Astronomy Cast- Ice in Space

Threre is not a lot of ice stored in outer space because simply there isnt a whole lot of mass in comparison to the size of our galaxy. it’s also scattered into what’s called the Scattered Disk, and beyond the Kuiper Belt. the water line is midway through the Asteroid Belt, and then the freeze line is out there pretty much between Jupiter and Saturn, and these are basically the places where you go from completely blasted dry to  things of varying mixtures of rock and ice, and then the, in general, pure ice stuff in the outer solar system, and what you’re seeing is, essentially, the thermal gradient of when our Solar System formed. early Solar System was this mix of molecules and atoms.  For the most part, the nice, happy, solid icy bodies we see — these are the Centaurs, the Kuiper Belt objects, the Scattered Disk objects — while they have variation in composition, we think, we’re still figuring this out.While they may have differences in composition on differences in albedo, they all formed in basically the same area and then got scattered around by gravitational interactions. if you pull together all the mass in the Kuiper Belt, it’s kind of a large rocky planet’s worth of materials. Some of the objects in these groups of celestial bodies are just one kind of a small family of icy material. However there are still many places in our galaxy that could potential be a gold mine of ice that we just havent identified yet.

Astronomy Cast- Future Civilizations

There are many things in the universe that could potentially eliminate our world. Such as the sun and asteroids and even ourselves as we are destroying our own planet. However if we were to survive for another hundred years what are the possibilities of us forming civilizations on other places in the universe. One of the possible projects for the future is the first real super-giant huge in-space structures that we’re likely to see are, first of all just a colony on the moon. It will probably start as the equivalent of a trailer park on the moon, something built down, hollowed into the sides of craters.  Our first mega-structure is likely to be built roughly under the surface of the moon. One of the reasons that huge modern day structures arent possible on the moon immediately is because there is radiation on the moon. if we ever figure out how to deal with radiation without requiring dirt, water, earth… something between us and the solar wind. If humans can make that breakthrough, suddenly the doors open to create much more exciting mega-structures.  Here on the planet Earth, we’re protected by our own magnetosphere. the wonderful magnetic field that comes along with the north and south magnetic poles that allow us to navigate. The moon doesn’t have that sort of a magnetic field. If you get high enough up in the Earth’s orbit, you don’t have enough protection in orbit

Astronomy Cast- What if things were different?

The number of moons, the age of the Sun, and our placement in the Milky Way all had an impact on the formation of the Earth and the evolution of life on our planet, but what if things were different? the lives of galaxies change as they go from low-density environments to high-density environments over the course of the history of the Universe. Over time, as the galaxies have swept one past the other, the gravity of them tearing at each other has sucked all the dust out into the spaces between the galaxies, and without dust there’s no star formation. Without star formation in one of the bigger galaxies such stars that form Orion's belt may not of been created. if our Sun had been one of that 0th generation of stars which formed pretty much 400,000 years after the Big Bang, it would have been giant. It would have been a runaway star because it wouldn’t have had any metals to help it cool off. That’s one of those strange things in star formation. This pretty much that we wouldnt be here right now.  there wouldn’t have been any of the stuff to make planets. Initially, it was hydrogen, helium, trace amounts of lithium, and beryllium none of the silicon we need to make rock, none of the iron we need in our blood, none of the metals at all existed initially so that first generation of stars if we’d been one of the first generation of stars, no planets would have formed. If we were closer to the core of our galaxy there would a higher risk of collision. The galaxy formed in such a way that made it ideal conditions for life to be sustainable on our planet.

Exotic Life ASTRO CAST

In order for people or living things to grow we need certain elements in our system.  One phosphorus atom and four oxygen atoms forming a molecule. ADP cycle within the body which includes phosphate as one of the major constituents of the process. One of the crucial parts of forming the DNA molecule, that twisted helix that defines who each of us are genetically, one of the necesities of forming that molecule is phosphate.This explanation of our body processes is available simply by looking at a periodic table. the first row only has hydrogen and helium, the next row has a limited number of things. It has two things on the left and six things on the right. That pattern of the periodic table is actually built on the pattern of orbiting electrons, so in hydrogen and helium you only have two possibilities of where to place electrons. Then with each successive movement down the list you add more possibilities for these electrons. Each column in the periodic table represents how many gaps are left in the outer-most orbital, the outer-most layer that electrons can live within. So when you’re looking at oxygen, when you’re looking at sulfur and so on. They are trying to see if bacteria can grow and with traces of phosphate and salt. The process in question is their metabolism. Are they using elements in their metabolism to grow or simply just phosphate. There is life that is known to exist that metabolizes phosphate at even lower levels than what existed in this particular salt. One of the things that is on the list of things that scientists are going to be doing next is figuring out how to image the DNA. It is interesting to see if scientist can prove more life in outerspace and too see if anything more complex in form is out there.

APOD 3.8

These 5 hand drawn sketches were made by using a 16 in telescope. Jupiter was observed on different days on November and December 2011. There have been edits made to these drawing and they have been made into  a video clip. Galileo's moon have been added to the clip to show how everything orbits around it. IO and Ganymede are the main ones from start to finish.

APOD 3.7

Venus is now visible at twilight. It is the predominating star in our night sky. It is a celestial body that has many observers interested. However there are many clouds that cover the reflective light off venus making it hard to observe.  The data was recorded through near-ultraviolet, green, and near-infrared filters (left), and red, green, and blue filters while Venus stood high above the western horizon just before sunset. These colors have been taken by cameras with special color filters.

APOD 3.6

There was a supernova in 1987. It was the brightest recorded supernova in recent history and it was located in the Magellanic cloud. Through telescope the amount of energy released in this explosion allowed us to capture the remnats from the violent transition. However there are rings that are a mystery as to how they formed. The make a figure 8 around the explosion. A possible theory is that these are beamed jets emmited from a hidden neuron star

Biography Edward Charles Pickering

Edward Charles Pickering was an American astronomer and physicist. Pickering was born on July 19, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts where he spent nearly all of his childhood. He attended Boston Latin School and then went on to receive his B.S. degree at Harvard University, graduating in 1865. In 1867, Pickering became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and held that position for ten years.  In 1876 he was given the position of professor of astronomy and director of the Harvard College observatory. He helped construct the first first student observatory where students were required to log obervations and make measurements. This observatory had one telescope that was dedicated to stellar photometry. That same year he co-founded the Appalachian Mountain Club, one of the United States’ oldest outdoor groups. Pickering was the director of the observatory for 42 years during which time he and his staff observed more than 45,000 stars. Pickering assembled a group of women that would help him with this observations. These women would later become reknowned for their achievements. They included Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta S. Leavitt, Williamina P. Fleming, and Antonia Maury. These women became popularly known in the scientific community as “Pickering’s Harem.” One of his big contributions in the field of astronomy  was the construction of the meridean photometer. This machine basicalle took two stars in the night sky  and took an image of them. Then this image was later used to compare the brightness of these stars with another group of northen stars.  Much of the data collected from this device was used to compile another catalogue entitled Harvard Photometry. He also established an observatory in Arequipa, Peru in 1891, where he collected data of southern stars that he combined with the data collected in Massachusetts. From this data, he published the first all-sky photographic map. there have been 75000 photographs that have been captured by this observatory. Pickering and Hermann Carl Vogel both independently discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. Pickering also discovered a new series of spectral lines that were formed because of the natural ionization of helium. In 1911 alongside william olcott Pickering established a group that encouraged amateur astronomer to continue in this science. This group was called the American Association of Variable Star Observers. Edward Pickering died at Harvard on February 3rd, 1919.