MDSGC supports hands-on learning opportunities and scholarships in higher education, professional development for educators, and public events to engage Marylanders in space science and engineering.
The 2024 MDSGC Student Research Symposium will be held on Friday, August 2, beginning at approximately 8 a.m. EDT. The venue will be the Mt. Washington Conference Center in Baltimore, MD. For GPS navigation, aim for “Johns Hopkins At Mt. Washington, Smith Avenue, Baltimore, MD” (link) and park in the nearby visitor parking lot/garage. Here is an image from Google showing the relative locations of parking and the conference venue:
This year’s symposium will showcase presentations by student interns and researchers working at sites across Maryland. The cohort of presenters represent diverse institutions, including: Capitol Technology University, Hagerstown Community College, Morgan State University, NASA, Towson University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The program will be posted to this page in advance of the event.
Image of 2017 solar eclipse. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
On Monday, April 8th, 2024, the Moon crossed in front of the Sun as seen from much of North America, giving millions of Americans another chance to experience a solar eclipse. Like in October 2023 and August 2017, Maryland experienced a partial solar eclipse. During a partial eclipse the Sun is never fully blocked by the Moon. This means that it is never safe to look directly at a partial eclipse without special eye protection — regular sunglasses are not okay! Please see below for more information on safe observing practices.
From Maryland, the beginning of Monday’s eclipse (aka “first contact”) was be at approximately 2:05 p.m. according to timeanddate.com, depending slightly on the viewer’s location. Maximum eclipse depth of approximately 90% coverage occurred at 3:21 p.m. and the show was all over at around 4:30 p.m.
For eclipse watchers in the Baltimore area, a couple of opportunities to come out (or stay in) and see the spectacle were:
Eclipse safety: It is very important not to look at the partial eclipse directly unless you have appropriate eye protection such as special eclipse glasses (NOT regular sunglasses) from a reputable manufacturer. Courtesy of NASA, here is a summary of information about eclipse safety. Key takeaways: either use special eclipse glasses or use an indirect viewing method, such as a projected image from a pinhole camera.
While Maryland experienced only a partial eclipse, a swath of the USA stretching from Texas to New England briefly fell into darkness as the Moon fully covered the Sun, creating the fateful (and amazing) condition known as a total eclipse. The image below shows the approximate locations where this occurred; for more detail see NASA’s Where & When.
Map of continental USA showing the path of totality for the April 8, 2024 solar eclipse. Credit: NASA.
The following images are from our main 20-inch telescope using one of two cameras, a ZWO 1600MM Pro or Canon EOS 6D DSLR. Many of these images were acquired by observatory visitors, W. Balmer, and M. Prem, and most post-processing was carried out by M. Prem using SIRIL.
Friday, May 26rd, 2023
M101: This well-known and lovely spiral galaxy is also known as the pinwheel galaxy due to its large spiral disk being oriented almost directly towards Earth. However, this image shows a very special guest that was not visible in this galaxy just a few short weeks before this image was taken: the core collapse supernova SN 2023ixf (appears as a large light-blue blob in the upper-right). While this supernova will fade over time, its host galaxy (known as Messier 101 or M101) is still very interesting due to its large star-forming regions visible scattered throughout its spiral structure. This image is shown in color based on another image of M101 from a few days prior (courtesy of M. Prem), which was used to transfer the colors, using the data taken from the observatory’s monochrome exposure as a luminance layer.M51: Colloquially known as the whirlpool galaxy, M51 is a real treat of the Northern skies, appearing close to the big dipper. Of course, the two interacting galaxies in this image are actually much further away; so far in fact that their light takes over 23 million years to get to us. These are some of the best known interacting galaxies, with the gravitational disruptions causing large tidal streams visible in longer exposure images, and likely contributing to the formation of the well defined spiral arms of the larger galaxy. M51 was the first to be identified as a spiral galaxy (or a spiral nebula as they were known at the time). The smaller, dimmer galaxy IC 4278 is also visible in this image just a little way from M51; see if you can spot it!M81: Another bright spiral galaxy near the big dipper, this grand design spiral galaxy is in the process of interacting with the nearby galaxy M82. This image highlights the large brightness difference between the very bright core of the galaxy, and the significantly fainter arms, where there wasn’t enough light collected to make them easily stand out from the background. To make the arms visible at all, the stacked image was greatly stretched, with heavy noise reduction applied.M82: A companion galaxy to the spiral galaxy M81, and one of the nearest starburst galaxies, with its starburst thought to have been caused by a previous interaction with M81. A starburst galaxy is one where the rate of star formation is much greater than normal, with M82’s center alone producing around 10 times the new stars that the entire Milky Way galaxy does. This huge amount of star formation causes M82 to be very luminous, with the dust lanes seen in the image silhouetting the brighter background. Not seen in this image, but possible to pick up in longer exposures, are large streams of hydrogen that form a so called superwind which is likely driven by the supernovae which are common in this galaxy.M13: A favorite of northern hemisphere astronomers and a target that we have imaged several times before, this large grouping of stars contains the mass of around 600,000 suns packed together far tighter that the local neighborhood of our own solar system. Because of its shape, M13 is known as a globular cluster, as opposed to the more common open star clusters such as the Pleiades. To show the maximum number of stars, this image of M13 was processed to enhance the visibility of faint parts of the cluster while preserving details in its bright core, which combined with the slightly blurred stars to make this image appear different from our other image of M13 shown further down the page.
