The Astronomy Show

Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

The shoemaker from Barnard Castle who made telescopes

 Sheffield Daily Telegraph Tuesday 4^th February 1896

On Sunday morning- there was carried to the grave at Darlington Cemetery Mr. W. H. Harris, who was a working shoemaker, living in a poor neighbourhood, at Hank Top, Darlington. Mr. Harris, who was 54 years old the time his death, was born at Barnard Castle.

Though working hard at his trade, he had attained local celebrity as an astronomer, and maker of telescopes with 9 inch and 12inch mirrors, which he, ground, figured, and silvered. This work required nice mathematical calculations, which he carefully worked out. He had intimate knowledge of optics, botany, astronomy, electricity, etc., and was a good French scholar. Mr. Harris was self-taught.

Trailes Comet 1819

 Leeds Intelligencer Monday 12^th July 1819

THE COMET.

The following communication from Mr. Christie of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, contains probably all that can be yet known of this celestial phenomenon:—• “I first observed the comet," observes Mr. Christie, “last night (Saturday) a minutes before 11 o'clock, and judge that it came to the meridian about 12. Its elevation above the horizon appeared about 10°, and the sun being at the time nearly below, its distance from the sun cannot much exceed 25°.

The night was remarkably light, and the moon uncovered by clouds—circumstances extremely unfavourable to the brilliancy of its appearance; and considering this, I should judge that, under more favourable circumstances, its splendour would be equal to that of any comet upon record—the head viewed with Capella (to the east of it) in brilliancy. The length of the tail, which, when the comet was on the meridian, pointed somewhat to the west of the zenith, extended about 15degrees; and unlike the comet of 1811, it appeared to proceed immediately from the nucleus.

I viewed it for some time through an excellent small reflector, by Watson, and observed, that the nucleus was much denser than that of the former comet, and that there was no separation between it and the coma, but that the body became gradually rarer, and in the upper part expanded into the tail; which appearance may arise from a very dense atmosphere surrounding the nucleus, and reaching to the rarer fluid forming the tail, if there be any distinction between the two fluids, as appears to have been the case with the comet 1811.

I may observe, that this as in all other comets, the appearance to the naked eye is much more striking and brilliant than through telescope. The Comet passed the meridian below the Pole, at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, on Saturday, July 3, about midnight, when its place was determined as follows

Apparent right ascension 6h. 51m. 56S

North polar distance, corrected for re fraction 43 d 18 m 47.s

Mean time of observation .12h 6m 56s

The Comet was again observed on Monday night (July 5), but not till it had passed the meridian, when the following observations was made :

Apparent right ascension . 7h. 0m 9s

North Polar Distance 43 d 34m 48s

Mean time of observation 12h 36m 04s

This was comet 1819 also known as Trailes comet that was discovered on July 1^st 1819 by the German astronomer Johann Georg Trailes. The comet was an easy naked eye object reaching between magnitude 1 to 2.

August Full Moon is the Sturgeon Moon

 August is both a supermoon and blue moon month.

This month’s full moon on August 1st is called the ‘Sturgeon Moon’. This is the month when, in past centuries, sturgeon would have been caught in the rivers of Britain. They were considered to be royal fish and the first caught had to be given to either the King or the King’s representative.

August is both a supermoon and blue moon month,

 There will be two full moons this month, falling on August 1 and the 31. The second full moon in a month is referred to nowadays as a ‘Blue Moon’. The Moon takes around twenty-nine and a half days to orbit the Earth once and except for February all months have either thirty or thirty-one days, meaning it is possible to have two full moons in a calendar month.

This use of the term ‘blue moon’ only goes back to the 1940s when a letter, sent to the American astronomy magazine ‘Sky and Telescope’ which incidentally is still published, asked the question ‘what is a blue moon?’. The answer was that it is the second full moon in a calendar month. The publishers of the magazine, realising that their answer was unproven, retracted their original statement. However, it was too late; the genie was out of the bottle, and for the last seventy-five years everyone has accepted this definition.

I have my own theory about the term ‘blue moon’. Each month I give the name of the next full moon, and as I often say, these names go back to the times of the monastic period in Britain around 1,000 years ago. The monks, who were amongst the cleverest people around during the middle ages due to their vast monastic libraries, knew full well that in some years there were thirteen full moons rather the normal twelve.

Monks liked order in their lives. They kept diaries and special dates were always marked in red ink; you may have have heard of the phrase ‘a red letter day’ which is a monastic saying going back over 1,000 years. I just wonder if, when this thirteenth full moon occurred, it was marked in diaries in blue ink as a source of irritation because it messed up a very orderly system. I once checked the reference library in York minster without success, but a future researcher will check the Vatican library and discover a monk’s diary with a full moon marked in blue ink!

In August we will see the second of the four supermoons visible in 2023. When the Moon rises on August 1 and 31 it will be closer to the Earth than normal, and consequently will appear to be 7% larger than usual. This will make it a wonderful sight. Of course, cloud can spoil the occasion, but with two supermoons in August and another in September, we would be very unlucky not to see at least one of the three.

The average distance between the Moon and the Earth is 238,900 miles, (384,472km). When the moon is closer than that we have a supermoon. The August 1 supermoon will be 222,158 miles (357,530km) while the August 31 supermoon will be slightly closer at 222,043 miles (357,344km).

Accident at York Observatory in 1851

 On July 24^th 1851 A plumber of Fossgate, City of York met with a serious accident at the York Observatory of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society.

