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.