Quarter 3 Biography: James Keeler

             James Keeler Biography

             James Edward Keeler was born September 10^th, 1857 in La Salle, Illinois. He was born to the parents William Keeler, assistant paymaster on an ironclad steamship, and Anne Dutton.  Throughout his career he made many significant contributions to astronomy that have helped its advancement over the ages.

            Growing up, James studied at public schools in his hometown of La Salle, Illinois.  He later moved to Mayport, Florida in 1869 where he was home schooled for a short time.  He eventually transferred to Johns Hopkins University with financial assistance from philanthropist Charles H. Rockwell and graduated in 1881 with degrees in Physics, German, Math, Chemistry, and Astronomy. He then began working at the Lick Observatory where director Edward Holden lobbied to have Johns Hopkins grant him a Ph.D for his work with the observatory but the University would not break their rule of only giving degrees for work done on campus. Despite irritating and disappointing Keeler, it did not prevent him from his future success.

            As an astronomer, Keeler was one of the first to utilize Spectroscopy to study and analyze the composition of light from stars and other celestial objects and thus was regarded as one of the leading Astronomical Spectroscopists of the era.  He was also one of the pioneers of Astrophysics, or applying physics to gain a better understanding of celestial phenomenon.  Through this work he realized that Saturn’s rings were actually made up of numerous particles, each individual particle orbiting the planet, and in this process he made note of what was later named Keeler’s Gap.  He furthered his research on Saturn by using his skill in Spectroscopy to verify James Maxwell’s hypothesis that the particles orbiting Saturn moved at different speeds, and after he proved the hypothosis correct he gained my fame and renown in the world of astronomy. 

            Additionally, Keeler did much to improve the current understanding of Spiral Nebulae and Spiral Galaxies through his research at the Lick Observatory using the Crossley Reflector Telescope.  Most of his observations were in and around the constellation Andromeda, or the Queen, and more notably M31 inside the constellation. 

            One of his most important contributions however was his promoting of the use of his newly developed method of Astrophysics.  In 1895, along with George Hale, he founded the Astrophysical Journal for communication among the adherents of the “New Astronomy.”  He also produced the first regular graduate program at the University of California that helped produce much research in both Astronomy and Astrophysics.  Through his observations here, he demonstrated the prowess of the reflecting telescope over the refracting for certain cases in which the reflecting could be larger and cheaper.  Finally, Keeler also did some fundraising to advance his research efforts in both Astronomy and Astrophysics to help further his cause.

            It is clear that James Keeler did much to enhance our understanding of our skies and the celestial objects they contain.  Since he took interest in Astronomy as a child, he has worked effortlessly to spread his theories and ideas and reveal to the world the true mysteries that astronomy beholds.

APOD 3.6

February 25th, 2011.           NGC 4449: Close-up of a Small Galaxy.

This image is of a small galaxy known as NGC 4449.  It is located at an amazing distance of 12 million light-years away. Despite its vast distance from Earth, the galaxy itself spans only 20,000 light-years.    The galaxy was found by William Herschel in 1788 and is currently recorded at a 9.4 magnitude.  It is a Magellanic Dwarf Galaxy, often compared to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) which is known to be our Milky Way's satellite.  The picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the reason for the reddish tint of the clouds is due to the presence of Hydrogen Gas.  These red clouds actually resemble star forming regions, with enormous interstellar arcs and bubble formations.  NGC 4449 is a part of a group of galaxies found in the constellation Canes Venatici which I believe is next on our list of constellations we are going to learn in class. It is believed that interactions with these nearby galaxies have had a great effect and played a key role in the star development of NGC 4449.

Q3 Astronomer Bio. Sources: James Keeler

Sources:  

http://www-keeler.ch.cam.ac.uk/lectures/

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/K/Keeler.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/961/000167460/

http://johnbrashear.tripod.com/bio/KeelerJ.htm

Gale Library Sources:

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=fl_sarhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R3&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=3&contentSet=GALE|CX1782700067&&docId=GALE|CX1782700067&docType=GALE&role=

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=fl_sarhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&contentSet=GALE|CX2830101807&&docId=GALE|CX2830101807&docType=GALE&role=

APOD 3.5

February 14th, 2011.                                     The Rosette Nebula

How fitting was it that the Rosette Nebula happened to be an APOD of the day during the week in which we learned about the constellation Monoceros in class.  Also known as NGC 2237, the Rosette Nebula is an Emission Nebula containing an open cluster of bright stars at the center known as NGC 2244.  It is believed that these stars formed four from Nebular Material.  Currently, these stars' stellar winds are clearing a hole at the center of the galaxy, insulating it by the dust and gas that we learned make up the interstellar medium.  Ultraviolet light coming off as radiation from the cluster of stars in the center of the Nebula cause the glowing effect that makes the Nebula look so interesting and intriguing.  The Rosette Nebula is located about 5,000 Light-Years away and spans for a distance of 1,000 Light-Years across.

