How two moons caused confusion at Saturn in 1966

 On December 18^th 1966 a moon now called Epimetheus was discovered orbiting Saturn by the American astronomer Richard Walker. A few days earlier on December 15^th the French astronomer Audouin Dollfus observed a moon which he proposed to be called Janus. At the time it was believed there was just one moon being discovered and the discovery was credited to Walker.

However, 12 years later in 1978 it was realised that there were two objects here Janus and Epimetheus. Final confirmation came in 1980 when Voyager 1 flew past Saturn.

The Astronomy show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, 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 latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

 The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

 

 

 

The Glen Miller mystery 80 years on

 If you think of great band music in the 1930s and 1940s you will probably think of Glen Miller with hits like Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo and In the Mood.

This is the 80^th anniversary of his disappearance.

It is strange that someone so well-known at the time and so well remembered has a large mystery attached to his last journey.

It was very cloudy, there was heavy rain, and it was foggy, Glen Miller is reputed to have said we will never get off the ground today. His manager Don Haynes said the fog and rain could be cut with a knife. Most airports across Britain were shut that day the 15^th December 1944, however a single engine Noorduyn Norseman takes off and disappears into the clouds. The plane and Glen Miller the great band leader is never seen again.

The Norseman plane was a Canadian designed aircraft and entered service in 1936. They would be used by the Canadian Air Force and United States Army Air Force.

As he was the greatest music star of his day the conspiracy theories quickly started. Even now 80 years on we don’t know why he took off on that day or what happened.

One idea was that he was shot down captured and tortured by the Nazis, another that he was shot down by friendly fire or even that his plane was hit by a jettisoned bomb. A fleet of 139 Lancaster bombers was returning from an aborted mission due to the weather and were dropping their bombs into the English Channel. Could one of these had struck his plane? We don’t know.

The pilot maybe not that experienced, didn’t have the confidence to say that it was too dangerous to fly that day. The mystery will probably never be solved or will it?

Maybe someday in the future we might learn the true story of the last flight of the great band leader Glen Miller. 

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Wold Cottage Meteorite 1795

This is the oldest known British meteorite in ‘captivity’  in a museum. It would prompt the first full scale investigation into meteorites.

The meteorite fell at around 3.00 o’clock on December 13th 1795 in a field near the Wold Cottage in the East Riding of Yorkshire on land which was owned by Major Edward Topham.  The fall was observed by several people and landed a few yards from ploughman John Shipley.

A sound like gunfire was heard by people who thought that French warships were bombarding Bridlington. Britain was at war with France at the time. People described seeing a dark object passing through the air.

The meteorite weighed about 56pounds (25kg) and made a hole 19 inches deep passing through 12 inches of topsoil and 7 inches of chalk. The meteorite is a L6 chondrite the second, most common type of meteorite. It is what astronomers call a stone meteorite although about 25% of the meteorite will still be made of iron.

Topham erected a plinth in 1799 to mark the site of the meteorite fall, he didn’t keep the meteorite. In 1804 he sold it to James Sowerby for 10 guineas or £10.50 in today’s money. That £10.50 today is worth around £1,300. In 1837 Sowerby sold the meteorite to the British Museum for £250. A substantial amount in its day which would be worth £31,300.

The plinth says On this spot December 13th 1795 fell from the atmosphere and extraordinary stone. In breadth 28 inches, In length 30 inches which weighed 56 pounds.

This column in memory of it was erected by Edward Topham 1799

Only 20.6 of the 25 kg made it to the British Museum to be part of their collection. The remainder is believed to have been broken off and given away prior to acquisition.

 

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Nova Hercules 1934

 A few years before All Creatures Great and Small Was set the vets travelling across the moors of Yorkshire might have seen a new bright star or nova appear in the sky.

Nova 1934 discovered by English amateur JPM Prentice on December 13th, 1934, at mag 3.0 and reached its peak brightness on December 22nd, 1934, at mag 1.5.  This would have made it brighter than he north star or the stars that make up the group of stars known as the Plough. It remained visible to the naked eye for several months. The nova was around 1,600 light years away. 

Today the nova is classified as DQ Hercules

A nova the word is Latin for new is a binary star system, there are two stars here. It was a term used in the Middle Ages when people thought it was a star being created. This is why they called it a nova.   The system is formed of a small white dwarf star and a much larger cooler star. The white dwarf star is formed of material that has been squashed together this material astronomers refer to as degenerate material, it is so heavy that a lump of white dwarf material the size of a snooker ball would weigh around 70 tons!!

Material from the large cooler star is pulled gravitationally toward the white dwarf star. It forms a disc of gas which then falls onto the surface of the white dwarf which the throws a shell of gas into space which we see and as a bright dot in the sky and we call this a nova.

 

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The one man football team

 It was grim day up north on December 12^th 1891. In a snowstorm at Turf Moor Stadium, Burnley are playing Blackburn Rovers in a first Division match. It says much about the Victorian period that the Match kicked off at all.

