October Night Sky

Artemis

Standing on the old Saturn V launch pad (at the time) of writing is a bright shiny new launch system – Artemis. Except that it should have flown the nest long ago. It seems that there s hydrogen leak! This is principally down to the small size of the hydrogen molecule, The tiny size of that molecule that causes the gas to escape through pores small enough to block other gases!. The answer, they hope is to fill the hydrogen tank at a lower pressure and rate,

Solar System. The Sun, Moon and Earth.

25th Partial Solar eclipse

Starts at about 10.00am and lasts until 11.45 am. ALL the usual rules apply wrt to not looking directly at the Sun.!

30th British Summer Time ends: an hour longer in bed  and winter begins

The Moon

  • First Quarter – 3rd  October
  • Full Moon – 9th October
  • Last Quarter – 17th October
  • New Moon – 25th October

The Full Moon in October is known as the Hunter’s Moon in the US and UK. 

The Planets: The naked eye planets are now to be seen before midnight: Saturn as soon as it gets dark enough, followed by Jupiter, Mars is in Taurus and can be seen most of the night. 

Sky at Night: The programme focuses on answering questions from a live panel !

Times: BBC Four on 10th Oct @ 10.00pm, repeated on BBC Four on 13th Oct @  (tbc), then on iPlayer. Check bbc.co.uk/skyatnight for the latest updates.

Roseland Observatory is on line www.roselandobservatory.co.uk  and also on www.Facebook.com/roselandobservatory

Brian Sheen runs the Roseland Observatory which is based in Truro High School for Girls.

The September Night Sky

Stars to look out for:

The Summer Triangle: The three bright stars of the Summer Triangle are dominant now just to the east of centre. They are:

  • Vega in Lyra, The Harp;
  • Deneb in Cygnus The Swan;
  • Altair in Aquila The Eagle.

They become easier to spot as the summer goes through.into autumn.

The Plough and onward down! It is well known that if you extend the curve of the handle of the Plough down towards the horizon you come to bright star called Arcturus – on again and close to the horizon is bright white star Spica in  Virgo. Look along the horizon towards the south and red star Antares becomes obvious. Then there is a star rarely noted Formalhaut. This is really an intruder from the southern skies so nice to see. We of course get the best views of it in the UK due to our Southerly location. By this time everyone will have noticed that is gets dark much earlier than June, however it is still pretty warm.

Solar System

 The Sun is getting active now with a lot of Sun spots. The best way to observe the Sun is via www.spaceweather.com – it will even give you alerts when something special is occurring. The 23rd of the month marks the Equinox – when the length of day and night are equal. If you want to step back in time nip smartly up to the Hurlers at 7.00pm BST (6.00pm GMT), the Sun will be setting behind a small tor when viewed from well south of Stow Hill. This has been a marker for autumn since the Bronze Age.

The Moon:

  •  First Quarter – 3rd  September
  • Full Moon – 10th September
  • Last Quarter – 17th September
  • New Moon – 25th September.

The Full Moon in September is known as the Harvest Moon in the US and UK. This Full Moon rises at a similar time for several consecutive days. This allows farmers more time to get the harvest home.

The Planets: The naked eye planets are now to be seen before midnight, Saturn as soon as it gets dark enough, followed by Jupiter is at its closest to Earth on the26th. Mars is in Aries and can be seen in the early hours. .Most people will not have seen Uranus but this month it is very easy because on the 14th – start looking at 10.15pm. Just to the East of the lit side of the Moon there will be a tiny blue-green disc. This will suddenly vanish as the Moon passes in front of it for about an hour! This is a very rare event.

Sky at Night;- The programme focuses on photography of the night sky.

Times: BBC Four on 12th Sept @ 10.00pm, repeated on BBC Four on 15th Sept @  (tbc), then on iPlayer. Check The Sky at Night for the latest updates.

Roseland Observatory is on line www.roselandobservatory.co.uk  and also on www.Facebook.com/roselandobservatory

August Night Sky

Cornwall Spaceport is about to launch its first satellite this summer maybe as early as September Keep eyes and ears open for updates,

The James Webb Telescope is delivering the goods at last. After 30 years, some fantastic images are coming from the super scope. Gravitational lensing is the new buzzword, it is an outcome of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity – nuff said!

The Summer Triangle of bright stars: The three bright stars of the Summer Triangle are  dominant now just East of centre. They are Vega in Lyra, The Harp; Deneb in Cygnus The Swan; and Altair in Aquila The Eagle. They become easier to spot as the summer goes through.

Solar System

 The Sun is getting active now with a lot of Sun spots. The best way to observe the Sun is via www.spaceweather.comand it will even give you alerts when something special is occurring. 

The Moon:  

  • First Quarter 5th
  • Full Moon 12th
  • Last Quarter 19th
  • New Moon 27th
  • The Full Moon in August is known as the Sturgeon Moon in the US.

Full Moon Illusion: If you look at a Full Moon when it is rising is always seems huge.

However if you observe it by putting a kitchen towel roll to one eye it promptly shrinks before your very eye.

