Items Featured In TGP NOMINAL 5.6 - Yuri's Night 2019
YURI GAGARIN, THE FIRST HUMAN IN SPACE (APRIL 12 1961):
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Yuri's Night:
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Some of our favourite Yuri's Night Podcast Episodes
Gareth "Gaz Top" Jones"
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Ross Hockham's Guide To April Skies:
Well, It's officially Spring!
Although it's not really feeling like it, apparently its going to snow again soon,
even though our Sun is just starting a new cycle of surface activity which will see it becoming more active apparently. Bringing more flares and possibly hotter weather on Earth, but the Sun does have a natural 11 year solar cycle,
which is strange because we are just starting its solar minimum meaning the sun SHOULD be at it's coolest point.
I am going to have to research the Sun a bit more.
Although it's not really feeling like it, apparently its going to snow again soon,
even though our Sun is just starting a new cycle of surface activity which will see it becoming more active apparently. Bringing more flares and possibly hotter weather on Earth, but the Sun does have a natural 11 year solar cycle,
which is strange because we are just starting its solar minimum meaning the sun SHOULD be at it's coolest point.
I am going to have to research the Sun a bit more.
Anyway onto Mars! Which is nicely placed near the seven sisters (The Pleiades) in the constellation Taurus (the Bull) in the night sky. With it over the coming month moving quite rapidly in between the Pleiades and the bulls eye the red star Aldebaran located in the asterism the Hyades which is a V marking the bulls head made up of nice yellow, orange, red stars a nice contrast to the bright blue Pleiades. |
Looking at Mars through a scope you can't really make out much detail and it is quite a bit smaller at the moment and dimmer but still worth a look, as we move yet further in our orbit it’ll soon disappear as we pass round opposite side of the Sun. While were on Mars I thought we should at least mention the Mars rover Opportunity, I believe NASA tried for the last time to contact it back in Feb and has officially confirmed it dead but wow what a legacy it has behind it. |
After the huge dust storm last year which we spoke about me managing to get a photo of Mars at its closest approach only to find it was blurry because of this storm. They shut the rover down to protect it but struggled to get it going again, only to finally admit defeat after over 1000 attempts on 13 feb, so I may not have got a detailed pic of Mars but I took a pic of the storm that killed the rover.
Funnily enough it died in a valley called Per’se’ver’ance a really fitting place to end its journey as it surpassed all expectations, roaming and exploring Mars for 15 years!
Funnily enough it died in a valley called Per’se’ver’ance a really fitting place to end its journey as it surpassed all expectations, roaming and exploring Mars for 15 years!
Onto the Month ahead,
On the 13th Nearly a half Moon passes through a nice cluster of stars in cancer the crab tonight over the space of a few hours from 9pm - midnight it will pass through the bee-hive cluster which is great to see with binoculars,
full of all types of coloured stars. That you can watch slip behind our Moon through a scope.
full of all types of coloured stars. That you can watch slip behind our Moon through a scope.
On the 14th is another chance to see the Jewelled handle if you missed it last month which is an effect on the Jura mountains which is part of the Sinus iridium area.
The morning light just catches the peaks of these mountains’ tips creating a cool effect, if you look at the Mare Imbrium which is pretty much the big dark patch at the top of the moon, around 10 oclock it looks like someone’s taken a bite out of the white mountainous area. That’s where the Jura mountains are. If you follow the top of the Mare to the right there is a very nice crater named after Plato which is cool to find with you eye, binoculars or look at with a scope.
Also in the area is another Moon phenomenon called Cassini's Moon Maiden, which we spoke about last month and I actually managed to capture it in a photo.
The morning light just catches the peaks of these mountains’ tips creating a cool effect, if you look at the Mare Imbrium which is pretty much the big dark patch at the top of the moon, around 10 oclock it looks like someone’s taken a bite out of the white mountainous area. That’s where the Jura mountains are. If you follow the top of the Mare to the right there is a very nice crater named after Plato which is cool to find with you eye, binoculars or look at with a scope.
Also in the area is another Moon phenomenon called Cassini's Moon Maiden, which we spoke about last month and I actually managed to capture it in a photo.
On the 19th there is a Full Moon, washing out dark sky stuff but looking cool, not good news for the up coming,
Lyrid meteor shower.
On the 22nd the Lyrid meteor shower peaks but with a bright moon rising around midnight interfering with them it’s not great.
Not far from where they radiate is the king of the planets 'Jupiter' with 'Saturn' chasing after it, rising at around 2.30am giving you something to look at while occasionally looking up for meteors, as the lyrid meteor showers radiant rises as the night goes on making it better. They only peak at around 18 an hour but as I always say you can never predict how good one might be.
The lesser well known Lyrid meteor shower radiates roughly from the bright blue star Vega in the constellation of Lyra the Harp. The constellation Lyra is pretty much a diamond with the star Vega attached to the top of it.
Not far from where they radiate is the king of the planets 'Jupiter' with 'Saturn' chasing after it, rising at around 2.30am giving you something to look at while occasionally looking up for meteors, as the lyrid meteor showers radiant rises as the night goes on making it better. They only peak at around 18 an hour but as I always say you can never predict how good one might be.
The lesser well known Lyrid meteor shower radiates roughly from the bright blue star Vega in the constellation of Lyra the Harp. The constellation Lyra is pretty much a diamond with the star Vega attached to the top of it.
On the 24th Minor planet 44 Nysa reaches opposition tonight at around +10 magnitude in the constellation Virgo, so you’ll need a scope to find it.
Nysa is a large and very bright main belt asteroid between Mars and Jupiter.
It was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on May 27, 1857, and named after the mythical land of Nysa in Greek mythology the mountainous district of Nysa was the traditional place of the rain nymphs the Hyades, sisters to the Pleiades that I mentioned earlier, which also seem to be associated with rain..
Nysa is a large and very bright main belt asteroid between Mars and Jupiter.
It was discovered by Hermann Goldschmidt on May 27, 1857, and named after the mythical land of Nysa in Greek mythology the mountainous district of Nysa was the traditional place of the rain nymphs the Hyades, sisters to the Pleiades that I mentioned earlier, which also seem to be associated with rain..
Various Photos:
Various Videos:
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