Items Featured In TGP NOMINAL Xtra - September Skies 2018
Seeing as Summer is on its way out I thought I’d talk a bit about our Sun and what you can see safely.
To look at the sun you need special filters, NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN DIRECTLY OR YOU WILL GO BLIND!
You can get filters that go on the end of your telescope that are pretty much just certified film and you can also get safer bits of kit called Herschel Wedges that go into the eyepiece end,
that take out most of the heat and light.
Always check with your Local Astronomy Group, contact UK Astronomy
or a shop like Tring Astronomy Centre before purchasing,
because it depends on your scope what is best to use.
You can get filters that go on the end of your telescope that are pretty much just certified film and you can also get safer bits of kit called Herschel Wedges that go into the eyepiece end,
that take out most of the heat and light.
Always check with your Local Astronomy Group, contact UK Astronomy
or a shop like Tring Astronomy Centre before purchasing,
because it depends on your scope what is best to use.
At our solar events we have a few scopes out showing sunspots and solar flares.
Mick Scott also links one up to a laptop where he records it all day, firstly so people can see the flare themselves and then he processes it all at home and post its for the Facebook Group to see
Mick Scott also links one up to a laptop where he records it all day, firstly so people can see the flare themselves and then he processes it all at home and post its for the Facebook Group to see
We have also gone green, with our own solar panels, that use sunlight to run the laptop. Which also helps educate kids and adults, that the light they are seeing in our scopes, travels 93 million miles in 8 minutes to reach us and then the solar panels covert the sunlight into electricity to run our gear! |
We also like to have fun with the kids by using different filters that show the sun as red, green, white
and then ask them "soo what colours the sun..?" Most say yellow because that’s what we see in the sky,
but its actually white in space, and our atmosphere makes it appear yellow,
like it does with the sky making it appear blue.
So I say, "Next time your teacher says, draw the sun just draw a circle on white paper and say ‘DONE’ lol"
Now before I go on to whats up this month,
Did anyone see the Perseids this year?
I saw a few before the peak and captured one on my phone in my garden in Milton Keynes,
using an app called Nightcap Pro on iphone,
But…. We have no luck in UK with astronomy,
Blood moon – 100% clouds
Mars closest in 15 years – planet wide dust storm
Perseid Meteor Shower 2 night peak – you guessed it 100% clouds
But our Facebook Group did manage to get quite a few on the cameras and phones.
In fact our photo competition this month included Meteors as well as Satellites, Iridium Flares and the ISS.
Above is the winner and runners up.
You can see all the Competition entries on the UK Astronomy Flickr Page
Now, there have been a couple of strange things in the sky over the month of August.
one was a Strange light which one person said was like a bright star
but seemed to dim, brighten, then disappear then come back.
It was then reported another night, and then another!
One person said that as planes or helicopters passed it dimmed, so naturally they must be passing in front of maybe affecting the air in front of it etc.
But it is a bit of a mystery as many Astronomers reported it and they know what planet is where.
So it is there each night so in my view it must be a planet, or a star,
unless you know of any new static satellites that are up?
So keep an eye out and lets try solve the mysterious object. As I’m not saying its aliens…. But
In fact our photo competition this month included Meteors as well as Satellites, Iridium Flares and the ISS.
Above is the winner and runners up.
You can see all the Competition entries on the UK Astronomy Flickr Page
Now, there have been a couple of strange things in the sky over the month of August.
one was a Strange light which one person said was like a bright star
but seemed to dim, brighten, then disappear then come back.
It was then reported another night, and then another!
One person said that as planes or helicopters passed it dimmed, so naturally they must be passing in front of maybe affecting the air in front of it etc.
But it is a bit of a mystery as many Astronomers reported it and they know what planet is where.
So it is there each night so in my view it must be a planet, or a star,
unless you know of any new static satellites that are up?
So keep an eye out and lets try solve the mysterious object. As I’m not saying its aliens…. But
The other odd thing that I actually saw with my own eyes and took pics of were a strange formation of clouds, I know us astronomers hate clouds but these were cool.
I was alerted by a friend I met through astronomy to go outside now!
So I strolled into my garden and saw that the clouds in the sky had formed in perfectly straight lines with perfectly straight gaps in between, it looked weird with the moon up shining through them, so I took a photo and posted it in the Facebook group and noticed that others started to report them too.
They only lasted about 30 minutes, then flattened out to the blanket cloud we are used to, ha ha!
Naturally being a curious man, I looked them up.
They are commonly known as Cloud Streets.
(or Horizontal Convective Rolls, if you want to get technical)
They're formed by rolls of rising warm air and sinking cool air.
Rising warm air cools gradually as it ascends into the atmosphere.
When moisture in the warm air mass cools and condenses, it forms clouds.
Cloud streets typically form fairly straight lines over large flat areas such as the ocean.
Something else that I have never seen before, in our amazing skies!
Onto the month ahead!
I was alerted by a friend I met through astronomy to go outside now!
So I strolled into my garden and saw that the clouds in the sky had formed in perfectly straight lines with perfectly straight gaps in between, it looked weird with the moon up shining through them, so I took a photo and posted it in the Facebook group and noticed that others started to report them too.
They only lasted about 30 minutes, then flattened out to the blanket cloud we are used to, ha ha!
Naturally being a curious man, I looked them up.
They are commonly known as Cloud Streets.
