Reflection

Even though I only did six blog posts, I really do think I learned quite a bit about the night sky. From the area that I am from in Washington State, there is always a dark night sky because we are not near a city and we live in a country. I am now excited to go home and lay on my balcony to see if I can find any constellations that I have posted about. Since I know a little bit more about the night sky, I am more aware of how today's generation does not take into consideration of the beauty of the natural world around us. It discourages me to see that we take for granted the night sky that was once our compass for travelling because we are more focused on looking down at our technology in the palm of our hands. Based from this blog, I want to take what I have learned and make it into a project for the kids on my reservation. The reason is because I want them to see that there is much to observe in this world and observing the night sky will give us this sense of connection to the world instead of the disconnection we continue to have. I feel like this would be very beneficial because much of our culture does revolve around the night sky, therefore, they can intertwine knowledge of our culture with astronomy and physics. Overall though, I have realized that personally, looking up into the night sky for stars or planets is very relaxing and a great way to bond with friends. It made me think that there is so much in this world and universe that has yet to be discovered that it excites me to know that I have a chance these discoveries. So, in conclusion, I do appreciate your efforts in showing us a whole new world that is right above us Professor Gunderson. I do plan to look up more often and see what the night sky has in store for me.

Hercules Cluster M13

The Hercules Cluster M13 is a messier object that is also known as the Messier 13 or M13. It was seen in last night's sky and can also be seen tonight as well above the horizon in the northeast sky. In order to spot the Hercules Cluster M13 you must find the "Keystone". This is the body of Hercules. The stars that form the "Keystone" are Eta Herculis, Pi Herculis, Epsilon Herculis, and Zeta Herculis (Rao). This cluster was first discovered in 1715 by Edmund Halley, but was not named until 1764 by Charles Messier. This cluster is actually really close to us which is why it is easy to see with the naked eye. It holds a wide variety of different types of stars in the cluster such as white dwarfs, red dwarfs, red giants, and some sun-like ones. It holds a very dense core region with many stars compacting this cluster (Siegel).  
The picture below shows what the Hercules Cluster M13 looks like through the Microobservatory Telescope.

Photo By: Microobservatory

Citations:

Rao, Joe. "How To See The Great Hercules Cluster Of Stars". Space.com. 21, Jun. 2011. Web. 15. Dec. 2015. <http://www.space.com/12021-hercules-star-cluster-night-sky-m13-messier.html>.

Siegel, Ethan. "Messier Monday: The Great Globular Cluster In Hercules, M13". ScienceBlogs: Stars With A Bang. 31, Dec. 2012. Web. 15, Dec. 2015. <http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/12/31/messier-monday-the-great-globular-cluster-in-hercules-m13/>

Aquarius Constellation

The Aquarius constellation can be seen high in tonight's sky within the south equator. The brightest star found in this constellation is called Fomalhaut which is found in the "watery" portion of the sky. For my picture tonight, I captured the "Water In The Jar" which can only be seen in a very dark sky. Within this jar, about 30 stars can be seen which are very faint (McClure).This constellation is also part of the zodiac family. Based on previous posts about zodiac constellations from my blog, it is known that the zodiac constellations follow the sun's path. The sun crosses through the Aquarius constellation between February 16 - March 16 (McClure). In Greek mythology, it is thought that the Aquarius represented the deluge that killed the entire human race except for two people. The deluge was released because humanity was not being good and Zeus decided that they needed to be punished. In ancient Egypt, the Aquarius represented the Nile River where the god gave plenty of water for the people (McClure).

Citations:

McClure, Bruce. "Aquarius? Here's Your Constellation". EarthSky: Updates on your Cosmos and World. 12, Oct. 2015. Web. 14, Dec. 2015. <http://earthsky.org/constellations/aquarius-heres-your-constellation>.

Taurus Constellation

Tonight, if you look at the stars, you can see the constellation Taurus. It is located between Aries which is to the west and Gemini to the east. This is zodiac constellation that can only be seen in the northern hemisphere during the winter and spring (McClure). For Greek mythology, the Taurus was Zeus's bull that helped him swoon Princess Europa. When Zeus appeared as the bull before Princess Europa where she was so infatuated by the beautiful white bull that she gathered flowers and placed them on him. After that, she was whisked away to the island of Crete with Zeus (McClure). Besides the stories from Greek mythology, the Taurus was used for other reasons for astronomers. The Taurus, along with the other zodiac constellations, marks the path of the sun which helped the astronomers understand the movement of the sun (McClure). Below, there is a picture depicting where the Taurus is in the night sky and which way you can turn to find this constellation.

