The Astronomy show 20.05.19

The Astronomy Show 20.05.19

On the Astronomy show today I will be looking at the question 'when will we see another bright comet'. There are always many comets that can be observed, but these usually require reasonable sized telescopes to see them. Many of these can be really important to astronomers for a variety of  different reasons. However to many people the idea of a comet is a spectacular object with a magnificent tail stretching across the sky. When will the next one appear?

There will be the regular round up of the night sky for the next seven nights with a focus on the constellation of Bootes with its bright star Arcturus dominating the late spring sky.

I will be taking a look at a number of news stories this week that feature the Moon, including the Chinese Chang'e 4 experiencing its 4th night on the Moon, the crash site of the Israeli Beresheet lander has been identified and the news that the Moon is shrinking!

The regular astronomy news section includes a giant hole in the Martian atmosphere is venting all its water into space, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has passed its 60,000 orbit of the Red Planet and I will take a look at where the pioneer and voyager space craft are now.

The astronomical scrapbook which looks at anniversaries in history this week includes in 1543 the death of Copernicus, the bright nova in Pictor in 1925 and the first predicted eclipse of the Sun in 585 BCE. There will also be the round up of news from astronomical societies across the north of England.

The Messier marathon will end this week, I know that there are 110 objects listed but Messier only listed officially 103 an open cluster in Cassiopeia, the other 7 have been added in more recent times and it is uncertain if they were seen by Messier.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM. The show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or you can listen to the programme later on the Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy show 06.05.19

The Astronomy Show 06.05.19

On the Astronomy show today I will be looking at the life of Jerrie Cobb the record breaking pilot and advocate for female spaceflight who has died recently at the age of 88. She was the first woman to pass all the same pre flight tests as NASA's seven Mercury astronauts.

There will be the usual look at the night sky for the next seven nights including locating the North Star at the time that the great pyramids were built and how the light from the star Arcturus opened a great exposition in Chicago in 1933. The other regular features include the astronomy news with details that an asteroid called Apophis will near miss the Earth on April Friday 13th 2029 by just 19,000 miles. The point about Apophis is that it is around 1100 feet or 340 metres across. News is coming from China that they hope to build a moon base at the south pole of the Moon within the next ten years.

The astronomical scrapbook looking at events that happened this week in history features David Fabricius who died in 1617 and was the first person to observe a variable star, omicron Ceti or as it is sometimes known as Mira and in 1861 John Tebbutt the Australasian astronomer  discovered the great comet which would be seen by Queen Victoria using a telescope that was made by Thomas Cooke of York. The Messier marathon has reached M102 in Draco the Spindle wheel Galaxy. This plus the round up of news from astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy show every Monday evening between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM. The show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or listen to the show later on the Drystone Radio podcast.