The Planets: The naked eye planets are now to be seen before midnight Saturn as soon as it gets dark enough, Jupiter after 10.00pm. Mars is in Aries and can be seen in the early hours.

Meteors: August is the home of the most reliable meteor shower of the year peaking on the 12th, equally reliable is the Full Moon on the same date and also a Super Moon! This shower is often called the August meteors or more properly the Perseids. Naturally few shooting stars will be seen when the Moon is around but fortunately this shower has a broad peak and more should be observed after the official peak on the 12th.

Sky at Night: Updates our information on the James Webb Telescope and gives an indication as to the sort of scientific outcomes expected

Times BBC Four, 15th July @ 10.00pm. Repeated on BBC Four, 18th Aug @  (tbc)Then on iPlayer. Check BBC Sky at Night for the latest updates.

Roseland Observatory is on line www.roselandobservatory.co.uk  and also on www.facebook.com/roselandobservatory

Brian Sheen runs the Roseland Observatory which is based in Truro High School for Girls.

Image: JWST first image. Credit:  NASA

The July Night Sky

Cornwall Spaceport about to launch its first satellite this summer maybe as early as Julykeep eyes and ears open for updates!

The Summer Triangle of bright stars.

The three bright stars of the Summer Triangle are more dominant now just East of centre. They are Vega in Lyra, The Harp; Deneb in Cygnus The Swan; and Altair in Aquila The Eagle. They become easier to spot as the summer goes through.

Solar System

 The Sun is getting active now with a lot of Sun spots. The best way to observe the Sun is via www.spaceweather.com and it will even give you alerts when something special is occurring. Watch out for noctilucent clouds again this month. best seen through a binocular. 

Earth & Sun 

Of course on the 21st of June it was the Summer Solstice which marked the date when the Sun was over the tropic of Cancer, is at its highest for the year. Also, the greatest length of daytime. Indeed it does not really get proper dark this month. Amazingly it is possible to measure the polar circumference of the Earth using nothing more than a shadow stick some knowledge and a little bit of maths.

The Moon

First Quarter7th    Full Moon 14th Last Quarter 20th   New Moon 28th

The Full Moon in July is known as the Buck Moon in the US.

The Planets:

The naked eye planets are still visible in the predawn sky is a large arc along the ecliptic.

BBC Sky at Night this month covers the “new” solar probes and concentrates on the Parker Solar Probe (NASA) and the Solar Orbiter (ESA) These Probes comes closer to the Sun than any of their predecessors Times: BBC Four, 11th July @ 10.00pm  Repeated on BBC Four, 14th July @  (tbc), then on iPlayer. Check bbc.co.uk/skyatnight for the latest updates.

Roseland Observatory is on line www.roselandobservatory.co.uk  and also on www.Facebook.com/roselandobservatory

Brian Sheen runs the Roseland Observatory which is based in Truro High School for Girls.

Image Credit:  Truro High School for Girls.

Measuring the diameter of the Earth

The June Night Sky

The Black Hole – Imaged at last, the rather strange orange fuzz around the black disc is really the Event Horizon. Consider a 30 cm diameter sphere as a Black Hole completely surrounded by 15 cm of orange smoke. Look at the BH face on and the black disc is where the BH is lurking. It is thin enough to see right through, it to left and right the smoke is up to 60 cm from top to bottom and is therefore sufficient to be seen. The Event Horizon is caused by the last gasp of matter falling into the Black Hole. Current thinking is that every galaxy has a Black Hole at its centre to hold the entire thing together. Ours is called Sag A8

The Summer Triangle of bright stars – The three bright stars of the Summer Triangle are starting to make their presence felt just East of centre. They are Vega in Lyra, The Harp; Deneb in Cygnus The Swan; and Altair in Aquila The Eagle. They become easier to spot as  the summer goes through.

Solar System

 The Sun is getting active now with a lot of Sun spots. The best way to observe it is via www.spaceweather.com and it will even give you alerts when something special is occurring. Watch out for Noctilucent clouds although these look a bit lie cirrus clouds they are much higher in the atmosphere. They are caused by rays of the Sun striking high dust particles after the Sun  is below our horizon  so look north and hopefully you will be amazed. Well seen through a binocular. 

Earth & Sun – Of course on the 21st of June it is the Summer Solstice which marks the date when the Sun is over the tropic of Cancer, is at its highest for the year. Also, the greatest length of daytime. Indeed it does not really get proper dark this month.

The Moon –  First Quarter7th    Full Moon 14th Last Quarter 21st  New Moon 29th

The Full Moon in June is known as the Strawberry Moon in the US.

The Planets –. There are no planets in the evening sky this month.

Sky at Night – Features the Astronomer Royal at 80 he looks back at some of the biggest discoveries of the last 50 years.

Times BBC Four, 13th June @ 10.00pm  Repeated on BBC Four , 16th June @  (tbc)Then on iPlayer.

It’s back! Roseland Observatory is on the web again log on to 
www.roselandobservatory.co.uk  and also on
www.facebook.com/roselandobservatory
Brian Sheen runs the Roseland Observatory which is based in Truro High School for Girl