Monday 19 August 2019

The Astronomy Show 19.08.19

The Astronomy Show 19.08.19

The Astronomy Show is back! Following my latest break presenting astronomy lectures on a cruise ship. It was very hot in the Mediterranean but we had some great fun with  large numbers of peole attending the talks plus some stargazing evenings. The sky was so clear. On one occassion 200 people saw the Milky Way very clearly. It was amazing.

However back to the here and now, the Astronomy Show tonight will be looking at a story that NASA fed Apollo 11 moon rocks to cockroaches and then things became even more weirder. I will be finding out what happened.

I will take another extensive look at the night sky not just for the next seven nights but for the rest of the summer.  Jupiter and Saturn are still visible in the evening sky although from Britain they are seen very low in the sky in the south. If you are up early in the morning you can just catch a glimpse of Mercury in the south east about an hour before the Sun rises.

The Astronomy news round up includes details of thousands of Tardigrades, which are microscopic creatures are now starnded on the Moon following the crash earlier this year of the Israeli Moon mission. Another impact on the Moon was the tiny Chinese orbiter Longjang 2, although this crash was intended, and how Venus turned into hell and how the Earth is next!

The astronomical scrapbook looking at events that happened this week in history include in 1960 the Russian dogs Strelka and Belka are the first ceatures sent into space and safely returned, in 1977 Voyager 2 was launched and in 2006 Pluto became a dwarf planet. There will also be the usual round up of news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, every Monday evening between 7.00 pm and 9.00 pm. 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.