APOD 2.5

Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters, is a star cluster well known from its incredible blue reflection nebulae, located a mere 400 light-years away. The picture, spanning over 20 light-years, shows the famous star cluster on the right, but also shows lesser known dusty reflection nebulae nearby. However, these sister stars are not related, but rather are just passing through the same region of space. Using infrared detectors, a dusty disk belonging to a young Pleiades star, HD 23514, has recently been found, which is comparable in size to the terrestrial planet zone in our own solar system and could likely represent the debris from the process of rocky planet formation. I have looked up in the sky many a time and have seen Pleiades, but it is really amazing to see it in this view. Pleiades is a relatively large "object" and is easy to find, but when you look at it with your naked eye, it looks nothing like this. It's pretty interesting to see Pleiades like this after looking at so many times with my naked eye.

APOD 2.4

Located in Hercules, M13, the Great Globular Cluster contains hundreds of thousands of stars, and is one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. At approximately 25,000 light-years, the stars squeeze into a region about 150 light-years in diameter, but in the cluster core over 100 stars would fit into a cube only 3 light-years on a side. Which is very close, as the closest star to the Sun is about 4 light-years away. This picture of M13 includes recent telescopic images of the dense core and "digitized photographic plates" taken between 1987 and 1991 using the Samuel Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. This picture shows both the inner and outer areas of the star cluster in great detail. Also, to the upper left of M13, NGC 6207, a distant galaxy, is also visible. To think of the millions of stars located in this relatively small area of space is incredible. There are so many packed into such a small area. It's also pretty cool to see M13 in Hercules, since it is one of the many constellations we have learned about.

Observation 2.2

Date: November 7,9,10,11, 2007
Time: 6:30 to 9:00 (30 minutes total each night)
Place: 720 Ablee RD (27°07'32.72" N 82°27'53.95" W)
Sky Conditions: Clear Skies
Instruments: Naked Eye, Some Binoculars

Planets: Jupiter

Noted Stars: Deneb, Vega, Altair, Polaris

Noted Constellations: Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Cepheus, Cygnus, Aquila, Lyra, Perseus, Peagasus, Ursa Minor, Draco

Deep Sky Objects/ M-objects: M45(Pleiades)

Other: 17P/Holmes Comet

It was pretty amazing that I could find these objects by myself. It's also pretty incredible how large M45 is, which makes it very easy to find. As of now, M45 is the easiest object for me to find. I could easily see 6 stars with my naked eyes, but when I used my binoculars I could see many, many more. It's also pretty cool that you can still see Holmes Comet, although it does seem that Holmes Comet has become more faint.

Observation 2.1

Date: November 6, 2007
Time: 7:00 to 9:00
Place: Church off Clark RD
Sky Conditions: Clear Skies
Instruments: Naked Eyes, Binoculars, Telescope

Planets: Jupiter

Noted Stars: Deneb, Vega, Altair, Arcturus, Fomalhaut, Aldebaran, Capella, Polaris, Albireo

Noted Constellations: Sagittarius, Sagitta, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Lyra, Capricornus, Pisces, Cygnus, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Andromeda, Hercules, Perseus, Scorpius, Delphinus, Scutum, Pegasus, Vulpecula, Aquarius, Grus, Pisces Austrinus, Draco, Ursa Minor

Binary Stars: Epsilon Lyrae, Gamma Andromeda, Polaris, Alpha Capricorn

Deep Sky Objects/ M-objects: M57, M45 (Pleiades), Hyades, M27, M31

Other: 17P/Holmes Comet

I found this observation period even more helpful and interesting than the last. I saw an interesting cluster of stars in the sky, and, after asking my teacher, it turns out that I had found M45 (Pleiades) with my naked eye; when we looked at M45 through the telescope, it was quite large and could not fit in the view of the telescope. We also saw 17P/Holmes Comet, which only a few weeks ago, could not be seen, but now is visible to the naked eye. Even more recently, Holmes comet has developed a tail, but is only visible through a telescope. It was amazing seeing everything.

APOD 2.3

Comet Holmes can be seen from the unaided eye, but through the view of a telescope, it appears much larger and much more brilliant. The comet has slightly diminished in brightness, but now has a larger angular extent than stars and planets. It appears that the comet's coma has developed a distinct green appearance in the past week. As seen from Spain, Comet 17P/Holmes also now has a tail. This blue ion tail is created by solar winds that impact the ions in the coma of Comet Holmes and puch them away from the Sun. Starting only 2 weeks ago, Comet Holmes underwent a dramatic and very unexpected increase in brightness. The detail visible in Comet Holmes' tail shows that this dramatic increase in brightness can be related to the explosion of dust and gas, which is complex, ongoing process. During the next month, Comet Holmes' position will change only slightly, so it will be visible for a while. I really like this picture because I have seen Comet Holmes with my naked eye in the northern sky. It is also pretty interesting to know that it has recently developed this tail, and is even more interesting to learn how the tail is formed. This picture shows great detail and the colors are intense. When I looked at it with my naked eye view, it only appeared as a fuzzy spot in the sky, so seeing it this up close and detailed is pretty amazing.

APOD 2.2

Located in the southern sky, the Great Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) spans over 300 million light-years, which is one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions. It is very easily visible to the naked eye, similar to the smaller Orion Nebula, but at a distance of over 7500 light-years, it is about 5 times farther away. As seen through a telescopic view, this picture shows details of the glowing filaments of interstellar gas and dark cosmic dust clouds. In this nebula, there are many young, very massive stars, including Eta Carniae, a star with a mass over 100 times that of the sun. Eta Carinae is the bright star located left of the central dark notch and just below the dusty Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324). Eta Carinae is also one of the most massive and luminous stars in our Milky Way Galaxy and perhaps even the universe. I find this picture very amazing, the bright colors and shapes of the interstellar gas regions are amazing. It appears to be like there are many bright stars intermixed with the interstellar gas, probably too many to count. Its incredible how this nebula is over 7500 light-years away, but is still visible to the naked eye.