M20, Trifid Nebula

9,000 light years away is this coral like cloud of gas and dust, called the Trifid Nebula.  You can see it's bright red offspring, which also gives it its glow, in the center of the image.  Nebulae are what they call star nurseries, because of the fact that they give birth to new stars in our universe.  This part of the cloud is 10 light years across, so you can imagine how gargantuan this thing is.  Point your giant telescope towards the constellation Sagittarius to find this one.

SN1006 Supernove Remnant

This galactic eyeball in the sky is known as the SN1006 supernova remnant.  X-ray data, optical data, and radio image data bring this blue, red, and yellow marble to life.  This supernova, which happens when a dying massive star explodes, lit up our Earthly skies in the year 1006 AD.  Because this supernova remnant is 7,000 light years away the explosion actually happened 7,000 yrs. before its light reached Earth in 1006 AD.

 

The Fox Fur Nebula

This galactic beast is also made up of gas and dust.  It's amazing, the stars that these immense clouds breed, are the very stars that bring these clouds to life with vivid colors.  Without the dust and gas the light from these stars would have nothing to reflect.

Cat's Eye Nebula

Staring at us from about 3,000 light years away is the Cat's Eye Nebula.  As the one of the most famous nebulae in the space, the Cat's Eye represents a brief yet wondrous phase in the life of a sun-like star.  As we gaze into the Cat's Eye, we may well be seeing the future of our own sun, destined to enter this very same phase in its evolution... in about 5 billion years.

NGC6334: The Cat's Paw Nebula

Nebulae are as famous for being named after familiar shapes, as cats are for letting their curiosity get the best of them.  We have yet to identify the enormous feline that left this print behind, but witnesses say its, "Huge, fluffy' and cute."  The Cat's Paw visible in the constellation Scorpius, is known to have given birth to stars 10x the size of our sun.

Much like humans, stars go through stages in their lives.  These clouds are their mothers who nurture them and raise them.  Stars go from infancy, to adulthood where sometimes they care for their own planetary system.  To maturity where they die and leave behind a glorious legacy so that they may not soon be forgotten.

Scientific Cause

The source behind this effect is simply solar wind flowing past earth. Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind consists of plasma (ionized gas) which conducts electricity. When an electrical conductor is placed within a magnetic field while relative motion occurs in a direction that a conductor cuts across, rather then along the lines of the magnetic field, an electrical current is induced into the conductor and electrons flow within it creating a dynamo effect. The magnetosphere and solar wind are typically two electrical conducting sources that are able to generate electric currents when they come into contact with each other, thus extracting energy from the solar wind as well. The earth is constantly immersed in the solar wind and hot flow of plasma gas emitted by the sun in all directions, a result of a million-degree heat of the sun's outer most layer, the solar corona. The magnetosphere of the earth extends past 70,000 km. An extremely bright light effect is the result of a Birkeland current which is a specific magnetic field aligned with earth's magnetosphere and flows toward earth on the dawn side and in the opposite direction on the dusk side. Inretrospect the solar wind and electrical conductors repel, continue at a rapid pace around earth while the magnetosphere is the center for all electrical activity.

Aurora Borealis: Blue Marble Image effect from solar winds and

electrical energy in the magnetosphere

Structure of Earth's Magnetosphere

Frequency of Northern Lights

The Northern lights is most common in the poles. They are occasionally seen in temperate latitudes that is when a strong magnetic storm of electrically charged electrons and protons expands to create an auroral oval image. During an eleven-year period when these magnetic storms are at their highest frequency, the light effect is at its strongest and brightest. These storms ignite the Aurora Borealis during the months equinox's in other words these magnetic storms are dependent upon earths seasons. During the autumn and spring months, the interplanetary magnetic field and the earth link up as the earths direction switches north. The solar wind enables the earth and the sun to move closer to each other which partially accounts for this semi-annual event to take place. The Aurora typically diffuses a glow or curtain as referred to in an east to west direction. Each curtain or ray consists of many parallel magnetic fields spiraling around earth. Scientists have not yet identified exactly why and how the event occurs but they do know for certain that the earth's magnetosphere and an electrical storm need to coincide with each other in order for the lights to be visible.

