APOD 4.1

Jupiter and Venus from Earth (March 18, 2012)

Taken in Szubin, Poland, this is a photograph of the planets Jupiter and Venus in conjunction with one another.  A couple of weeks ago, this proximity was able to be observed all over the world.  Jupiter has now sunken below the brighter Venus, and Mars is also able to be seen if one looks higher in the sky.  Another conjunction between Venus and Jupiter will occur next May.

Astronomy Cast 3.1: Schrodinger’s Cat (Episode 249)

Schrodinger’s Cat's is an illustration in quantum theory of superposition describing that we can never truly know what is happening to something or what it's doing if we can't see it.  The experiment was done by  Erwin Schrödinger in 1935.  The basic set up of the experiment is a living cat is placed in a steel chamber along with device containing a vial of a very small about of hydrocyanic acid (which is a radioactive substance).  Once the substance starts to decay, it triggers a mechanism that breaks the vial, releasing the acid, which would kill the cat.  Because the container is enclosed and the observer cannot see inside, they are unaware if the substance has started to decay, and if the cat is dead.  Since there is no way of knowing without opening the box, the cat is considered to be dead and alive in what is known as a superposition of states.  It is concluded that because the outcome is determined my the observation, the outcome does not exist unless the observation is made.

APOD 3.8

The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms (March 24, 2012)

In this photo the New Moon during the equinox was illuminated by Earthlight in a process called Earthshine.  The picture was taken on March 20 in Esfahan, Iran.  A large portion of the light that is shone on the Moon is due to cloud cover, but Leonardo da Vinci's description from 500 years ago explains that it's from light reflected off the oceans.

Supernova Remnants

SN 1604 (Kepler's Supernova)

First observed on October 9, 1604 in Italy, Kepler's Nova occurred in the Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation Ophiuchus.  The supernova occurred about 20,000 light-years from Earth, and had a peak magnitude of about -2.5.  It has a 17h 40m 42s right ascension, and −21° 29′ declination.  This remnant type is known as Ia meaning it is from the violent explosion of a white dwarf.

W49B

Located 35,000 light-years from Earth, W49B is a barrel shaped believed to be the remnant of a gamma-ray burst.  A gamma ray burst is produced when a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel and the star's core collapses to form a black hole surrounded by a disk of extremely hot, rapidly rotating, magnetized gas. Much of this gas is pulled into the black hole, but some is flung away in oppositely directed jets of gas traveling at near the speed of light, leaving the image you see above.  The image was taken with the Chandra X-ray telescope.  The burst is believed to have occurred about 1,000 years ago.  It's located at 19h 11m 09s right ascension and +09° 06' 24 declination.

Veil Nebula

 Located in the constellation Cygnus at 20h 45m 38.0s right ascension and +30° 42′ 30″ declination, the Veil Nebula is about 1,470 light-years away.  It has an apparent magnitude of 7.0 and has an apparent diameter of 3 degrees in the sky.  The source supernova is believed to have exploded about 5,000 to 8,000 years ago.It was discovered by William Herschel on September 5, 1784.

APOD 3.7

The Mysterious Rings of Supernova 1987A (February 26, 2012)

In 1987, the largest supernova in recent history was seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.  In the photograph, the object in the center is the remnants  of a violent stellar explosion.  The rings surrounding it are unknown but are speculated to have been caused by beamed jets emanating from an otherwise hidden neutron star left over from the supernova, or the interaction of the wind from the progenitor star with gas released before the explosion.  Whatever they are, it make for a pretty nifty picture.

Q3 Astronomer Biography: Edward Emerson Bernard

Edward Emerson Bernard was an American astronomer and astronomical photographer born on December 16, 1857, in Nashville, Tennessee.  Bernard was schooled by his mother until he was nine, and then was employed for 16 years for a photographer in Nashville where he was trained in photographic processing.  This training and his knowledge of  photographic lenses became useful in his career as an astronomer.
Bernard became interested in astronomy in 1876 after reading a book about astronomy and building his first telescope out of a broken spyglass.  He continued working as a photographer's assistant while studying astronomy at night.
On May 12, 1881, Barnard discovered his first comet, which however he did not announce. He found his second comet on September 17 of the same year, and another one on September 13, 1882.  After these discoveries, he was accepted to Vanderbilt University and graduated in 1887 with a bachelor's in science.  He was then appointed junior astronomer at the recently established Lick Observatory, which had a new 36-inch telescope.  This was the largest telescope in the world, at the time.  In 1892, Bernard discovered Jupiter's fifth moon, Amalthea.  He later discovered the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth moons of Jupiter as well.    Bernard also started to photograph the Milky Way Galaxy, capturing the intricate designs which he became famous for.
In 1895, Bernard accepted a position at the Yerkes Observatory, and started observing using the 40-inch photographic telescope in 1897.  Barnard next began the micrometric triangulation of some of the globular clusters, which he continued for nearly 25 years, hoping to detect motions of the individual stars.
In 1916 he discovered the proper motion of the 9.5 magnitude star cataloged as Munich 15040 or LFT 1385 located in the constellation Ophiuchus.  This star later became known as Bernard's Star.  In his lifetime, Edward Emerson Bernard collected 1400 negatives of comets, nearly 4000 plates of the Milky Way and other star fields, published more than 900 papers, had the honor having a Mars crater, moon crater, asteroid, and residence hall at Vanderbilt University after him.  he died on February 6, 1923 at the age of 66.

APOD 3.6

A Sailing Stone in Death Valley (February 22, 2012)

This photo was taken in the dry lake bed  Racetrack Playa in Death Valley, California.  Oddly, big rock such as the one pictured above somehow manage to make it into an open area of the flat area.  What scientists hypothesize is that after a rain, when the ground is wet, high winds are able to push rocks, even the 300 kg one in the picture above.  Holy cow!