Moon above Mars on April 5th

 After passing close to Jupiter a couple of days ago the Moon can be seen just below Mars on April 4th and on April 5th it will be just above Mars which is in the constellation of Gemini the twins. Mars is near  Pollux and Castor the two brightest stars in Gemini.

Last night April 1st it was possible to see Earthshine on the Moon this is when light from the Sun is reflected from the Earth onto the Moon and we can see the dark ghostly outline of the unlit part of the Moon, you might be able to see it again tonight.

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April 1st is the 65th anniversary of first weather satellite Tiros 1

 Weather is always a major talking point between people, it can be hot, cold, wet or dry. 

 We are also used to getting fantastic images beamed done from weather satellites orbiting the Earth showing just what the weather is going to be including incredible pictures of hurricanes from space. 

Did you know that all these modern satellites can trace their time lines back to TIROS 1 the first weather satellite which was launched on April 1^st 1960. TIROS stands for Television Infrared Observation Satellites 

TIROS 1 was an experimental weather satellite built by NASA and would operate until June 1960 when an electoral fault occurred and the probe failed. 

 Although the pictures it sent back are poor by the standards of today it showed what could be done to help people predict the weather today.

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the award-winning Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, probably the only regular astronomy show on any radio station in the country. 

I will take my weekly look at the night sky and look at all the latest news in astronomy. There will be the astronomical anniversaries this week plus the latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

 

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

The Moon and Jupiter, April 2nd and 3rd

 The crescent Moon will be dancing with the largest planet in the solar system Jupiter again this month. On April 2^nd the crescent moon can be seen to the side of Jupiter in the western sky. 

This serenade will continue because on the following night, April 3rd the Moon will have glided past Jupiter and can be seen above the planet.

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A little ramble through Antlia the Air Pump

 The first of our modern constellations Antlia the Air Pump, and I am afraid it is a very poor example of a constellation as many of the modern ones are. When astronomers refer to modern constellations, they are referring to ones that were created in the 1500s, 1600, or 1700s, compared to what is referred to as classical constellations which have existed for several thousand years.

In theory Antlia can be seen from Britain very low in the sky during spring evenings but as there are no bright stars it is difficult to find.

We owe the formation of this constellation to the French astronomer Abbe Nicolaus de la Caille (1713-1762) who is frequently encountered in connection with certain constellations in the southern sky. He travelled to the Cape of Good Hope in 1750 to chart the southern heavens and in 1763 produced a catalogue of over 10,000 stars which was published posthumously. The catalogue itself was very important it’s just a shame that most of his constellations were not.

He would introduce 14 new constellations to the sky, all in the southern sky and sadly they are all faint and obscure groups and many of them represent what were at the time modern instruments. I can understand why he was trying to promote these new scientific inventions; it is such a shame that the constellations he produced were not bright and spectacular and do not reflect the true scientific importance of the scientific instruments. Antlia was originally called Machine Pneumatique.

With this being a modern constellation there are no myths or legends associated with it.

There were originally 48 constellations the number has now increased to 88 many of these modern constellations are made up of faint stars just to fill in the gaps between the main constellations. Many do have modern sounding names. Abbe Nicolaus de la Caille is guilty of this.

The air pump was created to honour Robert Boyle’s invention of the air pump around 1660.

Antlia can be seen very low in the sky during spring evenings from Britain however there are no bright stars in the constellation, you would need a very clear southern horizon and a very clear sky to be in with a chance of seeing any stars in Antlia. To locate Antila you would need to look below the constellation of the Hydra which is itself a faint constellation. I remember when I lived in the south of England, I did look for the stars of Antlia a few times, but I never saw any.

The brightest star, alpha has magnitude or brightness of only 4.2 the star has no name and is hardly visible to the naked eye even under the best of conditions. It is a K class giant star meaning that it is cooler than the Sun. It is 320 light years away. The other stars in Antlia are even fainter.

Even from the southern hemisphere where it is naturally much higher in the sky there is little to remark about Antlia. If you observed from the southern hemisphere where in theory it is easier to see, the sky will have to be clear any mist or moonlight or light pollution would make Antlia impossible to see.

