Pierre MeChain Information Websites

http://messier.seds.org/xtra/history/pmechain.html

http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Mechain.html

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/371812/Pierre-Mechain

This is Arp 94. Arp 94 is really two galaxies being caught up in each others gravity, doing a kind of gravitational dance.Tidal star streams can be seen being emitted from these galaxies. Its neat looking at the picture and imagining the gravitational force that can't be resresented in the picture by much.

Date: 19 October, 2013

Time:  8:00 - 11:00 PM

Place: My house

Sky Conditions: Some clouds, a little light when started, got darker and things got way easier to see

Instruments Used: Naked eye, Phone app

Planets: Venus

Bright Stars noted: Polaris, Vega, Deneb

Constellations noted: Ursa Minor, Aquila, Southern Fish, Draco, Cassiopeia

Other: Moon phase: full

Observation Quarter 1: 3 hours

Date: October 17, 2013

Time: 12 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Place: My house/Northern Sarasota

Sky Conditions: dark, clearish

Instruments used: Naked eye, Phone app

Planets: Uranus was close to the moon, Jupiter in Pollux

Bright Stars Noted: Castor, Polaris, Deneb

Constellations Noted: Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, Cygnus

Other: the phase of the moon was full

Astronomer Biography: Quarter 1

Georg von Peurbach

     Georg von Peurbach was born on May 30th, 1423, in Peuerbach, Austria. He studied at the University of Vienna in 1466, under the name “Georgiud Aunpekh de Pewrbach”. In his studies, Peurbach focused of math. Astronomy was a hobby of Georg’s and he often used tools and instruments left behind by an Astronomy retired professor at the University of Vienna. Georg von Peurbach was a completely self-taught astronomer, but somehow still had a lot of street-credit. Astronomy grew into more than just a hobby, leading him to pursue it in his future careers. From 1448 to 1453, Georg von Peurbach traveled all over Europe making himself known in the scientific society, even without any publications of his own. He was offered many opportunities, but refused and returned to Vienna, getting his Master’s Degree. Later on in life, Peurbach was appointed court astrologer to King Ladislas V, as well as to Holy Roman emperor Frederick III. Then, went on to be a teacher at the University of Vienna. Georg von Peurbach died on April 8th, 1461 in Vienna, Austria, not far from where he was born.
     Peurbach being a mathematician, charted the heavens precisely in order to do his astronomy and astrology jobs. Georg von Peurbach made many table, observations of comets (including Halley’s), and devised the tablet dial. The tablet dial is a simple mechanism related to compasses and sun dials. Another one of Peurbach’s contributions is creating celestial spheres where the stars are depicted, used often today all over the world to observe stars. Georg made publications based on and analyzing the observations of Islamic astronomers and also Ptolemy. Georg combined his writings and made a book, named in Latin. “New Theories of Planets” is his most well-known work. This work started out as lectures given to the Viennese Citizens’ School. Even though many of his works were replaced, Georg von Peurbach still played an important role. Putting his thoughts into words helped other scientists, astronomers, and astrologers to understand the space around them.

  One thing that Gorg von Peurbach deserves more credit for, is his role in the ‘astronomical revolution’. It is the common belief that Copernicus first published a revolutionizing way of viewing astronomical data, when in fact, Georg von Peurbach made the new astronomy prevalent in societies of astronomers more than 140 years earlier. He did this through his many works that which some of them he published. The reason that Peurbach does not get credit for this revolution often is because he is a less well known astronomer, with no formal training.
     Besides an astronomer and astrologer, Georg von Peurbach was a mathematician, poet, and humanist. Peurbach flourished in every field he was interested in. He influenced many future astronomers with his writings and teachings to others at Universities. Georg and other astronomers and mathematicians of his time are the ones who laid down the solid foundation for the great astronomers such as Copernicus to make realizations about the universe. It is amazing how little Georg von Peurbach had to work with compared to the modern day technology, yet how he still came so far.

Observation: 2 hours

Date: October 15, 2013

Time: 9:00-11:00 PM

Place: My house, by University and Lockwood Ridge

Sky Conditions: A little bit cloudy, sky still visible, a lot of lighting from street lights

Instruments Used: Naked eye, Phone app

Bright Stars noted: Polaris, Altair (summer triangle), Deneb, Vega, Antares

Constellations noted: Cassiopeia (easiest for me to find), Aquila, Lyra, Ursa Minor, 

Antares

Deep Sky Objects: Milky Way Galaxy (a little east of the moon)

Other: Waxing Gibbous is the phase of the moon

Sources Cited for Astronomer Biography

Works Cited

"The Astronomical Revolution Didn't Start here!" The Renaissance Mathematicus. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://thonyc.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/the-astronomical-revolution-didn%E2%80%99t-start-here/>.

"Georg Peurbach." Peurbach Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Peurbach.html>.

"Georg Von Peuerbach (Austrian Mathematician)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454669/Georg-von-Peuerbach>.

Van, Helden Albert. Measuring the Universe: Cosmic Dimensions from Aristarchus to Halley. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1985. Print.

Research Websites for Georg von Peurbach

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/454669/Georg-von-Peuerbach

http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Peurbach.html

http://thonyc.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/the-astronomical-revolution-didn’t-start-here/

This is North America and the Pelican Nebulas. They can be seen with binoculars on a dark night. I like how they are named after what they look like, sort of like constellations in our night sky we learn about. Its such a coincidence that the nebula looks like North America. Looking at this picture and finding the pictures reminds me of looking at clouds in the sky and finding images.

In this picture, four main things are visible. The Earth, the moon, and Venus, and Spica. The long exposure of a camera resulted in the vibrant and magical colors seen. The moon is in crescent phase, with 2 stars by it's side. Closest to the moon is Venus, and the more distant one is bluish Spica, alpha star. Spica is in the constellation Virgo. I like this picture so much because it has so many different levels of outerspace. Theres Earth our home planet with its beautiful nature, our Moon which is very different than Earth but still close, Venus that's in our own solar system, and Spica which is so far from us compared to the other three things in the picture.