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Spacex Falcon Heavy Test Launch (06/01/2018) :
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Team ISU on Mars (Crew 188) :
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Ross Hockham's March Skies:
Most of the stuff going on this month is mainly about the planets but I have a constellation guide and some fun stuff about our sun to talk about, and a few events that are going on.
From the 1st – 6th Watch the solar system's first planet, Mercury seem to fly up past Venus’ on the right.
The two planets will appear close together on the 3rd and if you continue to watch over the next month you’ll see Mercury almost stop and begin to move back down in a tight arc past Venus as it swings around moving towards Earth it passes in front of the Sun.
On the 2nd of March there is the first of two full moons this month, so we get to see yet another blue Moon.
You might recall on January 31st there was a super blue moon eclipse, then February actually had no full moon at all.
On the 31st March we get the second full Moon, as discussed in past podcasts it wont actually look blue its just a saying based on Native American folklore and farming.
On the 7th - Jupiter will have a roughly 70% moon just above it morning sky.
Look to its left you may be able to spot Mars and Saturn forming a long diagonal line down to the rising Sun in the morning sky.
Jupiter rises around midnight and Mars around 3am but don’t mistake the star Antares for it which rises before the red planet. If you make a line between Jupiter and Mars, you’ll see Saturn rising at around 4am, although low enough in the sky you can see it with the naked eye.
We spoke about Antares in previous podcasts, it's a Red Super Giant star (which as we mentioned before, does get mistaken for Mars) and like Betelgeuse in Orion it's due to go supernova within the next million years.
If it were placed at the centre of our Solar System, It's outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
On the 10th the crescent Moon moves closer to Mars, so a great time to spot it with the naked eye as the two make a triangle with Saturn, you will see it getting progressively bigger if you look using a telescope over the next month as Earth starts to catch up with it.
From this date on wards, it's deep space time and a lot of people in our FaceBook Group have been out and about taking some amazing photos, mainly of the Andromeda, whirlpool and Pinwheel Galaxies.
Check out these awesome examples:
If it were placed at the centre of our Solar System, It's outer surface would lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
On the 10th the crescent Moon moves closer to Mars, so a great time to spot it with the naked eye as the two make a triangle with Saturn, you will see it getting progressively bigger if you look using a telescope over the next month as Earth starts to catch up with it.
From this date on wards, it's deep space time and a lot of people in our FaceBook Group have been out and about taking some amazing photos, mainly of the Andromeda, whirlpool and Pinwheel Galaxies.
Check out these awesome examples:
My Object Of The Month to see at this time is the Constellation Auriga which is nice and high early on..
Auriga is known as the Charioteer, but has long been shown as a shepherd cradling either a goat or goat and kids, it has been suggested that the goat in question is Amaltheia, famous for suckling the infant Zeus after he was helped down to earth by his mothers aids, after his father, Cronus tried to kill him.
Cronus was destined to be overpowered by his own sons so he decided to devour all that were born to him.
Zeus survived and was suckled by Amaltheia in a cave on Earth, where he lived like a mortal until ready to take his throne in the heavens.
Cronus was destined to be overpowered by his own sons so he decided to devour all that were born to him.
Zeus survived and was suckled by Amaltheia in a cave on Earth, where he lived like a mortal until ready to take his throne in the heavens.
The bright Star Capella is also known as the goat star, it actually has two stars each with a golden colour similar to the colour we see our Sun during the day (I will talk about this a bit later as our Sun is not actually Yellow).
Capella is the brightest star we see at night of the same spectral type, or the colour we see our sun.
If you have a pair of binoculars look in the middle of the pentagon of stars and you will see what’s known as the leaping minnow an open cluster of stars that looks like a fish jumping up out of water,
Capella is the brightest star we see at night of the same spectral type, or the colour we see our sun.
If you have a pair of binoculars look in the middle of the pentagon of stars and you will see what’s known as the leaping minnow an open cluster of stars that looks like a fish jumping up out of water,
Just to the left you may see a couple of smudges within the pentagon, on closer inspection with a scope or steady hands you will be able to make out that they look like a glob of stars, funnily enough they are known as a globular cluster.
There’s a trio of these clusters in Auriga, the other sits just outside the pentagon. (M36 M37 M38 if you're looking for them on an app)
Globular clusters are densely packed collections of ancient stars. Each glob may contain hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of these stars.
There are about 150 known globular clusters in the Milky Way, estimated to be at least 10 billion years old they think they formed before the galaxy flattened into the spiral disc we know today, and they seem to lack in heavy elements.
There’s a trio of these clusters in Auriga, the other sits just outside the pentagon. (M36 M37 M38 if you're looking for them on an app)
Globular clusters are densely packed collections of ancient stars. Each glob may contain hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions, of these stars.
There are about 150 known globular clusters in the Milky Way, estimated to be at least 10 billion years old they think they formed before the galaxy flattened into the spiral disc we know today, and they seem to lack in heavy elements.
If you look a little further towards Gemini at the twin Castor's elongated foot there is another cool cluster M35 which is a big open cluster of blue stars but just next to it is also a globular cluster so you can see old and new stars together in the night sky.
