November 2011 |
There are about 150 of these objects around our galaxy. Their stars are packed together about 1000 times more densely than in our galaxy and they have a high proportion of Red Giants. Their age seems to be about 18 billion yrs., so, created at the beginning of the Universe. However other methods of dating the birth of the Universe arrive at 12-13 billion yrs…….. So we need more data yet! But when you look at M15 you are looking pretty well back to the beginning of time. Dwell upon that as you peer into the night sky. Jupiter of course is still with us and looking magnificent at due south for most of the month.10x50 binoculars will give splendid views of the four Galilean satellites and, at least, the north and south Equatorial Bands. |
October 2011 |
The Orionids on the 21st will be brighter and faster and the moon should not interfere. These are in the tail of our old friend Halley’s comet. Jupiter is now unmistakeable in the east .Use binoculars to spot its four moons, the so called Galileans, named after the famous astronomer who first discovered them. In your telescope you can see both Uranus and Neptune but they are not a naked eye objects. Don't forget, the clocks go back on the 30th. |
September 2011The Summer Triangle will stay with us ‘till the end of the month, but do have another look at it and remember the names of the three stars. They are Deneb, Vega and Altair. Look to the left of Altair and you will bump into the great square of Pegasus. We will talk about it next month. Using binoculars, if you take a ‘bead’ through the two left hand stars (Sirrah and Algenib) southwards, you should see a fairly bright ‘star’ amongst the background stars. This is the planet Uranus, look here every night and see which ‘star’ moves, that one will of course be our target. This is a rare opportunity to see this Planet. Once you have found it try to see it with the naked eye. It is possible ……to those with sharp eyes. If you can get up before sunrise you will see both Mars and Mercury in the North East. So here is an opportunity to see three naked eye planets in one night. Jupiter is just starting to rise, but not ‘till midnight. Actually Neptune is due south but it is a telescope object and cannot be seen with binoculars. On the night of the twelfth if the skies are clear you will see the bright Harvest moon. This will rise at about the same time each night and so helps the farmers gather in the harvest.- hence the name. |
The skies are gradually darkening and the equinox is on the 23rd. However the clocks will not go back ‘till Oct 30th. |
August 2011High over head is a large asterism called the Summer Triangle. It is made up of three separate constellations and its name is attributed to Sir Patrick Moore. The three very bright stars are Deneb to the top left, Vega to the top right and Arcturus in the south. All three are in separate constellations. Deneb is in Cygnus the Swan. You will see that it really does look like a swan flying along with its neck stretched out and with a short stubby tail. Cygnus has two very interesting claims to fame. One is that it lies exactly on the Milky Way. I find the best way to see this is to look up to Cygnus and then twist your head from side to side. This makes the Milky Way quite clear. Once you have found it you can stop moving your head!. The other interesting thing is, right in the middle of the ‘neck of the Swan, that is the long leg of the cross pointing southwards, there is a Black Hole. Now needless to say you can’t see it but it is there none the less. It is thought to be the centre of another galaxy far off in space. This terrifying object is about 10 times the size of the Sun. ( Don’t forget our Sun is 1½ million times greater than our Earth.) and it puts out 10,000 times more X rays than does our Sun at all wavelengths. Thank goodness it’s a long way away, but of course we do have our own black hole in our own Galaxy! . Now, look carefully in between Deneb to the north and Arcturus to the south and you will see a faint constellation which looks quite like an arrow with the naked eye. It is an arrow, it is called Saggitta. Supposedly shot by Hercules,remember last month we looked high up in the sky to see Hercules, well this is one of his arrows. You may remember the Zodiacal constellation of Sagittarius, obviously that means archer as he fires a Sagitta or an arrow. |
August is the month of the famous Perseids meteor shower, sadly the moon is full on the 13th.so it is classed as a bad year for the Perseids Usually the moon is full at the end of the month, that’s why its called a ‘moonth’ or month. Next month we are back into dark skies again hoorah!. | July 2011What has this month got in store for us, well quite a lot actually. Firstly on the 4th the Earth is at is furthest distance from the Sun. Hang on, you say you mean the closest, because it is summer. But no, it is at its furthest now, you see it is the tilting of the Earth on its axis towards the sun which makes our summer..... not the Earths proximity. Good Trivial pursuit question that. Also if you look East of Pegasus on the 28th you will see the Aquarids meteor shower. They should be about 20 per hour or better. So have a garden party on that night and stay up late to see them. Remember look to the east of Pegasus, which itself is in the eastern sky. Now, back to the South, straight up any you will see the body of Hercules. He has a square body with arms and