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.

observation notebook

The major project for my Space Exploration class is to have a series of at least 25 observations of the sky based on certain tasks and criteria. I decided to take you along with me to see everything that I am doing, from last week until December 15th, when the notebook is due.

My first step was heading to Target to get a notebook. I chose this one because it was a little space-y looking. A friend of mine can do really good cursive, so I am going to have her write "observation notebook" all fancily on the front cover for me. In class, we made quadrants from a template, string, paper clips, and a straw. Quadrants are used to measure the altitude of an object above the horizon. My other supplies for these activities are: a compass, a star chart, the packet of directions, and my SkyView app. Last week I printed a calendar and went through the packet, writing down which day I was going to look at/for each thing.

Check out my pictures below and follow all the observations that I'll post as I do them.

 

these are all the observations I hope to make, but depending on whether or not there are clouds one night or if I have something else going on, I may not get them all

look through the straw at the object being observed and look for the angle as marked by the string...this is the object's altitude

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

July 27, 2017

Wow, I’m just getting back from looking outside and it was a much better success than last time! I saw so many stars - I tried to count them to report on, but it was impossible!

I was out from 10:40 to 10:55 pm, facing west, and once again used the guide of my SkyView App.

The three brightest stars I could see from my backyard were:

• Arcturus, part of the constellation Bootes (directly in front of me)
• Vega, part of the constellation Lyra (above my head)
• Kaus Australis, part of the constellation Sagittarius (to my left)

Arcturus                                                                                 Vega

Kaus Australi

I also saw the three stars that make up the handle of the Big Dipper, as well as the top two of the bowl - the bottom two were covered by the trees. The picture below shows the three stars in the handle: Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth. The Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major.

Unfortunately, I didn’t look for the planets - whoops, that was a mistake on my part for it not even crossing my mind (I guess I was so absorbed in the beauty and magic of the stars!).

Tonight was a really great experience for me, looking up and seeing what stars I could find. The ight was beautiful: bright specks splattered across the dark sky 

* * * * *

Around 8:30 pm, I looked out and could see the moon - a waxing crescent - right in the crevice between some trees. The pictures aren’t great, but I’ll feature some below.

July 22, 2017

This was my first night going out (around 11pm) to observe and report on the night sky, however an unsuccessful one at that. It was a cloudy night and thus, I could not see a single star with the naked eye. I did, however, see (through the SkyView app) that Saturn and Jupiter would have been in sight had there not been so many clouds or trees in the way. In the meantime, I will keep watching for these planets, as well as other stars and constellations - and I’ll be sure to post about anything interesting I see.

I couldn’t see anything, but this screenshot shows where Saturn was in the sky

(I’ll do a post in the future about the SkyView app)