Sunday, May 21st, 2023 (guest image)
This galaxy is looking different! These images were taken by trained observatory guest Gavin W. (JHU) and Observatory Fellow William B. (JHU). It was processed by Gavin W. using SIRIL. It shows the nearby M101 spiral galaxy, where just this past week a new supernova has erupted. Over the next few weeks, the bright source of light marked “SN 2023ixf” will fade away and disappear completely. Currently it is out shining the combined brightness of all the other stars in its host galaxy! This is one of the nearest supernova to the Earth this decade, an exciting opportunity for astronomers around the world to study these violent stellar-deaths in detail.
Friday, May 19th, 2023
The Ring Nebula (M57) in narrowband H-alpha, O[III] filters. This nebula was generated by a Sun-like star that has finished fusing hydrogen into helium. The nebula is about 7000 years old. The beautiful blue center of the nebula is emission from diffuse oxygen gas left in the wake of the expanding shell of red hydrogen gas, which we isolated at this open house using special filters that cut out a lot of the light pollution from the city.
The Sombrero Galaxy. We only managed to take images in one filter (a Green filter) but even in monochrome, the dramatic dust-lane of this galaxy is impressive. We are viewing this distant galaxy “edge-on” where the dust and gas that orbits within the spiral arms blocks the light from the center of the galaxy.
The Eyes Galaxy. More monochrome green filter images, again showing a beautiful partially edge-on galaxy with spirals of dust along its arms.
A globular cluster, M13, “Great Globular Cluster in Hercules.” This group of stars are more than a hundred times more closely packed together than the stars near our Sun. These stars are almost three times as old as the sun, 12 Billion years old, and this cluster exhibits signs of having been “accreted.” This means that this cluster of stars could have been a much smaller galaxy that the Milky Way gobbled up!
Monday, January 16th, 2023
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), otherwise known as “the Green Comet” or “the Neanderthal Comet” is shown here, about two weeks before its closest approach, having just passed periapsis (when it is closest to the Sun). Images were observed by W. Balmer in Blue, Green, and Red filters using our science camera, and processed by M. Prem using SIRIL. Because it is nearby, the comet has a large apparent motion compared to the background stars, and keeping the telescope fixed on the comet during an imaging sequence results in star trails as seen here.
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Orion Nebula. This image combines 31 DSLR exposures with a total integration time of over 15 minutes, processed to bring out detail, calibrate the colors and suppress noise. Glowing gas is reflecting and re-emitting the light of bright young stars, while darker clouds of cool gas and dust frame and partly obscure the view.
Thursday, October 27
Bubble Nebula. A single massive, hot star is responsible for most of the nebula’s emission. Gas expelled from the star’s own “wind” forms the shell; the gas in the shell and in surrounding clouds is excited by light from the star and glows. About an hour’s worth of exposures in narrow band filters sensitive to emission from hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur gas were combined to form this image. Processing was used to calibrate the colors, bring out details, and suppress background noise. Crab Nebula. A single exposure, processed to suppress background noise and enhance contrast, reveals details within this iconic celestial object. The nebula itself is the result of a supernova explosion whose light first reached Earth in the year 1054.
Friday, October 21
The following image was obtained with our ZWO 1600MM Pro camera with a narrow-band H-alpha filter.
Eagle nebula (H-alpha): The eagle nebula seen in this image is an active star-forming region. The energetic emissions from its young stars cause the gas in the nebula to glow in very specific colors, the strongest of which is called H-alpha, from atomic hydrogen gas. When observed through a filter that only lets through this color of light, a significant amount of detail can be seen, from the brightly glowing gas itself as well as the dust clouds that block some of the light. This image was made by stacking 10 exposures to reduce noise and then stretching to show the detail hidden in the shadows.Saturn and Titan. This image was created by combining short exposures to capture the planet itself with deeper exposures to be able to detect its large moon, Titan.
Friday, October 14
These images are from our Canon EOS 6D with a light pollution filter.
