APOD 2.6

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101207.html

This image is computer-generated, but awesome. The program is called BHSKY. It is capable of showing relativistically accurate images of objects travelling around a non-rotating black hole. The ratio between the black hole Schwarzschild radius and the observer distance to it is 1:9. A black hole is a region in which not even light can escape due to its massive gravity. A black hole can be observed from its interaction with the objects around it. On the inside of a black hole, past the even horizon (also the point of no return) there are intense tidal forces that start ripping apart objects. No one can see inside, since light can't escape the intense gravity. 

Observations

Place: Somewhere is Sarasota
Time: Around 10ish

So I am proud to say I can pinpoint the first time this class has saved me gas money. A friend and I went to see 'Death by Chocolate', a jazz production up at Booker High School. I was quite unfamiliar with the area, as I live in Venice, and she really did not now how to get around despite attending Booker. So after going in many circles and arriving back at Booker then back on Webber then back on Fruitville, we arrived at 41 and had to make a fateful decision; left or right? We pulled into a parking lot and got out of the car. Polaris was in the sky at that moment, so with that breakthrough we knew which way was north! We took a right onto 41 and arrived home in a jiffy. Later in the night we also observed Orion, which was very bright and recognizable immediately by the belt.

APOD 2.5

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101126.html

Zeta Orionis is near the top of this nebula, one of the three stars in Orion's belt. The actual nebula contains an 8.5 magnitude star. The nebula is red because of the presence of hydrogen (This linked to a jokes, and the only one I didn't know, "A neutron walks in to the same bar. He sits down and says to the bar tender, "Hey, how much for a beer?" The bar tender looks at him and says, "For you, no charge!" was pretty funny. Hardy har. Anyway, the hydrogen atoms (ionized, so they are recombining, making them glow red) are from the Orion molecular cloud, which is a stellar nursery and contains several other nebulae  including the Horsehead Nebula which is about 1500 light-years. A young star is believed to be the source of infrared radiation powering the glow through ionization.