Saturday, March 5, 2016

During the Lab at the Baker Observatory, using the StarChart app for Android, the constellations: Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Sirius, Canis Major, and the Taurus were very easily visible from our Perspective. During this time, the moon was in the Waxing Gibbous phase at an approximate altitude and azimuth of 48 and 60 respectively. Looking up into the sky the moon could be blocked out by covering it with the tip of my finger, and took up approximately 4/5th an altitude and azimuth from that angle. The stars that were around the moon, from this perspective, were not visible at the due to the great deal of light pollution from the moon. From the Baker Observatory, the only planet that was visible at the time was Jupiter, which was at an altitude and azimuth of approximately 20 and 44 respectively. Even later in the lab, we attempted to view the Orion Nebula and saw a few "fuzzy" points of light that did not appear star-like, the Orion Nebula was at an altitude of 38 and an azimuth of -32. The stars of Orion's Nebula were not the only ones we attempted to view however, some of the brightest stars that were viewable at the time include: Rigel (altitude 28: azimuth -24), Capella (40:40), Canopus (6:-4), Sirius (32:26), and Aldebaran (36:-38). Polaris, at the time, could be found at an altitude of 48 and azimuth of about 36. Because azimuth measures a celestial quantity, the fact that Springfield, Missouri's planetary coordinates are similar to Polaris's celestial coordinates is nothing but a coincidence.

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