M13. This globular cluster is composed of stars that are about 11.65 billion years old, nearly 3 times older than the Solar System! Observatory open house attendees took 5 images with a total exposure time of 11 minutes which were aligned and combined to produce the image pictured here.M27. This target, called Dumbbell Nebula or the Apple Core Nebula, is a cloud of gas and dust expelled by a dying, Sun-like star. At its center is the remnant of the progenitor star, called a “white dwarf.” It is only about 10,000 years old, a very short time in astronomy! A certain young attendee took one 3 minute image of M27, which we post-processed using “photometric color calibration” to match the colors in the image to catalogue colors from research images, and then applied a brightness stretch and de-noising filter.M57. The Ring Nebula was a favorite of our open house attendees, who took about 20 minutes’ worth of images of this nebula. Similar to M27, this nebula was generated by a Sun-like star that has finished fusing hydrogen into helium. The nebula is about 7000 years old. The beautiful blue center of the nebula is emission from diffuse oxygen gas left in the wake of the expanding shell of red hydrogen gas. We combined, smoothed, and then stretched the images to produce the final picture.
Have you ever wished you could venture beyond Earth and explore among the stars? We certainly have. Alas, for the time being such explorations remain in the domain of imagination and science fiction. However, thanks to the precision of modern stellar catalogs, we can map the nearby stars and render their positions on your computer screen, allowing you to explore among them from the comfort of home! Click to access one such stellar visualization, created by MDSGC volunteer M. Prem. The accompanying text explains what is displayed and how it works. Have questions? Please email us at mdsgo@jhu.edu.
Happy April! International Dark Sky Week is coming up later this month. We are delighted to invite you to attend a special two-part event in celebration of dark skies!
4/15/22 @ 7pm ET – Dark Skies Presentation: Join us on Friday, April 15th at 7pm in room 361 of the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy (Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus). Dr. Sarah Marie Bruno (JHU), cosmologist, will discuss the impact of satellite constellations on ground-based astronomy, and the importance of preserving dark skies for astronomy and beyond. Light refreshments will be served directly following the talk.
Preserving Dark Skies for Astronomy: The starry night sky has inspired humanity from the dawn of our history. However, the night sky we can see from Baltimore in 2022 looks vastly different from the skies that Galileo Galilei observed with his telescope or the skies that inspired the star stories of indigenous peoples in North America. Artificial lighting from ground-based sources and reflections off satellites can impact astronomy and impede our ability to witness the natural beauty of the skies. The Milky Way, once a fixture of human experience, is now hidden from view for over two thirds of the world’s population. Sadly, light pollution is only getting worse with the increasing number of commercial satellites flooding low-Earth orbits. While satellite constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink will likely boost the global economy and increase internet accessibility worldwide, they will introduce additional light pollution and foreground contamination which may greatly impede astronomical observations from the ground. Specifically, solar reflections, radio frequency transmission, and thermal emission will impact ground-based astronomy in the optical, radio, and microwave frequencies, respectively. Bruno wilI (1) discuss the projected impact of the growing space industry on the field of astronomy, (2) present proposed strategies for mitigating these effects, and (3) reflect on the importance of preserving the dark sky environment not only for astronomy, but for human health and wellbeing.
4/15/22 @ 8:30pm ET – Observatory Open House: After Dr. Bruno’s talk, we will migrate up to the roof of the Bloomberg building for an observatory open house. We expect that observing will be possible beginning around 8:30pm. We will use the telescope in the observatory to view the stars and planets and an additional smaller telescope on the roof to observe the Moon. Join us in celebrating the beautiful dark skies above Johns Hopkins campus!
Please note that due to space limitations on the Bloomberg roof, this event is restricted to the first 50 registrants. Please sign up here to attend.
The event is free to attend and free parking will be available on the Upper Muller Lot (located next to the Bloomberg building and accessible off of San Martin Drive.)
Note: This event (both talk and observatory night) is subject to rescheduling depending on the weather. The following Friday (4/22) is a backup day. Registered attendees will receive an email by the evening of April 14th confirming whether the event will take place April 15th or be postponed to April 22nd.
At the MDSGC Observatory, we’re always looking to share our enthusiasm about the Universe and its many fascinating phenomena. Therefore, we’re pleased to present this short series of interactive online astrophysics stories!
#4: Detecting Exoplanets via Transits
Since the first discoveries starting in the 1990s (see post below), the continued search for new exoplanets and the study of their properties has grown into a major area of astronomical research. As additional effort has been invested and new technologies have been developed, the primary techniques for finding and characterizing new exoplanets have also evolved. Follow this link over to our Exoplanet Transits story at ObservableHQ to learn about how astronomers have discovered most of the exoplanets we now know — and where we’re still looking to improve our knowledge!
