Shades of Bright and Dark on the Moon

I made two observations about a week apart to compare the brightness and darkness of the moon. The Brightest features of the moon that stayed consistently bright was the center of the moon. It always stayed a glowing yellowish, cream color.  The maria that was the darkest was the sea  of rain and the sea of storms.  The most delicate patches of shading on the moon was wear the sea of serenity and sea of tranquility would be.  Keep in mind this is just what I saw with my naked eye. Below are sketches of what I found during my observations...

Psychology and Astronomy

Have you ever heard the old wives tales "the stars would have to align for that to happen" or "that person is crazy, must be a full moon" ? Since I am a psychology major ready to graduate, I am interested in the idea of psychology in astronomy.  The internet says that psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors.  The internet also says that astronomy is a natural science that is the study of celestial objects (such as moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies), the physics, chemistry, mathematics, and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic background radiation. A big part of psychology, however, is how peoples environments effect their actions and behavior. Since the sky and it's contents is part of our environment, I thought it would be interesting to relate this idea to my major. 

Through my reading and research, I found many theories and ideas relating these two subjects together.  I read a paper by Dr. Gilbert that studied this subject extensively and he found that

"Today astrological interpretations relate to archetypal mythological concepts that form a background link to human behavior and motivation. Humanistic astrology uses the zodiac of signs as a basic frame of reference because it represents the twelve phases of the cyclic relationship of the Sun to the Earth. It symbolizes the precession of the seasons and the cycle of organic life on this planet."

This theory goes off the idea of the Zodiac Wheel. The wheel is the idea that the solar system is a gigantic plate that spins through space.  It has been used to chart seasons, equinoxes and solstices.  The equinoxes are the points that carry the most momentum and repolarization.  The solstices have the least momentum.  The four periods of the year are thought to posses the four elements of the Earth. These elements reflect in our senses of perception and wisdom of direct experience. Dr. Gilbert said that "Every sign represents a release of archetypal energy for the creation of human expression".




Taking all of this into consideration I decided to find images of the sky during significant events in my life time.

Let's start with a big event September 11, 2001



Columbine school massacre-  April 20, 1999



Sandy Hook school shooting- December 14, 2012


These are just a few of the pictures of the sky for these significant tragedies in our history.  Is there something in the sky that influenced the actions of people? I personally don't know yet. I will still need to do more research in order to form my opinion.  If you are like me and are still on the fence, I hope this at least inspired you to look deeper into the idea.

 

 

 

Jovian VS Terrestrial Planets

There are many difference between Jovian and Terrestrial planets.  Since I am a visual person, I made a concept map to show the differences.

SkyView- Explore the Universe

Whenever I have a new hobby or interest I usually look for really cool apps that I can download and use.  I guess that is all about being a generation based around technology.  I found this app that is incredible! It's called SkyView- Explore the Universe. This astrology class I have been taking this summer has been my only real exposure to the subject.  Since I am new to the game, I found this app really helpful in helping me observe the natural sky.  It allows me to observe the sky and help me better understand exactly what I am looking at. The way it works is you point your iphone or ipad camera at the object you are observing, click on it, and it tells you what it is, gives you facts about the object, and also give you the option to show you more images of it. I love it! It only costs $1.99 and can be used on iphones and ipads.

This is what the icon looks like...

 

And here are some images of what the actual app looks like...

 



I hope you look into this app.  If you are as unfamiliar with the subject matter, but have an interest in learning, I know you will enjoy this as much as I am.  ENJOY!

 

The Real Planet: MARS

The true story of seven strangers, picked to live on a planet, work together and have their lives taped, to find out what happens when people stop being polite, and start getting real....THE REAL WORLD:MARS

Let me clairify, Mars One is a nonprofit organization that wants to establish a human settlement on Mars.  To help cover the costs, they would like to make it a televised broadcast of every aspect of the mission.  I took it upon myself to select a cast that I thought would give them the highest ratings. I also related it to the theme of The Real World.

Below is the list of celebrities I casted to be on the show...



The Rock would be the obvious choice because he is very fit and attractive.
 

Kim Kardashian would be a good choice because she is attractive and high maintence.  She would be very entertaining. 



Dave Chappelle is an older entertainer that would be good to have on the show because he is funny and plays many different characters.





Tim Tebow would be a good personality to have on the show because he has strong, strict religious values that would clash with the other characters.
 



Judge Judy would make an interesting cast mate because she is older and straight laced, compared to the other characters.



Charlie Sheen would make an interesting cast mate because he is very controversial.
 



Kate Gosslin would be a good character for the show because she has demonstrated that she does not do well in high pressure situations.

The cast is listed above.  Now I will make a brief list of some of the things the cast will need to do before they leave for Mars.

 

Before Take Off:

• Take a pregnancy test and agree to have an IUD implemented. Pregnancy would be too much of a health risk in this situation.
• Have a complete panel of blood work done to make sure their health is up to par.
• Undergo extensive NASA training
• Go through possible respitory conditioning in a hyperbaric chamber to condition one's respitory system and body to the change in pressures.
• Create a will.

 

Here is the link to the website incase you want to apply to go to Mars...                     http://mars-one.com/en/about-mars-one/about-mars-one.

 
 



How Many Stars Are in the Sky?

As a child, have you ever tried to lay out and count all the stars in the night sky?  I used to do this a lot when we went camping.  I would usually end up falling asleep half way through the sky.  Now as an adult, I counted a couple stars in the sky and mathematically calculated the total number of stars in the night sky.  Below are my results....

The directions said to hold a toilet paper to your eye and count all the stars you see through the tube. I did this a total of 20 times at different parts of the sky. Below are my 20 observations...

                                                                   12         6
                                                                   10         10
                                                                   11         3
                                                                   4           5
                                                                   9           11
                                                                   5           12
                                                                   6           9
                                                                   11         6
                                                                   15         3
                                                                +  9          9
                             the total is                           166
                             the average is                      8.3

Next, I calculated the total number of stars in the sky by multiplying the average by 99.3.  The total I calculated was 6,840.78 stars.

So this is it!!! This is the answer to my childhood camping question!  Theoretically, there were 6,840.78 stars in the night sky the night of  June 21, 2013 at 10:30PM.

The Moon Illusion

Last night I observed the moon at different times through out the night and compared my findings. I recorded the time, date, color, shape, and size.  The size is measured with nothing more than the lines on an index card.  I have listed my observations below...

June 22, 2013  at  9PM:

I noticed the moon rise at 9pm (even though when I looked it up and it said it was supposed to rise around 8:45pm)  I noticed a creamy blue color, its shape was a waxing gibbous shape, and 4 lines on the "moon ruler".  Its altitude was about -5 degrees.


June 22, 2013  at  10PM:

I checked the moon again at 10PM.  I noticed a creamy, ivory color very similar to the color at 9PM. Its shape was still a waxing gibbous and it grew to 6 lines on the "moon ruler".  Its altitude was about -11 degrees.

It was really hard to make an accurate drawing of the moon because it was so bright my eyes had a hard time adjusting.  Below is the picture I drew based on my observations.....