A quick guide to the Southern sky (I)

Hi everyone!!

If you really know me, you should know that, before becoming a "professional" astronomer, I was (and I'll always be) an amateur astronomer. I really enjoy going outside, with a small telescope, a bunch of books, some sky maps, a green laser pointer, and some friends. Just ask me about astronomy, ask me the name of this bright star to the West during the sunset and I'll start speaking about our place in the Universe in order to make you understand that the particular star you are asking about is not actually a star, but a planet called "Venus"...

That's how I am, and nothing is going to change me. I really love observing with my own eyes the night sky and especially, I love letting you know all this stuff using the easiest way possible (though not always is possible)... That's right!! I LOVE SCIENCE OUTREACH!!! Some of you might think it is a waste of time, some others that I must be crazy, although I know that some of you will agree with me, spreading the scientific knowledge is one of the most rewarding experiences a scientist can have. After observing in the William Herschel telescope, in the 3.5m telescope at Calar Alto... Why on earth do you prefer to observe with a 200 mm telescope??? The answer is quite easy: Those telescopes can give you great images to analyse and obtain scientific information, everyone enjoys Hubble Space Telescope images, they are astonishing! But what about receiving all this amount of photons in your own retina. Energy that has travelled during millions of years across the Interstellar Medium... and finally, they happened to end up in your own retina... becoming a part of what you are... and thus, making you part of the UNIVERSE... I think that now you have enough information to know why I am writing this entry.

One of the best moments that I have experienced as part of my experience in Australia has been those nights using the 8-inch Mount Stromlo Telescope, a telescope devoted to outreach, but that I have borrowed to enjoy the Southern Sky. From the southern hemisphere you can see some constellations that are also visible from the northern hemisphere. However, there are other not available from our latitudes. Some wonders like the Large and Small Magellanic clouds - LMC and SMC, peculiar galaxies that are orbiting around our Milky Way (our own Galaxy) and that some day will end up forming part of our disc, the Milky Way disc - are only visible from these latitudes. Canopus, Achernar, Alpha-Centauri (the closest star to our Sun, at around 4 light-year), 47TUC, etc... are also objects that I have observed for the first time during my visit to MSO (Mount Stromlo Observatory). NGC0253 (the Sculptor galaxy), Sagittarius, Scorpius, NGC7293 (the Helix Nebula)... objects that normally are observed close to the horizon, and whose light is dimmed by the effect of the particles forming our atmosphere (particles that we need for life to be possible on Earth), are observed high in the horizon, where the effect of the atmosphere is minimised.

Picture of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), taken on 8 October 2014 close to Batemans Bay (Australia) by Scott Medling. Copyright Scott Medling

The first thing that I realised when observing the Southern hemisphere was that I couldn't recognise even a constellation, although Sagittarius, Scorpius or Orion were visible... "Holly crap!! What's wrong with them!" There was nothing wrong, I was observing them upside-down (not exactly, but kind of). So there you have another interesting feeling, being able to recognise constellations that you already know but oriented in a different way... Much more difficult than find them and memorise them for the first time... Somehow my brain was trying to identify a different constellation, but my eyes were not able to capture such image (Of course not!! I was in the Southern Hemisphere!!).

The second thing that catches your attention are some small clouds that, somehow seem to be there... but they do not move!! Wait a minute... Are those faint, motionless clouds what I think they are?? YES!!! The LMC and SMC! After so many years observing the night sky, reading about them, and even researching the star formation history of one of them (let's talk about that in another post)... I was able to observe them, and from my house backyard!! This is one of the great advantages of Canberra, even in the middle of the capital of Australia, you can observe the stars!!! Almost no light pollution!! Canberrans, you are so lucky that you can enjoy the night sky spectacle without travelling hundreds of kilometres!!

But, as I am starting to feel tired (and so are you, I guess), I think I am going to stop here and I will make this entry a three-post entry... I have to think about that but I think so... This will serve as an introduction, in the next entries I will speak about how to find the south celestial pole, the identification of the main constellations on a Australian-spring night... and finally I will share my experiences with my small, 8-inch friend (I mean the telescope)... so stay tuned and I hope you can learn something from my observing experience in the South!!

Have a great day and write to you soon!!!! ;)

Moments that take your breath away...

"Life is not the amount of breath you take, it's the moments that take your breath away". I am going to start this entry with this quotation, I could say this was from a famous philosopher or an eminent psychologist... but it's not, it's from a funny movie I watched yesterday... "Hitch" starring Will Smith, it's not the best movie ever... but it's good enough to have 2 hours of fun ;) Anyway, I am going to try to describe one of those moments that take your breath away. Do you remember some entries ago where I explained our whale and penguin watching experience (click here)? Well, this is what happened after that ;)

Imagine you are in the Tasman sea, close to Narooma coast (Australia); you are in a boat with no lights, night is all around you, you can observe the southern sky above your head (an interesting view for an amateur astronomer). The full moon is up on the eastern horizon while being eclipsed by the shadow of the Earth (that's right, a lunar eclipse), dolphins are playing with the turbulent water around the boat, jumping up and down as if trying to say something... Normally, after such a wonderful experience you wake up, and realise it was just a dream... But this was not the case, I was there to enjoy and keep it as one of the most incredible moments in my life. I wish everyone I know could have been in that boat and could have felt what I felt, seen what I saw, and enjoyed how I did.

Every total lunar eclipse begins with a dark shadow slowly passing over the surface of the Moon (the shadow of the Earth), ultimately covering it. Instead of becoming invisible during 'totality' in the eclipse it is illuminated by a red glow from all the sunsets of Earth shining onto the Moon. This sequence was taken during the December 2010 lunar eclipse, very similar to the one that I'm describing in this entry (Wednesday 8 October 2014). Image credit: NASA / Keith Burns.

