Zooniverse

Although I initially attempted the "studying explosions on the sun" activity, I quickly moved on to the "How do galaxies form" activity. I have been identifying and classifying dozens of galaxies; to do this, I (the participant) is presented with an image of an unclassified galaxy, and is then given a series of questions to answer about it (such as it's shape or regularity).

Observation 4.4: Astronomy Cast Episode 190

This episode discussed the Kepler Mission. Launched in May of 2009, the Kepler Mission had an expected minimum lifespan of 3 and a half years, and was launched with the intention of finding other earth like planets and, if possible, to discover planets bearing life. Almost immediately the mission made several notable discoveries. Within six weeks of the mission's launch, for example, five previously unknown planets were discovered, as well as the least dense planet yet discovered. Most importantly, however, as of February the Kepler Mission has discovered 54 planets which lay within the habitable zone of their star, a very exciting prospect.

Observation 4.3: Astronomy Cast Episode 163

The topic of this episode was the Aurora. The first topic of discussion was the visual aspect of the aurora. The reason we see the aurora is because of Earth's magnetic field. They expressed Earth as basically a bar magnet with looping magnetic field lines. Atomic oxygen is found in the upper atmosphere where it is closer to the suns radiation. This makes the atmosphere extremely radioactive, giving the ability to corrode most metals. Because of the way they are created, we are now able to predict these aurora with greater and greater accuracy. 

Observation 4.2: Astronomy Cast Episode 156

This episode spoke largely about the impact of foreign stars. An interesting idea which was presented was that the explosions of any star will have some effect on our planet, no matter the distance of the star itself. This is through the influence of effects such as Gamma rays. Additionally, this episode went into the great variation which can be found in stars, from a white dwarf as small as our moon to a star as gargantuan as VY Canis Minoris.

Observation 4.1: Astronomy Cast Episode 98

The topic of this episode of the Astronomy Cast is Quasars. Quasars were first discovered in the 1950's using radio telescopes, and 30 years later it was determined that Quasars were located in the center of galaxies. Because of this, and the knowledge that Quasars matched with stars, the existence of super massive black holes in galaxies was theorized. Upon their initial discovery, however, the existence of quasars was not widely accepted; it took many years and additional findings before most astronomers came to understand the role they played.

APOD 4.8

This image depicts the Tarantula Nebula, the largest star forming region in the Local Group. Located in the nearby galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Tarantula Nebula contains Emission Nebulae, dark nebulae and supernova remnants.

APOD 4.6

This image shows the Herschel Space Observatory's view of Cygnus X. Captured using infrared imaging, this image spans 6x2 degrees across the massive stellar nursery. Indeed, Cygnus X constitutes one of the closest, most massive star forming regions in our plane of the Milky Way.

APOD 4.5

In this image the fantastic sunset sky is seen from Stuttgart, Germany. Included in the sky are a few of the Earth’s multiple moons, including the artificial ISS, or International Space Station. Also visible is the large planet Jupiter, along with several of its satellites, known as Galilean Moons. Finally, in its new moon phase, the Moon itself comprises the largest and most prominent satellite visible in the image. Although it is odd to think of the Earth being orbited by something other than the moon, one must remember that there are now several artificial satellites orbiting our planet. 

APOD 4.4

This image shows the famous Ring Nebula. Identified by Charles Messier as M57, the Ring Nebula is said to be the most well known celestial band after the rings of Saturn. Its impressive appearance, however, is primarily due to perspective; it lies at a full light year across and 2,00 light years away.

APOD 4.3

Pictured in this image is the fantastic constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. This image gets it's red glow from red emission nebulae, which were excited by energetic light from newborn stars. Included in this image of the constellation include the Fox Fur Nebula, located near the bottom; the Cone Nebula, located at the top; and finally the Christmas Tree star cluster, which forms the roughly tree-shaped  shape in the center of the image.

APOD 4.2

Shown in this image is the Messier Object known as M53. Found in the constellation Coma Berinices, M53 is a globular cluster, and is visible simply with a pair of binoculars. Arranged as a sort of halo around the center f our galaxy, there are roughly 250 such globular clusters; until recently it was hypothesized that all of them were formed at or around the same time, but new discoveries about blue stars are casting this hypothesis into doubt.

APOD 4.1

This image depicts Centaurus A, a local galaxy. Centaurus A is primarily notable for being one of the closest galaxies to our own, at a distance of only 11 million light years. The galaxy was formed after a collision of two other galaxies, and is classified as an "active" galaxy; this means that there a source of luminosity, which is believed to be a super massive black hole, located in the center of the galaxy.

Quarter 4 Biography Sources

Print:
Strand, Levy, David ." Concise Dictionary of Scientific Biography. By Charles Coulston Gillispie. Vol. 19. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981. 328-332. Print. American Council of Learned Societies.

Online:

http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/bok/

http://www.nnp.org/nni/Publications/Dutch-American/bokbart.html

Bart Bok Biography

Bart Bok was an influential Dutch astronomer, who is best known for his work with his wife in popularizing the field of astronomy. Born in Hoorn in 1906, Bart an early interest in the field of astronomy, beginning when he was a boy scout. Bok studied at the University of Leiden, and in 1932 received his PhD from the university of Groningen.

The greatest of Bok's achievements began in 1928, when he attended a meeting of the International Astronomical Union. While there, two things happened that would dictate the course of his life. First, Bart met his future wife, Priscilla Fairfield, to whom he proposed almost immediately and married the next year. The second was an invitation to work at Harvard University, where he stayed until 1957. This invitation came from fellow astronomer Harlow Sharply, who was himself notable for his work determining the location of our planet within the Milky Way.

While working at Harvard, Bok performed notable work in mapping the shape of the galaxy. Bok's work in this field was essential in determining the shape of the galaxy's spiral arms; specifically, he refuted the notion that the spiral arms were elliptical, showing instead that they were spherical. It was based on this work that he released his most famed accomplishment, the book The Milky Way. Co-authored with his wife Priscilla, this book was written for and meant to be read by the general public rather than specialized astronomers, and was a great influence in popularizing the field of astronomy. As time went on it received many revisions to accommodate new information about the galaxy.

Additionally, Bok's work has developed our understanding of Star formation. In the 1940's he made the first observations of what are now known as Bok Globules. These 'Bok Globules' are essentially small, discernable clouds placed in front of brighter stars or gasses, and are thought to be the preeminence of early forming stars.

The personal life of both Bart and Priscilla Bok was dedicated largely to astronomy. Bart would frequently lead trips to astronomical events around the globe; for example, to view eclipses. After the death of his wife Priscilla, however, Bart's work slowed until he died of a heart attack in 1983. Both Bart and his wife were honored posthumously by having an asteroid named after them, 1983 Bok.