APOD 2.6

December 9, 2010                                           M81 and Arp's Loop

After seeing this swirling body which is exactly what I imagine when I think of the possibilities of space, I immediately chose this to do my APOD on.  The focus of the picture is on spiral M81 which is one of the brightest galaxies in Earth's sky and is nearly the same size as the Milky Way.  This galaxy is located 11.8 million light years away in the constellation Ursa Minor, which as we learned contains the current North Star Polaris.  The blue spiral arms surrounding the inner yellow core are sweeping dust lanes.  On the right edge of the galaxy lies what is known as Arp's Loop, which has a tidal tail made up of material pulled in from M81's gravitational pull interacting with that of the large neighboring M82.  Recent research of Arp's loop in infrared have matched earlier research, giving belief that some of Arp's loop may be located within our own galaxy.

APOD 2.5

November 25, 2010                                                Stardust in Aries

This picture covers nearly 2 degrees across the sky, right next to the Zodiac and constellation Aries.  The blue dusty reflection at the lower right hand corner of the photograph is a nebula surrounding a star known as vdB 13 located 1,000 light years away.  In the upper left hand corner lays vdB 16 which again is surrounded by a bluish nebula.  The dusty material makes up a molecular cloud that lays home to many hidden newly formed stars and stellar objects.  These give the molecular cloud a high density core which allows for protostars to begin forming around.

APOD 2.4

November 18, 2010.      Spiral Galaxy M66

This spiral galaxy, better known as M66, is located 35 million light-years away and spans for over 100,000 light-years across. This galaxy is well known as part of the Leo Triplet of galaxies, also containing M65 and NGC 3628, all of which can be seen from the same field of view.  The spiral arms seen in the picture are formed from a mixture of dust particles as well as blue star clusters. Also in the mix of these spiral arms are pink masses of energized hydrogen gas, giving it the pinkish glow coming through the blue. Some of the brighter stars seen are in fact stars found in the Milky Way, however some of the fainter and more distant objects are actually other galaxies found near by, as explained by the Leo Triplet.  It is believed that the gravitational forces acting between these galaxies are the cause of the attraction that causes spinning and results in the spiraling effect, making galaxy M66 such a spectacular sight.

Great World Wide Starcount

November 10, 2010.
Observing from my backyard, Northern Sarasota.

While looking for the Cygnus in the Southern Triangle from my backyard, located at a latitude of 27.37387 degrees and a longitude of -82.55629 degrees according to the site's Geocoder, I compared my view to the magnitude charts on the website and determined that from my house, my view was equivalent to Chart 3.  This may be the result of neighboring lights still turned on in my viewing radius limiting the sight of the lesser magnitude stars.

APOD 2.3

November 12, 2010.        NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula.

This amazing picture was taken of the Iris Nebula located 1,300 Light Years away in the constellation Cepheus and spans about 6 Light Years across.  This really intrigued me as it seems that a good number of the pictures I choose each week are located near or in Cepheus and I am still trying to find out why this is.  Apparently, the picture is supposed to be representative of flowers, although I did not get that impression.  It greatly exemplifies the great colors and symmetry that can occur in these Nebulae and thus NGC 7023 is a good model.  The bright object in the upper right hand corner is a hot, young star, while the surrounding transparent clouds are dusty nebular materials. The bluish color around the star is a result of the dust particles reflecting starlight, which usually comes out to be a similar color.  The surrounding dust takes on a more faint red look as a result of these particles reflecting some of the star's ultraviolet radiation.  Recent observations using infrared technology by the Spitzer Telescope are leading astronomers to believe that this Nebula may contain PAHs, or advanced and complex carbon molecules.

APOD 2.2

October 30, 2010.     Ghost of the Cepheus Flare.

Being Halloween time, it is only fitting that the APOD I chose was of a ghost.  This picture is actually titled the Ghost of the Cepheus Flare, and since we recently learned about the constellation Cepheus, or the King, it was even more appropriate to choose this picture.  The brown shadow that forms the ghostlike apparition is actually a cosmic dust cloud that is being reflected in the starlight.  The bright blue object shown in the picture is actually the Cepheus Flare located 1200 light years away in the northern part of the milky way.  The core of the cosmic dust cloud that forms the apparition is actually collapsing upon itself and it much like the process of a binary star system.  While I found this picture to be one of the most interesting yet, there was little information provided about it and the links were of little relevance so it was hard to gather much information about the topic.

APOD 2.1

October 28, 2010.                 Mirach's Ghost.

The photo shown above is of the gallaxy known to astronomers as Mirach's Gallaxy for its location along the line of sight to the bright star Mirach.  The gallaxy itself is very faint and fuzzy, so it is hard to make accurate observations about it, however its presence is still well known to astronomers.  Mirach's Ghost, or NGC 404, is actually a dwarf lenticular gallaxy in the constellation Andromeda, however the glare from Mirach or Beta Andromeda located only a few arc seconds away inhibits clear view.  Mirach is a red giant star, and is suprisingly much larger than our sun, however it is much cooler so while it may shine brighter, it does not produce nearly as much heat.  The gallaxy got its name from the diffraction spikes caused by the glare of the bright star when viewed by astronomers.  In the picture, the bright center star is Mirach, and above and to the right, the smaller more distant blur is NGC 404, or Mirach's Gallaxy, estimated to be around 10 million light years away.