legs coming from the four corners. You will have to look quite high for him. Actually he is upside- down, nobody is quite sure why as he looks right either way. Any way, look at the side of his body to your right, near his armpit and you will see a slight haze. That is a Globular Cluster. If you can get binoculars you will see that it is a spherical group of stars. Now you know that our Galaxy, the Milky Way is a sort of "whirlpool" of stars. Surrounding the whirlpool is a halo of Globular clusters and this is one of them. These clusters are formed from very old stars, other than that very little is known about them. It is well worthwhile reading more about these strange objects. Now here is a very tricky one, look for the only Minor planet which can be seen with the naked eye Vesta. Look to your extreme left and you will see the "coffee filter" shape of Capricornus. Look to the left hand side every night that you will see one of the stars moves each night very slowly south and westwards. Once are sure that you have the moving object keep watching and you are looking at Vesta. |
How big is a million. One million seconds is 12 days, half a million hours is fifty years, a quarter of a million miles is the distance to the moon. Next month is the big one, the Perseids meteor shower. I will tell you where to look for them next month. But it does look like another garden party. |
June 2011
Look straight up and the very bright star high in the South is Arcturus in the constellation Bootes. Turn around to face north and you will notice that if you follow on an arc from the handle of the Plough, it will appear as though both Arcturus and Spica in Virgo are extensions of this arc. This is why the name Arcturus means Bear keeper. Arcturus is another Red Giant but before it got to this stage it was about as big as our Sun, so that is what we will look like in another 5000 million years. Back to Bootes, and to its left you will note a half circle of stars, called Corona Borealis or the northern crown. Whilst you cannot see them there is a cluster of over 400 galaxies inside the crown. Saturn is still in Virgo but fairly low in the west now. Mercury is low in the eastern horizon, this is the evening apparition but it is very low, do try to find it if you can, you will need to be able to see the horizon of course. You should be able to see some meteors on the 10th. These are the Ophiuchids. Look on the chart and you will find Ophiuchus in the South east that is where they will come from, but it is a fairly weak showing. But this month, on the15th. At about 21.30 you will see the moon rise eclipsed! It was fully eclipsed below the horizon so we will see it gradually clear as it rises in the East. We only get the second half of the show as it moves out of the Earths shadow. | 400 million years ago, our days were only 22 hours long and the year was consequently longer. Now our days are getting longer and our year is therefore getting progressively shorter. (So that means you are all getting older, quicker!)  |
May 2011Now the evenings are lighter, but there are still some early evening sights in the May skies. Dead centre in the south is Virgo the Virgin. The most southerly star, which is also the brightest in this constellation, is Spica and it is the ear of corn held by the Virgin. But come back a little to the right of Spica and you will see another fairly bright star and this is Porrima. Dont worry too much about it but what is interesting is that the Quasar 3C 273. is very close by. Lots of people ask me what is a quasar. Well after the War, here in Cambridge we started looking at the sky with radio telescopes. The third such was named the Third Cambridge survey or 3C for short. In 1963 Dr Cyril Hazard realised that one of these radio sources, number 273 in the survey would pass behind the moon. By timing the exact moment when the moon cut off the radio noise we were able for the first time to determine the position of the Quasar or quasi stellar object, as it was then called, as being a star like object. But when we measured the distance it was much to far away to be seen. In order to be so bright at such a distance it would have to radiate 1000 times as much energy as all the stars in the milky way. Indeed a whole galaxy of matter. Now we think that the first galaxy is probably inside the black hole so that is why we cannot see it, and it is now beginning to attack these nearby ones. So now we think that the black hole began its life before these other galaxies were formed, and that they were created, only to be consumed by the lurking Quasar. In fact we think that that is the fate of all Galaxies .. including our own! You see, Astronomy is not for the faint hearted!! Saturn is very easy to see, binoculars will show its moon Triton. On the 14th. It is only 9 degs. away from the moon. |  On the 5-6th we should see the Aquarid meteor shower in the East. They are part of the remains of Halleys comet. By the way I bought another pair of binoculars at a Cambridge carboot sale last week, this time they were perfect and only £3.00. So to date I have spent £23.00 to get three bad and one good pairs of binoculars. Not bad eh!, £23.00 for the entire universe. |
