September 1st 2014: Airglow ripples over Tibet

I chose this picture because I was instantly fascinated by the way there was light in the night sky, and
also with the waves flowing out. The colors are incredible in this picture too. It almost looks like the sun
was setting behind the mountains in this photo but as I read the explanation it turns out it isnt.
The circular waves are created by atmospheric gravity wave called airglow. Airglow keeps light and color
in the night sky due to chemiluminescence, which produces light in a chemical reaction. It explains why
we see the colors of red and yellow that we do.

September 6, 2014: Moonbow beach

I never knew a rainbow could form in the night sky? This is the first time I have seen this phenomena.
Quite beautiful also, the sun setting in the background slowly fades into the night sky to show the stars.
Amazing it doesnt produce a large amount of light pollution.
As it turns out the sun is actually rising off the Coast of Molokai Island in Hawaii. The rainbow is formed
from raindrops that are reflecting the moons light from the direction opposite to the moon. In this
photo, the moon is behind the person who took this photo.

September 11, 2014: Zodiacal light before dawn

If you cant tell I am pretty obsessed with starscapes, especially this one with the name of the picture,
and also the Orion constellation labeled in the picture, I studied the picture a bit before reading the
explanation, but I found it interesting to see the visibility of the stars and galaxies through the Zodiacal
light.
This photo was taken in the Atacama desert in chili, which I learned previously is considered to be the
darkest place in the world, and the nightscapes are incredible. It was mentioned that the sunrise was
still a couple of hours away from happening, the light you see is sunlight, but it is being scattered by dust
along the elliptical plane of the solar system. They call it Zodiacal light. And the orange light that is
shown over the mountains? It is again Airglow! Light produced by chemical reactions.

September 12, 2014: Supernova remnant pupil A

The remains of this once supernova intrigues me, the mixture of the blue, purple, and green gases in the
front of the photo are amazing. The way it is expanding is incredible also. When I look at supernovas
much like this one, the idea that the explosion of the star happened thousands of years ago and it still
expands a cloud like this is incredible.
I learned the photo is built from multiple data from different observations and telescopes to make it
look the way it does. The x-ray data comes from the Chandra and XMM/Newton observations. And the
infrared data comes from the Spitzer Space Telescope. The Blue Color is actually from the shockwave of
the supernova, Im not certain how long ago it was but the article states that the light from it probably
hit earth 3,700 years ago.

September 15, 2014: Kilometers above Comet Chunyumov-Gerasimenko

When I first saw the image I thought it was a mountain or some type of rock that could be carried in my
hand. Turns out I was pretty wrong, but I never thought for a second that it was a comet. And I am very
puzzled by the photo and article when it said that it is the nucleus of the comet. How a spacecraft
captured an image of the comets nucleus is beyond me. But maybe comet nucleuss are different then
my nucleus.
The robotic space craft Rosetta took nearly ten years to reach the comet, which the above image was
taken this month of September. The comet only reflects about four percent of visible light during tests,
it was said in the article to be dark as coal or pitch black. The comet has such a low surface gravity that
you can jump off of it if you so desire. Rosetta will continue to observe the comet, and possibly in the
near future they want to land a probe on the comets nucleus to further test it.

September 17, 2014: Aurora over Maine

It has been my dream to witness an aurora with my own eyes. I believe Auroras are the most incredible
displays in the world that happen naturally. If all three of these colors happen at the same time, I cant
think of anything that will have you eye locked for hours on end. Its almost like spaces treat for
humanity. Not something you see every day that is for sure.
A display like this is caused when a release of flares and plasma ejections from the sun shoot across the
solar system. Coronal Mass Ejections hit the earths magnetospheres which create a geomagnetic storm
like this. (The most intense seen all year). This photo was taken at Acadia National Park in Maine, using a
SLR camera, which I have learned capture the Color and looks of a aurora far better than the human eye
can see.

September 24, 2014: The Lagoon Nebula in Stars Dust and Gas

November 1, 2014: The day after mars

In the picture, it is a day after comet Siding Spring passed by mars at about 84,500 miles above mars
surface. It was the closest pass a comet had made to any planet in known history.
I like the bright glare that mars is putting off in this photo. The phot also makes comment about the
radio broadcast of when aliens were coming to earth, based off of the book War of the Worlds. A comet
came pretty close to earth almost in the same way. The comet is emerging out of the planet.