History and Meaning

The discovery of the northern lights dates back to 1771 when Benjamin Franklin first brought local attention to these strange lights. He emphasized that shifting lights to a concentration of electrical charges in polar regions intensified by snow and other moisture were the underlying cause. Since that theory in 1900 Kristian Birkeland determined that these auroral electrons are emitted by the suns beams after experimenting with a vacuum chamber, electron beams and magnetized spheres that showed how electrons were guided to the polar regions. The most recent study performed in 1962 concluded that the aurora was produced by solar wind guided by earths field lines at the top of the atmosphere. Many different cultures have had their own interpretation of these northern lights believing that they are some how tied to culture and religion. The Scandinavian people call the lights herring flash believing that the lights are cast by large swarms of herrings over the sky. Russian folklore believes that the lights symbolize a fire dragon. The Algonquin people believe that the lights represent a higher power and that their ancestors will dance around a ceremonial fire.

Aurora Borealis Bare Lake, Alaska

Red and Green Aurora Fairbanks, Alaska

Green Aurora, Greenland

The Northern Lights, Antarctica

Aurora Borealis, Iceland

Source: Wikimedia | User:Base64

Hong Kong now looks like something out of blade runner or Neuromancer, a vast sprawl of high tech buildings, and lights that bounce off the clouds giving the whole scene an apocalyptic glow. It almost appears unreal, like the still frame from a science fiction movie, one feels the need to take a closer look to see if the brush marks are visible.

This world we live in, has become the science fiction setting that science fiction writers were writing about in the 50s. It's finally here, albeit with a few things not quite as imagined. Space travel for example lies sorely neglected, though we do now have space tourism and spaceports. Flying cars are another science fiction fantasy that just never materialized, due in part to the inability of air traffic control to cope even with planes in the sky, let alone cars. Some day, when humanity has found a cheap source of fuel and has advanced enough computers to manage a profusion of objects moving about the skies, then flying cars may become a reality. Till then we'll just have to content ourselves with Segways zipping about.

Credit: Left: Wikipedia | Right: R.Carson

Segway Personal Transporters are another technological marvel; two wheeled, they keep their balance when you stand on it, and zip forwards when you lean forwards and slow down as you tilt back. Now police in various countries use them, in various incarnations such as the Segway Assault Service (SAS). The storm troopers of many a dark sci-fi tale have arrived. Though for the moment confined mainly to airports and large citys, it seems certain that Segway mounted police offers will soon become a common feature of life everywhere. Segways are also being employed in tourism, with Segway tours of cities available to take in Paris, Chicago, Washington DC, New Orleans, and Atlanta to name but a few.

Credit: NASA-JPL

Though space travel has not proceeded as expected by science fiction writers, we have not been idle. Since the 60s we've been sending numerous probes to every corner of our solar system. We monitor the sun in great detail via the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and have sent probes to Mars in search of life. Millions of people have tuned into the exciting journey undertaken by two probes: Spirit and Opportunity, as they landed on Mars, and began to wander across the martian surface collecting data and taking picture. To everyone's amazement, they not only lasted beyond their 3 month warranties, but they just keep on going - and in the years since they first arrived have brought back a wealth of information that helps us to unravel the mystery of Mars. All this effort is designed with one important question in mind: 'was there ever life on Mars?'

Credit: NASA-JPL

Science fiction writers of the past would surely be delighted by the images that hubble has been bringing in of the Universe. Thanks to this availability of scientific data our understanding of the universe has never been better, and physicists are inching closer to discovering a Theory of Everything.

