Q3 Astronomer Biography Sources

Atkinson, Neill. "Barnard, William Edward - Biography." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4b5/1>.
"Edward Emerson Barnard (1857-1923)." SEDS Messier Database. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://messier.seds.org/xtra/Bios/barnard.html>.
"Edward Emerson Barnard Biography." BookRags. BookRags. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.bookrags.com/biography/edward-emerson-barnard/>.

The Formation of Stars

A star is formed out of cloud of cool, dense molecular gas that collapses and increases in density. This can happen when the cloud collides with another dense molecular cloud or it is near enough to another cloud to encounter the pressure caused by a giant supernova. Multiple stars can be formed at once with the collision of two galaxies. In both instances, heat from the mutual gravity pulling all the material inward is required in order to fuel the reaction. The newborn star is called a protostar.

Next, the protostar can become a brown dwarf (a sub-stellar object that cannot maintain high enough temperatures to perpetuate hydrogen fusion to helium) if it's a small star. If it's a medium or large protostar, it can either undergo a proton-proton chain reaction to convert hydrogen to helium, or a carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle to convert hydrogen to helium. The difference is that the carbon-nitrogen-oxygen cycle occurs at much higher temperatures. After any of these processes, a new star is formed.

From there, the life cycle depends on how quickly the star consumes hydrogen. Once it has consumed most of its hydrogen, it is considered to be mature.

APOD 3.5

The Rosette Nebula (February 14, 2012)

This image is of the Rosette Nebula, located in the constellation Monocerous, about 5,000 light years away.  The Unicorn is a nursery for new, hot stars, explaining the reddish coloration.  One is able to observe the nebula through a small telescope.

Observation on February 12, 2012

Date: Sunday February 12, 2012
Time: 7:00 to 9:00 EST
Temperature: 47 degrees F
Location: Pine View School, Osprey, FL
Weather: Partly cloudy

It was quite chilly at our stargaze last night, but that did not stop us from seeing the stars!  Through the telescope we were able to see Jupiter, and we viewed the Pleiades through binoculars.
We were able to identify the constellations Pegasus, Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Taurus, Orion, Eridanus, Canis Major and Minor, Cancer, Gemini, and part of Leo and Ursa Major.
We were able to identify M42, the Hyades, and the stars Betelgeuse, Rigel, Aldebaran, Procyon, Sirius (the brightest star in the winter sky), Pollux, and Castor.
During the night we were also able to identify Venus and Jupiter located about 17 or 18 degrees apart from one another.
Though it was chilly and a little cloudy, we were able to spot so many things!

APOD 3.4

Dust of the Orion Nebula (February 6, 2012) 

This image shows the Orion Nebula, located 1600 light years away.  The cool stars in the nebula are surrounded by dust clouds that are expelled by a strong outer wind of particles.  The star cluster Trapezium is embedded in the nebula, along with M42 and M43.

APOD 3.3

La Silla Star Trails North and South (February 2, 2012)

This picture was taken with a tripod set up at ESO's La Silla Observatory in the Atacama desert of Chile.  The camera was out for about 4 hours on the night of January 24 and the picture is a composite of 250 consecutive 1-minute exposures, looking toward the north. The 15-meter diameter dish is of the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (now decommissioned).  Right of the dish is the dome of the observatory's 3.6 meter telescope, which holds the planet hunting HARPS spectrograph.

APOD 3.2

Red Aurora Over Australia (February 1, 2012)

The solar storms from the active sunspot region 1402 showered particles on Earth that excited oxygen particles in the atmosphere.  Due to the excited electrons falling to their ground state, they emitted a red glow.  If the excited particles were lower in the atmosphere, they would have emitted more of a green glow.  It's still not certain why there were no green lights.