A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Uranus in 1874

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 17^th January 1874 

Mr. Marth, in a letter to Mr. Lassell published in the Astronomical Society’s Notices, has pointed out the favourable chances that observers may have during the present apparition of Uranus of contributing something towards the decisive settlement of the question respecting the existence of Sir William Herschel's additional satellites of the Georgium Sidus. The geocentric place of Uranus in the heavens is now only some twenty seconds south of that in which it appeared in 1790 at a three-days’ later date, so that the planet in its retrograde course passed on Thursday night (Jan. 15), and will pass on the night of February 6 the same stars which it passed on the evenings of January 18 and February 9, in 1790. Some of these stars were then supposed to be additional satellites. It seems certainly desirable that the opportunity for recovering these little stars, and also for ascertaining the effect of the neighbourhood of the planet upon their visibility, should not be allowed to slip away unused. It will be remembered that Sir W. Herschel announced the discovery of six satellites to Uranus, two only of which, viz., the second and fourth, have been confirmed by subsequent observations. Two inner satellites revolving within the first of Sir W, Herschel’s have been observed by Mr. Lassell (who named them Ariel and Umbriel) at Malta, to which place he transferred his large reflector on account of the great clearness of the atmosphere there, and by others. The existence of four of Sir W. Herschel’s satellites is therefore very uncertain, and it is to these that Mr. Marth refers.

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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.

 

A little ramble through the seasons - Mid Winter Day

 February 2nd marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the sprimng equinox. It's midwinter, a key date in the cycle of the year known to Christians as Candlemass and to pagans as the Festival of Lights. Daylight is steadingly increasing by 4 minutes per day. 

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A little ramble through the winter sky - Taurus the Bull

 One of the most ancient constellations. Taurus has been known to people throughout the world since the dawn of civilisation, for the bull’s attributes of strength and fertility mean that it has always held an honoured place in ceremony and religion.

Usually only the head of the bull is depicted, its face being formed by the V shaped cluster of stars known as the Hyades. Its glinting red eye is marked by the star Aldebaran, and its long horns are tipped by the stars beta and zeta. In addition to the Hyades, Taurus contains the celebrated cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters.

Alpha, Aldebaran which means the ‘follower of the Pleiades’ is a K class giant with a temperature of 3,800’C, it is a variable star and varies between magnitude 0.7 and 0.9, Aldebaran lies 65 light years away

Beta El Nath which means the ‘butting one’, in the times of ancient Greece the star was shared by both Taurus and Auriga but since 1930 it has been permanently transferred to Taurus, its magnitude is  1.7, it is a class B class giant with a temperature of 13,500’C and is 134 light years away.

Zeta lies 440 light years away, it’s a B class giant with a temperature of 15,500’C, it has a magnitude of 3.0.

Gamma Prima Hyadum is the first of the Hyades, with a magnitude 3.6, lying 154 light years away. Gamma is a G class giant with a temperature of 4,600’C

The Hyades is a large and bright open cluster of about 200 stars. The brightest members form a noticeable V shape, easily visible to the naked eye. In mythology the Hyades were the daughters of Atlas and Aethyra, and half-sisters to the Pleiades. Some people think that Aldebaran is a member but while Aldebaran is 65 light years away The Hyades are about 150 light years away.

The Pleiades also known as the seven sisters is the brightest and most famous star cluster in the sky, it is listed as M45. In mythology the seven sisters are named after a group of nymphs the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. About 7 can be seen by keen eyed people but there are about 250 stars in the group. The seven sisters are about 430 light years away.

In Taurus occurred the famous supernova that was seen from Earth in 1054, which gave rise to the Crab Nebula, M1. This is the celebrated Crab Nebula named by Lord Rosse in 1844 using the 72 in telescope. No one is sure why he thought it looked like a crab. At the centre of the nebula is a neutron star.

 Between epsilon and omega lies NGC 1555 the faint Hind’s variable Nebula, discovered in October 1852 by the English astronomer John Russell Hind; at the centre of this nebula lies the star T Tauri, a prototype of a class of irregular variable stars believed to be stars in the process of forming into stars. It lies at a distance of 400 light years and varies between magnitude 9.4 to 13.0.

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A little ramble through the February night sky - The Snow Moon on February 1st

 The Moon takes a month or 'Moonth' as it used to be described hundreds of years ago to go once around the Earth. If we take the old word moonth we get the modern day word month.

The full moon in February which will be on February1st this year is called the Snow Moon. This is the month when we are most likely to see snow and to have the coldest weather of the year.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for publican in London

Alfred Compton a Publican from Barnsbury Terrace in London, I don’t know what pub he ran ordered a 3.75 inch telescope from Thomas Cooke & Sons in 1864. The instrument had a focal length of 4 feet. 

This particular instrument was made in York but sent down to the Cooke & Sons shop in Southampton Street London to be collected

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - oval shadows on Jupiter in 1874

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 16^th May 1874 

Mr. Brett, the well-known artist, has, from a consideration of the shadows. cast by certain oval-shaped white markings on Jupiter, given reason to conclude that we do not see the true body of the planet, but only a semi-transparent stratum of vapour or liquid. In connexion with  this idea, we must remember that Jupiter is, on  the whole, very little more dense than water, so that  there seems a strong  probability that a  considerable portion of its visible diameter is  composed of vapour.

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