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 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.

Venus dances with the Moon

On December 5^th and 6^th assuming it is nice and clear you will be able to see the planet Venus which will appear as a very bright white dot low in the sky in the west just after sunset with a crescent moon above it. Venus is sometimes called the ‘Evening Star’

Venus can be seen even closer to the Moon on the 4^th but it will be lower down and there will be less of the crescent of the Moon to be seen.

                                                   www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cat's Eye in the road Cat's Eye in space

 So, the story goes on December 3^rd, 1933, a cold and foggy night, Percy Shaw a blacksmith in Halifax West Yorkshire is driving home. This is before streetlights and road markings were introduced.

 As he drives slowly along the road he is startled when the headlights of his car are brilliantly reflected by the eyes of a cat sitting beside the road. Peercy Shaw then has a flash of inspiration and possibly one of the greatest contributions to road safety in the 20^th century.

That at least is the romantic version of the invention of the Cat’s Eye. But Shaw is smart enough not to allow the cold truth to de mist a good story.  He patents the Cat’s eye reflecting road stud in 1934 and develops over the next few years. Nothing much happens until World War 2 when the black out makes driving even more dangerous.

The in 1947 a junior transport minister, Jim Callaghan introduces the cat’s eye nationwide. Percy Shaw’s company Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd manufactures and exports a million cat’s eyes a year at its peak.

Percy Shaw will become one of Britain’s most eccentric millionaires, he wasn’t interested in luxuries except 2 Rolls Royce cars and a cellar of Worthington’s India Pale Ale.

The cat’s eye still is regarded as one of the greatest ever British designs.

Is there an astronomical connection, of course there is, because there is the Cat's Eye nebula in space. It is in  the constellation of Draco the Dragon at around 3,000 light years from the Earth. It is to faint to be seen with the naked eye, you would need a telescope to find it.

IT was discovered by William Herschel in February 1786, earlier in 1781 he had discovered the planet we now call Uranus. He described the nebula looking planet like, and the term a planetary nebula was born .Planetary nebula have nothing whatsoever to do with planets. Planetary nebula are stars approaching the ends of their lives, they are puffing away what remains of their gases into space. This is what makes them look planet like in appearance. Our Sun will go through this stage of its evolution in around 3.5 billion years time. 

If you go on line and search for the Cat's Eye nebula you will see pictures that show it does look like  the eye of a cat.

William Herschel did not name the Cat’s Eye nebula this was done after pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed tis true nature.

                                             www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

An eclipse of the Sun and then Anarchy

Sometimes storms and bad weather can have a profound effect on history, such an event happened on December 2^nd, 1120.

On that during a very powerful storm the ship named The White Ship crashes into rocks in the English Channel and sinks with all hands-on board. Among those on board is Prince William Adelin, the only legitimate son and heir of King Henry I This will lead to a succession crisis and civil war in England.

The Norman Saxon nobility owns land in both France and England and sailings between the two countries is very routine although this sailing was late in the year, with the increased risk of bad weather. The ship because it was being used for royal service was well fitted out. This did not save it from disaster.

Henry I failed to produce another male heir and was forced to pass the succession to his daughter Matilda. With all the confusion caused when Henry died his nephew Stephen of Blois claimed the English throne in 1135.  By one of those strange strokes of fate Stephen should have been on the White Ship but he was poorly and did not sail.

In medieval times eclipses of the Sun were seen as omens of bad fortune, the eclipse of August 2nd, 1133, was such an eclipse, as it was believed to have foretold the death of King Henry I of England in 1135 and all the chaos that would follow.

England would be plunged into 19 years of civil war. This period in English history is known as ‘The Anarchy’. This was the backdrop to the TV series of Cadfael which was aired in the 1990s.

                                                    www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

The breakup of a comet and meteor storms in 1872 and 1885.

The Andromedids meteor shower is known for the meteor storm displays on November 27^th, 1872, and 1885. Ther relate to the breakup of comet Beila. Today only a few Andromedids can be seen each year.

A comet is a dirty snowball traveling around the Sun, it leaves a trail of dust behind it. When the Earth passes through such a dust trail, we see lots of meteors or shooting stars as some people call them.  This is a meteor shower. When we see 1,000s of meteors it becomes a meteor storm.

A meteor shower is named after the constellation in the sky from where all the meteors appear to radiate from.

The term shooting star is misleading because they have nothing whatsoever to do with stars, they are simply grains of dust burning up as the enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Comet Biela had bee seen as far back as 1772, but it was only in 1826 that the astronomer Wilhelm von Biela realised that the comet returned to our part of the solar system every 6.5 years. Due to this observation the comet was named after him.

The comet was seen in 1832 but was missed due to a series of events in 1839. When it next returned in 1846 it was seen to have split into two pieces. This was totally unexpected, and it took astronomers totally by surprise.

Comet Biela was next seen in 1852 in two parts only further apart than in 1846. This was the last time that comet Belia was seen. When it should have returned in 1859 and 1865 nothing could be seen. It had just disappeared.

Then on November 27^th, 1872, there was a tremendous meteor storm with around 400 meteors per minute or 24,000 meteors per hour. Today a spectacular meteor shower such as the Perseid or Geminid might produce between 80-100 meteors per hour.  This might give an indication of how impressive the meteor storm must have seemed. I am sure that many people would have been worried and scared by what they saw.

The there was nothing for the next few years, however on November 27^th, 1885, another storm occurred with around 100 meteors per minute or 6,000 per hour being seen. Since then, virtually no Andromedids have been seen.

The conclusion that was reached by astronomers was that comet Biela had simply just broke up and as the Earth passed through the stream of dust that was all that was left of the comet people were treated to a wonderful cosmic display of streak of light in the sky.

                                                  www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

 

Will Hay, Nova Puppis 1942 and a Cooke telescope

 Will Hay, Nova Puppis 1942 plus a Cooke

 

Will Hay is best remembered as a comedian of the stage and in films in the 1930s and 1940s. He was also a very competent astronomer who discovered a white spot on Saturn in 1933 using a 6 inch Cooke telescope. He also observed Nova Puppis 1942 with a Cooke this time a 3.5 inch telescope. 

Observing from London early in the morning of November 24^th 1942 and using his 3.5 inch Cooke he saw the nova. He had seen it a few days earlier on November 14^th as a naked eye object of around magnitude 3.5. By November 24^th it had faded and a telescope was needed to see it. 

It was very close to the horizon and he estimated the brightness of the nova as between magnitude 4 and 5 but as he commented being so close to the horizon it is difficult to estimate the brightness of a star so low in the sky due to the amount of atmosphere the light has to pass through. 

Will Hay was also struck by the red colour of the nova. He checked other stars nearby of about the same brightness and they appeared to be their normal colours suggesting that the redness was in the nova itself. 

Nova Puppis was discovered by Bernhard Dawson at the La Plata Observatory in Argentina on November 8^th 1942. It reached a maximum magnitude of 0.3 on November 10^th 1942.

                                                      www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

 

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 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.