As we inch closer to these answers, scientists are able to formulate more and more accurate theories to describe the universe and its creation. The current best candidate for a Theory of Everything is String Theory, an elegant and beautiful theory that tells us that all matter is composed of strings of energy that vibrate, and all the different types of matter are the notes that are played upon these strings, while the laws of physics could be compared to the harmonies and symphones that can be played in this cosmic orchestra. Whether string theory is right or not, we do not yet know... time will tell.

In the meantime we can still enjoy the marvellous images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and look forward to the day when we understand in full the processes that led to all the beauty around us.

The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared Light || Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

The area where we've made the most progress, bounding beyond what even the sf writers were able to imagine is technology. Computers have exploded in popularity, changing in the process from behemoths that take up whole buildings are require megawatts of power and dozens of operators to cheap handheld devices with access to the unlimited knowledge accessible on the Internet. The Internet itself would no doubt be another surprise. While writers envisaged networking applications, it is unlikely anyone envisaged the explosive growth and development of the Internet. Robotics is another area that has advanced, though perhaps not quite as quickly as people envisaged in the 1950s. It turned out the problem of having a robot navigate the ever changing landscapes in which humans are comfortable, would take another 70 years to crack. Meanwhile advances in robotics have brought about the first science fiction style robotic arms, that are actually capable of delicate enough movement that amputees can have a replacement almost as dexterous as the one they lost.

All in all, we have come a long way, and we have an exciting road ahead of us. Who knows what will come next?

Ancient astronomers have observed that some stars move in regular patterns over time in relation to other stars which remain relatively fixed in position; they would name these moving stars as planets (Greek "planetes," meaning "wanderer"). The five planets known since ancient times are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as they can readily be seen with the naked eye without much difficulty. Their observation revealed that the Earth is part of the solar system of planets distinct from fixed stars.

Heliocentrism (1540s)

Heliocentrism is the scientific theory proposing that the Sun is at the center of the Solar System, in contrast with geocentrism, which places the Earth at the center. Polish mathematician, astronomer and physician Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) advocated heliocentrism through his groundbreaking work, "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published in 1543, challenging the established orthodoxy of geocentrism that had prevailed since the time of Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. However, it would be another hundred years before Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler provided the theoretical and observational evidence for the theory and established a historic milestone of modern science known as the Copernican revolution.

Elliptical Planetary Orbits (1600s)

Based on his study of the astronomical observations compiled by Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601), German astrologer Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630) was able to mathematically develop his eponymous laws of planetary motions that can effectively explain and accurately predict the motions of the planets in elliptical orbits around the sun. His work provided significant support for Copernicus' heliocentric theory and gave Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) the necessary foundation for his theory of universal gravitation.

Moons of Jupiter (1600s - 1610s)

Having made significant improvements to the telescope, Italian physicist Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642) discovered that Jupiter has moons orbiting it like the earth. This discovery attested to the correctness of the heliocentric theory advanced by Copernicus, who had considered that the Earth as not unique in itself but as resembling the other planets that revolve around the sun.

Halley's Comet (1700s - 1750s)

English metereologist and physicist Edmund Halley (1656 - 1742) provided evidence that comets, like the planets, orbit the sun; and was able to correctly predict the return of Halley's Comet. Due to the near similarity of the observed characteristics of the comet he observed in 1682, he concluded that it is the very same object that appeared 1531 and 1607 following a 76-year orbit. True enough, the comet did return in 1758, sixteen years after his death.

The Milky Way: a Gigantic Disk of Stars (1780s - 1830s)

British telescope-maker and musician William Herschel (1738 - 1822), who is best known as the discoverer of the planet Uranus, mapped the heavens with his sister Caroline (1750 - 1848) and determined that our solar system dwells in a massive disk of stars with a bulging center called the Milky Way, by counting the number of stars in the field of view of his telescope in more than 2,000 sample areas in the sky. Subsequent studies would confirm that our galaxy is disk-shaped, but would reveal that the sun is no where near its center and that the system is significantly more enormous than in Herschel's opinion.

