Bohdan Paczyński - Biography

Bohdan Paczyński

       Bohdan Paczyński, born on the eighth of February in 1940, was a Polish astronomer and a leading scientist in theory of the evolution of stars, accretion discs and gamma ray bursts. He was originally born in Vilnius, Lithuania, but his family decided to leave for Poland where they settled in Krakow in 1945 and then Warsaw in 1949.

       At the age of 18 Paczyński published his first scientific article in Acta Astronomica.  Between 1959 and 1962 he studied astronomy at the University of Warsaw. Two years later he received a doctorate under tutelage of Stefan Piotrowski and Włodzimierz Zonn. In 1962 Paczyński became a member of the Centre of Astronomy of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where he continued to work for nearly 20 years. In 1974 he received habilitation and in 1979 became a professor. Thanks to his works on theoretical astronomy, at the age of 36 he became the youngest member of the Polish Academy of Science. In 1981 Paczyński visited the United States, where he gave a series of lectures at Caltech.

       Paczyński was the creator of Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and All Sky Automated Survey. His new methods of discovering cosmic objects and measuring their mass by using gravitational lenses gained him international recognition. He is acknowledged for coining the term micro-lensing. He was also an early proponent of the idea that gamma-ray bursts are at cosmological distances. His research concentrated on stellar evolution, gravitational lensing and gravitational micro-lensing, variable stars, gamma-ray bursts, and galactic structure.

       In 1999, he became the first astronomer to receive all three major awards of the Royal Astronomical Society, by winning the Gold Medal, having won the Eddington Medal in 1987 and the George Darwin Lectureship in 1995. He was honored with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by Wrocław University in Poland on June 29, 2005 and Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in Poland on September 22, 2006. In January 2006 he was awarded Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society, "for his highly original contributions to a wide variety of fields including advanced stellar evolution, the nature of gamma ray bursts, accretion in binary systems, gravitational lensing, and cosmology. His research has been distinguished by its creativity and breadth, as well as the stimulus it has provided to highly productive observational investigations". He died of brain cancer on April 19, 2007 in Princeton, New Jersey.  

Bohdan Paczyński - Sources

Dziembowski, W. A. "Bohdan Paczyński (1940–2007)." Ublications of the Astronomical Society of the    
          Pacific 119.858 (2007). JSTOR. The University of Chicago Press, 2007. Web. 19 May 2011. 
          <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/521711>.


"Henry Draper Medal Recipients." Nasa Online. National Academy of Sciences, 2001. Web. 19 May 2011.
          <http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_draper>.


Spitzer, Lyman. "Bohdan Paczynski." Princeton Astronomy. Warsaw University, 1964. Web. 19 May 2011.  
          <http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~bp/>.

APOD 4.6

Voyager 1 - Farther Along

Voyager 1 is the single most furthest man-made object from our Sun. I learned that it is an astounding 117 AU away! Thats 17.5 Billion Km! Among the four space crafts nearest it, it is the fastest at 17 Km/Sec. I really can not wait until it reaches interstellar space; I hope humanity learns a lot from this journey.

APOD 4.5

The Antennae

This is an image of two large galaxies colliding in the constellation Corvus. I chose this image because for one, the class has been learning what types of galaxies form from these collisions; pretty much larger spiral galaxies, or elliptical galaxies. In addition to this, it is in the constellation Corvus the Crow, which was one of this week's constellation quiz subjects. 

APOD 4.4

IC 1396

I have never seen images of this nebula before, but I am really interested in it. It sort of looks like a giant (and I giant) monster's face with a big mouth in the center. If you look closely you can see an almost human looking shape that looks like it is falling from the mouth. This Nebula is actually nick named the Elephant's Trunk Nebula, no matter how evil it appears. While this may seem like a scene of death (well it is since a star died), there are hundreds of new stars forming in it. 

Zooniverse Work

I've been doing more work on the Zooniverse project called Galaxy Zoo. So far I've cataloged over 1,500 galaxies; the ones in the picture above are among the best I have had the privilege to view. I plan to add more and more to this image as I discover more galaxies. Overall, I think its a big improvement over the last image I made of these galaxies with the few new additions.

APOD 4.3

M101 The Pinwheel Galaxy

 

 I have always found images to be fascinating, but today's APOD was just awesome. The spirals of this galaxy are so vivid and sharp, its a wonder how scientists can do this with objects so many light years away. From reading the APOD article I learned that this galaxy is much bigger than our own Milky Way and is located in the constellation Ursa Major. Sadly I also learned that Ursa Major can not be seen from Florida and that the only hope of me seeing it would be in the northern states.

Zooniverse Work

These are some of my favorite images i've seen while doing the galaxy zoo on the zooniverse website. I really like the activity and have cataloged over 1,000 galaxies thus far.

APOD 4.2

M74: The Perfect Spiral

M74 is one of my most favorite spiral galaxies. This is because its spiral is just awesome to look at and probably the most photogenic of all the spiral galaxies. The colors that are displayed are beyond beautiful; sometimes it makes me wonder why there are not pictures like this in art museums, id be much more interested if there were.

APOD 4.1

Messenger at Mercury

 

 

On March 17tth, the Messenger Spacecraft started orbiting our inner most planet, Mercury. This is the first time that any ship has been in orbit around this planet, which means many pictures will be taken. This project has been very exciting for me because I've been following it on Nasa.gov and to see these kinds of pictures are great. Mercury almost looks like our Moon, but there are some other colors near the craters like red and blue if closely observed. Overall, viewing pictures of the planets in our solar system is one of my favorite things to do in Astronomy because I can feel even our solar system becoming "smaller" if you will as we have spacecrafts travel to each planet. Soon we will be saying "Its a small solar system" instead of "Its a small world".

Astronomy Night Observations

Recently I attended the Astronomy Event that is held yearly at Pine View School. With very clear skies and little light pollution (thank god that light near the campus police officer's house can be turned off now) I was able to see the sky very clearly. Among the constellations I observed was Orion, which was visible even before the sun's glow faded. With the naked eye I clearly saw Betelgeuse's orange glow, and even the sword of Orion that hangs off the belt. Next to Orion was Canis Major with the bright star Sirius, that was quite a sight. To the North was Polaris in Ursa Minor. The best sight of the night was Saturn as it rose in the East, that was really great to see through a telescope, the rings were amazing!

APOD 3.8

Kepler's Suns and Planets

 

This image shows all of the 1,235 candidates for exo-planets. Exo-planets are found by observing slight the slight dimming that a star exhibits when one of the planets passes in front of its view. Most of the exo-planets found are gas giants, but there are still a few being found that are rocky in nature and could very well be like Earth. I find this to be very fascinating because if planets around stars are this common, life probably is as well.

APOD 3.7

Video Link: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110315.html

Cassini Approaches Saturn 

The spacecraft Cassini approached Saturn in 2004, taking thousands of pictures. Those pictures were compiled and edited into an amazing video that shows the perspective of a ship approaching Saturn. The video really interested me because the spacecraft even went to some of Saturn's moons. In addition it was astoundingly high quality and just overall awe inspiring. But I guess that's what you get for studying the most photogenic planet in our solar system.

APOD 3.6 - Observation

Jupiter and Mercury at Sunset

Over the past week when I went out at sunset, since its much later occurring now and H.W. really doesn't get in the way, I always saw two stars before the sun's light completely faded. My guess was that one of them was Jupiter, but I did not know what the other was. Well APOD fixed that for me, releasing this great photo of the sunset and explaining how the two stars are actually Jupiter and Mercury. 

Giovanni Schiaparelli

Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, born March 14, 1835, was an Italian astronomer and science historian. He studied at the University of Turin and the Berlin Observatory, primarily on objects within the solar system. In 1859-1860 he worked in the Pulkovo Observatory and then worked for over forty years at the Brera Observatory. He was also a senator of the Kingdom of Italy, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei, the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino and the Regio Istituto Lombardo. He is particularly known for his studies of Mars and his observations on many objects within the solar system and outside.


Giovanni's greatest contribution to science was his telescopic observations of Mars. Mars was in opposition in 1877 making it easier for him to observe it. When Giovanni first saw the planet, he mapped the "seas" and "continents" of it, but called the linear structures "canali" which means channels in Italian, but was translated as canals. Everyone knew that canals are created by artificial construction which is where the assumption that there must be life on Mars originated and so the Martians were born. Giovanni did write in his book however that if there was life on Mars, they would be in the channels because that would be the most likely area for water to be. 


Giovanni also observed many other objects, such as the asteroid 69 Hesperia on April 26, 1861. His observation led him to hypothesize that  the Perseids and Leonids meteor showers were associated with comets. He proved, for example, that the orbit of the Leonids meteor shower coincided with that of the Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Giovanni also extensively observed binary stars. 


Giovanni was also interested in classical astronomy and considered himself a scholar.  He was the first to realize that the concentric spheres of Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus, unlike those used by many astronomers of later times, were not to be taken as material objects, but only as part of an algorithm similar to the modern Fourier series.


Giovanni was commemorated for his observations and received many awards. He won the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1872 and the Bruce Medal in 1902. In addition many objects in the solar system were named after him. Such as Asteroid 4062 Schiaparelli, The crater Schiaparelli on the Moon, and The crater Schiaparelli on Mars. 


Overall, Giovanni Schiaparelli's contribution to science was great. His observations, while stirring some sci-fi interest with Martians, really did help people understand the surface of the red planet more. In addition, his studies on comets and their meteor showers led to the conclusion of them being associated together. He may not be an Isaac Newton, but he left his mark on history. 

Giovanni Schiaparelli - Sources

"Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli." NNDB: Tracking the Entire World. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nndb.com/people/497/000095212/>.


"Schiaparelli, Giovanni Virginio (1835-1910)." The Internet Encyclopedia of Science. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. <http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/Schiaparelli.html>.


"The Bruce Medalists: Giovanni V. Schiaparelli." SSU Department of Physics & Astronomy. Web. 22 Feb. 2011. <http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/BruceMedalists/Schiaparelli/index.html>.

Observation 1

Full Moon

Last night there was a full Moon, I personally saw it setting early in the morning around 6:40 am. The color was a yellowish-orange and it was absolutely huge. It was an amazing site to see when I went outside and even still while driving to school. 

APOD 3.5

/

Rosette Nebula 

 

This APOD features the Rosette Nebula in the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. This Nebula is categorized as an Emission Nebula, but what makes this one different is the cluster of stars in the middle. The stars, which formed from the gasses within the nebula, are now producing a wind that is pushing the nebula apart and not allowing many other stars to form.

APOD 3.4

Star Colors Within Orion

In this view of the constellation Orion, star trails are viewable due to a new experimental step-focus technique. This allows astronomers to more easily view the colors of each star. As I've learned in class, this means that this method could be used to determine the temperatures of the stars in view. The red stars are cooler, while the blue stars are hotter. As an example, in the top left is the red super-giant called Betelgeuse which I saw was orange/red through Mr. Percival's telescope. 

APOD 3.3

360 View of the Sun 

Two STEREO Satellites, launched in 2006, finally completed their journey together around the Sun to give NASA a full 360 degree view of it. Previously, they were only able to view the side facing us for Solar Weather, while this weather could form on the other side and rotate to face us. This could potentially cause an unexpected storm to interfere with power and communications. Thankfully, NASA has eliminated this threat. 

APOD 3.2

The Whirlpool Galaxy

The Whirlpool Galaxy was first discovered by the astronomer who I had to do my quarter project on, Charles Messier. He drew early sketches on it and recognized it to be a spiraled object, the first known at that time. Even today this galaxy brings awe and inspiration to many who study or are just interested in it; I know it does for me. Galaxies, while they are in fake color to show certain gasses etc., are always splendid to observe. This is probably my favorite part of astronomy.

APOD 3.1

The Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula is located within the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. The chose this picture (for the second time I think) because this week we studied this constellation and The Crab Nebula was one of its M objects, more specifically M1. I got to study this nebula a little bit more because the astronomer I had for my quarter project actually discovered and cataloged it. This is also my favorite celestial object because of how spectacular it is to observe, and this picture from the Hubble definitely does it justice.

APOD 2.8

NGC 3521 Close Up 

 

In this photo is a spiral galaxy, cataloged as NGC 3521. Its approximately 35 million ly away from Earth and 50 thousand ly across. Its positioned near the constellation of Leo, which holds many other spiral galaxies. Amateur astronomers generally over look this spiral galaxy for the others in Leo, but I find this one to be exceptionally radiant; especially the bluer star forming regions.

Sun Picture Links for Mr. Percival

Sun Spot 

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0211/sunspot_swedish_c1.jpg

Solar Prominence

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0608/sunprom_soho_big.jpg

Solar Flare

http://background-wallpaper.110mb.com/images/Wallpapers1600/outer-space/sun-magnetic-field.jpg

Coronal Mass Ejection 

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/images/large/c2fireball_prev.jpg

Wave Lengths of the Sun

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5082/5299930517_a03b624355_b.jpg

Biography

William Parsons, 3^rd Earl of Rosse

         William Parsons, 3^rd Earl of Rosse was born on the 17^th of June in the year 1800, and died on the 31^st of October in the year 1867. He was an English astronomer and subsequently this is where he held all his achievements. He built several telescopes in his life time, including the world’s largest telescope in 1845, which remained the largest for the rest of the century. He used this telescope to catalog a large number of galaxies and study other phenomena.

         Parson’s telescope was named the Leviathan of Parsonstown because of how big it was for that time. The telescope was seventy-two inches, or one meter, across.  This was particularly hard to do because the size was unprecedented for the time, and previous telescopic inventers either guarded their secrets or were unable to publish them. It took over two years to complete the construction on the telescope, 1845 – 1847, and when put into service it replaced an older thirty-six inch telescope that Parsons built as well. In addition to these two telescopes he built two others; a 24 inch one and a 15 inch one. He built a variety of optical reflecting telescopes, the greatest was the Leviathan.

          With these great telescopes, Parson carried out his pioneering of astronomical studies and discovered the spiral nature of, considered nebulas in his time, spiral galaxies. The first spiral galaxy he detected was M51, known today as the Whirlpool Galaxy. Parson had many sketches of this galaxy and they all closely resembled modern photographs. Parson went on to discover the Crab Nebula. He named it after a crab because based on a drawing he made from his older thirty-six inch telescope where it resembled a crab. Although, when he viewed it through his seventy-two inch telescope he produced a drawing of considerably different appearance, but still kept the original name.

          Another main point of Parson’s research was attempting to resolve the nebular hypothesis, which hypothesized that planets and stars were formed by gravity acting on gaseous nebulae. He did not believe that nebulas were truly gaseous, but rather that they were made of such an amount of fine stars that most telescopes could not resolve them all individually. He basically thought that nebulas were stellar in nature. Parson claimed he resolved the Orion nebula into its individual stars. In the end however, he could not establish sufficient scientific authority in his results to solve the questions by himself.

          William Parsons was an astonishing astronomer. His telescopes enabled him to discover and study new celestial bodies in space. He discovered hundreds of galaxies, nebulas, and other phenomena. His very last accomplishment was by his son, who published Parson’s last work that included the discovery of 226 NGC objects in Observations of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars Made With the Six-foot and Three-foot Reflectors at Birr Castle From the Year 1848 up to the Year 1878. 

Biography Sources

Tebbutt, J. "MNRAS..29 Page 124." SAO/NASA ADS: ADS Home Page. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. <http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/MNRAS/0029//0000124.000.html>.


"ThePeerage.com - Person Page 1279." ThePeerage.com - Main Page. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. <http://www.thepeerage.com/p1279.htm#i12787>.


"William Parsons." Intro Spacetec Steinicke & Streifeneder. Web. 11 Jan. 2011. <http://www.klima- luft.de/steinicke/ngcic/persons/rosse3.htm>.

Observation - PodCast

Astronomy with the Unaided Eye (Summer Part)

Milky Way Galaxy: The Milky Way, our galaxy, is visible as arches or bands in the night sky. In addition, within these bands are dust fields that can be viewed easily in dark conditions. In the Southern hemisphere its easier to see the dust fields. As with most objects in the night, the closer to midnight it gets the better viewing most of the time. 

Andromeda Galaxy: Appears as a fuzzy spot about the size of a finger nail in the sky. In the Northern Hemisphere it is the only galaxy that is viewable with the naked eye almost all the time. Andromeda Galaxy is in the constellation of Pegasus. 

M13: Globular Cluster our of the disk of our galaxy. It is a cluster of really old stars within the constellation of Hercules. 

Summer Triangle: Made of three different stars (Altair, Deneb, and Vega). Three brightest stars in the summer night sky. 

APOD 2.7

The Antikythera Mechanism

This object was found on a Greek ship and has been the subject of studies for many years. Scientists have confirmed that the nature of this object was that it was a mechanical computer used to predict the positions of stars and planets, as well as lunar and solar eclipses. 

I found this image to be especially interesting because this type of technology was thought to not have existed for thousands of years and only proves that there are a lot of things we have left to learn about our past. 

APOD 2.6

Double Eclipse

January 4th was the first eclipse of the year; even if it was just a partial one. But this eclipse was very special because it was a double eclipse featuring the International Space Station and the Moon. This picture was taken within the one second interval that both of these objects would be visible against the Sun.

In addition, in the lower left portion of the Sun there is a sunspot visible.