Astronomy Cast Episode 201: Titan

Astronomy Cast Episode 201: Titan
              Titan is planet Saturn's best known moon. However, it is not so famous only for its size.  Titan is also famous for its possibility of future life.  Titan has long been thought to look like Earth when it was in its early stages. Recent studies have found both amino acids and nucleotide bases on the moon as well, which are the basic building blocks of Earth's life.  Recent discoveries have found to be even more promising than expected, showing signs of both high energy oxygen ions as well as molecular ions in the atmosphere.  If the oxygen ions were to join with these molecular ions, it could be very possible that the conditions for life would be possible.  However, the top region of Titan receives intense radiation that could possibly break apart these molecules, having potential and unknown dangers that researches are trying to determine.  Additionally, Titan has been well known for its possession of hydrocarbons that cycle from the atmosphere to the surface like rain does, however remaining in the form of organic chemicals.  These, along with many other signs, all point to the same theory. Life on Titan may be possible, however scientists from all over want to be very clear that just because it is thought to be possible does not mean it currently exists.

Astro Cast Episode 213: Supermassive Black Holes

Astronomycast Episode 213: Supermassive Black Holes.
           Most Galaxies will contain one or more of these black holes.  Usually, there are quite a few of these supermassive black holes located at the center of each galaxy.  Since no light is permitted to escape from a black hole, they are very hard for scientists to detect and must be detected indirectly.  The active black holes feed on the gas and dust in the rings that surround them. As these dusts particles fall into the black holes at very fast speeds, it causes friction that enables the particles to light up in X-Ray and infrared, allowing the astronomers to find these black holes.  These objects are the Active Galactic Nuclei or AGN. The supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxies is called the quasar, which is a type of these AGNs.  Due to new computer technology, research on black hole development has shown that growing black holes release a blast of energy that regulate galaxy evolution and black hole growth itself.  When the Universe began, it is believed that the black holes were much smaller but over time these have been pulled together and combined forming the supermassive black holes with masses a billion times that of our sun's.

APOD 3.4

February 10th, 2011.                      Hanny's Voorwerp.

Hanny's Voorwerp is the Dutch term for Hanny's Object.  It is an enormous object, about the size of our own milky way galaxy.  The glowing greenish color of the galaxy comes from ionized oxygen atoms.  It lays below spiral galaxy IC 2497 which is the pinkish swirl above.  This picture was taken from the Hubble Space Telescope and the galaxies are both located 650 million light-years away in the constellation Leo Minor which we have yet to learn.  The green cloud is now suspected to be part of a tidal tail of material illuminated by a quasar and follows the above galaxy IC 2497.  The quasar which was powered by a massive black hole at the center suddenly stopped working, thus leaving it so only the green glow can be seen by the telescope at optimal wave lengths.  This mystery galaxy was discovered only recently when Hanny van Arkel noticed it while participating in the Galaxy Zoo project in 2007. 

APOD 3.3

February 4th, 2011.                                           Zeta Oph: Runaway Star

Unfortunately, while looking through this weeks pictures there was nothing that really appealed to me, including one APOD that would not load, however luckily the final APOD I clicked stood out as an immediate interest.  This Picture is of the Runaway Star Zeta Ophiuchi taken by an infrared telescope, the WISE spaceship. This star is estimated to be 20 times larger than our sun and moving at a speed of 24 kilometers/second.  It has a strong stellar wind preceding it that compresses and heats the interstellar dust molecules that form the curved cloudy material around the blue star in the center of the picture.  This is interesting how the main appearance of the star is formed by the interstellar medium, just as we were talking about in class the past few days.  It is believed that Zeta Oph was once the part of a binary star system along with a more massive and thus shorter life star. When this start exploded causing a supernova, the force flung the Zeta star out of the system.  Located about 460 light years away, Zeta Oph is 65,000 times more luminous than our sun and the only thing preventing it from being one of the brighter stars in our solar system is the cloud that surrounds formed of the interstellar medium aforementioned.

Observation 02/02/11

Observing from My Driveway, Northern Sarasota.
Time: 7:40 p.m.

In anticipation for the Iridium Flare, I brought my entire family out into the middle of the street to observe. Looking to the east I saw a twinkling star which I at first mistook as the flare, only to realize it was still early so that the glowing object was Jupiter.  Then, right on cue, the iridium Flare appeared right over the trees I was concerned might block the way, looking like a short line.  It was nowhere near as bright as I had anticipated, and it was only a matter of seconds before it disappeared behind a cloud and was never visible again.  This was quite a disappointment but I am eagerly awaited another opportunity to observe this type of flare.