In the second half the weather conditions worsen, and players resolve weakens. The Blackburn Rovers players revolt, walking of the pitch and feeling numb it is too cold to play. Only the Rovers goalkeeper Herby Arthur remains.

The match descends into farce, to derisive cries from the crowd Arthur successfully appeals for offside when one Burnley player passes to another. What can the referee do? With no one to pass to , Arthur engages in a lengthy period of time wasting until the bemused referee is forced to abandon the game 30  minutes before time.

 Burnley win 3-0.

                                                    www.therambingastronomer.co.uk

The Before Full Yule Moon

 The full moon on December 15^th is known as the Before Yule Moon. The feast of Yule occurs on the night of December 21st which is the day of the year when the Sun is at its lowest in the sky and produces the shortest period of daylight of the year. This date can vary from year to year by a day or so. 

A long time ago people watched for the full moon in December; they then had from that date until the feast of Yule to chop down a log from the forest in readiness to burn it from the feast of Yule for twelve nights. Today of course the Yule log has turned from firewood into a cake!!

                                                      www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Geminids Meteor Shower

 Get set for the Geminids meteor shower: a shooting star spectacular for the end of the year! Many people look out for the annual Perseid meteor shower, which occurs in August. It is, however, not the most spectacular meteor shower.  The Geminids hold that title, and they can be seen this month. The Geminids reach maximum on the night of December 14/15 when up to 120 meteors per hour might be seen. 

Meteors are connected with comets. As a comet, which is essentially a dirty snowball, travels around the Sun, it leaves a trail of dust behind it. If the Earth happens to pass through such a trail we see a meteor shower. The Earth passes through many such streams each year. Some of the meteor showers are spectacular; others less so, but they are all predictable. The Geminids are so called because the meteors all seem to come from the constellation of Gemini the Twins. They are special because they are associated not with a comet but with an asteroid, called Phaethon who was the son of Helios who used the solar chariot fir a day, lost control of it and almost set the earth on fire. 

The pieces of dust produced by asteroids are slightly larger than those produced by comets and because of this they travel through the Earth’s atmosphere more slowly, making them much brighter than the usual meteors. The Geminids travel at about twenty miles a second, while most other meteors travel at speeds closer to forty miles per second. The dust particles burn up due to friction in the Earth’s atmosphere. 

If there are no clouds we should be in for a spectacular event.  If you see a meteor or shooting star in the sky, remember to make a wish!

                                                    www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

Join me, Martin Lunn MBE tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, 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 latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Lucky discovery of asteroid with Crossley reflector in 1899

 Asteroid 1899 FD was discovered by chance on December 6^th 1899 using the 36 inch Crossley telescope at Lick Observatory.

The region of Hind’s variable nebula or NGC 1555 was photographed on December 6^th, 1899, by James Keeler using the 36-inch Crossley reflector at Lick Observatory in America. The telescope was owned by Edward Crosley of Halifax in Yorkshire. Crossley owned the Crossley Carpet factory; he had donated the telescope to Lick.  The nebula is named after the British astronomer John Russell who first discovered it is a peculiar variable nebula; it is believed to be an area where stars are being created.

An exposure of 4 hours on the negative when it was examined the next morning found a very fine faint line. The position of the asteroid could not be determined accurately, another photograph was taken on December 9^th, 1899, it was then announced that asteroid 1899 FD had been discovered. The asteroid was very faint at magnitude 17.

 

Today the asteroid is known as 452 Hamiltonia.

                                                     www.theramblingastreonomer.co.uk

Mr Maw and his two Thomas Cooke telescopes

William Henry Maw (1836 – 1924) was born in Scarborough on December 6^th 1836, when he was growing up he was friends with the sons of Dr Harland, two who would become the founders of the Harland & Wolf ship builders. Both his parents died when he was in his teens, without influences and an advantage of a higher education he was still able to raise himself to become a leading authority in the fields of mechanics and engineering. 

His leisure time was however devoted to astronomy. In Kensington, London in 1887 he built an observatory for his 6 inch Cooke telescope which he used to study the Moon. Later from 1897 when he lived in Surrey he built an observatory for a larger 8 inch Cooke  telescope. This had originally been owned by the Rev R W Dawes and would later be located at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge and known as the Thorrowgood Telescope. 

W H Maw made extensive observations of double stars using both Cooke telescopes. In particular the double stars from the Struve catalogue. His observations were considered to be very accurate. Maw was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and one of the founders of the British Astronomical Society.  

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Exhibition of the Phonograph in York in 1878

At this time of year Christmas music is being played everywhere, but a long time ago before music was available online or on a CD there was the phonograph or record player as it would become known was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. 

On the 17^th December 1878 the first phonograph to be seen in York was exhibited at the Kenrick Rooms, Spen Lane in York by Messrs T Cooke and Sons. Permission had been obtained by Cooke and Sons from the London Stereoscopic Company who had purchased the British patent from Mr Thomas Edison the inventor. 

