January 20, 2018

On this night, the stars were so clear in the sky that it seemed like they were "all there". The Moon, to the northwest, was a spectacular waxing crescent. The whole time I spent with my eyes up to the sky, I was whispering "oh wow" on repeat to myself, taking in the sight. Below, you'll find my observations for the northern and southern skies, and a small comment about the eastern sky. I was out so long that I didn't even get the chance to look at the western sky! But of course, I did look west for a second, just to see Cassiopeia!

In the southern sky, I could see Orion, Sirius (the brightest star in the sky), part of Taurus, and Pleiades (the famous "Seven Sisters" star cluster in Taurus ~ that, to me, looks like a tiny Dipper!). The red of Betelgeuse and the blue of Rigel didn't seem to stand out to me as much today. The ISS was passing by at this time, but it was unfortunately too low behind the trees for me to see.

In the northern sky, I saw both Dippers, but only parts of Ursa Minor (it's always fainter than Ursa Major). You'd expect that for the two constellations everyone knows since childhood not to be so awestruck, but today, I was even saying "oh wow" to the Big and Little Dipper.

I saw a lot in the eastern sky as well, but I'd already been out in the cold for 20 minutes, so I didn't draw them, but, with the help of my trusty SkyView app, I was able to see Capella & Menkalinan, Castor & Pollux, and Alhena & Procyon, among many others (I did write down 2 other stars' names, but once inside, I couldn't even decipher what I'd written!). 

Last night's observations, along with my recent research about the Very Large Telescope (read my new post here) spoke to and inspired me, causing that flame of passion to burn a little stronger within me.

January 10, 2018

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much lately, but I'm back! I had a burst of inspiration so get excited for the fun posts I have planned! (Seriously, earlier today I was tearing up looking at something that you'll hopefully get to see very soon)

⭐   ☆   ⭐   ☆   ⭐

Facing 165° south, it was interesting to note the shifts in the positions of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Spica since my previous observations, which were all generally at the same time. On November 28th, Jupiter was much closer to the horizon, Mars and Spica were almost next to one another, and there was no Moon (see picture below). This change is due to the differences in the orbits of the planets around the Sun. In this observation, Mars did not appear as red as it does other days. The Moon was in the waxing crescent phase. Also, the coloring of this picture does not do the sky justice- the sunrise was a much more vivid orange.

January 1, 2018

Happy New Year, everyone!! 

My Observation Notebook project is finished now (although I still have more observations to post here) but I am happy to announce that I'll be continuing my observations. My dad surprised me this Christmas with this notebook that he ordered with my blog logo and a star chart printed on the front. In here, I'll be doing my own personal observation notebook. Since this one is separate from class, the format will be a little different because there are no guidelines. And as for the blog posts, I'm not sure exactly how I'll set them up but for this one, I'm typing out the paragraph I wrote in the notebook, adding a little bit more. 
Thanks so much for reading! Here's to a great 2018- I'm looking forward to continuing to explore the night sky together!

Just as I was going to bed at almost 2 am, I could see how bright it was outside, so I got up and looked out my window. The moon was full and bright at due west, and I could see part of Orion. Through the window, without my glasses on, I could see the red of Betelgeuse - if that tells you anything about how dark and clear the sky was! I'm not positive, but this might've been my first time seeing Sirius, which is the brightest star in the night sky. It most certainly was the brightest star, so much that I had to check the SkyView app to see what star it was because at first sight I thought it must have been a satellite or something! Wow, that was an amazing sight in itself! The moon's light created a beautiful shadows of the trees in the snow on the ground- another sight in which I took delight. I remember thinking that it was cool that January 1st was a Full Moon, but when I looked it up, according to moongiant.com, on December 31st, the moon was 96% illuminated and 99% on January 1st - "not quite a full moon." But even if it doesn't fall right on the start of a new year, that only means that I have tonight to look forward to as even more spectacular.

