern Uganda on November 3rd. This view has clear skies and the moon covers the majority of the photosphere. If you go past the bright photo sphere you will find a red tint of hydrogen glow as the outline of the lunar outline. This pictures shows it fading into the Sun's atmosphere or otherwise known as corona.

apod 2.2

This post it called Night on a Spooky Planet. Since this was the same day as Halloween, it was called "spooky". This spooky planet we all know and love is also called planet Earth. This landscape is known to be surrounded and on a very active volcanic area in Iceland. These storms helped produce these multitude of scary colors and the greenish fog light. This picture was taken on September 12 on a dark and stormy night as you can tell by the picture. Happy Halloween!

great world wide star count

In the Northern Hemisphere, it took me a little time to find Cygnus but I found it using Mr. Percival's techniques, Cygnus is a 2nd magnitude star and has Deneb as well. It is also in the summer triangle along with Vega and Altair. I saw a total of 6 stars in this cross. This means that I saw magnitude 4 stars around my location. The amount of stars that were visible is roughly 540 stars. Therefore, I could not see 13,460 star.

observation

This week I went out each night and observed the stars in the sky and the moon. I observed from the location of Sarasota, FL. I noticed the moon went through its phases. I noticed Cassiopeia towards the northeast area on October 29 and I also noticed that there was no moon on Halloween this year. Over the week I pointed out many of the constellations such as Scutum, Summer Triangle, Ophiuchus, and much more. I find that stargazing is becoming much easier with practice and repetition and I look forward to mastering the elements of the sky.

apod 2.1

This picture caught my eye due to its clarity in the picture and the perfect circular shape. The colors that creep in to the sky slowly fade the longer you look at the picture. This picture shows the little planet going into its shadow after the sunlight fades away. This "little planet" is also known as planet Earth. At the top right above the western horizon, the sky is shown with the nice warm colors of the sun setting. The shadow that has a slight blue tint to it shows itself into the atmosphere and you can see it sightly rising in the eastern horizon all the way at the bottom of the picture. The Belt of Venus is also shown as the light red glow right above Earth's shadow.

Observations from the week of 10/12-10/18

This week I went out each night and observed the night sky. Every night I would go outside between 7-7:30 every night from Sarasota, FL. I saw multiple constellations including sagittarius, scorpius, scutum, hercules, and the summer triangle. It was difficult to go out some nights and observe due to weather conditions, however I still saw quite a bit. I watched the moon go through its phases and saw most of the constellations we have learned. It was hard to find some such as scutum and vulpecula, however I found most of them.

apod 1.8

See that ball of light trailed by a mist of green? That my friends is the Comet Siding Spring. it looks like it was quite close to colliding with the open cluster Messier 6, but they are actually 2,000 light years away. On October 19th the comet is expected to pass within 139,500 kilometers of Mars. Which is 10 times closer than any other comet fly by of earth! This is actually one third of the earth to moon distance.

apod 1.7

The combination of colors in this bubble nebula is amazing. However do not let the pretty colors and the bubbly nature fool you. The center of the bubble is an O star. Because of their high temperatures the luminosities of main sequence O stars range from 10,000 times the sun to around 1,000,000 times, giants from 100,000 times the sun to over 1,000,000, and supergiants from about 200,000 times the sun to several million times! This nebula in particular lies 11,000 ligth years away from the constellation  Cassiopeia. 

Brahmagupta

Brahmagupta was a Hindu astronomer and a phenomenal mathematician. He was born in Rajasthan, India roughly around 598 AD and passed away in 668 AD. Brahmagupta was one of the most prominent astronomers to come from India.  Not only was he a great triumph in India, but he was a major influence in the Byzantine astronomy world as well. He was best known for his work in the Ujjain astronomical observatory. This observatory was known to be in the top ten centers for research in the astronomical and mathematical field in India. When he worked in this laboratory, he found multiple concepts involving complex mathematical formulas and intricate theories. He also observed the motion of all the plants. He continued to build on his observations and began to write books.

