APOD 2.6

What you see in this unique picture are Moondogs. You are probably wondering two things. One that I did not say Sundogs and two, dog what? Well, usually during the morning in the winter season the trajectory of the sunlight through hexagonal ice crystals that are in the sky bend 22 degrees and cause Sundogs. The same thing happens with Moondogs except it is the moon's light that bends. Also, these Moondogs are commonly located in the opposite direction in the sky compared to the Sundogs who are on each side of the Sun. They are called Moon-dogs because it refers to the word follow, therefore, Moondogs follow the Moon just like Sundogs follow the Sun. These Moondogs are usually faint so it is rare to catch a view at one of these beauties.
PS. If you can see the white dot next to the bright white glow that is on the right, then you are looking at our friend Jupiter!

APOD 2.5

As you can tell, there are multiple clusters and stars gathering around NGC 7822. Thanks to NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer this picture can be captures in the location of the constellation Cepheus. The bright orange cluster you can see in the picture has a great amount of powerful energetic radiation sending strong winds.

APOD 2.4

Created by the debris from explosion of a massive star, the Crab Nebula contains the Crab Pulsar. A rare neutron star, the Crab Pulsar spins 30 times a second. This remnant energizes the Crab's emissions in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is located in the constellation Taurus about 6,500 light years away.

APOD 2.3

What do you know about the constellation Orion? Yes, you're right it does have three bright stars that make up the belt, but what else? The Flame Nebula is right below the Alnitak star. To the right of the stars there is the Horsehead Nebula. On the right corner there is the Orion Nebula, which consist of gasses with energetic caldron. Last but not least, at the top of the picture there exist multiple blue stars called the Running Man. Now that you know the few phenomenas that make up the Orion constellation think about how many light years they all are. All of the phenomenas named above are about 75 light years away. Amazing!

APOD 2.2

This disk galaxy is called NGC 4762. It is nearby the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. Thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope we are able to view how thin this disk galaxy is. NGC 4762 is so thin that it is difficult to identify the type of disk galaxy it is. As far as we know the stellar line is about 100,000 light years! But do not think this disk galaxy is too rare; it is about as thin as our own Milky Way Galaxy. Also, did you catch the other galaxies surrounding NGC 4762? Breath taking right? It truly is an infinite world out there.

APOD 2.1

This is the Veil Nebula. It was created by an explosion of a enormous star and what you are seeing are debris clouds. From Earth, the Veil Nebula is about one half of a degree, about the same apparent size of the Moon. Its distance is about 12 light years! Thanks to the technology we have today we are bale to view the beauty of this phenomena.

APOD 1.8

Located closed to the constellation of Scorpius, Messier 6 and Comet Siding Sprint are about 2,000 light-years away. It has been concluded that the comet will be passing by the planet Mars with only 139,500 kilometers of distance. The comet will be observed by a spacecraft in Mars's orbit. Can you believe it will be the first comet that will be studied by spacecraft? Stay tune on the information the spacecraft will fine.

Johann Bayer Biography

Angie Aramayo

Mr. Percival

Astronomy Period 1

10 Oct. 2014

Johann Bayer

The astronomer Johann Bayer was born in 1572 on Rhain, Germany.  He went to the University of Ingolstadt where he studied philosophy and law. Like many, Bayer was interested in the new discoveries in astronomy. He did many investigations and published several books but his most famous work was the book called Uranometria. Later on in his life, Bayer was appointed as legal advisor in the city council of Augsburg. He became a successful and wealthy name due to his position. Also, he was recognized for the work that he had done in astronomy.

What people remember about Johann Bayer the most is his book, Uranometria.  The book consists of 48 constellations, which Ptolemy had discovered, and the naming of stars in the constellations. Bayer’s information about the sky was more modernized and updated compared to the previous astronomers’ information. For example, around the time Bayer wrote the book the Dutch navigator Pierter Dirckszoon Keyser defined 12 new southern constellations. Therefore, Bayer added this information in his book.  

Although Bayer may deserve the credit for updating astronomical information, his celestial atlas formed issues. To begin with, all of the constellations in his book were labeled left to right. This caused a problem because previous astronomers had done the atlases right to left, which formed confusion to many. He also bracketed stars that have the same magnitude in each constellation but, unfortunately, did not show how he assigned the letter included in each bracket. This issue made it harder for his readers to understand what he was presenting in his book. Bayer did demonstrate new information to the astronomical world but he could have improved the way he presented it to avoid confusion in later work about stars.

Bayer has also contributed to the discoveries of astronomy by demonstrating different names for the constellations from the Bible. He was a strong Protestant, therefore, finding names for constellations from the Bible seemed like the best alternative for him. He named the constellations from the Northern Hemisphere from the New Testament and the Southern Hemisphere constellations from the Old Testament. As interesting as that sounds, Bayer’s opinion about the naming of constellations was ignored.

Throughout his time, Johann Bayer was an important astronomer. He gathered all the constellations and their position and added them in his book Uranometria. Yes, the information in his book might have been confusing but at the time he wrote it, it was just what the people needed to become information about the constellations in the sky.

APOD 1.7

The connection between the Sun and the Moon is the Milky Way Galaxy. The colors across the sky is our dear galaxy, the Milky Way. In this picture, there are two sandstone monoliths, located in Utah, each representing the Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon. The perks about this picture is that it shows you where stars, nebulas, and the Andromeda Galaxy are located. It is amazing what one can find in the middle of the dessert!

APOD 1.6

The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble is the name. This Nebula has a temperature of around 250,000 degrees C! It truly is quite a hottie. This pictures does not come close to demonstrating the majestic colors this nebula has. If you wish to see this nebula with a telescope try to look towards the constellation of Scorpius. You will be amazed!

Bibliographic Citation

Norton, Stephen D. "Johann Bayer." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 3: 1450 to 1699. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 361-362. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Johann Bayer (German Astronomer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.

APOD 1.5

This is called the Lagoon Nebula. In this nebula there exists multiple young stars and hot gases. The Lagoon Nebula is so big that it can be seen without a telescope if you look towards the constellation of Sagittarius. If you were wondering what is in the center, well it is called the Hourglass Nebula. As complex as this Nebula looks, it has only been around for several million years!  

APOD 1.4

This beautiful aurora was seen in Maine, USA earlier this month. How was it created you ask? In this occasion, these bright auroras were caused by a geomagnetic storm. According to several astronomers, the storm was the most intense storm of the year! The geomagnetic storm is developed and created in the cloud of Earth's magnetic field. What a majestic process to know!   

APOD 1.3

Beautiful rainbow isn't? Well actually it is not a rainbow, it is called a Moonbow.This is created as raindrops reflect the Moon's light. To produce a Moonbow, raindrops, clouds and the moonlight must be in a special specific position which is why Moonbows are not so common. What a rare phenomenon!

APOD 1.2

Viewed in Tibet, this exotic sky is caused by airglow. It is created by the alternation of air pressure of the waves, which in this case it is 90 kilometers up. This is called gravity waves. Do not be confused, this is not   like auroras. Airglow is caused by a chemical reaction instead of the collision of charged particles. This phenomenon allows the sky to never be completely dark throughout the night. What a beauty!

APOD 1.1

In the past, Comet Jaques was primarily visible from Venus. Last time seen, Comet Jaques was about 14.5 kilometers from Venus. It is surrounded by the Heart and Soul Nebulas. On August 28th, Comet Jaques was only 84 million kilometers from planet Earth and one could see it through a telescope or binoculars.