Night-Sky Observation #3 (Light Pollution/ Star Count)

Night-Sky Observation 3:

 Light Pollution

 

 

 

Light Pollution Map of the United States

 

 
Location:  Womelsdorf, PA
Date/ Time:  June 26th, 2013 at 12:30 A.M.

 

Stars Observed:

1.  1
2.  3
3.  3
4.  1
5. 2 
6.  2
7.  3
8.  1
9. 3 
10.  2
11.  3
12.  3
13.  2
14.  2
15.  4
16.  3
17.  4
18.   4
19.   4
20. 3

- Cumulative Total:  62
- Divided by 20:  3.1


Multiplied by 99.2=  307.52 stars



Observation Notes:

Well, I had to wait quite a while to see a night-sky worth observing.  Because of the storm earlier, the sky was covered in clouds well after sunset and up until about midnight.  Slowly the moonlight made its way through, followed by the appearance of the stars.  The Big Dipper was very noticeable and I also observed that through the toilet-paper roll, the stars became more apparent.  I believe having my vision condensed allowed my eyes to focus in on more stars.  Considering the conditions, it was a relatively clear night.  The light pollution seemed very low because what stars I could see were extremely vivid.  I will blame the weather conditions for the small amount of stars per view.  Regardless, it was a pretty night to do a night-sky observation!

Meteor Shower Party Planner

 

* Meteor Shower Party *

 

Mission:  I wanted to create a party plan for an upcoming meteor shower.  Using the table above, you can see when is the best time to view a meteor shower in 2013.

The next meteor shower is July 30th, 2013.   However, the meteor shower in August has 50 meteors per hour!   I would like to plan to watch the meteor shower from a camp-site, so to enjoy it to the maximum ability!  I enjoy camping at a site in Hamburg, PA so that is probably where I would go. 

 

 

You will need:

 

• Camping supplies (Here is a site that has a camping check-list.  Most of these items aren't necessary for an overnight camping trip, but it's still useful:  Real Simple Camping Packing List)
• Camera
• Binoculars (even though you won't need them to see the meteor shower, it might be fun to get a closer look!)

Party Plan:

 

Hike up around the early-afternoon & enjoy the day in the woods... the campsite I know of has a small stream nearby which is helpful for staying cool during the hotter months. 

 

 

Set up camp & enjoy this Night-Sky inspired playlist:

 

• "Dark Star" - Grateful Dead
• "Standing on the Moon" - Grateful Dead
• "Starry Eyes" - Roky Erickson
• "Waiting for the Moon to Rise" - Belle & Sebastian
• "Song About the Moon" - Paul Simon
• "Moondance" - Van Morrison
• "Bad Moon Rising" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
•  "Moonshadow" - Cat Stevens

 

 

Food & Drink:

 

Easy Recipe for Cosmos (Cosmopolitans)

 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cosmopolitan/

 

 

Space shaped sandwiches!  Use cookie cutters in space-shapes to create fun sandwiches! 

 

 

 

 

 

Space-shaped Goldfish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Extras:

 

This is a great Pinterest board that uses all moon & stars inspired clothing, decorations & quotes.

 

http://pinterest.com/taught2love/the-moon-and-the-stars-party/

 

 How to Watch a Meteor Shower:

 

http://www.howcast.com/videos/432517-How-to-Watch-a-Meteor-Shower

A Universe From Nothing

"A Universe From Nothing"


An incredible video... Lawrence Krauss talks about cosmology and the mystery in science... the idea that something could come from nothing. 

Sun Observation (Night Sky #2) on June 12th, 2013

This is my observation from the telescope at Kutztown University on June 12th, 2013.  It was approximately 6:15 P.M. when I took this observation.

I was able to locate the chromosphere and prominences on the sun.  The prominences appeared a darker red, almost like a line across the surface.  I saw some at the top left corner and more at the bottom right corner.  Overall, I was impressed with how clearly we could see the sun... enough so that I was able to notice distinct traits... and I definitely don't know what I'm doing with a telescope! 

 

 

The chromosphere is the red ring I outlined around the sun, the prominences are represented using the curved red lines.

Pluto

 

 

Since I am not a talented illustrator (I prefer painting), I decided to use this program to create what I think Pluto would look like.  It's called Astro-Venture and it allows you enter specifics about your planet (though there wasn't an option for dwarf planet) and then it creates an image for you.  I entered the distance away from the sun, whether or not it would have active volcanoes and if there would be plate tectonics and this is what I ended up with.  It is a little different than what I imagined, but relatively close... I have read that Pluto may be more brown in color and have some lighter spots but the overall look seems about right. 

Moon Illusion (Night Sky Observation #1)

ASSIGNMENT:  Moon Illusion

(C'mon, Super-Moon!  Just barely able to make it out through the clouds.  The sky is lit up so beautifully, every so often the clouds break and you can see the glowing outline.)

11:45 P.M.

 

11:59 P.M.

1. Observe the moonrise and record the time and date:  June 23rd, 2013.  At 9:00 P.M. there was no visible moon.  At 9:30 there was also no visible moon.  At 10:09, when I made my observations, the moon was covered by clouds.  At one moment the clouds opened very slightly and I was able to see a faint shape of what I believe was the moon (hopefully it was not just moon-light).  At this point, the moon was 50 degrees latitude using the fist-method we learned in class.



