Observations

Spacebirds Observation

"Look boss, da' plane!"- trying to find the International Space Station this past Wednesday felt like a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode.  Approximately 8:30 pm on April 9, 2014 our class got to watch this spacebird zip across our night sky- once we realized what it was that is! Most of the class, including myself, had a very hard time telling airplanes apart from the International Space Station.  Once I realized what it was however, my first thought was, well that isn't that big it looks like a flying star- quickly that thought became well if it looks like that it must actually be HUGE!  A very cool experience indeed, and on the same night...

Spectral Class Observation

Around the same time on April 9, 2014 while out on the Observatory Deck of Montgomery County Community College I tried my hand at classifying stars using binoculars and my knowledge of the color spectrum.  Several stars were examined, mainly in or near the constellation Orion. I made these inferences based on what color I perceived them to be and will list them accordingly.  First however, I will list what each letter corresponds to in order from hottest to coolest star.

O- Blue                                          1. Aldebaran- F

B- Blue White                                 2. Betelgeuse- B

A- White                                         3. Rigel- O

F- Yellow Green                             4. Capella- G

G- Yellow                                       5. Sirius- O

K- Orange

M- Red

Now I don't know if I am correct, but this was a great opportunity to get a closer look at the stars surrounding Orion as it's one of the constellations I, like many in North America, are most familiar with.

Sun Observation

On the same day as my other observations, I had the privelege to examine the Sun via two types of telescopes with the appropriate filters.  My viewing of the chromosphere was incredible, I have never seen the Sun so "close."  To me, it looked like the inside of a cherry pie; dark red with some extra "goopy" textured spots. These sunspots (which is what they actually are) must be very powerful to be able to be seen this way.  I am including a drawing that I did as well as pictures of another telescope viewing in which the sunspots are seen as shadows on a filter.