Moons and the Eiffel Tower

Ohmigod, they're like, more than one moons here, ohmigod! No, you idiot, those are just the different phases of the moon! These particular snaps are the phases of the moon during the lunar eclipse. The Eiffel Tower, the most visited building in the world, radiates brightly in the foreground. The moon is probably one of the most recognizable objects in the world, so it seems fitting they appear together. The last time any man was on the moon, however, was 35 years ago on the Apollo 17 mission.The image seems to be from an hdr camera.

Second Night of Spring

At around nine I decided to go out behind my house and look at the stars. Thanks to the tiny ranch behind my house, I was given an unobstructed view of the eastern sky. The other directions were problematic due to my neighbor's trees and, of course, my own house. Conditions were optimal for star gazing: cool, no mosquitos, zero clouds, fairly faint light pollution, relatively small pollen count. The waxing crescent moon and Venus radiated so brightly that I could barely make out Aries. I was really confused when I noticed that the moon was above Venus. They switched places! The fact that the vernal equinox occurred last night went totally over my head. But there it was. The now-spring sky disoriented my a bit. It has been a little while since my last observation, and everything seemed tilted downward somewhat, If you know what I mean. I could easily spot Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka and make out the rest of Orion, but it took me a while to completely visualize Taurus. Eventually, I put two and two together by finding the points of its horns and Aldebaran. Taurus' body was a bit faint though. From there I spotted the Pleides and Auriga. Then I observed Castor, Pollux,Sirius, and Canis Minor. Overall, despite my limited viewing range, I was content with my observation session. Good way to hail spring, I guess.

APOD 4.1

The rugged terrain of Neptune's moon Triton make it EXTREME. Just look at it. There's evidence of ice volcanos. That's the OPPOSITE of the volcanos found on earth. That's hardcore stuff right there. The picture was taken back in 1989, yet another completly awesome year, by on of the most epic satellites ever: Voyager 2. Voyager 2 is so extreme, it's actually in the process of leaving our solar system. Leaving it! It's continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to discover new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before!
Willliam Lassell discovered Triton in October 1846 while trying to confirm his observation of rings around the planet Neptune. It turns out the rings were a product of his telescope's distortion, but not the planet. Ironically, Voyager 2 would discover a thin ring system around Neptune, but it would have been impossible for Lassel to observe.

Catch-Up

In the grand Pine View tradition, it's time to update my observations...at the last minute...

The first observation of the year I clearly recall was on January 5th, over near Lazin's house at the docks . It was warmer than we expected, but we were out in jackets. I can't quite recall the actual temperature. The light from the sorrounding houses around this small inlet was minimal and the sky was pretty clear. What was different about this particular observation session was the fact that we were cheating. Yes, I openly admit it: we cheated on an observation session. Lazin's dad had this new toy, i think it was called a Star Searcher, that identified constellations, stars, and other celestial object simply by pointing at the heavens. I was skeptical of the device at first, and we started the observations without it. Orion was overhead; Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka clearly visible, as usual. We identified Gemini, Lepus, and Canis Major with relative ease. I spotted the Pleides. We thought we spotted Perseus but, after finally consenting to using the toy, it turned out to be Auriga. From there, we found Perseus and Cassiopeia.

The next one came on the night before senior skip day. Quite a few of our class were gathered at the beach to celebrate (and that's all that will be said of that). Throughout the night, I noticed the sky had moved quite alot. Orion was overhead when I arrived at around eight. Hours later, the constellation had moved significantly closer to the ocean. Orion's belt shone brightly. I saw a meteor shoot through Gemini, right to the south of Castor (?,the left bright star). Lazin pointed out Saturn and Venus. The moon was showing in the North, but i forget what phase it was.

I almost forgot to watch the lunar eclipse last saturday. It was around 6:30, and it was in a full eclipse by the time i saw it.It was pretty impressive, and I was content since I forgot to see the Iridium flare yesterday.

And earlier tonight, I attempted to do the Magnitude estimation worksheet. I'm pretty sure I've butchered the sheet. It was somewhat clear, but the moon is at waning gibbous, and pretty bright. I wasn't able to see the beta eridani.

Well, that concludes my observations. My clcok reads 11:58, so I made it with two minutes to spare! Yes, I'm an idiot :D .

APOD 3.8

This is an artist's rendition of what one of two extrasolar planets may look like. Evidence found by the Spitzer Space Telescope indicates that planets in HD 209458b and HD 189733b. Specifiacally, Spitzer compared infrared shots of the planets as they eclipsed their stars with their normal infrared shots. No water vapor was detected in these planets, and the two planets were classified as "hot jupiter's;"that is, their roughly the size of Jupiter, but have orbits similar to Mercury's. These results, however, are preliminary. But the fact that these planets have atmospheres may just bring us a step closer to finding life elsewhere in our universe.