General Relativity (1910s)

German-born American theoretical physicist Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) proposed his general relativity theory that states that gravitational attraction between masses causes warping of bordering space and time by those masses, hence, large masses can bend light. This theory was proven to be true by astronomers in an experiment involving a solar eclipse in 1919, observing how starlight was deflected as it travels near the sun that positions of the stars seem to be shifted by less than 2 arc seconds or 1/1800 of a degree. Employment of modern and higher precision techniques of radio astronomy have confirmed the result.

The Universe Is Expanding (1920s)

American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889 - 1953) identified many astronomical objects (galaxies, stars, and nebulas) and calculated their distances, learning that they are much farther than originally thought, thereby disproving the prevailing notion of the day that the universe consisted only of the Milky Way. He also observed that the more distant galaxies appear to be moving away at a faster rate than nearer ones; and his calculations would prove that the universe is expanding, thus offering the first observational proof to the Big Bang model of the birth of the universe advanced by Alexander Friedmann (1888 - 1925).

Radio Waves from the Center of the Milky Way (1930s)

Karl Jansky (1905 - 1950), American physicist and radio engineer, was assigned by his employer Bell Telephone Laboratories to investigate static sources that cause interference on radio voice transmissions. His studies revealed three types of static: distant thunderstorm, local thunderstorms and a faint hiss-type static of unknown source. After over a year of following the signal, he determined that the static was strongest in the direction of the center of the galaxy. His discovery led to the development of the new field of study called radio astronomy.

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (1960s)

German-born American physicist Arno Penzias (1933 - ) and American astronomer Robert Wilson (1936 - ) identified a form of electromagnetic radiation filling the whole universe as cosmic microwave background radiation, which they supposed to be the remnant of the Big Bang. Their measurements of its various properties such as temperature and range frequencies, coupled with Edwin Hubble's earlier discovery of the expansion of the universe, served as the major confirmation of the Big Bang theory and allowed astronomers to correct many of the assumptions concerning it.

Gamma-Ray Bursts (1960s - 1990s)

Most often associated with nuclear blasts, gamma-ray bursts are luminous flashes of gamma rays that seem to come from random directions in deep space at random times. This three-decade old mysterious space phenomenon was finally resolved by highly sophisticated ground-based telescopes and orbiting satellites. These electromagnetic radiations have now been linked to distant extra-galactic events, such as the collapsing of enormously massive stars into a black hole.

Extrasolar Planets (1990s - 2000s)

As a result of enhanced high-resolution telescope technology and by measuring their gravitational effects on their parent stars, astronomers were able to detect and confirm more than 300 extrasolar planets or exoplanets as of September 2008, proving the existence of other solar system, although none as yet bear any similarity to our own.

The Universe Is Accelerating (1990s - 2000s)

Astronomers have observed that the rate of expansion of the universe at great distances appears to be accelerating, instead of decelerating due to gravitational pull. If these observations are right, the increasing divergent expansion will overcome the gravitation of the local area, and the universe, the Milky Way, galaxies, stars and everything else as we know it, will gradually be torn apart to the last atom. The new theory of this ultimate fate of the universe is known as the "big rip." With such a significant discovery, we can certainly look forward to the gradual development of the theory in the years to come, in the same way the Big Bang theory has continually evolved.

The cosmic particles of dust, asteroids and comite products, are tiny pieces of powdered rocks, hundreds of billions of which fall through the sky of our planet and are everywhere - and in our homes!

They along until one-tenth of a millimeter and cover the entire solar system within one minute smog.

The study of these particles is important because the fossil formation is essentially a log of creating conditions of asteroids and comite before 4.5 billion years.

The origin of this outer space dust constantly landing on Earth, has always been uncertain.

After detailed study of 600 chemical compositions of such particles, Dr Gkentz concluded that comes from a family of ancient space rock, called asteroid Koronis between Mars and Jupiter, which arose before about 2 billion years, when a much larger asteroid split into pieces.

