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.....

What Does Pluto Look Like?

This past week in class we talked a great amount about the planet Pluto.  We learned that Pluto is completely made up of ice.  That is why it looks solid and grey in photographs.  Also, Pluto was considered the ninth planet until lately. It is now considered a very large dwarf planet and fits the characteristics of a Plutoid because it doesn't fit the criteria for a Jovian or Terrestrial planet.  It also has five moons, the largest being Charon.

In 2015, a space craft is planning to take a closer look at Pluto.  Until then, I sketched my own prediction of what I think it looks like.  Notice it is mostly grey (since it is mostly ice).

Zooniverse: Exploring the Red Planet

My group chose the project of Exploring the Red Planet.  We had to classify marks on Mar's surface into categories of either "fans" or "blotches".  By studying and tracking these fans and blotches on the Martian's surface over time, it helps scientists calculate wind speed and direction.  This information also helps scientists study the planet's climate.  Scientists are not exactly sure how blotches and fans form, however they think it is the formation of a thin layer of carbon dioxide ice in certain seasons. The images of examples of blotches and fans that I am about to show you came from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) which is a camera that orbits Mars.

Below are examples of fans and blotches that I copied from the Zooniverse observation section.  This will hopefully give you a better understanding of the different shapes and what you are looking for.

 Observation 1 has a lot of blotches. Blotches look like splatters.  Observation 2 has a lot of definite fans.  Fans look more like a spray shape.  Observations 4 and 5 have a combination of both.  observation 6 is a little different with a single blotch.  I found this very interesting so I found myself doing a lot of observations

...to be exact!  Who wouldn't want a chance to be able to see real, up-close photos of another planet?! 

  

What is it Like to Fall into a Black Hole?

In class this week we spent a lot of time talking about black holes.  We also talked about what it would be like to fall into a black hole.  At first, because I am very unfamiliar with the subject, I immediately thought of Alice in Wonderland....

....But now, after learning about black holes, I have a better understanding that my favorite childhood movie is definitely inaccurate.  I was having a hard time explaining exactly what it would be like to fall into a black hole.  I decided to youtube a video of it so that you can visually experience it for yourself.  After watching the Alice in Wonderland clip above, I'm sure you can see the difference in experiences!

There are a couple important points to this video that I found really interesting.  First, I think the idea of the singularity in the middle of the hole sounds fascinating.  I couldn't imagine being some place where the gravity is so strong! Another interesting concept that I picked up from this clip was the graph on the left side of the different levels of pull.  The narrator said that the green on the outside is the easiest to get out of, however starting with the orange, it is increasingly hard to get out of.  I would love to be in the red part to see how different it is compared to here on Earth!

Hopefully, now the next time someone mentions a black hole you think about the video above, and not Alice in Wonderland!

Guess Who

When I was younger, one of my favorite games was Guess Who.  After learning about the history of astronomy this week, I decided to make a mini quiz based on all the random facts of the scientists that have helped us get to where we are now in astronomy and science.  There are 10 questions and the correct answer is highlighted in red.  GOOD LUCK!


1. He coined the geocentric idea.

a. Aristotle
b. Ptolemy
c. Copernicus
d. Young

2. He wrote "The Almagest".

a.Copernicus
b. Young
c. Ptolemy
d. Kepler

3. He coined the heliocentric idea.

a. Copernicus
b. Newton
c. Brahe
d. Mathias

4. He went temporarily blind from looking into the sun.

a. Smith
b. Kepler
c. Newton
d. Fraunhofer

5. He was a scrappy fighter that cut his own nose off.

a. Kepler
b. Copernicus
c. Young
d. Brahe

6. He figured out how to make Mars work.

a. Kepler
b. Brahe
c. Young
d. Newton

7. He figured out that light moves as a wave.

a. Mathias
b. Mitchel
c. Copernicus
d. Young




8. He fine tuned the telescope so that you could see individual color.

a. Kepler
b. Fraunhofer
c. Newton
d. Copernicus

9. He discovered the laws of motion.

a. Newton
b. Divinci
c.Young
d. Fraunhofer

10. He discovered the distance of the comet.

a. Brahe
b. Newton
c. Mathias
d. Fraunhofer


HOW DID YOU DO???

Light Pollution

I have been trying to look more consciously at the sky since I have been taking an astronomy class this summer, however I have been having a really hard time seeing stars. I wasn't sure why this was until we learned about light pollution this week. Google says that light pollution is the brightening of the sky that inhibits the observation of stars and planets, caused by street lights and other man-made sources. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, right? You might be thinking who cares? I was thinking the same thing as I was sitting in class.  However, it's bigger than you think.  Light pollution actually takes a serious toll on our health and the health of our wildlife.  I was reading an article by the physics department at Florida Atlantic University about the side effects of light pollution, and it brought my attention to the damage this pollution does to our health and wildlife. There are some species of frogs that are on their way to becoming extinct because their natural practice is to sing their mating choruses at night.  However, because the light pollution is so bad in Boca Raton, FL, they do not sing the choruses, therefore threatening their reproduction and population size.  I have attached a link to the article at the bottom of this page. The article has a video clip that shows more about these frogs. Ok so you may still be thinking so what? What does this still have to do with me? I get it because I was thinking the same thing as well. But then I continued reading in the article to find that this physics department did a study that found that light pollution worsens city smog conditions.  The lighting breaks down the nitrogen oxides that contribute to smog.  I posted the exact explanation from the experiment below so you can see for yourself exactly the problem that this is...

