APOD 1.4

 

This painting "Starry Night Over The Rhone" by van Gogh caught my eye since it is not actually a scientific photograph but rather an Post-Impressionist work of art from the nineteenth century.  I was drawn to this chaotic and colorful work as a person who has has an interest in art history and was curious to find out its astronomical significance.  

"Starry Night Over The Rhone" indicates an interest and understanding of astronomy by van Gogh since he sought to make the depictions of the stars fairly scientifically accurate over the French town Arles.  Although his more famous painting "Starry Night" does not contain any easily identifiable stars or planets, "Starry Night Over The Rhone" clearly depicts the two stars of the constellation Ursa Major, more commonly referred to as Big Dipper and the north star Polaris.  By estimating the line connecting the Big Dipper's stars to Polaris, the exact latitude of where this work was painted can be found which sounds to me like a nearly impossible feat and  proves his artistic talent even further than I had previously understood.   

APOD 1.3

The astronomy picture of the day for September 23 illustrates the autumnal equinox which occurs today at 3:09 UT.  The Moon is full and is called Harvest Moon, which means that the narrow angle to the ecliptic causes the moon to rise 30 minutes later each day rather than 50 minutes, creating the illusion that the Moon remains at its full phase for several nights. The equinox, which is the point where the ecliptic intersects the celestial equator,  marks the first day of fall and occurs when the angle between the Earth's axis and the sun is perpendicular.  The equinox results in 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night and a shorter time of darkness between sunset and moonrise which allowed farmers to gain a few more hours of work since they could see their crops in the moonlight.  The Harvest Moon appears orange to us because it rises at the horizon and it is here that the atmosphere is its thickets which causes more blue light to be scattered resulting in red light passing through our eyes.  

Lunar Observations 1.3

Tonight the Moon was full and the angular separation between the Moon and the planet Jupiter is about 9 degrees (observed at 11 PM).   This is 3 degrees more than my previous estimate but still follows the geeneral trend that the planets will appear to move westward as the moon move about 13 degress.

Lunar Observations 1.2

At tonight's star gaze at Turtle Beach I estimated that the angular separation of the Moon and Jupiter was 19 degrees looking east around 9:15 PM.  Based on the fact that the moon rotates at approximately 13 degrees per day, my prediction is that the angular separation bvetween the Moon and Jupiter will be about 6 degrees tomorrow night and I will make observations tomorrow to see if this is in fact true. Also I was able to see the teapot formation of stars in the constellation Sagittarius, the constellation Aquila and its first magnitude star Altair, Ursa Major or the Big Dipper, Scorpius and its first magnitude star Antares, Hercules and the keystone, Cassiopeia, and the summer triangle comprised of Altair, Deneb and Vega.  The planets Mars and Venus were visible to the naked eye and we were able to see Venus actually set into the horizon. 

Lunar Observations 1.1

The moon's phase tonight on September 19 at about 10:20 pm was waxing gibbous and very close to full moon.  The brightest object that was close to the moon was about 21 degrees due east of the moon which by my guess is the star Altair of the constellation Aquila. 

APOD 1.2

When the Moon and Venus converge the Moon appears at its faintest, since it is in crescent phase, while Venus actually appears at its brightest stage since in crescent phase the planet is relatively close to Earth.  This photo was taken in Spain at sunset which creates a remarkable photo because the two brightest objects in the sky have met together and stand out well even before the sky is dark.  This specific photo of the Moon and Venus converging, which happens  is especially unique because of the contrast created by the black birds, blue sky and the orange storm clouds.  However, these two objects only join for a brief time and after their seperation Venus continues to be seen at sunset for the rest of the month.  Today Venus rose at 10:30 AM and will set at 9:15 PM and will continue to rise and set a few minutes earlier as the days progress.      

APOD 1.1

APOD September 5

This incredibly dramatic photo provides evidence that, as pictured in the center, black holes or areas of highly concentrated mass with strong gravitational pulls, rotate in a formation similar to a whirlpool and are surrounded by hot swirling gasses indicated by red.  X-ray light is emitted as the gas swirls on the inner edge of the accretion disk, pulled inward by gravitational force, at a extremely high frequency caused by the rapid spinning of the black hole.  The most interesting aspect of this discovery is the fact that as these black holes spin they are pulling the actual fabric of space with them.  I wonder if the fact that black holes spin increases their threat to surrounding objects in space.