Today's entry was not supposed to be about lunar eclipses, however, some of you might be wondering what a lunar eclipse is, or what causes a lunar eclipse. In short, every "full moon" the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are aligned in that order (Sun-Earth-Moon), and that's why we can observe it completely illuminated. However, this alignment is not "perfect", i.e. there is not straight line passing through the three objects (the orbit of the Moon around the Earth, and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun are not in the same plane). However, every now and then, this alignment is perfect (kind of, depending on the "perfection" of such alignment we can have different types of eclipses: total, partial, penumbral or annular). When this happens, the shadow of the Earth is projected on the surface of the Moon. In the case of total eclipses, during the phase called "totality", the entire surface of the Moon is covered by the shadow of the Earth. However the Moon does not "disappear", it is illuminated by a red glow. The explanation for such nice view is based on the effect of the atmosphere, a vast amount of particles around the Earth protecting us from from solar radiation and allowing us to breath (air around us). Red light is less scattered by the atmosphere than blue light, and that's why the sky is blue and the Sun is red during the sunset and sunrise. During the totality, the light coming from the Sun that travels through our atmosphere (thus it is reddened) and is refracted, those refracted-reddened "rays" end up on the Moon surface. This reddened light is reflected in the surface of the Moon and makes a beeline towards our retina, allowing us to observe a "red" Moon.

As you can see this is a very poor explanation of why lunar eclipses happen, but that was not the main aim of the entry (although I have written more about that than about my experience on the boat ;) For further information please visit this webpage, with great explanations, graphics and interesting links. I hope you are having a great day!!!

Cheers!!!

Is winter coming?

Hi everyone!! It's me again... last weekend I couldn't find time to write, but here I am today!

I must admit, last week was an exhausting week with a lot of work, but I think that little by little things are getting to an end... my "Australian" project is going well, other projects are in a quite advanced stage, and I've just started my last month in Australia!!! Can you believe it?? Time flies!!

In fact, it was last week when I realised that we are in the middle of the month of November; if not the most, one of the saddest and more depressing months of the year. However, I don't feel like in the middle of November! Something with the weather is wrong, I mean... Great! but wrong... On TV there are a bunch of Christmas commercials... with no snow and starring people wearing T-shirts, shorts.... This is not Christmas!! For a proper Christmas commercial you need snow, people by the fireplace wearing jumpers, scarves, globes... But then, I look at the calendar... November 16th... OMG!! I look through my window and... the sun is shining, birds are singing, it's quite hot (35 degrees last Friday), and I'm wearing just a T-shirt and a long-sleeve shirt sounds like too much to me!! Well... to be honest this weekend the weather is not that great... but it will be the next week as it was the one before.

I guess this is part of my Australian experience... cricket and rugby on TV, "fake" Christmas commercials (Don't get me wrong, you know what I mean ;), and the feeling that winter is coming when I know that SUMMER is really coming... Although when it comes... I will be flying back to Spain, where WINTER will be starting... What a mess!!

But... isn't it weird? I feel like if I were programmed, my body knows that November is linked to bad weather and short days; Xmas is linked to snow and warm clothes... and there is nothing I can do to change that. However, I go outside for a run and it is hot outside, and in the TV commercials kids are opening gifts while wearing flip-flops....

Is winter coming?? Yes, but in the northern hemisphere, not in the south!!! ;) So remember, if you don't like bad weather, or snowy Xmas... Come to the Southern hemisphere 6 months a year, and do the opposite when the time comes... and you will live in a constant good weather year ;)

See you!!   bye bye bye bye bye ...

Some random thoughts

Hi everyone!! I hope you are having a great morning, afternoon, evening, night... or whatever time of the day it is by the time you are reading this ;)

It's been a month and a half since I first step in Canberra. After some difficult weeks trying to get used to this really strange city (I still think it is a very weird city), I think I am finally used to it. Canberra is not what you might expect considering that it is the capital of Australia... and to be honest, none of the thoughts I wrote a few entries ago have changed. Odd noises, a lot of nature... a really quiet and peaceful place. But, I enjoy it. Today I was coming back home after a 40-minute run and I run into an echidna!! I know some of you might think: "another animal", but this is part of the experience, you cannot find this kind of animals anywhere else!!

I thought that this period of adaptation was going to last a couple of weeks, and not almost 6 weeks, but finally I am used to the place. I have a daily routine that really suits me (work, exercise, football, chill-out, hang out with my house mates, reading, studying, etc)... but especially I have time, time to think, and even time to over-think. During these weeks I've had time to think about what I really miss from Spain (so I'll give those things and people the importance they deserve). But not only that, I've had time to listen to music long ago forgotten, songs that are part of the soundtrack of my life. Songs that make me remember and even yearn for those great moments and people who shaped me as a person...

 I've had time to remember myself going during the winter nights to the outskirts of Úbeda to rehearse with my music band (Easter). I remembered those great "private" concerts and rehearsal afternoons when my friends used to play in rock bands. My first year at college, my first trip abroad, my first conference, my first public talk about astronomy, last year's Halloween party, my month and a half in Preston (right now, one year ago).... So many memories, so many GOOD memories.... so many changes, and basically the passage of time.

But it is time to stop thinking of the past, it's time to continue enjoying the present and look forward to the future... an important year is about to start and many important decisions have to be made...

Sorry for this boooooring entry, this blog is not meant to be full of entries like this one, in fact, I'm enjoying writing it and I have some nice ideas for the blog starting from January (Science for the general public is coming)... but in the meantime... this is what I wanted to tell you ;)

Ciao!! ;)