Antlia is an example of one of these faint and quite irrelevant constellations which if it was removed from the star maps and its stars were transferred to nearby classical constellations no one would notice. However, it has survived all the changes to the lists of constellations over the centuries and was included in the list of constellations defined in 1930 by the International Astronomical Union. This means that you can still find Antlia on all-star charts.

 

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James Nasmyth and his 1858 Thomas Cooke telescope

 

 James Nasmyth 1808-1890 Scottish engineer, philosopher and inventor of the Steam Hammer was also very interested in astronomy and when he retired from business in 1856 he moved to Penshurst in Kent to follow his hobby of astronomy. 

In 1858 he purchased an 8 inch Cooke and Sons telescope which was complete in every respect possible. The telescope cost £600.  Today that would be over £95,000

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Eclipse of the Moon in 1856 seen with a Cooke telescope at Hove

 

Brighton Gazette Thursday 16^th October 1856

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. THE EDITOR THE BRIGHTON GAZETTE. Sir,—-

 

Perhaps the following description of the beautiful lunar eclipse that took place on Monday, as seen from Howell’s observatory, at Hove, may not be uninteresting to some of your readers.

 

The moon was shinning with intense brightness over the sea, in a cloudless sky, S. E by S., and at an elevation of about 45 degrees, when, punctual to the predicted time, 9h. 21m., a slight diminution of light was evident on the eastern limb of our satellite, like a very faint wash of Indian ink, and after little a while she advanced in her easterly course, dipping into the earth’s shadow, this latter appeared like a small dent in the moon’s side, gradually growing deeper and wider, until a large piece seemed to have been actually eaten away. At this time the indented part could not he distinguished from the surrounding ebon sky, but about half an hour from the commencement, carefully looking through Howell’s equatorial for the obscured portion, I could plainly distinguish it, clearly defined by a sharp edge and of a delicate roseate hue, and which, on my drawing their attention to it, was also seen by Captain Shay and the other gentleman present. As the eclipse proceeded and more of the moon’s disc became covered by the earth s umbra, the red color grew much stronger, pervading, though with unequal intensity, the whole portion of the disc on which the shadow was advancing like a smoky haze, with a very flat curved outline. In advance of the curved and coppery umbra a variable band of bluish tint gradually came into view, sometimes very light, which continued until the period of deepest immersion (l1h. 54m.), when a very small portion of the moon’s upper limb remained visible, and of a yellowish green colour. For a quarter of an hour the moon remained almost entirely buried in the earth’s shadow, but still visible, the larger portion being of coppery glow, but towards the upper limb dissolving into orange, this again into blue, and the very small segment at the top into yellowish green. The appearance of the moon was now very peculiar, like a transparent body crossed by coloured zones, parallel to our horizon.

 

As time proceeded, the moon was seen slowly rising above the shadow (at one time looking like a crescent with its horns turned downward), and as more of the illumined surface came into view the colours gradually faded away, in reverse order, until the finally disappeared at 27 minutes after midnight, at the south-west edge of the disc, the obscuration having lasted just three hours six minutes. The obscuration of the moon made a very perceptible difference to the brilliancy of Jupiter, situated about to the west, and also to that of the stars which shone brightly all around, and two small ones within 15 degrees of the Moon itself. For a short time after eleven o’clock few clouds passed over the moon, and then the sky remained clear again to the end.

 

A total eclipse of the moon occurred some years ago, when, contrary to the expectation of several of us who were observing it, the moon’s disc remained visible as an ill-defined circle of coppery red, even when completely buried in the earth’s shadow. Remembering this made me desirous of watching the eclipse of last night, to see whether any similar phenomena would be displayed during a partial obscuration, and which I expected, because the eclipse was so nearly total. The appearances presented last night could be seen with the naked eye; but through the telescope we could also see the whole surface of the moon, and plainly distinguish the various spots, lines, and circular ranges of mountains so well known to astronomers.

 

The cause of the singular and beautiful appearances witnessed by last night was the refraction and decomposition of the sun’s light in passing through the earth’s atmosphere; but those desirous of investigating the subject will find it fully explained, on mathematical principles, in Herschell’s Outlines of Astronomy, sections 421, 422, 423, and 425. BARCLAY PHILLIPS. 75, Lansdowne Place, Brighton,

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