Brahmagupta is most known for his mathematical rules with zero, his theorem, and the interpolation formula. Aside from the mathematician side of Brahmagupta, he is famous for his observations and concepts in space. In fact, he wrote two very significant books that discussed all things astronomy such as mean longitudes of plants, lunar eclipses, the moon’s shadows and crescents, planetary motion, and problems of time. These books go by the name of  “Brāhmasphutasiddhānta” and “Khandakhādyaka”. In addition to these works, he also wrote four other books about astronomy and mathematics. On the math side, Brahmagupta found more details about Pythagorean triples, rules of zero, and multiple trigonometry formulas.

In mathematical terms, Brahmagupta found the interpolation formula. He also found the values of the sin, which is used mostly in trigonometry. Brahmaputa’s theorem states that if a quadrilateral has perpendicular diagonals, then the perpendicular diagonal that corresponds to that side will always bisect the opposite side. This theorem is currently used mostly in geometry and he is often underrated for this theorem. His knowledge of the systems of numbers was far out of the average person’s reach. In addition to all of this, he also gave rules of arithmetic to correspond with his rules of zero.

From an astronomical point of view, Brahmagupta contributed a lot to the field of astronomy. In his book he argues against the concept of the moon being farther from the earth than the sun. His book describes a situation in which the moon is above the sun. He questioned how the power and luminosity of the moon would be created from the longitude of the moon. As a result of his observations, Brahmagupta was able to find the method for finding the standard motion of the planets. He also discovered the parallax of longitude and latitude.

In addition to proving this, he also proved that the brightness is enhanced in the same orientation of the sun. Through the use of these two ideas he explained that as a result of the moon being closer to the earth than the sun, the part of the moon that is visible relies on the correlation of the moon and the sun. Just the slightest change in position from either the moon or the sun can make a vast difference.

In all, Brahmagupta is recognized as one of the greatest astronomers of the world today. Through his observations and conclusions he came to, he was able to contribute to the astronomy field and mathematical field as well. His work has had a massive impact on other astronomers all over the world.

apod 1.6

This celestial object looks like a delicate butterfly. But it is far from serene. What resemble dainty butterfly wings are actually roiling cauldrons of gas heated to more than 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas is tearing across space at more than 600,000 miles an hour! This was once a dying star that was once about five times the mass of the Sun.

apod 1.5

This picture makes me think of a blue berry exploding when it is put into a microwave. What this really is, is a dumbbell nebula. Which basically is what our sun will look like when it stops performing nuclear fusion.This particular nebula is the M27 nebula which is one of the brightest planetary nebulae in the sky. Fun fact: it takes light about 1000 years to reach us from M27!

sources for biography

Mastin, Luke. "Brahmagupta - Indian Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics."Brahmagupta Indian Mathematics - The Story of Mathematics. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

"Brahmagupta." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 416-418. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Apod 1.4

This is a picture of various moons of the planets of our solar system. These include: Jupiter's Europa and Ganymede, and Saturn's Enceladus and Titan. Each of these four moons support the idea that moons,not just planets, can have an enviroment that can support life. Some researchers believe that sizable exomoons could outnumber exoplanets in stellar habitable zones.

apod 1.3

A cupcake indeed, this picture has so much to show us. From the green hazy smog looking aurora, to the vast expanse of our Milky Way Galaxy.In this case the milky way would be the icing on this cupcake.  Just imagine being in a boat around this city and seeing the green glow of the water around you.

apod 1.2

This picture can be described with one word: WOW. The sheer amount of colors in the sky is amazing. The unusual pattern is made by gravity waves in the atmosphere, and these are waves made up of alternating air pressure that changes after the air thins. The color is made not due to an aurora, but chemoluminescence, which is the production of light do to chemical reactions.  

Apod 1.1

wow, it is simply amazing that we are even able to capture the ISS in a single picture, Normally we see pictures from the ISS but never of it. How did they even take this picture? Some of you might be thinking that it was taken by an astronaut floating outside of the ISS. On the contrary it was not taken by an astronaut floating in space but by a cosmonaut departing in a russian Soyuz TMA-20 supply ship.