Specifically, the dust comes from a smaller group of 20 space rocks within the Koronis family, said asteroid Karin, who created the birth of the solar system.

Meteorites like Karin often fall on Earth and Dr Gkentz was able to match the mineralogy and chemical data with those cosmic dust samples meteorite already collected. Combining these data with astronomical infrared ray satellite data, found that asteroid Karin continually clashed with each other, creating the dust.

The three zones of the earth are called the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere that comprise the land, water and the air. The rocky part down towards the center is called lithosphere while the water and ice portion is called hydrosphere and the air surrounding the earth is called atmosphere. The nine percent of earth is land and about 71 percent is water.

The earth rotates on its axis and this actually causes the day and the night. As a part of the earth faces the sun, it gives us sunlight and calls it daytime. As it faces away completely from the sun, the stars shine and call it the night. For the earth to rotate on its own axis, it will take one whole day or about 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.09 seconds. It rotates east to west or counterclockwise . The earth turns 365 ¼ days to complete its rotation in a year.

Now - there are several factors affecting and causing the many seasons on earth. The earth continues to travel around the sun in an orbit thus keeps the earth moving continuously. As the earth orbits the sun - the day changes so thus the temperature. Depending on the place, the heat and the cold vary and because of the inclination of the earth's axis it produces seasons like winter, spring, autumn, and fall. The axis of the earth inclines at 23-26-59 degrees to the plane of its own orbit.

The seasons of the north of the equator are always opposite the seasons of the south thus each pole is turn down the sun for a certain period in a year. When north pole is tilted towards the sun then it would be summer in Northern Hemisphere.

It becomes winter in the Northern Hemisphere when the north pole is tilted away from the sun. The earth leans to one side only when it rotates on its axis and it leans as it goes around the sun and this is how the revolution of the earth produces the four seasons in the Temperature Zone.

The slanting of the sun's rays received by a certain part of the earth brings changes in climate and in seasons. The Torrid Zone which is the middle part of the earth receives the vertical rays of the sun. It is hot in this part of the earth because the rays are direct and straight.

Farther away from the middle part of the earth is the Temperature Zone where it does not receive too much heat from the sun because the rays of the sun that reaches this part of the earth are slanting. It is very cold in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere where it receives the greatest slant of sun rays.

Countries that belong to the Torrid Zone have two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. There is plenty of rain during the rainy season along with strong winds while it is warm during the dry season. Tropical countries in Asia like the Philippines are one of the countries that enjoy this kind of seasons. It is rainy season from May to October and dry season from November to April. The coolest months are December to February. The nights are longer than the days during December and January while days are longer than nights during March and April.

Photographs taken from Southern Cyprus.

The lunar eclipse is seen in Polemi village at midnight. Polemi, Paphos in Southern Cyprus.

Photographs taken on a digital camera by Glynis Smy. No flash was used for capturing these images.

The lower pictures were taken with flash used the eclipse can be seen at the lower end of the light rays given off by the sun, camera movement made these pictures look incredible, I gave some of the photographs names because they captured my imagination
The dogs howled and the air was still

The Worm

The night sky was clear.

The Grub

The light from the partially eclipsed moon was very bright.

The Light Bulb

The weather in the village that day had been hot and humid.

The Seahorse

The Bust

The Train

Check here to read more about the light rays given off during a Lunar Eclipse.

Check here to watch a video of the process.

All of the latest discoveries are based on the fact that the Sun is considered a normal star, yet offers us many things such as light and heat. It is also our ultimate source of energy which allows the Earth to not only exist but to fully function in a most habitable manner. Without it, our planet would be nothing more than an uninhabitable frozen rock. Located close to us, we have learned to study the Sun over the years to better understand many other stars, the Milky Way, other galaxies, and the universe. Considered a huge anchor which provides the gravity to keep Earth and other planets in our solar system together, the Sun is our "glue" which holds us together.