 

Picture of Taurus By Victoria Wynecoop

Citations

McClure, Bruce. "Taurus? Here's Your Constellation". EarthSky: Updates on your Cosmos and World. 5, Jan. 2015. Web. 9, Dec. 2015. <http://earthsky.org/constellations/taurus-heres-your-constellation>

Aries Constellation

In tonight's night sky, the Aries Constellation can be seen between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the East. Within this constellation, there are three big stars. They were discovered by Johann Bayer and were named Alpha Arietis, Beta Arietis, and Gamma Arietis (Zimmerman). It can be best seen from October to December. Another interesting fact about the Aries is that it is zodiac constellation that represents the ram. It does not represent the ram for every culture, but the earliest recollection of this constellation goes back to the Babylonians. At first, the Aries represented agrarian worker, but later, the Babylonians changed it to represent the ram. This change remains clears (A Guide to the Night Sky). Another mythological story comes from the Greek. They also associated Aries with the ram where it saved Phrixus and took him to Colchis. Here, the ram is sacrificed to the gods and the fleece is placed in a temple (A Guide to the Night Sky).
Pasted below is my own picture of Aries from the night sky where you can also see Pisces in the top right corner of the picture and Taurus is in the bottom left of the picture.

Photo By: Victoria Wynecoop

Citations

"Aries Constellation". Constellation Guide. Constellations: A Guide to the Night Sky. 2015. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/aries-constellation/>

Zimmerman, Kim A. "Aries Constellation: Facts About the Ram". Space.com. 10 Aug. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2015. <http://www.space.com/17052-aries-constellation.html>

Pisces Constellation

Up in the north sky, the star constellation Pisces can be seen tonight. This is a zodiac constellation where its name in Latin means fish. This was named by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy. The location of the Pisces is found in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere and holds the galaxy Messier 74 inside of it (Constellation Guide). There are many stories from ancient civilizations that describe this constellation in their stories. One of the many interesting stories come from the Greeks where it is thought that there are two fish attached to each end. In the story, Aphrodite and Eros tie themselves together, turned themselves in fishes, and escaped into the sea. They were escaping from the destruction of Mount Olympus (Astronomy Guide).
While gazing at this constellation during the night, it is important to remember that it is only visible without air pollution and only shows during the months between August and January (Constellation Guide).

Picture drawn by Victoria Wynecoop

Citation:

Astronomy Guide: Solar System Quick. Pisces Constellation. 2015. Date of Access: Nov. 9, 2015. 

Constellation Guide: A Guide To The Night Sky. Pisces Constellation. Omega WordPress. 2015.                    Web. Date of access: Nov. 9, 2015. 

Jupiter Moons

Tonight, four moons of Jupiter can be seen from the night sky. These are referred to as the Galilean moons where they are individually named as Lo, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.They were discovered by Galileo Galilee and are named after him in his honor.  According to the article by Matt Williams, Jupiter holds the most moons out of all the solar planets in our solar system. The moons of Jupiter are rather interesting because they are so vastly different from one another that they are placed into categories to distinguish them (Williams). By focusing on the four big moons of Jupiter, Lo is considered to be the most volcanic in the solar system. This is because the atmosphere of Lo is very thin and mainly composed of sulfur dioxide. Europa is considered to be the smallest of the Galilean moons and is slightly smaller than the Earth's moon. On the surface of Europa, there is ice that is cracked and many researchers question what could be underneath it (Casani). Compared to Europa, Ganymede is the biggest in the solar system. The characteristics of Ganymede is bright and smooth on one side, and dark and heavily cratered on the other side. It is overall an icy moon and is created through a liquid iron core (Casani).  Callisto is an interesting moon compared to the other three. This moon travels around Jupiter at its own pace and lacks an iron core. It also has a thin atmosphere with carbon dioxide surrounding it (Williams). 

The Four Moons of Jupiter

Picture by Harvard Microobservatory

Citation

Leutwyler, Kristin. "The Moons of Jupiter." New York: Nevraumont Publishing Company, 2003.                      Print.

Williams, Matt. "What Are the Moons of Jupiter?" Universe Today. Web. Sept. 14, 2015. Retrieved 

              from http://www.universetoday.com/52061/moons-of-jupiter/