Prominence

This prominence from the sun was captured last week. Prominences can last roughly one month and also have the potential to spark a Coronal Mass Ejection which would push hot gas into the solar system and cause auroras to be visible from Earth.

Star Gaze at Pine View School, Service Road

March 1st marked the date of yet another Star Gaze on the Pine View Campus. Mr. Chap Percival and Steven Dacey led the Gaze by setting up telescopes for the student to use in order to view an array of space objects up close. During the star gaze we pointed out constellations that we went over in class during the preceding few weeks. We also were shown Canopus, one of the brighter stars in the night sky that is shown in a constellation which we have yet to go over in class, Carina, The Keel. Mr. Percival used his laser pointer to help guide the other students and myself through the constellations by using a process called "star hopping". Other astronomical objects viewed included two emission nebulae and Jupiter through the smaller telescope. In the telescope with Jupiter, four moons were visible at the start of the night. Later on, Mr. Percival changed this view to show a binary star system.

The Long Jet of the Lighthouse Nebula

The Lighthouse Nebula was formed by the wind of a pulsar, a rapidly notating neutron star that rotates at speeds faster than 1,000 km/sec. Located roughly 23,000 light years away towards Carina the Keel near Canopus and Eta Carinae, the image of the wind nebula are clearly shown on the lower right hand side of the X-ray image taken from the Chandra Xray Observatory.

Messier 63: The Sunflower Galaxy

Messier 63 is about 25 million light-years distant in the constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across. Roughly the same size as the Milky Way Galaxy. Known as The Sunflower Galaxy, M63 sports a bright yellowish core. Its has expansive blue spiral arms and pink star forming regions. A dominant member of a known galaxy group, M63 has faint, extended features that could be the result of gravitational interactions with nearby galaxies. 

Double Cluster in Perseus

Depicted in the lower center of the photo are two double clusters which are seen spanning roughtly 3.5 degrees across the constellation Perseus. The names of these clusters are h and Chi Persei. The contents of the clusters are much hotter and younger stars than we have in our sun. We estimate that the clusters are roughly 7,000 light years away from us. The stars in the clusters are probably 13 million years old. The red areas in the photo represent the hydrogen clouds surrounding the stars. The hydrogen is emitted from the stars.

Spitzer's Orion

This is a beautiful false color image of the stellar nusery, Orion's Belt which is located some 1,500 million light years away from Earth. The brighter region in the center of this infared photo shows the Trapezium Cluster which is the group of young, hot, massive stars in the nebula. Orion's Belt is its own constellation as well as being a part of the constellation Orion itself.

Resources for Third Quarter Biography: Karl Schwarzchild

"Schwarzschild's Spacetime:Introducing the Black Hole." The Light Cone:
The Schwarzschild Black Hole. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. http://www.phy.syr.edu/courses/modules/LIGHTCONE/schwarzschild.html.

"Karl Schwarzschild." Karl Schwarzschild. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. http://www.nndb.com/people/713/000168209/.

Weisstein, Eric. "Schwarzschild, Karl (1873-1916) -- from Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography." Schwarzschild, Karl (1873-1916). Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Schwarzschild.html>.