Climate Change

On July 18, 2008, ScienceDaily.com (Change, 2008) stated that an announcement was made by Manuel Vázquez--a researcher from the Canary Islands' Astrophysics Institute in Madrid, Spain--at the Sun and Climate Change conference regarding the fact that solar activity is responsible for approximately 15-20% of global warming. During the conference, Vázquez stated there was evidence that demonstrated after the last glacier era, during the past 10,000 years, and before the beginning of any industrial activity--the Sun's magnetic energy successfully regulated most variations of the Earth's climates on its own. Information at the conference shows that over the past 40 years of solar activity, it has not increased-- remaining constant or diminished, making it extremely difficult to "attribute a single global warming effect to it, "the cause of which needs to be looked for in human activities."

Manuel Vázquez made a slightly controversial statement at the conference which represented the entire global warming agenda: "If man had never started burning fossil fuels, the sun might have been the only agent regulating the climate until the next glaciations. However, back in the 19th century we started an experiment which we are now beginning to suffer the consequences of", explained the astrophysicist Manuel Vázquez to SINC.

Termination Shock

Data arriving from the NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft have allowed scientists to recognize a change in the magnetic bubble of solar wind surrounding our solar system, with the recent findings published in a series of papers in "Nature" on July 3. What was observed was a squashed shape instead of a regular round shape that was made by the solar wind. These are great findings as they demonstrate how our Sun interacts with the surrounding interstellar medium through an elongated-spherical shape, but one that is pressed inward in the southern hemisphere.

The termination shock is referred to as the beginning stages of an area between the solar wind bubble of the heliosphere and the remaining aspect of interstellar space referred to as the "termination shock." When it was noticed that the Voyager 2 crossed this boundary much closer than expected to the Sun, it was suggested this region's heliosphere was being pushed inward by its interstellar magnetic field--closer to the sun.

The Sun is the star at the center of the solar system, it accounts for 99.8% of the solar system's mass. The Sun is what everything in the solar system orbits around. The Sun is responsible for all the life on the earth. The Sun is composed of Hydrogen and Helium. The Hydrogen is about 74% the Sun's mass. The Hydrogen is also 92% the Sun's volume. The Helium is about 25% the Sun's mass and about 7% the Sun's volume. There are traces of other elements also. The Sun generates light and heat by way of nuclear fusion. That is were a lot of Hydrogen atoms bump into each other and fuse to form Helium atoms. That sends a pharos to the surface which takes tens days.

When the Sun will die? How will the Sun die?

The Sun has been here for 4.57 billion years, the sun is about half way through it supply of fuel. More than 4,000,000 tons of matter is converted into energy within the Sun's core. The sun has converted around 100 Earths of matter into energy. For 10 billion year the Sun will spend as a main sequence star. That means that after 10 billion years the Sun will run out of fuel. The Sun is a yellow dwarf, the label dwarf for a star means that it does not have enough mass to go super nova. In 4 or 5 billion years, it will start to enter into the red giant phase. The outer layers of the Sun will expand as the hydrogen fuel in the core contracts and heats. After the red giant phases it will throw off it outer layers and after the outer layers are gone the only thing that will be left is the core that will cool very slowly and it will fade into a white dwarf. That will happen of many billions of years.

Albert Einstein developed an important theory about the effect of gravitation on light. He predicted that gravitational interaction caused light from stars beyond the sun to deviate or swerve from a straight path as it passed the sun. A deviation would cause an apparent change in the position of the stars that are observable near the sun at eclipse. Einstein's theory was tested and proved during an eclipse.

At eclipses, astronomers can also observe the spectra of the corona and the chromosome, or outer layers, of the sun. This provides important information about the chemical and physical make up of these areas. For example, such studies reveal that the corona has a temperature over 1,000,000 C. The eclipses of Jupiter's satellites by Jupiter's shadow can be seen with a small telescope. In 1675, Olens Roemer, a Danish astronomer, discovered the approximate speed of light by studying Jupiter's eclipses.