Biography Sources

https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~rkirshner/CV.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15165371
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~rkirshner/

Robert Kirshner

Kirshner was born on August 15, 1949. he received his first university level education at Harvard University, graduating in 1970. From there he went on to get a P.h.D in Astronomy at Caltech. He became a postdoc at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, in addition to serving on the faculty at the University of Michigan for nine years. In 1986, he returned to Harvard to become a faculty member in the Astronomy Department. He served as Chairman of the Department from 1990 to 1997. In his time, Kirshner has written and published over 200 research papers, most of which deal with supernovae and the size and shape of the universe.  His most significant discovery was accomplished with the "High-Z Supernova Team". In this discovery the team found concrete evidence for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. This was deemed so important that it was given the title of "Science Breakthrough of the Year for 1998" by Science Magazine. Several members of the team would be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2008. This discovery drastically changed how we view the universe, and is considered to be one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the last 20 years. In his later career, Kirshner became the President of the American Astronomical Society from 2004-2008. Over the past six years he has given dozens of important lectures all over the world, and continues to contribute to the Astronomical field of science.

APOD 4.7

This image shows a highly enhanced view of the common constellation Scorpius. The tail of the cosmic scorpion lies directly in the plane of the milky way, which looks quite spectacular in an image with a long exposure time. One might notice the seeming overabundance of red in the picture; this is due to the red "filter" used by the camera to better detect and display traces of hydrogen. The seemingly bright star located above the head of the scorpion is actually the planet Jupiter, making for a remarkably breathtaking photograph

APOD 4.6

In 2006, an unneeded space suit filled with old clothes was jettisoned by the crew of the ISS into orbit around Earth. The space suit was outfitted with a small and weak radio transmitter so the crew could track it's orbit around the planet. The suit stayed in orbit for a few weeks until it's trajectory decayed and it burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. The picture shown here was taken shortly after the release of the suit, and looks quite breathtaking with the Earth looming in from the right side of the frame.

APOD 4.5

This weeks APOD is the enormous galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102-4915, more colloquially known as El Gordo. This name, which means "the big one" in spanish, accurately reflects the nature of the object, as it is thought to possibly be one of the largest celestial objects known. It spans over 7 million lightyears, and contains mass equal to over a million billion suns. This particular image is a composite image that is comprised of several images taken in different wavelengths. The different colors represent different gasses, with the exception of the blue. The blue, interestingly enough, represents what scientists believe to be concentrations of dark matter.

APOD 4.4

Known as the Elephants Trunk Nebula, this dark and menacing dust nebula resides in IC 1396. Many of the stars shown in the picture are bright, and young. Many of them exude a great deal of energy, so much so in fact that the dark cloud is slowly being dispersed. Waves of energy and particles streaming off of these stars is slowly blasting away all the dust that makes up the nebula. This particular cloud is part of a much larger nebula, that faintly spans nearly 10 full moons in the night sky.

APOD 4.3

The picture shown above is easily identifiable as Mars, the red planet made famous by it's rusty red appearance. Mars just past it's exact point of opposition 3 days ago on April 8th, when this picture was taken. What is interesting about Mars is that due to the elliptic nature of it's orbit, it's point of closest approach with the Earth is actually 3 more days from now, on the 14th. This night is also significant because the moon will be going through a complete lunar eclipse, which will make for a fantastic night of stargazing.

APOD 3.8

In the constellation Corvus, two galaxies are colliding with each other. The bright colors seen are due to the large amounts of hydrogen, which causes a reddish pink coloration. During the collision, the gas clouds that make up much of these galaxies are smashed together, and compressed by the immense gravitational forces at work. This causes the birth of millions of stars, which will be trapped together in massive star clusters.

Pulsars/Neutron Stars

Pulsar

Neutron Star

Pulsars are neutron stars that appear to "pulse" in the eyes of radiation detecting equipment.. A neutron star is one of the possible ends to a stars life. They have a large mass compressed into a very small area, making them incredibly dense. Neutron stars are formed after a large star goes supernova, and its core collapses into a dense neutron star. After the star has fully collapsed, the neutron star can remain as a supernova remnant, become an isolated object, or be pulled into becoming a binary system. Neutron stars form intensely strong magnetic poles, and massive amounts of radiation are emitted from these poles. If the star is rotating with the poles pointed at earth, it is called a pulsar. The "pulsing" of the star is due to the star's rotation. However, not all pulsars act in the same way. Cooling neutron stars can act as pulsars by emitting x-rays at the naturally hotter magnetic poles. Some pulsars are created in a binary system, where the neutron star siphons off material from a nearby star, that is then heated until it too emits x-rays. The magnetic spheres of neutron stars are so powerful that they can cause the stars to emit x-rays, again causing a pulsar.