#3: Hot Jupiter Systems
Until the 1990s, the only planets known to science were the nine* of our own solar system. As technology progressed and astronomers began to focus their efforts on looking for planets around other stars, they received several great surprises in the form of just how different the first discovered “exoplanet” systems were, compared to ours. In the decades since, intense efforts have revealed a more detailed picture, and we now understand planetary systems to be a widespread if not universal phenomenon — as astronomers had hoped all along. But the earliest discovered systems continue to play an important role in our new understanding. Follow this link over to our Hot Jupiter story at ObservableHQ to learn more!
When it comes to practical astronomy, whether we’re idly admiring the night sky or concentrating closely on a telescopic view, star clusters are some of the most interesting things up there. The image above shows a portion of the star cluster Messier 67 obtained from our Observatory. (Another prime example of a star cluster is also one of the Fall sky’s highlights: the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters.) So what, apart from simple visual appeal, makes star clusters interesting for astronomers?
It was Fall as we wrote this, and in Earth’s northern hemisphere the days were getting shorter. DayLIGHT, that is! But did you know that actually, the length of Earth’s day is increasing as time goes on? What’s that all about, and what in the Universe could be responsible?
Image of the Moon over Earth’s limb, taken from the International Space Station in 2019.
While most of our attention may understandably be consumed by events taking place here on planet Earth, it’s a good practice to pause occasionally and take in a larger perspective. A fine occasion for such activity presents itself whenever clear skies align with favorable Moon phases.
Each year, International Observe the Moon Night, marked in 2020 on Saturday, September 26th, encourages Earthlings to point our gazes skyward and appreciate our closest celestial neighbor. (NASA organizes a list of events that might allow for an in person experience, as well as ways to participate from home.)
The first quarter lunar phase each month is widely considered to be best for viewing because of its evening visibility and the oblique angle of sunlight that throws its surface details into sharp relief. When looking at the Moon from Earth, we definitely recommend grabbing a pair of binoculars, if available, as any amount of magnification greatly enhances the visibility of surface features such as craters.
And while you’re thinking about gazing skyward, don’t forget to think about other ways to get your astronomy fix, and be sure to check out Sky & Telescope’s Sky at a Glance for more detail about what’s on the celestial menu these days.
While the MDSGC Observatory remains closed for the time being, with a little inspiration and effort we can still admire the night sky above us — and certainly now, as much as ever, we can all benefit from a cosmic perspective!
Another recommended activity that may be appealing is to construct a planisphere: a device that shows the locations of the stars in the sky each night. You can buy one, of course, or use free astronomy software such as Stellarium, but if you happen to live at a latitude not too different from Baltimore, MD (39.29 degrees North) and have access to a printer, you can also make your own using these files: planisphere instructions and planisphere cutouts. The second file has two pages, which need to be printed on separate sheets of paper. You’ll also need a paperclip.
Until we can once again welcome you to visit our Observatory, happy star-gazing!
Watching live coverage of the successful NASA Mars Insight landing yesterday reminded us of some other excellent space videos we’ve seen lately.
Here’s one to mark NASA’s 60th anniversary. Like science fiction, but real:
Also celebrating an anniversary recently, in this case its 20th, was the International Space Station (ISS). A long sequence of Earth from orbit, with some landmarks identified:
As long as we’re on the topic, here’s one more from ISS. An inbound rocket launch:
Hope you enjoy them as much as we did. If you’re curious about the image at the top, click on it to learn more!
Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is the one hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the discovery of quaternions, one of the most difficult discoveries ever in the history of mathematical physics. The discovery was made — in a sudden moment of inspiration following 11 years of studious toil — by Sir William Rowan Hamilton as he was crossing Brougham Bridge, in Ireland, with his wife. On the spot, or so it is said, he carved his famous equations on the bridge.
Some years later, Hamilton recalled:
They started into life, or light, full grown, on the 16th of October, 1843, as I was walking with Lady Hamilton to Dublin, and came up to Brougham Bridge. That is to say, I then and there felt the galvanic circuit of thought closed, and the sparks which fell from it were the fundamental equations between I, J, K; exactly such as I have used them ever since. I pulled out, on the spot, a notebook, which still exists, and made an entry….
Although Hamilton’s original inscription does not survive, the plaque shown above hangs on the bridge to this day in commemoration both of Hamilton’s discovery and of his sudden inspiration. The plaque reads:
Here as he walked by
on the 16th of October 1843
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
in a flash of genius discovered
the fundamental formula
for quaternion multiplication
i2 = j2 = k2 = i j k = -1
& cut it on a stone of this bridge
Here’s to Hamilton, to quaternions, to bridges, and to inspiration!