2. Record any color that you notice:  This was not a great night for an observation because of the conditions.  I will check back later tonight to see if I can get a better look.  Last night, the color was perfectly white with some small darker spots that were only visible with my camera.  To the naked eye, it was glowing white.



3. Record the shape of the Moon- draw it:  N.A. for tonight's observation.  Yesterday it was a full-moon with beams of light surrounding the circle.



4. Measure the size of the Moon using your “moon ruler*”.




5. Record the altitude of the Moon. Repeat the observations when the Moon is higher in the sky that same evening: 

50 degrees at 10:09 P.M.

Super Moon 2013

Tomorrow is the "Super Moon" of 2013 and so to get prepared, I took a shot of it today.  Tomorrow I will post another photo of the moon to compare & contrast this full-moon with the super one coming up!

Super-moon Explained

This article explains the super-moon.  When the moon is closest to the Earth, it is called perigee.  According to this article, the moon will appear about 12% bigger tomorrow night.  It is supposed to be the largest the moon will appear all year!  It seems perfect, then, that it occurs right before our night-sky observations are due.  I am looking forward to analyzing the super-moon tomorrow, but here are my shots from tonight:

Black Hole Cluster

Black Hole Cluster

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/nasa-small-black-hole-cluster

Moon on June 17th, 2013

The moon at approximately 8:30 P.M. on June 17th, 2013

 

 

 

 

Sunset at 8:30 P.M.

 

 

 

 

The moon at 12:30 A.M. on June 18th, 2013



The Sad, Sad Black Hole... Part I

Zooniverse

My group chose to do the project titled "Find Planets Around Stars".  To find new planets, the site has you look at the brightness of stars over time.  When a planet passes in front of a star, there will be a dip in the brightness of the star.  Depending on the distance of the planet from the star, there could be just one dip or many.  When using Zooniverse, we are asked to mark the dips in the star's brightness.  These are called "transits".

You can see the tutorial if you follow this link:  http://www.planethunters.org/tutorial


What I've learned from using Zooniverse is that most stars have planets around them!  Of the 31 stars I did, I found that the vast majority had transits.  Usually there were many transits, not just one.  I suppose we cannot only be ethnocentric or geocentric, we can also be solar-system-centric!  It seems that it is more likely that other stars have planets orbiting them than it is that ours is somehow special!

Science & History in the Bible

As someone who nearly majored in Philosophy, I find this list very interesting.  It describes the conflicts between the Bible & science. 

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/science/long.html

Visual Chart of

Newton's Laws of Motion

1st Law	2nd Law	3rd Law

Best Places to View the Night Sky List

 

 

Best Places to View the Night Sky in the U.S.

 

A List for My Daughter

 

I tried to make this list do-able, meaning I chose places where I had family or friends whom we could also visit or places within Pennsylvania.  This is a list of great star-gazing sites that I hope my daughter and I can one day visit.

 

 

*  Grand Canyon, AZ:  We could stay with my friend who lives in Superior, AZ.  The drive will be about four hours, but well worth it.  It would be fun to go during a star-party!

 

 

*  Sedona, AZ:  This will be about a 3 hour drive away from Superior.  Several companies offer star-gazing tours here & the city has 300 clear nights a year!

 

 

 

 

*  Cherry Springs State Park, PA:  This is about a four-hour drive from my house but as a Pennsylvanian it would be crazy to miss out on this experience!  According to this website, "It's one of the only spots in the United States listed as a gold site by the International Dark-Sky Association (IDSA)".  We would most likely camp, saving on hotel-bills & enjoying the experience of a beautiful night sky above our heads.

 

 

 

 

*  Joshua Tree National Park:  Because I have several friends & some family in Southern California, it would be a great idea to make a visit to CA in the near future and see the night sky from Joshua Tree National Park.  Here is a link to the many events the park holds for star-gazers:

 

http://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/stargazing.html

 

 

 

 

 

 



Seasons Review

This is a short quiz that I composed using my notes from class.  The answers are found if you scroll below. 

 

Seasons Quiz

 

1.  Why do we have seasons on Earth?

 

2.  What part of the Earth does not have extreme weather changes, such as winter and summer?

 

3.  If the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing summer, the Southern Hemisphere is experiencing their ________.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers:

 

1.  The reason our planet experiences seasons is because it is tilted 23. 5 degrees.  This tilt accounts for the changes in seasons and is the reason why the North & South experience different temperatures.

 

2.  The Earth's equator, because it is not effected by the tilt the way the Northern & Southern Hemispheres are, does not experience the four seasons we in the North are used to.  Instead, the variation of temperatures near the Equator is more so due to the Tropical Rain Belt.

 

3.  Winter.  Whatever season the North is in, the South is experiencing its opposite:  Summer/ Winter or Spring/ Fall.

Teaching Moon Phases to My Daughter

 

Using the guide I found on moonconnection.com, I showed my daughter the moon phases using chalk outside.  The colored-in parts represent the part lit up.

 

 

 

 

Waning Gibbous & Waxing Gibbous Moons

 

 

Scarlett is dividing our moon in half...

 

 

Standing in First Quarter Moon

 

 

Waxing Gibbous Hula Hoop!

 

Our moons!

 

 

I showed Scarlett the moon guide and asked her to help me create them outside.  She then stood inside the part of the moon that is receiving light.