The Astronomy Show 11.02.19

The Astronomy Show 11.02.19

On the Astronomy Show today I will be looking at news that astronomers have discovered a rare type of asteroid in the solar system and it only takes 165 days to orbit the Sun, it has the shortest 'year' of any recorded asteroid.

There will be all the regular topics including what is happening in the night sky during the next few days. There will be more news stories including news that the interstellar object Oumuamua might be a monstrous corpse of comet dust, Japan will land a probe on an asteroid later this month and we now know when the Andromeda galaxy will crash into the Milky Way, but don't worry it won't happen for another 4.5 billion years.

The A-Z of constellations finishes today with the 88th and last constellation, Vulpecula the Fox while the Messier marathon has reached M 93 an open cluster in Puppis the Poop. The astronomical scrapbook looks at astronomical anniversaries this week including the channel dash by German Battle cruisers in 1942, and in the year 538 there is the first recorded reference to an eclipse of the Sun being seen from Britain. All this plus the round up of news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

After today I will be taking a  break for a couple of weeks I will be presenting lectures on a cruise ship in the arctic looking for the Northern Lights. The Astronomy Show will however be back on Monday 4th March.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm, only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM. You can hear the show live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or  the programme  can be heard later on the Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy Show 04.02.19

The Astronomy Show 04.02.19

On the Astronomy Show tonight I will be looking at news that the Earth's magnetic field might be  flipping over soon. There are reports that scientists are noticing that the north magnetic pole is so out of whack that this could be a sign that the magnetic pole might soon flip over.

There will be the regular look at what can be seen in the sky at the moment, there seems to have been some activity in the solar wind hitting the Earth causing aurora to be seen in the arctic. If the activity is strong enough it may even be seen from northern Britain. The winter constellations are on still on view and the morning sky is still the place to look for planets. In the astronomy news the Chinese rover and lander have survived their first night on the freezing cold far side of the Moon, and the solar Parker probe has completed its first journey around the Sun.

The Messier marathon has reached M92 in Hercules a globular cluster which is often overlooked in favour of M13. The AZ of constellations is at Volans the Flying Fish a  southern hemisphere constellation but with no bright stars. The astronomical scrapbook looking at anniversaries this week includes the Mariner 10 flyby of Venus and the birth of William Huggins in 1824 one of the pioneers of spectroscopy. This plus a round up of what is happening in the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy show every Monday evening between 7.00 pm and 9.00 only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, you can hear the show live on line at  www.drystoneradio.com or catch the programme later on the Drystone Radio podcast.