Tycho Brahe Sources

Gow, Mary. Tycho Brahe: Astronomer. Berkleley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2002. Print.

Tycho Brahe. The Galileo Project, 1995. Web. September 27 2012.

APOD 1.5



The bright star in the corner marking part of the asterism known as "The Great Square" is the bright star Markab, Alpha star of the constellation Pegasus, also known as the Winged Horse commonly. The dusty clouds appear courtesy of a blue reflection nebula less than a thousand light-years distant, this area looking away from the Milky Way plane littered with molecular clouds. This image shows a span of about five degrees--ten times the diameter of our moon--and in the background are galaxies far off (once past the Milky Way), such as NGC 7497, as noted by its prominent spirals.

OBS 9.21

Being sick all of the previous week, I seldom had a chance to look up at the stars, tied to my bed and unable to report much other than "It's dark outside."

Regardless, just the other day, as instructed, I went out at around eight to see Mars adjacent to the moon, a fine and lovely sight. Other than that, though, I missed most of my chances to look at the celestial sphere.

APOD 1.4

Aki Hoshide, the third Japanese astronaut to walk in space and Expedition 32 flight engineer, took this picture during his third session of EVA (extravehicular activity), taken while arguing the capabilities of the ISS, International Space Station. The Sun shines in the upper left corner, while reflected in the visor is the Earth, portions of a mechanical arm, Aki himself, a ring of space, and the Earth observing camera launched into space mid-summer. Yesterday, this Expedition ended, the Soyuz spacecraft capsule unlocking from the ISS and bringing the crew out from the Heavens and back to the Earth. 

APOD 1.3

Making up for last week's lost report, here is an elaborate, cluttered star-field two degrees in range of the constellation Cygnus, known both as the Swan or Northern Cross. However, the main point of interest is the eye in the cosmic Cocoon Nebula, roughly four thousand light years from Earth, the eye being the bright spot at the end of a trail of starless space. IC 5146, as it is known in the catalogue, expands for fifteen light years. The red glow of the eye signifies hydrogen gas, all stimulated by dust-reflected starlight (like the Witch Head Nebula) which would otherwise be invisible to the molecular. The centre star, scientists believe, is hundreds of thousands years old (but just a few!), its glow like the Young Cluster and clearing a space for the forming dust and gas of stars. As much as this does show, more stars hide behind the screens of dust.

APOD 1.2

Emission nebula IC 4628--which goes by an array of names such as Gum 56 (as its Australian discoverer Colin Stanley Gum dubbed it) or The Prawn Nebula--sits in the nebula tail of the constellation Scorpius, south of its heart bright star Antares. The radiation of ultraviolet rays from enormous stars only millions of years old strips atoms of their electrons, which then assimilate and produce a red nebular glow (the red deriving from the hydrogen content). This nebula fosters several clusters of clouds, including Collinder 316, Trumpler 24, and Sco OB1, making it the jewel box of Scorpius. Vela and Puppis are two constellations located near the nebula, being swallowed up by it's sprawling expansion thought to the result of a supernova. On the celestial sphere and from an earthly view, the nebula appears to be roughly four moons across, its actual length around 250 light-years, as the real nebula is estimated to be over 6 000 away.

OBSV: First Two Weeks

Due to the tropical storm, many of my nights of viewing the Heavens were spoiled, leaving me looking at only clouds above (if otherwise getting rained on).

One night I was, however, able to observe several of the zodiacal constellations adjacent to the moon--Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Libra. Along with that, I did see a lovely full moon on that night, much larger than usual.

When walking out to head to school in the morning, I did observe Venus higher in the sky, but had no time to look for Mars.

APOD 1.1

According to the catalog, this site is known as NGC 7635, but most simply use the common name of "The Bubble Nebula". 11 000 light-years away from the Earth and a good 10 light-years in diameter, it contains a cloud of expanding gas, thus resembling a bubble, as the central star of the system--the O star--emits radiation, heating the cloud against a denser material in a surrounding molecular cloud, and creating a glow, giving it a sheen. It inhabits the sky adjacent to Cassiopeia (the Seated Queen) and may perhaps be a part of a larger complex of celestial objects.