APOD 2.7

APOD 2.7
                Geminid Fireball over Mount Balang

During the Geminid Meteor Shower, this image of a fireball burning over Mount Balang, China was captured. The background of the picture proudly displays the constellation Orion near the top right and Sirius (the brightest star in the night sky) can be seen in the center.The fireball in the lower right only lasted a fraction of a second and the fireball was created by a pebble that crossed Earth's atmosphere. This pebble was originally expelled by the Sun-orbiting asteroid-like object - 3200 Phaethon.

Johann H. Schroeter Works Cited

1. Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 12. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. Print.

2. "Johann Hieronymus Schroeter (1745-1816)." High Altitude Observatory, Education Pages, Sun 
                  Research, National Center for Atmospheric Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2014.

Recent Observations 11

Recent Observations 11
            On Saturday night, 12/13/14, I went outside (10:00 pm-11:00 pm) with a group of friends to watch the meteor shower. The sky was clear so we identified two constellations - Orion's belt and Gemini - in the sky and looked around that area to see the Geminid meteors falling. The meteors fell at different intervals and some were small with small trails, while others had trails that crossed the sky.

Recent Observations 10

Recent Observations 10
             The weather at night has become a lot colder however I still went out to observe the sky on Wednesday, 12/10/14. The moon was in a waning gibbous phase and I searched the sky for constellations. I was able to pin point the great square of Pegasus and identify Andromeda on the side of the square. The stars of fall have a magnitude that is difficult to observe from my yard so on a good night I am able to spot a couple constellations.

APOD 2.6

APOD 2.6
              Crystals on Mars


The image above is a very zoomed in photo taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager that is on the Curiosity rover. The picture shows what appears to be elongated crystals formed from the precipitation of minerals dissolved in water. This is thought to be the result of a river that had once flowed on the surface of Mars. The rock above was named Mojave (from the Pink Cliffs Outcrop of the Pahrump Hills-- base of Mt. Sharp) and the picture was lit up by LED lights.

Recent Observations 9

Recent Observations 9
            Looking up into the sky, Tuesday, 12/2/14, I was able to see the moon in a waxing gibbous phase. I was able to find Cepheus and the great square of Pegasus in the sky but it was difficult to find much due to the stars being so faint and the lights of my area obscuring the visibility of the stars within their constellations.

APOD 2.5

APOD 2.5
               Milky Way over Moon Valley 

The picture above is an image of the Milky Way Galaxy above the Valle de la Luna in the Chilean Atacama desert. The picture was taken October 18th and it took five images to put together the panoramic view. In this picture, four other galaxies can be seen. To the far left of the panoramic, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are visible and to the right, beyond the Milky Way's central bulge, is the faint Andromeda Galaxy (2.5 million light-years away).