(or Horizontal Convective Rolls, if you want to get technical)
They're formed by rolls of rising warm air and sinking cool air.
Rising warm air cools gradually as it ascends into the atmosphere.
When moisture in the warm air mass cools and condenses, it forms clouds.
Cloud streets typically form fairly straight lines over large flat areas such as the ocean.
Something else that I have never seen before, in our amazing skies!
Onto the month ahead!
On the 7th Neptune is at opposition in Aquarius, meaning geometrically, this positions Earth closer to Neptune making it appear bigger and brighter than usual, but with Neptune being soo far away,
you won't see too much difference.
It can be seen with binoculars but best seen through a telescope where you can see its moon Triton,
Triton often gets mixed up with Saturn's moon Titan,
so to help, think Neptune, King of sea has a Tri-dent,
whereas Saturn's Moon is Ti-tanic in size, like Titan The Robot.
On the 9th we have New Moon, so it's a great time to spot the next object.
so to help, think Neptune, King of sea has a Tri-dent,
whereas Saturn's Moon is Ti-tanic in size, like Titan The Robot.
On the 9th we have New Moon, so it's a great time to spot the next object.
On the 10th, Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner is at Perihelion,
where it is closest to the sun in its orbit.
You should see a green hue around it and maybe a tail if you have a scope.
where it is closest to the sun in its orbit.
You should see a green hue around it and maybe a tail if you have a scope.
On the 12th is very close to the cluster M37 which is the brightest of three open clusters,
in the constellation Auriga
On the 12th is very close to the cluster M37 which is the brightest of three open clusters,
in the constellation Auriga
On the Morning of the15th it is north of M35 in the constellation Gemini,
a nice open cluster with a tighter cluster right next to it.
On the 24th it moves through the Cone Nebula Complex which is a huge pillar of gas and dust. I
t’s actually a turbulent star forming region which is pretty hard to see unless you have a good dark sky
or do Astrophotography.
However you can see a nice cluster of hot young stars that have formed there.
Onto other things to see,
t’s actually a turbulent star forming region which is pretty hard to see unless you have a good dark sky
or do Astrophotography.
However you can see a nice cluster of hot young stars that have formed there.
Onto other things to see,
After sunset on the 13th look South West, left of where the sun sets you can spot a crescent moon,
and below that, to the left is Jupiter.
It will be one of the last real chances to see it, as it is getting lower and lower.
If you have a nice flat horizon, you may spot the planet Venus,peeking over as well.
and below that, to the left is Jupiter.
It will be one of the last real chances to see it, as it is getting lower and lower.
If you have a nice flat horizon, you may spot the planet Venus,peeking over as well.
On the 16th Its Mars's turn to be at Perihelion.
I spoke mentioned the dust storms earlier, well apparently they were caused by the southern hemisphere leaning towards the Sun and receives more solar radiation than normal, which is strong enough to kick off more extensive storms.
Although the latest originated from the Northern Hemisphere.
I spoke mentioned the dust storms earlier, well apparently they were caused by the southern hemisphere leaning towards the Sun and receives more solar radiation than normal, which is strong enough to kick off more extensive storms.
Although the latest originated from the Northern Hemisphere.
On the 17th, look for Saturn below right of the moon
The Autumn Equinox occurs on the 23rd, when centre of Sun's disc crosses the Celestial Equator moving from the North to South, Meaning summer is over over but dark skies start, yay!!
On the Morning of the 25th, the Full Moon also marks the Autumn Equinox,
by being the closet Full Moon to this event.
This is called the Harvest Moon, but it wont be anything different or special just a normal full moon.
Although a huge chunk of rock that’s floating round earth, that’s the remnants of two planets that collided is far from boring and normal!
by being the closet Full Moon to this event.
This is called the Harvest Moon, but it wont be anything different or special just a normal full moon.
Although a huge chunk of rock that’s floating round earth, that’s the remnants of two planets that collided is far from boring and normal!
Before I leave you to get looking up, I thought that I would mention a recent post in the Facebook Group that could be a future fun feature.
Facebook Group member 'Stacey Downton' posted an image the 'Elephant Trunk Nebula' IC 1396,
located in the constellation Cepheus, that she took and pointed out that it looks more like a Nik Nak.
This reminded me of an image that I took at Parklife 2017 in Aylesbury of NGC 457 'Owl Cluster' which is an open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.
I thought it looked more like Johnny 5 from the 80's movie Short Circuit.
On the back of this, Mark and I thought that it would be fun if listeners of TGP NOMINAL and UK Astronomy Facebook Group members could come up with new name for Celestial Bodies, based on want they look like.
Facebook Group member 'Stacey Downton' posted an image the 'Elephant Trunk Nebula' IC 1396,
located in the constellation Cepheus, that she took and pointed out that it looks more like a Nik Nak.
This reminded me of an image that I took at Parklife 2017 in Aylesbury of NGC 457 'Owl Cluster' which is an open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.
I thought it looked more like Johnny 5 from the 80's movie Short Circuit.
On the back of this, Mark and I thought that it would be fun if listeners of TGP NOMINAL and UK Astronomy Facebook Group members could come up with new name for Celestial Bodies, based on want they look like.
August Events:
Stanmore Fire Station Open Day
Jonathan Page Play Centre
ParkLife Weekend 2018
Videos:
|
|