APOD 4.05

This skyview is of Gliese 581, a star system only 20 light years away in Libra. What is amazing is that there are 3 confirmed planets orbiting this planet, with one being the most Earth-like ever discovered. This "Super Earth," as it is being called, is about 5 times as massive as the Earth, and has a diameter of about 1.5 that of Earth's. It's orbit is about 14 times less then that of the Earth's, which makes it orbit once every 13 days. Gliese 581 is a red-dwarf, which makes its habitable zone much smaller, but the "Super Earth" resides in it, which means its mean surface temperature is 0 - 40 C, making liquid water possible.

APOD 4.4

Planet HD 209458b is so close to its parent star that it is evaporating. Its atmosphere is expanding away from it. Scientists believe they have detected water vapor in the atmosphere, from spectroscopic evidence. If this is true, this would be the first confirmed instance of planetary water outside of our Solar System. This could mean the possibility of life outside of our Solar System.

Galaxy Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy
http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/gr/public/gal_lss.html
http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/galaxies/agnintro.html
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/01/09_warp.shtml
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/galex-20061205.html

APOD 4.02

The atmosphere of the Earth is turning the moon blue. This is because the atmosphere's particles scatter blue light, which causes the sky to appear blue from the ground. This same effect also causes the horizon of the Earth to be blue, when viewed from space. Also, the atmopshere scatters moonlight. These two traits form the image of the crescent moon being blue, and the lower portion of the moon disappearing.

APOD 4.01

STEREO B, a satellite some 1 million miles from Earth, recorded a lunar transit last week. The reason the Moon appears to be 1/4th the size seen from Earth is because the satellite is 4 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon away. Each frame of the movie is made up of 4 composite images, each done through a different filter. The Sun's rotation can be seen in the movie as well.

Observations

Observations for Quarter 3:
March 3: Watched the lunar eclipse at various stages. Saw it come out from total eclipse. Couldn't find the moon previous to that, but was able to accurately estimate where it would've been. 2 hours.

March 1: Got out the telescope to look at the moon. Was able to see Mare Tranquilitatis, and I think Mare Imbrium. Saw lots of cratering. Best spot was along it's terminator, as the shadows made it easier to see the differing heights of the geography. 1 hour.

Feb. 28: Looked for different constellations. Saw Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor, a bit of Gemini (just Castor and Pollux), and the Big Dipper.
Stars viewed: Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, Mintaka, Alnitak, other belt star, Pollux, Castor, Procyon, Sirius, Polaris.
Planets: Saturn and Venus. Looked at Saturn with a telescope, but it got cloudy too quickly.
2.5 hours.

~Feb. 27: Watched the Moon and Venus go from being close, anglularily, to far apart. Took a picture. 1 hour.

Feb. 20: Mainly looked for nebulae. Found Pleides and M42. .5 hours.

Jan. 4: Tried looking for meteors. Found 1. Moon's light obscured any chance of seeing some. 1.5 hours.

APOD 3.08 Extrasolar planet

The Spitzer Space Telescope, in an attempt to find an atmosphere, was aimed at two different extrasolar planets. They reside in HD 209458b and HD189733b, indicating the stars are the lesser of a binary system. However, the planets were not found to have water. They did this by comparing eclipsed and uneclipsed: scientists were able to detect bright light-emitting gas blocked by the eclipse. Had the Spitzer found water vapor, it may have been evidence for life.