The Astronomy Show is back, I have survived two weeks cruising off the coast of Norway some of the time we were in the Arctic Circle hunting the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, we were not to be disappointed because there was an incredible Northern Lights display on November 3rd. It was stonking, the best I have seen since 2004, I will explain all in the show tomorrow.
On the show today I will be looking at the end of two important space missions the Kepler Space Telescope which has been hunting for planets orbiting other stars and the Dawn mission which had orbited the dwarf planet Ceres. Both missions were massive successes and achieved incredible results and their ending which was expected by astronomers will still be keenly felt by all who used the information they sent back to Earth.
I will also be looking at what can be seen in the night sky including a recap of the highlights on the autumn sky. There is also news of the discovery of a comet, this is not unusual comets are always being discovered by astronomers, but what makes this comet special is that it was discovered not by the professionals but by amateur astronomers.. Early indications are that it could become bright in the early morning skies, however the brightness of comets are notoriously difficult to predict.
There will be the usual regular features including the latest astronomy news including a strange cloud seen on Mars, Saturn's moon Dione is covered with weird stripes and the Space X 'Starman' and its Tesla Roadster are now beyond Mars. The astronomical Scrapbook looks at anniversaries this week including Tycho's discovery of a comet in 1577, Mariner 9 entered orbit around Mars and John Goodricke starts his astronomical diary. The Messier Marathon has reached M79 a globular cluster in Lepus while the A-Z of constellations is at the barren constellation of Sextans the Sextant. All this plus the latest news from the astronomical societies in the North.
The Astronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM. You can listen live to the Astronomy Show on line at www.drystoneradio.com or hear the show later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.
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