APOD 1.4

Night sky in Iran

This image of the night sky from the Alborz Mountains in Iran shows some of the commoner stellar objects labeled. It shows the constellations Perseus, Ares, Pisces, Cetus, and Triangulum. The planet Jupiter is also shown as the brightest object in the sky. At opposition Jupiter is as close as it gets to Earth. Uranus is also in the same area as Jupiter, but it's not visible to the naked eye. Two M Objects are visible as well, M31 and M33.

APOD 1.3

Aurora Borealis

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, is a phenomena seen somewhat frequently in the far northern latitudes. Aurorae borealis are more common when the nights become longer after the autumnal equinox. The lights are formed by a combination of ionized nitrogen and excited oxygen returning to ground state. The southern counterpart, aurora australis, is only visible from latitudes in the extreme south. The colors of the aurorae are caused by the different elements involved. Green lights are a sign of oxygen, while blue or red is an indicator of nitrogen's involvement.

APOD 1.2

The Northern Owl Nebula (left) and the Southern Owl Nebula (right).

The Northern and Southern Owls are nebulae. Both are about the same size and shape, but they appear at near opposite ends of the sky. The Northern Owl, or M97, is located in the constellation Ursa Major and is named for it's dark circles that resemble owl eyes. The Southern Owl is located in the constellation Hydra. Nebulae are the remains of stars like our Sun, which will one day become a nebula as well.

Observation 1 (9 September 2010)

Last night, at 10:00 pm, in my driveway (26.963038, -82.352016) I looked up. There was some thin clouds across most of the sky, but I was able to identify Sagittarius, Scorpius, Aquilla, Lyra, Cygnus, Hercules, Bootes, Corona Borealis, and Ursa Major. I was also able to identify the stars Antares, Altair, Vega, Deneb, and Arcturus.

APOD 1.1

Little Dumbbell Nebula

 When I read the text below the picture of this Astronomy Picture of the Day, it said that the Little Dumbbell Nebula, or M76, is located in the foot of Andromeda, but the nebula is in fact found in the constellation Perseus. Andromeda (the constellation) is located right next to Perseus (the constellation), but I'm still confused as to how it got mislabeled on the Nasa website. Oh well. Andromeda and Perseus were characters in the Greek story of how Perseus killed the Gorgon, Medusa. The story has been popularized by the movie Clash of the Titans. However, unlike the movie, Andromeda wasn't to be killed by the Kraken, she was to be eaten by Cetus, a giant whale or fish who lends his name to the order Cetacea, a taxonomic classification for whales and dolphins.