Observation: Impromptu Prom Stargaze

Location: The Chelsea Center, Gulf Gate, Sarasota
Time: Approximately 9:00-9:10 

Constellations: Auriga, Gemini, Ursa Major, Leo, Crater, Corvus, Bootes

Planets: Jupiter, Mars

Stars: Capella, Castor, Pollux, Regulus, Arcturus

Gerard Kuiper Biography

Born in 1905 in the Netherlands, Gerard Kuiper (original name Gerrit Pieter Kuiper) was a major contributor to astronomical science for his studies of the solar system. In fact, he's been deemed the father of modern planetary science. 

Kuiper was the first of four children, with his sister Augusta, and brothers Pieter and Nicolaas. His father was a tailor. 

Kuiper graduated from the University of Leiden in 1927, where he was certified to teach high school mathematics, and got his PhD from the same school in 1933. His interest in astronomy was first sparked when reading the philosophical musings of Descartes and was encouraged by the men in his family, who gave him his first telescope. While in college, he worked closely with double-star astronomer Robert Aitken.

The same year he graduated, he moved to the US, gained citizenship, and began working at Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago. Later he served as director from 1947-49 and 1957-60. He founded the Lunar and Planetary Observatory at the University of Arizona in 1960, where he remained director until his death. He was editor for two encyclopedias, The Solar System (4 vol., 1953-58) and Stars and Stellar Systems (9 vol., 1960-68).

His discoveries include: Saturn's satellite Titan (1944), the rings of Saturn are made of particles of ice (1947), the CO2 atmosphere of Mars (1948), Uranus's satellite Miranda (1948), Neptune's satellite Nereid (1949), the proposition of the origin of the solar system by condensation of a large gas cloud around the sun (1949), the disk region of minor planets that lies just outside of Neptune's orbit called the Kuiper Belt (1951), Mars' water-based polar ice caps (1956), and predicted what it would feel like to walk on the moon (like crunchy snow) which was confirmed by Neil Armstrong (1964).

In addition to his discoveries, he was the chief scientist on the Ranger lunar-probe program, and through that, was able to analyze photographs and identify sites for the Surveyor and Apollo programs. He worked closely with NASA on their airborne astronomy projects, observing things in space not yet viewed on earth, specifically spectroscopy of the Sun, stars, and planets, from the telescope placed on the jet Convair 990.

He died in Mexico City in December 1993 while on a trip with his wife and his friend Fred Whipple. Posthumously, he was honored for his infrared astronomy research when NASA named their airborne infrared telescope, the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, craters on the Moon, Mercury, and Mars, were named after him. 

APOD 4.8

This cloud is what is actually known as a cometary globule which has, for some reason, ruptured. Typically cometary globules are known by their dusty heads, with lots of newborn stars, and long tails, very similar to comets themselves. Maybe there was just too much action happening in the head of this cometary globule that forced it apart. 

APOD 4.7

The Flame Nebula is part of the star forming region in Orion near the belt. This x-ray image allows viewers to see through the dust to newly formed stars and embedded cluster NGC 2024. Youngest stars are located in the center, which does not fall in step with most theories on star formation, as the younger stars would begin to move away from the center, leaving the older, dense stars in the middle. Perhaps this is the beginning of that process. 

MicroObservatory Image: Lagoon Nebula (M8)

APOD 4.6

An unusual dog shape appeared in a photo taken during an aurora in Fairbanks, Alaska. Mars and Arcturus are in the dog's hind legs and tail, Jupiter in the front legs and Procyon and Betelgeuse beneath, Capella above the head, and the Big Dipper floating above the body. I think it's pretty interesting that you can find shapes like this in auroras and not just in cloud watching. The lights have the ability to create a shape, not just floating water.