He was superintending some repairs to the conical roof, when altering his position he fell from the roof and hit the ground with great violence. Many bones were broken, on being taken to hospital it was reported that he was progressing favourably.

The Astronomy Show

 Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Jupiter moon Sinope discovered in 1914 with 36 inch Crossley telescope

 On July 21^st 1914 the 9^th satellite of Jupiter was discovered by Seth Nicolson at Lick Observatory using the 36 inch Crossley reflector.

 It was not until 1975 that Jupiter IX as it was referred to was named Sinope. The satellite has a diameter of around 125 km.

The 36 inch Crossley telescope was used in Halifax, Yorkshire by Edward Crossley and Joseph Gledhill during the 1880s and early 1890s at their observatory at Bermerside. However due to the poor quality of the skies over Halifax due to the large number of factories and mills, the telecope could not be used to its full potential. It was the largest telescope in private hands in England at that time.

Crossley decided to donate the telescope to the Lick observatory in California where it would be used to make many astronomical discoveries in the early 20^th century.

Astronomy Hot Dogs

 Its summer time the weather is very hot, it time for the BBQ and what do you have with your BBQ, hot dogs but these are not your ordinary sausages covered in mustard and tomato ketchup these dogs have gas and dust for condiments.

These are HOT Dust-Obscured Galaxies (Hot DOGS). These are a kind a quasar and are some of the brightest objects in the universe.

Details have just been published by astronomers using ALMA Kinematics and Star Formation of High-Redshift Hot Dust-Obscured Quasars as Seen by ALMA

Moses Holden and the Comet of 1840

 Blackburn Standard Wednesday 4^th March 1840

THE COMET

To the Editor of the Blackburn Standard.

Sir, —Will you have the goodness to insert in the Standard the following account of a comet which is now seen: it is written by Mr. Moses Holden, whose lectures many of your readers will remember, and appeared in the Preston papers of last Saturday:-

" A second Comet has appeared this year, although the month of February is not yet out. This second is very small, and can only be seen with a good telescope. I saw it on the 23rd, it was little above the girdle of Andromeda, and did not look half large as the Nebula in that girdle, nor half as large as Encke's Comet. Its movement for the week along the girdle of Andromeda, as it passes the stars, is as follows,

Feb 1840 29 28 27 26 25 24 23

o o o o o o o Comet.

Nu*

Beta * Mu* 0 Nebula

An equatorial telescope turned to right ascension, in time 1 hour and 15 minutes, and declination 35 deg, 5 min., will be near the place, and with a Comet eye-piece would soon find it this evening.

The Premeditated Suicide at Observatory House in 1892

Hull Daily Mail Wednesday 14^th September 1892

George Digby Cole, valet to a gentleman named Herschell, who resides at Observatory House, in the Windsor Road Slough, having had disagreement with his master, went on Monday afternoon to a chemist, and, pretending that required the drug for the purpose of poisoning a dog, obtained some prussic acid. He then proceeded to the house of his former employer, and, after using some improper language, took out the bottle and swallowed its poisonous contents. The man walked the room for few moments screaming and shouting in his death agonies till he fell exhausted to the floor.

A surgeon attended as speedily as possible, and administered an emetic but he expired. It is said that Cole, who was considered rather an eccentric person, was walking shortly before he committed suicide with an undertaker, whom he asked to measure him for a coffin when he was dead.

MY NOTE

I don’t know which member of the Herschell family was living at Observatory House at this time.

Pussic acid is Hydrogen Cyanide 

A New Moon Map from Manchester in 1908

 A new map of the chief lunar features has been issued by Mr W Porterhouse of Manchester. The disc is 12 inches in diameter, and represents the formations as seen in an inverted telescope. Each feature is numbered, and in an index giving the corresponding name is appended on the side of the same sheet.

The whole is very distinct and easily readable by a small lamp. It would probably have added materially to the usefulness of the map if the chief dark features of the moon’s surface, such as the seas, had been either shaded or indicated, with a dark wash; when this is done it provides more definite landmarks for the recognition of the smaller features.

Meteor Photographed over Halifax in 1901

 On August 20^th 1901 a fireball brighter than Jupiter was seen at Bristol and Halifax. It was photographed from Halifax by Mr C J Spencer which shows that the meteor, as it slowly penetrated the atmosphere, exhibited marked fluctuations in its light sufficient to give the trail a beaded aspect.

The meteor fell from a height of 56 to 33 miles along a path 44 miles which it traversed at a rate of about 13 miles per second.

The Astronomy Show

Join me, Martin Lunn tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show, 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 A-Z of Constellations and Astronomy in Yorkshire - God’s Own Country.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio 102 and 103.5 FM the Astronomy show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Destruction of Bath Observatory by Fire in 1867

 Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette Thursday 24^th January 1867.

—On Sunday last the observatory connected with St. Gregory's College, Downside, near Bath, was totally destroyed by fire. It originated apparently in the heating apparatus, which kindled the joists of the ground floor; the flames, which caught some stuffed birds and other natural history specimens in the museum kept in the lower room, were rapidly communicated to the equatorial room above, in which was a magnificent refracting telescope of 15 inches diameter and 20 feet focal length.

The observing stages formed capital fuel for the fire, and in less than hour the whole was one mass of flame, leaving no possibility of rescuing anything. The loss of the glass and astronomical plant attached to the telescope is the more unfortunate as the observatory had only just been placed in full working order. The loss to the college of the antiquities, curiosities, and natural history collections in the museum cannot be estimated, for they contained many unique and invaluable specimens, and were the result of fifty years' accumulation.