FLASH: A new study reports that lights on at night can worsen smog conditions for a city! Because sunlight breaks down the nitrate radical NO₃, its levels build up during the night. As it does so, it neutralizes some of the other nitrogen oxides (NO_x) that contribute to smog. But it is not just sunlight that does this, any light can break down NO₃, especially those city lights that are left on at night. Such lights are often immediately next to the sources of the smog creating exhaust and are measured to be 25 times stronger than the light of a full moon. This combined effect reduces the natural cleaner NO₃'s levels down by 7%, which then increases the smog components by a non-negligible 5%.    Now add to that the lights that come with the holiday season. YIKES!!

After reading all of this, and realizing this could be the reason I have not had too much success with star gazing, I decided to take a couple pictures of sources of light pollution around my house.  I have shared them with you below...

Above is a picture of the parking lot to a church and warehouse behind my house around 10PM.  If you didn't know it was 10PM, you would think it was day time while standing in the parking lot.  Notice anything missing in the sky?

Above is a picture of a light on the driveway of my house. This is just one of about five lights like this.  Definitely could be altered to cut down on the light pollution. This is one of the culprits responsible for my failed star gazing.  Again something is definitely missing in the sky!


**There are many things that can be done to cut down on the amount of light pollution.  I am still researching these. Something as simple as replacing upward facing 300W halogen bulbs with downward facing LED lights could help minimize light pollution.  This is something definitely worth looking into further.**


This is the site I promised to share...http://physics.fau.edu/observatory/lightpol-environ.html

The Phases of the Moon

I don't ever remember learning about the phases of the moon in grade school.  The other day I heard my little sister that is in high school studying the moon phases for one of her science classes and it really interested me for some reason.  I say "for some reason" because things like that do not usually catch my attention.  I am a psychology major in college for the past four years and I didn't realize how little I knew about astrology until I took this class. Because of all this I chose to blog about the eight different phases of the moon. I wanted to study what they looked like, their names, and what order we see them in. To do this I baked white sugar cookies and icinged them in the different ways the moon is illuminated by the sun.  We always see the same side of the moon because of synchronous rotation.  This is because the moon rotates as it goes around the sun.  Starting from a full moon, it first wanes (decreases), until we have a new moon, and then it waxes (builds) until we have a full moon again. This whole process takes about a month.  Below is my diagram made of sugar cookies. Hope you enjoy it...

The Reasons for the Seasons

While doing some lite browsing online looking for articles to help me better understand the topics we covered in class this week, I found one in particular that I thought was really good and wanted to share.  The article is called Learn the Scientific Reasons Behind Earth's Seasons.  I found this article on msnbc.com.  This article has some great information about solstices and equinoxes, the effects on climate, the tilt of Earth, and how it all relates to our seasons.  The website also has some interesting images that I will share later in the post.  Below is a brief summary of what I think are the most interesting points of the article. I will provide the web address at the bottom so you can check it out for yourself.

Have you ever stopped and thought about how much the seasons really effect us?  I never did until I started taking this astrology class for school.  Seasons effect our food production and availability, our mood, our fashion, the food we crave, and the activities we do in our daily life.  Because they have such an impact on us, I feel it is important that we have a good understanding of the reasons for our seasons. Way back, Babylonians and Mayans would track the rising and setting points of the sun to predict the seasons.  Then, between 1473 and 1543 our world was rocked (for lack of better words) when Nicolai Copernicus discovered that the sun, instead of Earth, was the center of the solar system.  From this, we learned that Earth orbits the sun in a circle and at the same time, spins on its axis.  "Because the sun is our source for light, energy and heat, the changing intensity and concentration of its rays give rise to the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall".  Solstices and equinoxes help mark our seasons.  Solstices occur each year around June 21 and December 21 and are when the poles are tilted at their max, either toward or away from the sun.  This is when we have the start of summer and the start of winter.  During the June solstice the North pole is tilted toward the sun which means the northern hemisphere is enjoying summer.  Because Earth is on a tilt and the north is pointed toward the sun, this means that the South Pole is away from the sun and the southern hemisphere is experiencing winter.  On the other hand, equinoxes are when the sun is directly over the Earth's equator.  The vernal and autumnal equinox represent the beginning of spring and fall.  "At these times, the sun is directly over the equator and the lengths of day and night are equal over most of the planet...on March 21 the Northern Hemisphere reaches the vernal equinox and enjoys spring.  At the same time, the winds turn colder in the Southern Hemisphere as the autumnal equinox sets in".  In all of this it is very important to remember that these dates are not concrete.  Because of the Earth's changing tilt matching up to its orbit around the sun, the date may be off by a couple hours or a couple days. 

Here are some of the pictures from the article to help better understand our seasons....
 


NASA / EUMETSAT

"These views of Earth from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager on EUMETSAT's Meteosat-9 satellite shows the terminator line on Dec. 21, 2010 (upper left), March 20, 2011 (upper right), June 21, 2011 (lower left) and Sept. 20, 2010 (lower right). The sequence illustrates how Earth's northern half receives more sunlight in June, while the southern half gets more light in December"

Check the article out for yourself.... http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077384/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/learn-scientific-reasons-behind-earths-seasons/