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l2/pulsars.html

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/know_l1/pulsars.html

APOD 3.7

NGC 133 is a reflection nebula that lies near the constellation Perseus. The defining characteristic of the nebula is it's bluish hue, as caused by the reflection of starlight. This particular cloud is on the edge of a large star-forming molecular cloud. Many of the stars in the cloud are very young, with hundreds of them being less than a million years old. This particular area seems to be very similar to the one that our own sun formed in 4.3 billion years ago.

Karl Swarzschild

Karl Shwarzschild was born in 1873 in Frankfurt, Germany. Very early in his life he showed a remarkable intellect and passion for astronomy, having his first scientific paper on the orbit of celestial bodies published when he was just 16 years old. Shwarzschild went on to study at several colleges, attaining his doctorate at the University of Munich. After spending three years at the Von Kuffner Observatory, he would return to the University of Munich to become a Privatdozent. During this time he made several important discoveries, most of which stemmed from his habilitation thesis. The most important of these discoveries, was the epiphany that the spectral type of a star was related directly to it's color. His influence could also be seen with telescope construction and design, as he pioneered the use of coarse grating on telescope lenses in order to better separate double stars. Shwarzschild spent many years at an observatory in Göttingen before accepting the position of director of the Astrophysical Observatory in Potsdam, at the time the most prestigious job for an astronomer in Germany. His influence could also be seen with telescope construction and design, as he pioneered the use of coarse grating on telescope lenses in order to better separate double stars. With the outbreak of World War I, Shwarzschild enrolled in the military, and spent time in Belgium, France, and Russia, in which he wrote three papers. Two of the papers he wrote pertained to Einsteins theory of relativity, and formulated the exact solution to the famous equation. Einstein personally replied, and praised Shwarzschild for his ability to solve the equation so simplistically. His third paper, which proved the Stark effect in Planck's quantum theory, was unfortunately timed, as another astronomer independently and simultaneously came to prove the same theory. However, Russia would herald the end of his life, as he caught an autoimmune disease called pemphigus while stationed there. At the time, no cure existed for the disease, and Shwarzschild drew his last in March, 1916. His effects on the scientific community were profound, and extended beyond astronomy. Shwarzschild was a renaissance man of sorts, and developed papers considering geometry, aerodynamics, and other aspects of physics and mathematics. His impact is so great that he is often referred to as the greatest German astronomer of his century.

Astronomer biography sources

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Schwarzschild.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/528632/Karl-Schwarzschild

APOD 3.6

The Beehive Cluster, pictured above, is one of the closest star clusters to our solar system, lying a relatively short distance of 600 lightyears away. All of the stars in said cluster are very young, at about 600 million years. By comparison our sun is 4.5 billion years old. The cluster spans 15 lightyears across, and spans about 3 full moons worth across the night sky.  An interesting aspect of this cluster is the variety in color, as many blue and yellow-orange stars can be seen.

APOD 3.5

In honor of Valentines Day, this post is about the Heart and Soul nebulae, two stunningly beautiful red emission nebulae. The Soul Nebula is found to the lower left, while the Heart nebula dominates the right side of the image. Both of these can be found in the constellation Cassiopeia, and lie about 6000 light-years away from earth. Each one spans an estimated 300 light-years across. These nebulae are useful in studying the formation of stars, especially ones of remarkable size.

APOD 3.4

The picture I chose this week is an edge on view of the spiral galaxy NGC 2683. The picture in and of itself is spectacular, with incredible resolution and many colors, as well as the natural beauty of the galaxy itself. The constellation rests at 20 million lightyears away, which seems unimaginably vast, but is in fact quite close relative to other galaxies. This galaxy is likely similar to what our own Milky Way galaxy looks like, seeing as it is of similar composition and is a spiral, just like ours. The bright point in the center of the galaxy is a collection of large yellow stars, drawn in greater concentration towards the center due to the black hole at the center of the galaxy.

APOD 3.3

The above photo shows two galaxies colliding with each other. The larger galaxy, NGC 2207, will eventually absorb the smaller galaxy, IC 2163. One can already see that one arm of IC 2163 has been partially consumed by the other galaxy, and remains diminished in length. What is interesting is that despite what it may look like, little action occurs during a collision such as this. This is due to the staggering distance between stars, as they are so far apart that it is very rare for two stars to collide.

APOD 3.2

The APOD that I chose for this week was a picture of the double cluster in Perseus. Both of these clusters are relatively young, at 13 million years old. Their similar ages  most likely means that both clusters were birthed from the same region.  The two clusters are also close, being just a couple hundred lightyears apart. What is also interesting about this image are the enormous clouds of hydrogen gas, that are shown here in red.

APOD3.1

This is an infrared picture of the Orion Nebula taken by the Spitzer telescope. The nebula stretches 40 lightyears across and lies about 1,500 lightyears away. The spectacular hues in this photo are false, as our eyes cannot detect the, "color" of infrared wavelengths. What drew me to this picture were the vibrant green and red colors and the fact that this nebula, like many, serves as a nursery for developing stars. The red coloration in this photograph is indicative of protostars, or developing stars. The process through which stars form is fascinating, and this picture allows us to see it happen.