The phonograph was explained by Mr Cox-Walker of Cooke and Sons. Briefly the phonograph consists of a brass cylinder, around which turns a spiral grove. The operator speaks into a mouthpiece upon a thin diaphragm, exactly like a telephone, to which a metal point is attached. The cylinder is covered with tin foil, and the point being in connection, and the handle turned while the operator is speaking, the point runs in the groove and makes several indentations in the tin foil corresponding to the vibrations of the diaphragm caused by the voice. On turning the reverse way the sounds are reproduced, the indentations in the tin foil, acting upon the metal point, causing the diaphragm to vibrate and communicate its motion to the air. 

The singing is very distinct, but the reproduced words of a speaker are somewhat thick, though the result is marvellous in the extreme. Two instruments were exhibited, one working by clock work and the other by hand. By the former the tone is reproduced more correctly, owing to the greater regularity in the turning of the instrument.   

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Moon slides past Saturn

 Following the close approach of the Moon to Venus a couple of days ago, the Moon is passing another of the naked eye planets. This time the quarter moon will be close to the plants Saturn on December 7^th and 8^th.Saturn will appear as a yellow looking star in the south western sky.

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Yorkshire telescope discovers moon of Jupiter from America in 1904

 On December 3^rd, 1904, C D Perrine at the Lick Observatory in America using the Crossley 36-inch telescope discovered the 6^th moon of Jupiter which today is called Himalia. The name Himalia is named after the nymph Himalia who had three sons by Zeus. The name wasn’t given to the moon until 1975.

It is the largest of the small irregular moons of Jupiter having a diameter of about 90 miles (140km).

The Crossley telescope was purchased by Edward Crossley of Halifax in West Yorkshire in the early 1880s. Crossey owned the Crossley carpet mill the largest in the world in the md 19^th century. He was a keen astronomer but most of his time was allocated to running his company. Although the telescope performed poorly in Halifax due to the sky conditions being so poor caused by all the factory pollution in the sky. Crossley gifted the telescope to the Lick observatory in the mid-1890s.  It performed brilliantly in the clear California weather

At least 8 comets and 3 moons of Jupiter plus numerous asteroids were discovered by astronomers at Lick using the 36-inch Crossley telescope.

The telescope was used for research work until around 2010 was always known as the Crossley telescope.  You could say that a little bit of Yorkshire astronomical history achieved fantastic discoveries in America.

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

Join me, Martin Lunn MBE tonight and every Monday evening from 7.00 pm-9.00 pm on the Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio, 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 latest news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Monday evening only on Drystone Radio live online at www.drystoneradio.com DAB radio in Bradford and East Lancashire, or 102 and 103.5 FM and can also be heard later on the Drystone Radio Podcast.

Venus dances with the Moon

On December 5^th and 6^th assuming it is nice and clear you will be able to see the planet Venus which will appear as a very bright white dot low in the sky in the west just after sunset with a crescent moon above it. Venus is sometimes called the ‘Evening Star’

Venus can be seen even closer to the Moon on the 4^th but it will be lower down and there will be less of the crescent of the Moon to be seen.

                                                   www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Cat's Eye in the road Cat's Eye in space

 So, the story goes on December 3^rd, 1933, a cold and foggy night, Percy Shaw a blacksmith in Halifax West Yorkshire is driving home. This is before streetlights and road markings were introduced.

 As he drives slowly along the road he is startled when the headlights of his car are brilliantly reflected by the eyes of a cat sitting beside the road. Peercy Shaw then has a flash of inspiration and possibly one of the greatest contributions to road safety in the 20^th century.

That at least is the romantic version of the invention of the Cat’s Eye. But Shaw is smart enough not to allow the cold truth to de mist a good story.  He patents the Cat’s eye reflecting road stud in 1934 and develops over the next few years. Nothing much happens until World War 2 when the black out makes driving even more dangerous.

The in 1947 a junior transport minister, Jim Callaghan introduces the cat’s eye nationwide. Percy Shaw’s company Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd manufactures and exports a million cat’s eyes a year at its peak.

Percy Shaw will become one of Britain’s most eccentric millionaires, he wasn’t interested in luxuries except 2 Rolls Royce cars and a cellar of Worthington’s India Pale Ale.

The cat’s eye still is regarded as one of the greatest ever British designs.

Is there an astronomical connection, of course there is, because there is the Cat's Eye nebula in space. It is in  the constellation of Draco the Dragon at around 3,000 light years from the Earth. It is to faint to be seen with the naked eye, you would need a telescope to find it.

IT was discovered by William Herschel in February 1786, earlier in 1781 he had discovered the planet we now call Uranus. He described the nebula looking planet like, and the term a planetary nebula was born .Planetary nebula have nothing whatsoever to do with planets. Planetary nebula are stars approaching the ends of their lives, they are puffing away what remains of their gases into space. This is what makes them look planet like in appearance. Our Sun will go through this stage of its evolution in around 3.5 billion years time. 

If you go on line and search for the Cat's Eye nebula you will see pictures that show it does look like  the eye of a cat.

William Herschel did not name the Cat’s Eye nebula this was done after pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed tis true nature.

                                             www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk