APOD 4.8

Io: The Prometheus Plume

This picture is of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, taken by the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.  It was taken in 1997 from 600,000 kilometers away, and has since been digitallys sharpened.  Two sulfurous eruptions were captured in this image.  Over Pillan Patera, a volcanic caldera, a florescent blue plume can be seen.  This plume rises about 140 kilometers over the Io's surface.  Another ring shaped plume is visible toward the center of the image.  This is known as the Prometheus plume, after the Greek God who gave mortals fire.  In every image ever taken of this region, the Prometheus plume has been visible. Since our first image was taken in 1979 during the Voyager flybys, we know that this plume has been active for at least 18 years.  In recent years, research has uncovered evidence that there is a magma ocean under Io's surface! With as quickly as technology is progressing, I can only imagine what we will uncover about space in a few years!

Harlow Shapley Biogprahy

HARLOW SHAPLEY

Harlow Shapley was an American astronomer, born on November 2, 1885 in Nashville, Missouri.  In April of 1914, he married Martha Betz, who assisted him in astronomical research.  They has one daughter and four sons.  After making notable progress in astronomy, particularly with the Sun and the Milky Way, Shapley died on October 20, 1972.

Harlow Shapley dropped out of school with only a fifth-grade education.  He was very independent and much preferred studying at home by himself.  He researched and covered crime stories as a newspaper reporter before returning to school.  He completed a six-year high school program in two years and graduated at class valedictorian.  At twenty-two, Shapley enrolled at the University of Missouri.  He was initially disappointed that the opening at the School of Journalism was postponed for a year, so he decided to study the first subject in the course directory.  He rejected archeology because he claimed he could not pronounce it.  Next in line was astronomy.

Shapley became fascinated with astronomy and received a fellowship at Princeton University where his mentor was Henry Norris Russell.  Here, Shapley was important in shifting the field astronomy from the belief that Cepheids were spectroscopic binaries to the idea that they were pulsators.  At Princeton, he was also the first to make the realization of the Milky Way’s incredibly large size and to note that the Sun’s place in the galaxy was in a nondescript location.

Harlow Shapley participated in the “Great Debate” against Heber D. Curtis on April 26, 1920.  This is a famous debate that made an immense impact on the astronomical world.  It is also known as the “Shapley-Curtis Debate.”  Shapley argued that the Sun was not the center of the galaxy, and, as we now know, was correct; however he was incorrect in his belief that globular clusters and spiral nebulae are within the Milky Way. 

Proceeding the debate, Shapley was promoted from working at Mount Wilson Observatory, to director at the Harvard College Observatory.  Here he worked from 1921 to 1952.  He wrote many books on astronomy during his time are Harvard, his most famous being Source Book in Astronomy.  In the 1940’s Shapley made one of his most important contributions to the science world, adding the “S” to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). 

For all of Harlow Shapley’s great work in astronomy, he was honored several awards.  His most prominent of these were the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the Prix Jules Janssen of the French Astronomical Society.  In addition to these honors, Shapley has a crater on the Moon named after him.  There is also an asteroid named “Asteroid 1123 Shapleya” and a starcluster named “Shapley Supercluster.”

It is truly amazing and fortunate for the world of science that this man, who had no interest in astronomy as a young man, randomly chose to go into this field because his original interest did not work out, and made such an impact on Astronomy!  Harlow Shapley will forever go down in astronomical history as a vital part of the sciences.

Works Cited

"The Bruce Medalists: Harlow Shapley." SSU Department of Physics & Astronomy. Web. 20 May 2011. <http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/Shapley/index.html>.

"Harlow Shapley." The Franklin Institute. Web. 20 May 2011. <http://www.fi.edu/learn/case-files/shapley/index.html>.

Kopal, Z. "`Great Debate:' Obituary of Harlow Shapley." Astronomy Picture of the Day. 1972. Web. 20 May 2011. <http://apod.nasa.gov/diamond_jubilee/1920/shapley_obit.html>.

APOD 4.7

The Last Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor

May 16, 2011 marked a very important date in NASA history.  It was the launching of Space Shuttle Endeavor's final mission, STS-134, into Earth's orbit.  This picture was captured only seconds after the powerful launch.  Six astronauts are inside this massive shuttle and were expected to dock with the International Space Station on May 18th.  With them they have brought a special detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, that will detect special types of dark matter, antimatter, and strangelets.  Unfortunately, this was one of the last shuttles ever planned to launch from this space station.  It is a marvelous sight that we Floridians will surely miss.

APOD 4.6

Globular Cluster M15 from Hubble

This photograph of globular cluster M15 captured over 100,000 stars spanning about 120 light-years, all surrounding around the center of the cluster.  It is in the direction of the constellation Pegasus.  This particular cluster of stars happens to be the relic of our very own galaxy, the Milky Way.  M15 is noted for being easily visible with only binoculars because it has one of the densest concentration of stars at its center.  It also contains an abundance of variable stars and pulsars, contributing to its visibility.  It is one of only 150 globular clusters left.  Hubble Telescope took this image.  Recent evidence shows that there may possibly be a black hole in the center of M15!!

APOD 4.5

The Antennae

This photograph captured two galaxies, NGC 4038 and NGC 4030, colliding, an event that takes hundreds of millions of years to complete.  This is all happening 60 million light-years away, in the southern constellation, Corvus, and it spans about 500 light-years!  The two galaxies' large clouds and molecular gas are furiously combining, resulting in wild episodes of star formation.  However, the already formed stars in the galaxies are not combining.  What appear to be two arms of the galaxy in this photo, is actually matter being flung extremely far by gravitation tidal forces.  It is from these outward spirals that the combined galaxy got its name- The Antennae. 

APOD 4.4

The Cat's Eye Nebula from Hubble

This is a picture of NGC 6543, also known as the Cat's Eye, taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.  It is located about three thousand light-years from Earth, and has a width of about half a light-year.  This nebula is a classic planetary nebula, representing the brief and final stage in the life of a sun-like star.  The outer pattern of dusty concentric shells was likely produced by shrugging off outer layers.  Unfortunately, we do not fully understand this bizaar, yet glorious, phenomenon, but it is believed that this is the fate of our very own sun.  Luckily, it will not be for another 5 billion years!

APOD 4.3

Sunspot Loops in Ultraviolet

In this picture the Sun looks like a violent, chaotic place, but this is actually a quiet day for the Sun!  The photo is shown in ultravioletn light.  Even the cool, dark regions have a temperature of thousands of degrees celsius.  The sunspot group featured in the picture is named AR 9169 and the gas flowing out of and around it has a temperature of over one million degrees celsius!  We still do not know why the temperature of the gas is so high, but it is believed to be related to the rapidly changing magnetic field loops that channel solar plasma.  Continued research and pictures like these will no doubt further pour knowledge of this mysterious phenomenon!