April 2011Now of course the clocks have gone forward and the evenings are drawing out, so we are looking at the sky at 10.00 oclock in the evening and not 8.00 pm as in winter. As usual look I only look south, but also remember the positions I give you are always for the beginning of each month, so they will be further to the West or right of the sky as the month progresses. Due South is the magnificent Leo. I always think he looks like the ones at the base of Nelsons column. This constellation really does fit its name. Look at the bright star Regulus on its knee. It is a brilliant young star pouring out vast quantities of energy into the Universe, a beautiful sight on a dark spring evening. Do you remember Rigel in Orion, - which you can still see -, it too is a young hot star. Now look to the right or west of Leo and you will see Cancer the crab. It is not very bright, but you should be able to make out an upside down Y. Try to get some binoculars on Cancer and look at the centre; you will see a cluster of stars called the beehive or more properly Praesepe or the Manger. Praesepe has a star above and one below which have are called the northern and southern donkeys and they are supposedly feeding at the manger. Of course not all of the constellations make immediate sense, and I have not been able to find any source for the name beehive. The Sun used to appear in the constellation of cancer overhead at noon on the 21st. of June at latitude 23.5, so this was known as the tropic of Cancer. Now, you know that the Earth wobbles on its axis, and this makes the heavens appear to move around the sky from the point of a viewer on Earth. So even though Cancer is no longer in the same position, the name has stuck and that point is still called the Tropic of cancer. Incidentally, that is why Astrology is daft as all the constellations move in time, so a Cancerian then would be a Gemmini now. |
 What a sky full of delights. You see how exciting the heavens are when you know whats going on. |
March 2011Some say that March is the best month of all for astronomers. The weather is getting warmer, but the nights are still dark. Looking South and to the right or west, our old friend Orion is just with us, as is the great hunters dog Canis following along behind his right foot as he strides off to the west. Slightly to your left and up, and there is Gemini, the twins Castor and Pollux. Castor is the uppermost one but surprisingly it is not one star but six ! It is 45 ly. away. Actually, Pollux is the brighter of the two but due to a mix up in labelling in 1603 it is now known as beta instead of the more correct alpha. Glad Im not the only one to make mistakes. Gemini is where the Geminids meteor shower radiates from in December, did you see them last Dec. no, oh well they will be back in nine months time! Cancer and Leo are on there way towards the centre of our southerly aspect too, but more about them next month because now we have a rare treat. The planet Mercury which is often so difficult to see as it is always pretty low on the horizon is putting on its Springtime display. From the 7th to the 27th it will describe a low arc in the sky. On the 7th. in the twilight, look for the crescent moon, a little below you will see Jupiter, and just below is Mercury. Watch how their relative positions change each night, it is a fascinating display. It is also a wonderful photo opportunity, if you have the right equipment, to see two planets, the largest and the smallest, and the moon all in the same part of the sky at once. Saturn is also rising in the East so after you have seen Mercury and Jupiter in the twilight, you get a chance to see Saturn later in the evening. If you have binoculars and a tripod, the rings are an easy sight, with the planet at a tilt of 10 deg. They are quite open. |
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February 2011February is still cold and so still an exciting time for astronomers. Orion is still magnificent and will continue to be well into March. Have a look at his belt, then pick out the left hand or lower one of the three, Alnitak or the Girdle. It is receding from us at about 15 kilometres a sec. If you have a telescope next to it is the famous Horse- head nebula. Look down and to the right of Orion to see his left knee star. This is called Rigel and is a brand new baby star. It is bright silvery blue. Compare it with Betelgeuse. Now you can see the stars are truly coloured. Take a line through the belt upwards and to your right and you will see another Red star. This one is called Aldebaran, it is in a scattering of small stars and these are called the Hyades. They are all the same age and were made in the same original massive cloud of hydrogen. Again in people terms they would be teenagers. Aldebaran is the eye of Taurus the Bull. Continue in this direction and there are the good old Pleiades, still with us..just. Due North from Orion and you will see Auriga. This constellation is a bit sparse but it does contain no fewer than three open clusters. It is also the radiant of the Aurigid meteors on the 6th. And 9th.So you have three goes to see these. The moon is only a crescent so the seeing should be good We are gradually losing Jupiter after its long Winter appearance but straight across the sky to your left and you will see a pale looking star, this is the Planet, Saturn. Right now the spacecraft Cassini is whizzing around Saturn taking masses of pictures and readings. You recall that its lander, Huygens landed on Saturns moon Titan. So, just as last month, the February sky is filled with stars of all ages. It is fascinating to see the act of creation spread out in the skies above our heads.
