The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE 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.

 

Cooke Telescope Tales - A new Clinometer in 1865

 York Herald Saturday 25^th November 1865

 

We (Bombay Builder) have had the pleasure of seeing a most compact and useful clinometer and manufactured by Messrs T Cooke & Sons London and York. 

We understand the government intends to issue them to the public works department; and we have every reason to believe that the instrument will be generally made use of by the railway and other professional men for trial work. 

A gentleman who has used the instrument says, “It is impossible to over rate the advantage of this instrument, A trial path, which would have required weeks to set out by chain and level as it would have been necessary to cut down the jungle and make platforms for the instrument to stand on, was marked out in a few days and with quite as much accuracy. 

The only mistakes that can arise are from the accidental slipping of one of the cross pieces, or from moving one of the radial arms of the instrument. It is only requisite to take a glance at the face of the instrument while the hand rests upon the cross piece, to ensure its accuracy. The ease and quickness with which the instrument was used made the marking out of the trail path a pleasure to the observer, who would feel like Pegasus deprived of his wings if he had to do another under similar circumstances with level and chain instead of clinometer. 

Note

A Clinometer is an instrument used to measure angles in particular the angle of a slope or incline

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Unclaimed property on Railway in 1867

 Sheffield Daily Telegraph Saturday 16^th March 1867

 

Among the curious things connected with the business of railways are the variety and strange character of the unclaimed property which falls in to the hands of the railways as carriers of passengers and goods.

 

One person has left a very superior astronomical telescope in mahogany case complete, and it is now unclaimed. Where is its owner and what has he been doing to render himself unconscious of the loss he has sustained? Or has he abandoned the study of astronomy for the more prosaic and common occupations of the earth?    

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A Little ramble through Lupus the Wolf

Lupus is often overlooked by observers because it is so close to the constellation of Scorpius and Centaurus. Although the term Lupus refers to a wolf, the Greeks and Romans regarded this constellation as an unspecified wild animal held by Centaurus as an offering to the gods. It appears to be during the renaissance period that the connection with the Wolf seems to have become the common term to use.   Lupus lies in the Milky Way so it is very rich in stars.

To the Euphrateans it was Zibu the Beast while to the Akkadians it was Urbat the Beast of Death.

To the Arab astronomers it was sometimes referred to as Al Asadah or the Lioness.

Alpha is a magnitude 2.3, B class star with a temperature of around 21,000,C compared to that of 5,800,C of the Sun, it lies at a distance of 460 light years. The only names it has is Chinese and is Yang Mun the South Gate.

Beta is a class B star even hotter than alpha at 23,500,  it has a magnitude of 2.7 and is 383 light years away. It will quickly use up its supply of hydrogen and become a red giant before possibly becoming a supernova in the future.

Gamma is 420 light years away and shines with a magnitude of 2.8 it is a B class star.

Eta magnitude 3.4 is 440 light years away and is an A class star.

Epsilon also magnitude 3.4 and is a B class star lying 510 light years away. 

There are many clusters in Lupus but they require small telescopes to see them, I will mention just NGC 5986 a globular cluster lying at a distance of 34,000 light years and shining at a magnitude of 8.0 It was discovered by the Scottish astronomer James Dunlop at the Paramatta observatory in Australia.

In the year 1006 a supernova appeared in Lupus, SN 1006, it  was probably the brightest observed stellar event in recorded history, reaching an estimated −7.5 visual magnitude and was roughly sixteen times the brightness of Venus. Appearing between April 30 and May 1. The Supernova was seen for about 3 months in the sky.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - astronomy lectures in Leeds in 1810

Leeds Mercury Saturday 22^nd September 1810 

Theatre Leeds 

Mr Llyod has the honour most respectfully to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen of Leeds  and its Vicinity, that he intends, early as the proper arrangements can be made to give his COURSE. of ASTRONOMICAL LECTURES, illustrated by the : 

DIOASTRODOXON, Or Grand Transparent Orrery, Accompanied by the CELESTINA. 

 With all the splendid Scenery, explanatory of the seasons, eclipses , tides and comets as exhibited in London, and the University of Oxford. -The Whole forming the most perspicuous and comprehensive view of the WORKS of the CREATOR in the United Kingdom.

  Mr. Lloyd's extensive  improvements on the Transparent Orrery, having excited humble  Imitations, under the Description of Originals and Descriptions  and as no Person whoever read  upon a Transparent Orrery was ever the Inventor of one, he feels it his Duty to caution the Public, against being imposed upon by so notorious quackery. 

 Subscription to the Course, Three Lectures, Nine Shillings, Epitome included – tickets transferable 

Subscriptions are received at the Leeds Mercury Office, where may be had an Epitome of the Course . Non- Subscribers Price One Shilling.

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A little ramble through the night sky - the Micro Blue Moon on May 31st.

It’s May Moon Madness this month, as there are two full moons,  meaning the second one is a Blue Moon, and in addition, both are Micro Moons. The last time this happened was in October 2020 and the next will be in July 2053.

There will be two full moons this month, one on the first and the other on the thirty-first. This second one is referred to nowadays as a ‘Blue Moon’. The Moon takes around twenty-nine and a half days to orbit the Earth once and apart from February all months have either thirty or thirty-one days, meaning it is possible to have two full moons in a calendar month.

This use of the term ‘blue moon’ only has a history dating back to the 1940s when a letter, sent to the American astronomy magazine ‘Sky and Telescope’ (which incidentally is still published) asked the question ‘what is a blue moon?’. The answer was that it is the second full moon in a calendar month. The publishers of the magazine, realising that they had given the wrong answer, retracted their original statement. However, it was too late; the genie was out of the bottle, and for the last eighty years everyone has accepted this definition.

I have my own theory about the term ‘blue moon’. Each month I give the name of the next full moon, and as I often say, these names go back to the times of the monastic period in Britain around 1,000 years ago. The monks, who were amongst the cleverest people around during the Middle Ages due to their vast monastic libraries, knew full well that in some years there were thirteen full moons, rather the normal twelve.

Monks liked order in their lives. They kept diaries and special dates were always marked in red ink. The phrase ‘a red letter day’ is a monastic saying going back over 1,000 years. I just wonder if, when this 13th full moon occurred, it was marked in diaries in blue ink as a source of irritation because it messed up a very orderly system. I once checked the reference library in York minster without success, but maybe someone in the future will check the Vatican library and discover a monk’s diary with a full moon marked in blue ink!

You have probably heard of the Super Moon, but did you know we also have the Micro Moon?

The Moon takes around one month to orbit the Earth. Its normal distance from us is 239,000 miles.  A micro moon occurs when the Moon is more than 250,000 miles away. A supermoon is when the Moon is less than 230,000 miles away.  This is why a supermoon appears larger than normal, while a micromoon appears smaller. The discrepancy happens because the Moon does not orbit the Earth in a circle but in an ellipse or egg shape.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - a notable shoemaker died in 1896

 Sheffield Daily Telegraph Tuesday 4^th February 1896

 

On Sunday morning- there was carried to the grave at Darlington Cemetery Mr. W. H. Harris, who was a working shoemaker, living in a poor neighbourhood, at Hank Top, Darlington. Mr. Harris, who was 54 years old the time his death, was born at Barnard Castle.

 

Though working hard at his trade, he had attained local celebrity as an astronomer, and maker of telescopes with 9 inch and 12inch mirrors, which he, ground, figured, and silvered. This work required nice mathematical calculations, which he carefully worked out. He had intimate knowledge of optics, botany, astronomy, electricity, etc., and was a good French scholar. Mr. Harris was self-taught.

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