November 3, 2014: In Green Company: Aurora over Norway

This picture was taken on the peak of a mountain on the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. It goes on
to state that his year has had an amazing Aurora display due to being at the suns maximum surface
activity in its 11 year magnetic cycle.
I like this picture because it really shows a fantastic Aurora display while the sun is setting. And the lit
town off of the coast also really adds to the picture.

November 5, 2014: NGC 4762, A Galaxy on the edge

This image was taken from the Hubble space telescope and it shows an almost edge on image of a
galaxy (disk). They are having a hard time determining what type of disk galaxy it is. It could be a low
dust lenticular galaxy or it could have a spiral structure. The bright line spans about 100,000 light years,
but it is a fairly thin galaxy. Our own Milky Way galaxy is thought to be this thin. I really like this picture
because I really had no idea that a galaxy could be this thin along the side of it. I was always thinking of
it being really big or round with dust clouds. Pretty neat to see it from this perspective.

November 9, 2014: The Cats eye Nebula from Hubble

This picture taken with the Hubble space telescope shows the Cat eye Nebula that is about 3,000 light
years from where we stand. The different layers are believed to be the different layers of the star,
spanning about a half a light year in diameter. It is said that this could be what our own sun will end up
like in about 5 billion years when it runs out of fuel. I really like this picture because of the waves that it
gives off in all different directions. It makes sense to think that the different waves are caused by the
different outer layers of the star.

November 11, 2014: Orion in Gas, Dust, and Stars

This picture shows the constellation of Orion, in the top left of the picture it shows the bright three stars
that make up the belt of Orion. This picture shows a vast amount of Nebulas including the flame nebula,
and the horse head nebula. These objects are roughly 1,500 light years away, covering an area of about
75 light years. I love the way this picture looks with the big bright red clouds of gas. Which is brought
enhanced in this picture using an infra-red camera.

November 17, 2014: The double dust disks of HD 95086

Although, this is just a concept art drawing of the shown planetary system, Observations from the
spritzer space telescope and the Herschel space observatory have shown that this system has 2 dust
disks like it is seen here. A super, hot one that is near the parent star, and a cooler on that is farther out
and covers a vast amount of area. HD 95086 is a blue star that is 60% more massive than our own sun. It
is said the study of this system could help us understand our own solar system. I found this artwork very
awesome and interesting to look at. The big dust cloud really adds to the picture, and almost makes it
looks like its a big hurricane in space with the parent star being the eye of the storm.

November 19, 2014:Bright spiral galaxy M81

This galaxy is right next to Great Bear (Ursa Major), very comparable to our own Milky Way galaxy with a
very bright nucleus, spiral arms, and a vast amount of dust clouds. It is thought that M81 might have had
a close encounter bump in with M82. The way that it gives off its spirals is a determination of that. It
also has a determined distance of 11.8 million light years. This picture probably gives off the best
representation of our own galaxy, for a second I thought it was our own galaxy. It is probably safe to say
there are many more galaxies out there that show this exact feature.

November 23, 2014: Tornado and Rainbow over Kansas

A little bit out of the norm of space, this picture shows a tornado/rainbow mixture over Kansas. It was
taken by storm chaser Eric Nguyen. It appears that the tornado is just about to end right over the tip of
the rainbow. Sunlight is reflecting off of raindrops to give it this surreal appearance and rare sighting. I
like this photo because it is out of the norm really, while maintaining its incredible features. It isnt every
day that you get to see something like this.

November 27, 2014: Galileos Europa Re-mastered

This is a re-mastered photo of Europa taken by the Galileo Spacecraft in the 1990s while on a journey
through the Jovian system. It is a color image of approximately what the human eye might see. It shows
fractures on the moons surface that point to above ground surface water and canals. Europa is one of
the other places in our solar system that is believed to support life. Although it does have an absence of
sunlight.

October 9, 2014: Eclipse at Moonset

This photo shows the progress of a lunar eclipse. Planet earths shadow creates a curved edge, cutting
the middle of the lunar disk as the moon goes below the western horizon. This picture taken on the
Chilean coast captures an eclipse as the predawn sky approaches, giving it this magnificent look.
I like this photo because the view is very immaculate and the moon looks amazing over the sea, and
rocky landscape. I would love to see a view of this one day.

