azimuth & altitude project

This was just a little project we had in Space Ex to practice the skills in measuring azimuth and altitude of celestial objects. 

azimuth = the angle of an object along the horizon from due north, measured with a compass 

altitude = the angle of an object above the horizon, measured with quadrant/astrolabe 

For the objects that I did repeat, I think it's cool to see how they changed position in the night sky. The morning I saw Orion was amazing because it was the first time I'd seen it in a while, and (of course) I was excited about Cassiopeia as well. I've also come to be able to recognize Altair, Polaris, Vega, and Dubhe. 

I've learned so much from these observations and it just makes me feel so happy and good inside!!! 
                   keep learning
                                never stop star gazing
                                                   never stop dreaming
                                                                                          🌟

August 12, 2017

So on this night, I went out and wow! I could see so much, the sky was so clear, the stars were so pretty! My pictures were such poor quality, though, and I just wish you could see it exactly how I could!

The brightest stars I could see were: Altair, Sinistra, Arcturus, Vega, and Omega Capricorni

I did, this time, make an effort to see where the planets were in the sky. Saturn and Jupiter were the only planets above the horizon, but I could not see it and I didn't have my telescope with me. But SkyView showed me where the other planets were, and even where the Hubble Telescope was!

Something I found really neat was that I was able to see a constellation - Sagittarius. So on my phone, I drew out the shape of the stars I could see, and... it matched the constellation on my app! I started with the 5 stars and drew a "house" and then added on whatever else I could see afterwards. See how well I did below...

Since I have really poor images, I'll just insert some SkyView screenshots below.

  

   

Saturn and Jupiter, above the horizon

(horizon = red line)

  

Venus, Mercury, and Hubble Telescope, below horizon

   

Mars and the Sun!

This day was a big looking-at-the-sky day because I also got up way to early ☺ to see the sunrise and also watched the sunset. The water from the lake made it especially gorgeous this night, but unfortunately it was so cloudy in the morning I could barely see anything. Here are a few shots!

sunrise

sunset