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Pictured is a Delta IV rocket launch from Cape Canaveral on November 21st, 2010. The image is a 20 second exposure taken at dusk, shot from about 100 miles west of the launch site. The launch placed a classified payload in orbit for the United States Air Force.
Difficult but not impossible to catch against the dawn or dusk sky, spotting an extreme crescent moon can be a challenge. The slender crescent pictured was shot 30 minutes before sunrise when the Moon was less than 20 hours away from New. A true feat of visual athletics to catch, a good pair of binoculars or a well aimed wide field telescopic view can help with the hunt.
The Sun is our nearest star, and goes through an 11-year cycle of activity. This image was taken via a properly filtered telescope, and shows the Sun as it appeared during its last maximum peak in 2003. This was during solar cycle #23, a period during which the Sun hurled several large flares Earthward. The next solar cycle is due to peak around 2013-14.
Located in the belt of the constellation Orion, Messier 42, also known as the Orion Nebula is one of the finest deep sky objects in the northern hemisphere sky. Just visible as a faint smudge to the naked eye on a clear dark night, the Orion Nebula is a sure star party favorite, as it shows tendrils of gas contrasted with bright stars. M42 is a large stellar nursery, a star forming region about 1,000 light years distant.
Orbiting the planet in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) every 90 minutes, many people fail to realize that you can see the International Space Station (ISS) from most of the planet on a near-weekly basis. In fact, the ISS has been known to make up to four visible passes over the same location in one night. The image pictured is from the Fourth of July, 2011 and is a 20 second exposure of a bright ISS pass.
Next to the Sun, the two brightest objects in the sky are the Moon and the planet Venus. In fact, when Venus is favorably placed next to the Moon, it might just be possible to spot the two in the daytime. Another intriguing effect known as earthshine or ashen light is also seen in the image on the night side of the Moon; this is caused by sunlight reflected back off of the Earth towards our only satellite.
A mosaic of three images taken during the total lunar eclipse of December 21st, 2010. The eclipse occurred the same day as the winter solstice. The curve and size of the Earth’s shadow is apparent in the image.
Review: Kepler and the Universe by David Love
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One of the greatest and most tragic tales in the history of astronomy is the life of Johannes Kepler. And though many are familiar with the 16th-17th century scientist, mostly due to his laws of planetary motion, few know the story of Kepler the man.
And a great way to remedy that is to pick up a copy of Kepler and the Universe: How One Man Revolutionized Astronomy by David Love, out on November 10th, 2015 from Prometheus Books. Kepler and the Universe takes us beyond the laws that made Kepler famous and follows his life and travails across a war-torn Europe. The tribulations of the Protestant reformation rocked the continent, and Kepler was not immune to the issues of the day.
Kepler and the Universe explores how he came to his key insights concerning the motions of the planets, as well as many of the pitfalls and fallacies he faced along the way. Kepler could be said to have been the first modern astronomer, as well as the last of the classical astrologers, occupying a unique position in history. Keep in mind, Kepler formulated his three laws of planetary motion before Isaac Newton explained just how gravity worked with his own landmark insights. If Newton is the father of modern classical physics, then Kepler is the family of modern computational astronomy.
Of course, Kepler himself hated the idea that planets moved in ellipses, and not neat tidy circles. He always considered his insight on geometrical perfect solids versus the number of planets (known then only out to Saturn at the time) as his greatest achievement, though he failed to make this connection work.
Kepler and the Universe follows Kepler’s life from his teaching days in Graz to his frustrations eking out observational data on the planets from Tycho Brahe at Uraniborg in Denmark, to his exploits in Prague. In 1610, the advent of the telescope and its use by Galileo intrigued Kepler, enough to procure an instrument of his own. The book also delves into Kepler’s own astronomical observations, something that’s often missed looking at his legacy. Kepler made marked improvements of the design of Galileo’s primitive refracting telescope, and also published extensive treatises on light and optics. We thought it interesting how astronomers such as Kepler and Galileo communicated with each other via Latin anagrams. While Kepler unscrambled most of these successfully, some he got gloriously wrong, such as Galileo’s take on the ringed planet: ‘I have observed the highest planet (meaning Saturn) in triplet form,’ which Kepler read as, ‘Hail flaming twins, off-spring of Mars.’
Kepler also observed the supernova of 1604, the last naked eye supernova in our galaxy.
Then there’s Kepler the family man, defending his mother against accusations of witchcraft and fleeing the ravages of the Thirty Years War. Kepler’s frustrations attempting to reconcile astrology, geometry and observational astronomy must’ve only been matched with his personal trials of attempting to survive one of the most troublesome periods of European history.
Be sure to read Kepler and the Universe for a fascinating look at the life and times of a familiar astronomical figure.