Ring Nebula

As most of you can tell from the pictures below and its name, the Ring Nebula has a ring-shaped structure. It is also known as M57, Messier 57, or NGC 6720 ("Messier 57").  It is a planetary nebula, and the outside ring shape is supposedly due to the star at the center of the nebula ("Messier 57").  The Ring Nebula is a part of the constellation, Lyra, and its central star was first observed in 1800 by Fredrich von Hanh ("Messier 57").  Right now, this central star is classified as a white dwarf star and shines at about fifteenth magnitude, but it will begin to cool down and eventually end up as a cold black dwarf star ("Messier 57").  The distance from our own Milky Way has been in question due to miscalculations based on errors in assumptions of its shape, but based on recent calculations, it appears to be around two to four thousand light years away ("Messier 57").  The Ring Nebula has an interesting history that adds to its visual amusement.

"Messier 57." Messier Object 57. N.p., 30 Aug. 2007. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/27/15 (Green Filter)

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/27/15 (Red Filter)

Whirlpool Galaxy

If you have been reading my blog, you have probably noticed my interest in galaxies; the Whirlpool Galaxy is no exception.  Scientists consider this to be one of our closer neighbors since it is twenty-five million light years away from our own Milky Way ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  Because of is close proximity, it was one of the first galaxies to be designated as a spiral galaxy ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  It is approximately seventy-five thousand light years across and has greater than one hundred billion stars ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  Something pretty unique about the Whirlpool Galaxy that I found incredibly interesting was that it had collided with one of its neighboring galaxies, M51b, which is considered to be a dwarf, irregular galaxy ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  Due to this collision, M51b is difficult to classify because the Whirlpool Galaxy seems to be destroying it.  Also, the Whirlpool Galaxy's outer spirals were disrupted by the collision, and it has had a spike in starbirth ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  Another interesting fact about the Whirlpool Galaxy is that it has a massive black hole at its core.  Although this is not unique, the Whirlpool Galaxy's black hole is said to be active, which gave it its classification of a "Seyfert Galaxy" ("Whirlpool Galaxy Facts").  Seyfert galaxies make up about ten percent of the galaxies in the universe so far; they are when the galaxy produces nuclei spectral line emissions due to highly ionized gas from extremely large black holes ("Seyfert Galaxies"). The picture below is from the Harvard MicroObservatory; the Whirlpool Galaxy and its smaller neighbor, M51b, can be seen in the bottom right corner of the picture.  Sorry for the blurriness and awkward brightness of the picture!

"Seyfert Galaxies." Seyfert Galaxies / Galaxy / Seyfert's Sextet. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.
"Whirlpool Galaxy Facts." Space Facts. N.p., 01 May 2015. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/26/15

NGC 891

I know before this blog I didn't really have an idea about all of the galaxies out there in our universe.  I knew about Andromeda and the Milky Way, but I didn't even begin to think about the numerous others that people had discovered.  I was searching through the Harvard MicroObservatory Website, when I saw this spiral galaxy called NGC 891.  I requested a picture of it and did some research on it, solely because I thought it looked beautiful; I was right.  Looking online at some of the other pictures captured by telescopes of this on-edge spiral galaxy, I was mesmerized.  It was discovered by William Herschel on October 6, 1784, which is an interesting coincidence considering he was mentioned during the recent convocation by Pamela Gay ("NGC 891").  NGC 891 is an on-edge spiral galaxy that has a dust lane along its center axis ("NGC 891").  I know the picture below is a little blurry (the galaxy is the blurred streak towards the bottom of the picture), but if you do get a chance to look up a picture of this galaxy, it is absolutely stunning and quite a magnificent sight.  

"NGC 891." NGC 891. N.p., 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/18/15

Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is a stellar nursery located near Orion's belt (McClure).  It is approximately 1,300 light years away from Earth, which means that it is still a part of our galaxy, and it is also approximately 30-40 light years in diameter (McClure).  Within this giant cloud of gas and dust, about a thousand stars are being born, and there is even an open star cluster, "whose stars were born at the same time from a portion of the nebula and are still loosely bound by gravity" (McClure).  Some scientists also believe that at its heart, there is a black hole (McClure).  The four brightest stars of the nebular are called The Trapezium and appear to only be about a million years old, which is young in terms of stars (McClure).  To put this in perspective, our Sun is approximately 5 billion years old ("How old is the Sun?").

