A little ramble through Microscopium the Microscope

Another constellation introduced by Lacaille in the 1750s. This group represents another of the scientific instruments that Lacaille placed in the southern sky. Sadly as with so many of his new constellations Microscopium is little more than a filler between Sagittarius and Piscis Austrinus.

There are no bright stars in Microscopium. Even the mere hint of haze or moonlight means that the stars in Microscopium will not be seen. 

The brightest stars are gamma at magnitude 4.7, which lies at a distance of 225 light years and is a G class giant star.

Epsilon also has a magnitude of 4.7 and is an A class star lying 166 light years away.

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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 - occultation of Saturn in 1917

 Ernest Wunderlich at the Wyone Observatory, Port Hacking which is about 14 miles south of Sydney observed the occultation of Saturn by the moon on March 14^th 1917. The telescope used was a 4.5 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope.  

The sky was at the commencement of occultation was, owing to slight haze, rather more luminous than usual, and this caused the loss of the “inner edge of ring” and “first limb” of the ball at ingress. At egress the definition was all that could be desired, but the first edge of ring was decidedly outside the Moon’s illuminated edge before it was noticed, and thus was “lost”.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Saturn's moon Hyperion in 1875

Nature February 24^th 1876

The Saturnian Satellite Hyperion

Observations of this faint object made with the 26 inch refractor of the U S Naval Observatory on forty nights between 1875 June 16^th and November 25, appear in No. 2076 of the Astron Nach.

It is stated that the observations were generally made with difficulty. Pro Asaph  Hall acknowledges his obligations to Mr Marth for his ephemerides of the satellites of Saturn, by which he has endeavoured  to facilitate identification of these objects, and which could only have been prepared at an expenditure of much tome and trouble. 

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Cooke Telescope tales - Mosquito net helps Australian astronomers

 James Nangle at Marrickville in New South Wales using a 6.25 inch telescope which I have recently discovered was a Thomas Cooke rather than a Thomas Cooke and Sons telescope which means it was made before 1857, observed Mars in 1909. 

He described the darkish areas to have a greenish tinge, with the Mars Cimmerium and Syrtis Major looking like the tops of trees in an Australian valley when seen from the top of a mountain. The northern snows were also well seen. There appeared none of the canals that had been drawn by Schiaparelli or Lowell.

 On almost all occasions when a great increase in definition was required a screen of mosquito net was placed immediately in front of the object glass. Such a screen is evidently a good idea, since it slightly reduces the glare without interfering with the separating power, that vital point in all detailed planetary observations.

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A little ramble through the night sky - The June micro Strawberry Moon

Most people will have heard of the supermoon but far fewer people will know of the micromoon. 

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.

On June 29th we will have the last of the Micromoons for 2026. This will be the the micro Strawberry Moon.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - R Lepus in 1876

 Nature February 17^th 1876

The Variable Star R Leporis

This highly coloured star, the variability of which was detected by Schmidt in 1855, is calculated to be at maximum on the 28^th of the present month. The mean period appears to be about 438 days, 230 days being occupied in passing from minimum to maximum, and 208 days from maximum to minimum.

Probably the irregularities of variation which have been suspected are to be mainly attributed to the difficulty attending comparison of a star of such intensely red colour. With regard to the colour, however there is something more thana suspicion that it has sensibly diminished in intensity sine attention was first directed to it (Hind 1845 October)

We are almost wholly indebted to Schmidt, who makes such excellent use of the favourable astronomical conditions under which he is placed at Athens, for our knowledge of the law of variation in R Leporis.

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