Back to the month ahead,
On the 15th Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation this is the best time to spot it as it farthest from the sun from earths perspective, and through a scope will be at around the half phase.
The 18th Finds Venus and Mercury in the afternoon sky and see if you can spot the very slender crescent moon below forming a line just after sunset.
The 24th of March is Earth Hour which is a global movement, which brings millions together across the world to call for greater action on climate change. Not only is this great for the environment but also astronomers as often the lights of major cities switch off (a certain amount) for an hour allowing us to see the milky way and majesty of our skies.
Lights go out at 8.30pm until 9.30pm, so join in or go out and watch!
As mentioned earlier on the 31st, we have our second full moon of the month, "A fabled rarely seen blue moon"
I have saved this bit until last but IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!
On the 25th in the U.K. clocks go forward which marks British summertime, although the sun officially crosses the celestial equator at 4.15 UTC on the 20th moving from the southern to northern celestial hemisphere (This is known as the Northern Hemisphere’s spring).
So why do we do it…????
If you look a little further towards Gemini at the twin Castor's elongated foot there is another cool cluster M35 which is a big open cluster of blue stars but just next to it is also a globular cluster so you can see old and new stars together in the night sky.
Back to the month ahead,
On the 15th Mercury reaches its greatest eastern elongation this is the best time to spot it as it farthest from the sun from earths perspective, and through a scope will be at around the half phase.
The 18th Finds Venus and Mercury in the afternoon sky and see if you can spot the very slender crescent moon below forming a line just after sunset.
The 24th of March is Earth Hour which is a global movement, which brings millions together across the world to call for greater action on climate change. Not only is this great for the environment but also astronomers as often the lights of major cities switch off (a certain amount) for an hour allowing us to see the milky way and majesty of our skies.
Lights go out at 8.30pm until 9.30pm, so join in or go out and watch!
As mentioned earlier on the 31st, we have our second full moon of the month, "A fabled rarely seen blue moon"
I have saved this bit until last but IT'S VERY IMPORTANT!
On the 25th in the U.K. clocks go forward which marks British summertime, although the sun officially crosses the celestial equator at 4.15 UTC on the 20th moving from the southern to northern celestial hemisphere (This is known as the Northern Hemisphere’s spring).
So why do we do it…????
An American politician and Scientist you may of heard of called Benjamin Franklin first came up with the idea while in Paris in 1784. He suggested that if people got up earlier, when it was lighter, then it would save on candles.
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In 1907, an English builder called William Willett published a leaflet called The Waste of Daylight, encouraging people to get out of bed earlier, and he often got cross because he was unable to finish his game of golf because the Sun went down. The idea of moving the clocks forwards and backwards was discussed by the government in 1908, but many people didn't like it so it wasn't made a law. In 1916 the government it finally decided to do something about it, a year after William Willett died! Here's a cool fact for you, William Willett is Coldplay singer Chris Martin's great-great-grandfather. |
While we are here talking about daylight, I mentioned earlier that our Sun is not actually yellow…..
Our Sun is white not yellow but we see it this way because the short wavelength of blue light is scattered in sky which is why our sky here on Earth is blue, The longer yellow/red wavelengths are left to reach our eyes thus making us see the sun as this colour
On Mercury, which has no atmosphere, so sunlight isn't scattered at all. The day is black dotted with stars, But the Sun would be almost three times as big as it appears on Earth.
The atmosphere of Venus is so thick that the Sun is not distinguishable in the daytime sky, and the stars are not visible at night. Colour images taken by the Soviet Venera probes suggest that the sky on Venus is yellow/orange.
The atmosphere of Venus is so thick that the Sun is not distinguishable in the daytime sky, and the stars are not visible at night. Colour images taken by the Soviet Venera probes suggest that the sky on Venus is yellow/orange.
The Martian sky is pinkish-red in colour, but in the vicinity of the setting sun or rising sun it is blue. This is the exact opposite of the situation on Earth. However, during the day the sky is a yellow-brown "butterscotch",
So it all really depends of how the atmosphere scatters the light as to what colour the sky is,
So why not this Month sit out one afternoon and see the array of scattered colour as our sun sets on Earth, wait till it disappears and look up into the night sky you will be able to see a multitude of different coloured stars: Capella - yellow, Sirius - white, Betelgeuse - red, Rigel - blue, Castor - white and Pollux - orange.
And just think that from space or another planet our sun is really white!
So it all really depends of how the atmosphere scatters the light as to what colour the sky is,
So why not this Month sit out one afternoon and see the array of scattered colour as our sun sets on Earth, wait till it disappears and look up into the night sky you will be able to see a multitude of different coloured stars: Capella - yellow, Sirius - white, Betelgeuse - red, Rigel - blue, Castor - white and Pollux - orange.
And just think that from space or another planet our sun is really white!
U.K. Astronomy Stargazing At Stowe House
Images courtesy of Derek Pelling.
As always, feel free to email U.K Astronomy at [email protected]
Or join the UK Astronomy FaceBook Group.
Where there are over 2800 members happy to help you with any questions.
As always, feel free to email U.K Astronomy at [email protected]
Or join the UK Astronomy FaceBook Group.
Where there are over 2800 members happy to help you with any questions.
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