APOD 1.4

Northern and Southern Owls

This image is actually two different images separated down the center.  On the left is M97 in Ursa Major (known for its Big Dipper asterism).  This nebula is commonly referred to as the Owl Nebula.  On the right is the Southern Owl Nebula, located in the constellation Hydra.  They are each about 2 light years across, which means from Earth they have a 2' parallax.  The different colors and definition of the star background is the result of using different methods of filtering and color mapping to create these images.  The Owl Nebula is named such because the two dark spots suggest an owl's large round eyes staring back at the Earth.  Both of these planetary nebulae are particularly intruiging because they appear to be almost perfectly round in shape.

Observations 9/21, 9/22

9/21:  The moon tonight is a waxing gibbous, but by tomorrow night it should become a full moon, so it is very bright.  As a result of this, very few stars were visible.  In the west around 9:00 PM Venus and Mars were setting, but Venus was much brighter than Mars, so that was the only one I could see.  Jupiter was in the East at this time.  Jupiter rose shortly after the moon, since last night it was at opposition to the sun, and tomorrow night the moon should be at opposition.
9/22:  Tonight was a full moon, and at 9:30 it was approximately 5 degrees NE of Jupiter.  Venus set in the west around 9:00 PM.  In the West, one of the few stars I could see was Antares in a very faint Scorpius, and in the SW was the curved shape of Ophiuchus.

APOD 1.3

Clouds, Birds, Moon, Venus

The small dot to the right of the crescent moon is Venus.  This is an incredible picture, because the moon and Venus are both fully visible during the day, and the opportunity window for this picture must have been extremely narrow, since those storm clouds are about to cover them and the flock of birds just happened to be flying by.  Very soon after the picture was taken, both Venus and the moon set, the storm passed, and the birds flew away.  This picture was taken in Spain; in Florida, we cannot see Venus in the day this time of year.  This pairing is visible in different variations and phases all over the world.

Another interesting picture of Venus and the Moon: (Click Here)

Observations 9/14

This morning at about 6:45 AM, Jupiter was in the West, and at 9:00 PM it was in the East.  At 8:20 PM Mars was about 26 degrees SE of the moon.  From my backyard at 9:00 PM I could see quite a lot in the clear skies.  Tonight the moon was a waxing crescent (tomorrow it should be 1st quarter), and approximately 7 degrees SE of the moon was Antares.  It had a slight reddish color, which made it easy to identify.  Scorpius was very close to the SW horizon.  In the North, I could see only the handle of the big dipper in Ursa Major, because the rest was covered by trees.  In the South, the teapot in Sagittarius was easy to spot to the left of the moon.  I found Hercules by its asterism, the keystone, which was almost directly above me.  The summer triangle was just to the left of Hercules.

APOD 1.2

Cepheus: Trunk to Bubble

If you click on the link above and place your cursor on the image, it will label and outline the important objects in Cepheus.  The constellation Cepheus (the King) is in the northern hemisphere and is in the shape of a crooked house.  It is shown by the bright blue stars in the mid-left of the picture above.  On the far left under the house is the IC 1396 emission nebula, which contains the Elephant's Trunk Nebula.  In the upper right is the Bubble Nebula, which is about 10 light years wide.

Jupiter and Venus

This morning on my way to school at 6:45 AM I saw Jupiter in the West.  From my front yard I could see it high in the sky and shining brightly.  Tonight, also in the West, at around 8:00 PM I could see the moon (in the waxing crescent stage) and Venus, which was approximately 6 degrees NW of the moon.

Venus

Went outside at 9:00 PM and saw Venus in the West close to the horizon.  It looked like a giant bright star, and luckily it was in one of the few portions of clear sky around my house.  Also saw the constellations Serpens, Ophiuchus, and Corona Borealis around 10:00 in about the same spot.  The clouds, palm trees, and lights made it difficult for me to spot anything else.

APOD 1.1

Dark Shuttle Approaching

The spaceship shown in this silhouetted image is the Space Shuttle Endeavour approaching the International Space Station (ISS) on February 16, 2010.  The colors in the background are effects of the layers of Earth's atmosphere reflecting different frequencies of light.  The blue layer is the mesosphere, the white layer is the stratosphere, and the orange layer is the troposphere.  As the image is taken from the ISS, parts of the black sections of the photo are actually blocked by the window of the station rather than showing the dark emptiness of space.  The shuttle was delivering new components for the station such as the Tranquility Module (aka the Node 3 Module) and the Cupola observation window, which was attached to the Tranquility module.

This page led me to a picture that I strongly suggest you check out of the nighttime shuttle launch from the Kennedy Space Center taken on February 9th.