The Astronomy Show 23.12.19

The Astronomy Show 23.12.19

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas here on the Astronomy Show. In this festive edition I will be looking at that most famous of stars The Star of Bethlehem and trying to work out just what the star was?

There will of course be some of the regular features including the latest astronomy news including more exoplanets being discovered, China's far side of the Moon rover has broken another record and sunspots break a space age record.

 I will look at the night sky for the next seven nights and the astronomical scrapbook which looks at anniversaries this week  includes in 1965 the Barwell Meteorite and  in 1758 Halleys comet was seen as predicted.

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

The Astronomy Show 16.12.19

The Astronomy Show 16.12.19

On the Astronomy Show today I will be looking at the weather, not for the Uk or even Earth but a weather report from Mars. With the rovers and orbiters around the Red Planet scientists are better able to forecast the weather on Mars and highlight issues that future explorers will face when they go to Mars.

I will look at the night sky for the next seven nights, I will also take a closer look at two of the fainter but important constellations because of their variable stars, namely Cepheus and Cetus. On the 22nd it will be the winter solstice when the Sun will be at its lowest point in the sky during the year,

The other regular features include the latest astronomy news stories including the Juno mission at Jupiter which has seen a huge new storm but only after a death dodging maneuver. The Geminid meteor shower's parent debris trail has been spotted for the first time. The Geminids are associated  with an asteroid rather than a comet. There will also be a cosmic ray update.

The astronomical scrapbook will be looking at events that happened in history this week including in 1958 Project Mercury was announced by NASA, in 1973 the Skylab mission took the famous picture of the solar loop on the Sun and in 1968 Apollo 8 was launched. All this plus a round up of  the news from the 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 the programme can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy Show 09.12.19

The Astronomy Show 09.12.19

On the Astronomy Show today I will be looking at news that NASA is predicting solar cycle 25 which is just starting will be the lowest for 200 years. What will this mean? It could make travelling in space a little safer, but it could also have an affect on Earth. We know that historically when sunspot numbers fall the temperature of the Earth drops. The last time this happened was during the Dalton minimum 200 years ago.

I will look at the night sky for the next seven nights which include the Geminid meteor shower and the Before Yule Moon. I will also look  the constellations Cassiopeia, Triangulum and Aries.

The other regular features include astronomy news with the asteroid Hygiea possibly becoming a dwarf planet, planetary waves supercharge Noctilucent Clouds and a planet discovered around a white dwarf, which should not be there!! The astronomical scrapbook which looks at anniversaries this week include in 1795 the Wold Cottage Meteorite, in 1962 Mariner 2 flew past Venus and  in 1970 Venera 7 landed on Venus. All this plus news from the astronomical socities in the North.

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 the programme can be heard later on nthe Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy Show 02.12.19

The Astronomy Show 02.12.19

On the Astronomy Show today I will be looking at news that British scientists will be exploring parts of Antarctica looking for iron meteorites which are rare on the Earth but even more difficult to find at the south pole. I will be looking at why this is the case, and how they might find them if they are there.

The regular features include the weekly round up of what we can see in the night sky as well as looking more closely at some of the constellations that we can see at the moment. The latest news stories include Jupiter's Great Red Spot isn't dying and Voyager 2 is passing through the area of space where the solar wind and cosmic rays do battle together. The astronomical scrapbook looks at events that happened this week in history including the discovery of Himalia the sixth largest moon of Jupiter in 1904. All this plus the round up of news from the astronomical societies of the north.

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 later to the programme on the Drystone Radio podcast.