I had forgotten to add a picture, so here one is

            Joseph Von Fraunhofer was born in 1787, and grew up the youngest of ten children, and mired in poverty. His family came from a tradition of glassmaking. At the age of 11, the young Joseph was orphaned, and managed to find an apprenticeship in Munich with a glassmaker and lens grinder. In 1801, an accident occurred which buried him deep in building rubble. This accident turned out to be a crucial turning point in the young man’s life. The salvation of Fraunhofer caught the attention of royal patrons in the prince’s court. One of these patrons was named Joseph Utzschneider, who also had an interest in optics. Utzschneider supplied the young man with money, books and friendship. Having never before had a formal education, Fraunhofer quickly developed an avid interest in self-education. The money supplied from both his apprenticeship and Utzschneider’s generosity allowed him to open up his own glass cutting and polishing machine. During this time he also became employed at Utzschneider’s optic company.

            Over time, Fraunhofer honed his skills in glassmaking, and created new grinding techniques of his own, as well as building his own machine. By the age of 22, he had become the director of glass manufacturing in Utzschneider’s company. The company quickly became the most reliable for anything optics related, and became the leader in quality for all of Europe. This was entirely due to Fraunhofer’s development of a scientific method for testing telescopes and other glass products. During this time Fraunhofer also developed several improved optical devices. Fraunhofer was particularly interested in spectroscopy, and made many devices that aided in further progressing understanding of light wavelengths. For example, he was the first to discover that the dark lines that often appeared when light shone through a prism were inherent parts of light, and these lines eventually came to be called Fraunhofer Lines. As he became more and more of an expert on the properties of light, he also began to develop theories of diffraction, which would later become laws. Using this knowledge, he created objects that could make extremely precise measurements. In fact, Fraunhofer created a diamond with grooves smaller than .003 millimeters to diffract light into incredibly precise wavelengths. All of his work eventually came back to telescopes or microscopes, and all his scientific curiosity was driven by the desire to better the instruments he created. However, Fraunhofer caught a case of tuberculosis in 1826 that would result in his death, one depressingly premature for such a brilliant mind. Fraunhofer, while not on the front lines of astronomical pioneering, was certainly a driving force behind the movement, and left helped his field progress enormously.

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/fraunhofer.html\

http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/about-fraunhofer/chronicles/joseph-von-fraunhofer.html

Observations for the night of December 26^th, using naked eye tools, 9:00 to 11:00 PM

When I first got outside I could see that Orion was just above the horizon. After finding as many stars as I could in Orion, about 8 in total, I then moved my gaze to the space above Orion’s head. It was here that I saw Pollux and Castor, the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini. As the night went on, Venus became visible a couple of degrees away from Gemini. More directly above me at this point were the constellations of Pisces and Cetus, although many of their stars were not visible. Slightly above Orion and to the left was Taurus, as is distinguishable by the tight cluster of stars that make up its head.

Observations for the night of January 2^nd, naked eye tools, 8:00 to 10:00 PM

The two most distinguishable constellations, Orion and Gemini, were immediately visible, and distinguishing them was not particularly difficult.  This night I also saw a cluster of stars to the North that seemed to be a zig-zag, but was not recognizable. I looked up this constellation and it is called Lynx. Canis Major and Minor were also both visible; entirely due to both having one bright star. Taurus and Perseus were almost directly overhead at about 9:30. There were one or two stars on the Eastern horizon now, but it was difficult to tell which constellations they were in. On the west horizon, the constellations Cetus and Andromeda were a few hours away from setting. Venus was present as ever.

Observations for the night of January 4^th, naked eye observations, 7:00 to 9:00 PM

I went out an hour earlier tonight in an attempt to get a different look at the sky than I had been getting the past few days. What I got was a slightly more fall-like view of the heavens, but not by much. I was only able to barely catch a glimpse at what I believed to be most of Pisces and a portion of Pegasus. Aside from those two, the stargazing this night was much of what I had seen before; Orion, Lynx, Taurus, Gemini, Canis Major and Minor, Lepus, and Venus.

Observations for the night of January 10^th, naked eye observations, 9:30 to 11:30

This night when I went out Orion was already far up into the sky, and I was able to get clear views of Taurus, Gemini, Lynx, Venus, Lepus, and both Canises. As the night wore on, I got to see a little bit more than I had the other nights, and caught a few stars of Leo and Hydra before I went inside. 

The above image shows the M7 star cluster with a backdrop of literally millions of stars. The M7 star cluster is located in the constellation Scorpius, and has existed for about 200 million years. There are an estimated 100 stars in the cluster, and it's first notings go back to the ancient Greeks. the constellation lies 1000 lightyears away. I was attracted to this picture because of the sheer number of stars in the background.