                   Shine bright and keep dreaming,
                               ✰North Star Gazer

Christmas Night Sky

After our holiday festivities, as I walked to the car, I looked up into the dark and enchanting sky. I'd have to say that the constellation Orion was the clearest I've ever seen it, so much that you could see the range of star colors (indicating the range of temperatures), with the red Betelgeuse and blue Rigel. I also pointed out Cassiopeia to my family, but it wasn’t very bright and it was hard to see the end star, Segin. There were a lot of bright stars in the western sky and I could easily see the Summer Triangle but it was too cold to stay out long, so I didn’t get the chance to point out much more than that. Being out on Christmas night looking at a beautiful night sky made me happy -as it always does- and was a great way to end the day’s celebration.
I hope you all had an amazing holiday with your loved ones. 🎄
         ♡ North Star Gazer

It's Eclipse Day!!

Hi everyone! Today was an exciting day...when the moon crossed in front of the sun, in perfect alignment with the Earth. Watching the news, I was amazed at the size of the crowds, a truly national (and international - one reporter said 20 countries were represented) gathering for everyone to experience, what could be a once in a lifetime event. I saw a smiling bride and groom standing among a crowd, looking up toward the darkened afternoon sky; and it appears many couples said 'I do' today during the total solar eclipse. I watched as people waited anxiously, followed by cheers, in Saluki Stadium, Carbondale, Illinois - where tickets cost up to ten thousand dollars. And after they saw its totality -the longest duration: 2 minutes and 41 seconds- they were able to see Venus in the sky (might I remind you this was in early afternoon!). What an amazing sight it must have been!

As for how I experienced the eclipse, well...the glasses were all sold out, so I consulted the internet for how to experience it without looking at the sun! The Washington Post came through, providing me with easy directions for a pinhole projector. I used a Thin Mints box because I of course wanted to make the box be a special one and what better way to celebrate an eclipse than with cookies! Making it was so simple - white paper goes on the inside for the screen, cut two squares, cover one with foil, poke a hole through the foil, that's pretty much it. So here's my box and here's the best picture I could get of what I could see. Looking at the image of the sun is so incredibly misleading because its the middle of the afternoon and you see what looks like a crescent moon and it's just amazing and so fun to look at! Unfortunately my picture below does not do it justice for what I could really see (and of course what the people in the path of totality could see!). In my area, the peak time for the solar eclipse was 2:41 pm EDT, I watched from 2 to 3, and when I looked through my projector again at 4, the sun's image was a complete circle again!

and these three...well...they're just really cool to look at  :)

in these, you can see the sun and moon overlapping

Mercury is on the left, Mars is on the right, and Venus is at the bottom of the last picture

these were taken, respectively at: 12:30, 2:05, 2:15 and 3:15

Don't worry, if you weren't in the path of the total solar eclipse this year in 2017, the next one will be April 8, 2024. Check the map below from NationalEclipse.com to find out if you'll get the chance to see it! I'll be able to see it - will you? (Or will you be lucky enough to be right in that spot where the two paths collide and you get to see it twice?)

Also, check out this map from GreatAmericanEclipse.com to see all the future solar eclipses in the next hundred years

Now I want to hear about what you did and what you saw today! Let me know in the comments down below! I hope everyone had the chance to enjoy such a great phenomena on this exciting day!

💖,
The North Star Gazer 🌟

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

Welcome!

Hi! This is my “amateur astronomer’s” blog about everything space-and-stars-and-planets. This blog is the first step in pursuing my dream of combining my two passions: writing and learning. In the future, I hope to work for a science magazine (or NASA would be pretty cool, too, I guess) to write articles about new discoveries and research. This way, I can continue to learn new things each and every day. I love to look up into the sky and wonder what’s out there and I love to hear about upcoming missions out into the unknown.

In this blog, I hope to inform you of my glimpses into the night sky and the goings-on in the world of space science, as well as include other random and fun posts with a connection to astronomy.

I am a creative person, so hopefully I can bring fun things into this blog. I don’t know exactly what will come out of it just yet, but thanks to anyone who sticks around to see what I come up with. The universe is yours. Let’s explore it together.

      
       Shine bright,

          The North Star Gazer