I've been doing this blog for a little while now, and I'm still amazed at the new things I continue to discover about a place I have called home my entire life.  It not only makes you feel small in comparison, but it brings an inspiration for more knowledge.  I hope whoever reads this has a similar inspiration to go out and explore your universe.

Works Cited
"How Old Is the Sun?" Stanford SOLAR Center. Stanford SOLAR Center, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

McClure, Bruce. "Orion Nebula Is a Place Where Stars Are Born." EarthSky. EarthSky, 30

Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

Andromeda Galaxy

've heard about the Andromeda Galaxy in science classes throughout elementary school and middle school, but I never really thought about it beyond that. When I looked on the Harvard MicroObservatory website, I was really interested to learn more about it, and I hope you enjoy what I learned!
Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, is our galaxy's closest neighbor, and this neighbor of ours is actually heading towards us on a collision course (Redd). Andromeda galaxy is like our galaxy in that it is also a spiral galaxy; it's spiral is approximately 260,000 light years long with a bulge in the middle (Redd).  Despite this being two and a half times longer than the Milky Way and having more stars, the Milky Way is said to be more dense because scientists believe it has more dark matter (Redd).  Although first identified by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi in 964, Charles Messier named it as "M31" in 1764 and incorrectly credited the discovery to a German astronomer who was the first to observe the galaxy using a telescope (Redd).

Works Cited

Redd, Nola Taylor. "Andromeda Galaxy (M31): Location, Characteristics & Images.

Space.com."Space.com. N.p., 8 May 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15

The Sun

We all know about the Sun.  It's something we see almost every day, and most of us tend to take it for granted.  However, it is the life force for our planet and the rest of the planets in our solar system; it provides heat and light for our solar system.  Not only that, it is also the biggest mass in our solar system ("The Sun").  Despite this, it is still made up of 98% gas; it is comprised of 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, and  less than 2% metals ("The Sun").  One interesting fact I found out about the Sun is that different parts of this giant star rotates at different rates.  Because it is mostly gas, the Sun's outer layers rotate at different rates, while the core rotates at the same rate;  the equator rotates at 25.4 days and the poles makes one rotation in about 36 days ("The Sun").  The Sun's power is from the nuclear fusion reactions that occur on in its core and flow out towards the surface.  As it heads towards the surface, the energy is absorbed and re-emitted, so that when it does reach the surface, the energy is basically just visible light ("The Sun").

The dark spots on the picture below are sunspots.  The reason why they appear dark is because these spots are cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface.  The surface of the Sun is typically about 5800 K, but these spots are only about 3800 K ("The Sun").

"The Sun." Nine Planets. Nine Planets, 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

Taken 11/10/15 by the Harvard MicroObservatory

Trifid Nebula

The Trifid Nebula is not something you here about on a day to day basis.  However, during my exploration of the universe, something about it seemed to catch my eye.  I requested pictures of it from the Harvard MicroObservatory, which you can see below, and the more I researched it, the more interesting it became.  The Trifid Nebular was discovered in 1764 by Charles Messier, and it's name means "divided into three lobes" due to it being comprised of a red emission nebula, a blue reflection nebula and a dark nebula (MacPhee).  The Trifid Nebula and Lagoon Nebula actually appear in the same area of space from our point of view.  Scientists believe that they are both about 5,000 light-years away, and because of this, some contemplate whether or not these two come from the same origin (McClure).  The Trifid Nebular is also a stellar nursery, so it is the birthplace of many star formations (McClure).  The Trifid Nebula is just one of many nebulae in the universe that continue to fascinate scientists and enthrall "citizen astronomers" (like me!) to watch the sky.

Works Cited

MacPhee, Martin. "Exploring the Trifid Nebula." EarthSky. EarthSky, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
McClure, Bruce. "The Trifid Nebula, or M20." EarthSky. EarthSky, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.

Taken 11/8/15 by the Harvard MicroObservatory, Dark Filter

Taken 11/8/15 by the Harvard MicroObservatory, Red Filter