October 13, 2014: Sprite Lightning in slow motion

The definition of sprite lightning is bursts of light in the sky that momentarily resemble gigantic
jellyfish. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me, but that is mainly due to the fact that no one really knows
exactly what sprite lightning is, or what causes it. This is actually a video showing sprite lightning in slow
motion. It is thought that Sprites occur when plasma irregularities exist in the upper atmosphere.
I like this video because I had no idea what sprite lightning was before watching, and reading about it. It
shows lightning kind of blowing up like a volcano or a pressurized pop beverage. Pretty interesting, I
couldnt copy the video that Apod had available so I grabbed this image from google.
Photo Courtesy of: people.ee.duke.edu

October 2, 2014: The Bubble Nebula

Known also as NGC 7635, this nebula lies about 11,000 light years away towards the constellation
Cassiopeia and is about 10 light years in diameter. This picture is said to show evidence of violent
processes in the making. Stellar winds and radiation has gone to show the structure of glowing gas
against dense material in the shown molecular cloud.
I like this photo because it really kind of reminds me of an eyeball in space. Also the perfect circle shape
in the center giving off a blue background is cool also.

October 3, 2014: Aurora and Milky Way in a little sky

Taken in Lake Storsjon, Sweden, this photo is centered on the zenith of the lake, and the photo is also
inverted to show the stepping stones on the water lead to the Milky Way galaxy. Geomagnetic storms
created the aurora effect and are shown reflecting off of the water.
I like this photo because it really shows a different, but unique way of viewing space from earth. It
seems the circular viewing of the image makes the photo look more abstract but yet a creative method
of a process of what fall is like with geomagnetic storms, and auroras.

October 7, 2014: From the temple of the sun to the temple of the moon.

This photo explains the many ideas of what connects the sun to the moon. It consists of 16 photos made
into a panorama to make it look the way it does. This image was taken in Capitol Reef National Park in
Utah. The two sand stones are known as the temple of the sun, and the temple of the moon, and the
stand from the Jurassic period about 160 million years ago.
I like this photo because it is in our own back yard, and goes to show the beauty that still sits in Utah.
Also the idea that you can see the night sky with such clarity with a background like this.

October 16, 2014: Rosettas Selfie

This photo was taken on October 7, 2014 at about 472 million kilometers from earth and 16 kilometers
from the surface of comet 67P. The comet has a double nucleus and you can see in the photo dust and
gas coming off of the surface. This was the last photo taken before the land will separate from Rosetta
and land on the surface of the comet. The preferred landing spot is visible in this image on the second
nucleus.
This photo is unique in the fact that Rosetta has been on this journey for nearly 14 years and is about to
make its journey and start research on the shown comet. Its amazing to me that it has made that long
of a journey to start research 14 years in the making.

October 21, 2014: Mimas: Small moon with a big crater

Shown in the photo is one of the biggest impact craters on the smallest moon that Saturn has. Whatever
hit it could have completely destroyed the moon and probably should have. The moon was discovered
by William Herschel and it is composed of nearly ice and a little bit of rock. The image was taken by the
spacecraft Cassini in 2010 during a flyby of Saturn.
This image is very unique, not only with its huge crater but all of the other craters that are shown in the
image. Specifically that the moon is composed of ice and water it might be that the moons surface
could be very soft. Pretty cool.

October 23, 2014: Galaxies in Pegasus

October 29, 2014: Iridescent cloud edge over Colorado

This is a picture of clouds blocking out the sun during the photographing of a partial solar eclipse. What
could have been a failed attempt at taking pictures of a partial solar eclipse actually ended up being a
rare show. It gave off what is known as an iridescent cloud effect. Iridescence is the diffraction of
sunlight around a thin screen of nearly uniformly sized water droplets. From different angles and
positions it can produce an array of different colors.
This picture gives off such a unique feature that I have never even heard of before seeing this picture.
The clouds look amazing due to it probably being dark outside except for the exposure of the eclipse and
the color and detail that goes into the clouds. Its amazing how it blends the way that it does, almost like
a painting with the way that it looks textured.

September 26, 2014: MAVEN at Mars

MAVEN stands for: Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution. It is a spacecraft that was launched
November 18, 2013 and the picture shown is what it took during its voyage orbiting around mars, these
are pictures of mars upper atmosphere using a hydrogen filter, an oxygen filter, a regular photo
showing the reflected sun light, and a composite photo showing a combination of both. The data
MAVEN gathers can tell the rate of water loss over time on mars.
This photo is unique to see, and also I found it very interesting since it covers a lot of the material that
we covered in class. The basics of astronomy help understand a lot, including (according to this photo)
the rate of water loss that mars faced over time.