APOD 4.6

Brisbane Sunset Moonset

The Sun and the New Moon set together over the skies of Queensland, Australia on April 29. This composite of pictures is a stack of images taken 5 minutes apart with a solar filter and telescope lens. It follows the solar eclipse in progress, approaching a western horizon where rays from the bank join the setting moon. Only a isolated part of Antarctica was able to see the eclipse in its annular phase, the entire dark ring surrounded by a ring of light. This is a really interesting and rare image that I've never seen anything like before.

Karl Jansky Sources

http://www.nrao.edu/whatisra/hist_jansky.shtml

http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/karl-jansky-the-father-of-radio-astronomy.html

http://www.nndb.com/people/055/000204440/

http://cosmology.carnegiescience.edu/timeline/1964/karl-janskys-radio-antenna

http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/pioneers/jansky.html

APOD 4.5

Hubble's Messier 5

This is an image of Messier 5 (M5) which is a globular star cluster of about 100,000 stars or more. The region is about 165 light-years in diameter and the stars are bounded by gravity. M5 is about 25,000 light years away from us and it roams the halo of our galaxy. It's one of the oldest globular clusters and it has very old stars toward the dense core and gives off a reddish hue. This is a really awesome image and gives off cool colors.

Solar Stormwatch

I worked on some of the activities in the solar stormwatch section and learned how to spot solar storms.

April 15 Observation

I woke up at 3 AM to watch the lunar eclipse for an hour and it was very interesting to watch the moon turn reddish in color. I used the constellation app on my phone to find other constellations in the night sky. My dad and I took some interesting photos of the lunar eclipse.

APOD 4.4

Spica, Mars, and Eclipsed Moon

A red moon went through our night sky on April 15 immersed in Earth's shadow for over an hour. It was the year's first total lunar eclipse. In this image the moon is contrasting with the blue star Spica and it provides a really cool juxtaposition. Brighter than spica, Mars is near opposition and closest approach to Earth. This is a really cool and once in a lifetime image.

Hercules M13 Cluster

I adjusted the image by using the log then auto. I sharpened the image twice and then reduced the noise about 3 times.