APOD 4/23 - A full moon rising over Yosemite Valley, California

A STAR EXPLODES!

A Supernova is the ending a star's life, in the form of a giant explosion
that sweeps up all of the debris that surrounds it, kind of like a giant
gust of wind that picks up all of the litter on the street.

Astronomers have just found a supernova that has swept up enough material
to equal 45 times the mass of the Sun!

Read the rest of the story here.

INDIA'S MARS MISSION HALFWAY COMPLETE!

Inside the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore, India
tracking the mission.

The entire mission to Mars is slated to take 11 months ONE WAY. 

New Planet Has Been Discovered !

APOD # 8: New Dwarf Planet discovered!
Read about the story here.

Interview with an Astronomer Outline

APOD #7: A National Geographic photographer in Albuquerque, NM shot this
photo of a solar eclipse in 2012.


HERE is a copy of the links to the 3 example interviews that we went over in class.

HERE is a copy of the outline to gather background information on your astronomer.

Variations in Eclipses

APOD #6:  A series of lunar eclipses. After today, see if you can
differentiate between a penumbral eclipse, a partial eclipse and a
total eclipse!

APRIL IS POETRY MONTH !

 APOD #5: Sunrise over Manhattan and the Moon is still out. December 2011 photo by Inga Sarda-Sorenson 

EXTRA CREDIT!!

April is National Poetry Month. Write a poem centered around the moon, stars or astronomy and how it connects to NYC! 

A Portrait of a Galaxy

APOD #3- The Sombrero Galaxy is in the constellation Virgo, approximately 28 million light years away from Earth. This photo was taken by the Hubble Telescope in space. 

APOD #2: Venus in Retrograde

Occasionally, Venus appears to be moving backwards in the sky. "Appears" is the key word here, because, technically speaking, no planet actually moves backwards in their orbits around the Sun. In fact, they don't even slow down. Retrogrades are essentially illusions that result from our point of view from Earth, simply because the Earth is also orbiting the Sun at a different speed than the other planets. Venus is Retrograde approximately 40-43 days every 18 months.

If you believe in astrology, be careful of what you try to do when Venus is in retrograde! 

APOD #1!

"This new Hubble image is centered on NGC 5793, a spiral galaxy over 150 million light years away in the constellation of Libra. This galaxy has two striking features: a beautiful dust lane, and an intensely bright center." - phys.org

APOD, or astronomy photo of the day, takes a look at what is happening in the universe around us through photos. Submissions ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED. A photo that qualifies is anything having to do with outside our atmosphere. Photos can be current, but don't have to be.