Zooniverse 3!

I worked on galaxy zoo, another popular selection from the Zooniverse line of products. The pictures are much blurrier than you would think, so you can feel like a real scientist sorting through mountains of barely decipherable data! I can't help but feel if I had a better monitor this would be easier, but nevertheless, it is fun. The colors of the galaxies taken in infrared make them distinct enough that sorting through isn't really a chore. I also did Moon Zoo today. I really enjoy the crater survey simply because they are numerous enough that completing one picture feels like an accomplishment. Boulder wars went a lot faster, but the theory behind them is very interesting; I will admit to spending more time than usual on the about page for that simply because they are so cool.

APOD 4.8

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110528.html

This image is also photo-shopped. Astronomer Dennis Mammana has quite a sense of humor; when he looked at his odometer and found a reading of 186282 he recognized it as the number of miles light travels in a second, and he took a picture! He traveled that distance in 13 years though, not one second in his 1998 sports utility vehicle. Next, he is shooting for the moon, because the sky is the limit.

APOD 4.7

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110526.html

This image is photo-shopped (or at least I'm 99% positive). Alex Parker and Melissa Grahm are composers whom embarked on the journey to create a sonata out of a supernova, type Ia(explosions of white dwarf stars). They made use of the Canadian France Hawaii Telescope's data from a span of three years. Fainter supernova play quieter notes, and closer ones are denoted by louder ones. They also varied instruments in order to create a lovely symphony of sounds.

APOD 4.6

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110525.html

This is the launch of the Endeavor, the final launch! (you were there). We rushed outside at school to view this historic event, but could simply not get a good view, so I envy you. This majestic photograph shows the rising plume of the spacecraft, captured by a shuttle training aircraft at the exact right moment. The Endeavor was docked at the international space station, and marks a major event in human history as it will be the last of its kind for a while.

APOD 4.5

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110523.html

The crab nebula flared on April 11, 2011, and was captured by the Fermi Gamma Ray telescope (it only flares in gamma rays). This flare was five times the usual gamma ray intensity of the nebula. Suspicions are that there is a compact neutron star at the center of the galaxy rotating very fast and causing disparities in intensity and period. This is due to the variable magnetic field created in which the electrons flow differently around.

Zooniverse 2!

I went through the Milky Way project! which is very very hard to access as people always want that one. It was very interesting to see our very own galaxy from different angles and pictures, and in infared. It really gives a new perspective on something we are all very familiar with. I ended up drawing a few more green bubbles than average on the example pictures, which might be due to luck and hopefully not to my misunderstanding of the function of that marker. I also tried out solar stormwatch. Solar storms are pretty fantastic looking, and they are something fantastic to behold. Because they are so obvious, this was a bit easier than the other activities.

APOD 4.4

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110423.html

This photograph was taken with a wide-angle camera by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. 1700 pictures were collected over a period of 6 lunar days (6 earth months) of moon's south pole. The Shakelton crater is clearly in view, which is 19 km across. The south and north pols are continuously in shadow and the rest is in light; this could possibly be good for collecting solar power continuously.