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 March is not quite as exciting, but Orion will still be there and Mercury is visible after sunset so do not miss this opportunity to see one of the difficult planets. I will tell you where to look next month. |
January 2011A Happy New Year to everyone. Did Santa bring any of you a telescope or binoculars. I hope so and I hope you are having fun with them. If you are having difficulties however give me a call and I will help you to get it set up properly. (See Contact Page) January is always the magic month for astronomers. If you have never looked at the sky before, go out now because you are in for a real treat. Look South East, and there he is, Orion the great Hunter, in all his magnificence. You cannot miss him he is so large that he takes up almost all the Southern sky. What a sight, you can see the big stars one on each shoulder and the one on each knee. He has a spear in his right hand and a great shield held aloft in his left, you can see the arc of stars which make his shield. As befits the great hunter he has a magnificent belt of three stars below which you can see a misty patch which is his hunters sword. That misty patch is a place where new stars are being born. In people terms they would be just a few days old. Wow! what a sight he makes in the night sky. Do you remember that the star on his right shoulder is a red giant and its called Betelgeuse. Yes thats the one, thats where Hollywood got the name from. It is actually a corruption from the Arabic and simply means curve or armpit. Look closely at it and you will see it is quite orange. We call that a Red Giant. A Red giant is an old dying star and will one day become a Supernova, the greatest visible outpouring of energy in the Universe. Its huge, a star millions of times greater than our Earth, blowing itself to pieces. That is the moment when all the heavy elements in our universe are made. It is a sobering thought that every single atom in all of us was once made in the cosmic furnaces inside a dying star. So you are all made of stardust, aah. But you knew that didnt you. We will look again at Orion next month, there is so much more to see. |
Jupiter is still with us but is sinking in the West.  Did you see the eclipse of the moon last month. I didnt, at seven oclock it was a bit too early in the morning for me! Ill talk to you again in February. |
December 2010
As is usual at this time of year we have some brilliant nights and some cloudy ones. The average for the UK is 40% clear nights. When we get one of those 40% do give it a try. |
Jupiter is still with us and Saturn is high in the sky to the South and its rings are beginning to open again.  Well I cannot let this time of year pass without reminding you of another baby, this time only 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. The real truth about the Star of Bethlehem is shrouded in mystery but I never tire of telling people that if they had been near the coast in East Anglia 2000 years ago and looked to the East at about 8.00 at night., they too would have seen that Star hovering above the stable in Israel. |
November 2010
The Summer Triangle still hangs on in the early evening but it will be gone by the end of the month because British Summertime ends on 31st October.
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Meteors are the remnants of the tails of old comets. They are about the size of a grain of sand and hit our atmosphere at about 50,000 miles an hour, (thats 75,000 kilometres). They are 50 miles up when they burn up and what you see is where they were, as they burn up before you see the flash. They work pretty well like a neon tube, they excite the air as they move through it at such high velocities, and we see a flash of light. Now that flash is popularly called a shooting star but is properly called a Meteor. Now, if its bigger than a grain of sand, about the size of an apple or an orange, and gets through the atmosphere and lands on the Earth, then it is called a Meteorite.  Unlike galaxies, Meteorites, Asteroids and Comets give almost no warning of their approach .Dont look up. |
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 Mercury has now disappeared from the morning sky and will return as the evening star during April. Meteors, Oct 13th. brings the Piscid shower, might be a good one. |
September 2010
The Summer Triangle is still overhead, but as we begin to have darker skies now, it will be a little more obvious. Go outside and see if you can spot it. It is very large, Deneb at the top Left Arcturus at the bottom and Vega at the top but all three are in separate constellations. I gave you those last month.
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