A little ramble through Apus the Bird of Paradise

 Stars in the southern hemisphere were of course unknown to European astronomers because no one had travelled there before the 1400s. This is why most of the constellations in this part of the sky are referred to as modern constellations.

One example is Apus the Bird of Paradise which unfortunately like many of these modern constellations contains few if any bright stars. Johann Bayer called the constellation Apus Indica the Indian Bird. That title has been dropped today and it is just referred to as Apus.

Apus is what is called a circumpolar southern hemisphere constellation, this means that from countries like Australia and New Zealand it can be seen all year around. This is much like the familiar group of stars we call the Plough which can be seen all year from countries such as Britain and is called a northern circumpolar constellation.

This constellation is best seen in July which of course in the southern hemisphere is during the winter.

Apus the bird of paradise was introduced to the sky in the 1590s by the Dutch astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius from the observations of Dutch navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederick Houtman, when they voyaged to the southern hemisphere and visited countries such as Indonesia or what at that time was known as the Dutch East Indies.

Plancius had produced in 1589 a celestial globe using what information was available regarding the southern stars. These included constellations such as Crux the Southern Cross and Triangulum Australe the Southern Triangle as well as the Magellanic Clouds which were called Nubecula Major and Minor. These were reported by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan c 1480-1521 as he journeyed around the world. These we know today are nearby Large and Small Magellanic Clouds which are nearby galaxies to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

Plancius knew that the Dutch navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederick Houtman would be travelling to the southern hemisphere so he met them and trained them to draw and note features in the sky so he could replicate them on a new star globe he was producing. With the knowledge that Keyser and Houtman provided Plancius in either 1597 or early 1598 produced a new celestial globe with an additional 12 constellations. None of these can be seen from Britain and they describe mostly animals and subjects that travellers of the day had seen as they explored the southern hemisphere.

The name of the constellation is derived from the Greek word apous, which means “footless.” (Birds of paradise were at one point in history believed to lack feet). The Greater Bird of Paradise known in India had a magnificent white, yellow and red plumage but unsightly legs, which were cut off by the natives desiring to offer the white man only the attractive part of the bird. There are no myths associated with the constellation.

In China the constellation was referred to as E Cho the Curious Sparrow or the Little Wonder Bird.

Apus is located near the south pole star, there are no bright stars in Apus, the brightest are alpha at magnitude 3.8 and is around 430 light years away. The sky must be clear and dark to see this star.  It is a K class giant star with a surface temperature of around 4,000 degrees it is cooler than the Sun.

Apus is an example of a constellation where using Johann Bayer’s Greek alphabet sequence does not work. This is because the second brightest star is gamma with a magnitude of 3.9 compared to the brightness of beta which is magnitude 4.2.

Although the Milky Way flows through Apus there are no bright clusters of stars to be seen. The brightest is NGC 6101 a globular cluster lying around 50,000 light years away. However, at magnitude 9.2 a telescope would be needed to see it.

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Moon above Mars on April 5th

 After passing close to Jupiter a couple of days ago the Moon can be seen just below Mars on April 4th and on April 5th it will be just above Mars which is in the constellation of Gemini the twins. Mars is near  Pollux and Castor the two brightest stars in Gemini.

Last night April 1st it was possible to see Earthshine on the Moon this is when light from the Sun is reflected from the Earth onto the Moon and we can see the dark ghostly outline of the unlit part of the Moon, you might be able to see it again tonight.

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April 1st is the 65th anniversary of first weather satellite Tiros 1

 Weather is always a major talking point between people, it can be hot, cold, wet or dry. 

 We are also used to getting fantastic images beamed done from weather satellites orbiting the Earth showing just what the weather is going to be including incredible pictures of hurricanes from space. 

Did you know that all these modern satellites can trace their time lines back to TIROS 1 the first weather satellite which was launched on April 1^st 1960. TIROS stands for Television Infrared Observation Satellites 

TIROS 1 was an experimental weather satellite built by NASA and would operate until June 1960 when an electoral fault occurred and the probe failed. 

 Although the pictures it sent back are poor by the standards of today it showed what could be done to help people predict the weather today.

                                                        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 award-winning 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 Moon and Jupiter, April 2nd and 3rd

 The crescent Moon will be dancing with the largest planet in the solar system Jupiter again this month. On April 2^nd the crescent moon can be seen to the side of Jupiter in the western sky. 

This serenade will continue because on the following night, April 3rd the Moon will have glided past Jupiter and can be seen above the planet.

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

A little ramble through Antlia the Air Pump

 The first of our modern constellations Antlia the Air Pump, and I am afraid it is a very poor example of a constellation as many of the modern ones are. When astronomers refer to modern constellations, they are referring to ones that were created in the 1500s, 1600, or 1700s, compared to what is referred to as classical constellations which have existed for several thousand years.

In theory Antlia can be seen from Britain very low in the sky during spring evenings but as there are no bright stars it is difficult to find.

We owe the formation of this constellation to the French astronomer Abbe Nicolaus de la Caille (1713-1762) who is frequently encountered in connection with certain constellations in the southern sky. He travelled to the Cape of Good Hope in 1750 to chart the southern heavens and in 1763 produced a catalogue of over 10,000 stars which was published posthumously. The catalogue itself was very important it’s just a shame that most of his constellations were not.

He would introduce 14 new constellations to the sky, all in the southern sky and sadly they are all faint and obscure groups and many of them represent what were at the time modern instruments. I can understand why he was trying to promote these new scientific inventions; it is such a shame that the constellations he produced were not bright and spectacular and do not reflect the true scientific importance of the scientific instruments. Antlia was originally called Machine Pneumatique.

With this being a modern constellation there are no myths or legends associated with it.

There were originally 48 constellations the number has now increased to 88 many of these modern constellations are made up of faint stars just to fill in the gaps between the main constellations. Many do have modern sounding names. Abbe Nicolaus de la Caille is guilty of this.

The air pump was created to honour Robert Boyle’s invention of the air pump around 1660.

Antlia can be seen very low in the sky during spring evenings from Britain however there are no bright stars in the constellation, you would need a very clear southern horizon and a very clear sky to be in with a chance of seeing any stars in Antlia. To locate Antila you would need to look below the constellation of the Hydra which is itself a faint constellation. I remember when I lived in the south of England, I did look for the stars of Antlia a few times, but I never saw any.

The brightest star, alpha has magnitude or brightness of only 4.2 the star has no name and is hardly visible to the naked eye even under the best of conditions. It is a K class giant star meaning that it is cooler than the Sun. It is 320 light years away. The other stars in Antlia are even fainter.

Even from the southern hemisphere where it is naturally much higher in the sky there is little to remark about Antlia. If you observed from the southern hemisphere where in theory it is easier to see, the sky will have to be clear any mist or moonlight or light pollution would make Antlia impossible to see.

Antlia is an example of one of these faint and quite irrelevant constellations which if it was removed from the star maps and its stars were transferred to nearby classical constellations no one would notice. However, it has survived all the changes to the lists of constellations over the centuries and was included in the list of constellations defined in 1930 by the International Astronomical Union. This means that you can still find Antlia on all-star charts.

 

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James Nasmyth and his 1858 Thomas Cooke telescope

 

 James Nasmyth 1808-1890 Scottish engineer, philosopher and inventor of the Steam Hammer was also very interested in astronomy and when he retired from business in 1856 he moved to Penshurst in Kent to follow his hobby of astronomy. 

In 1858 he purchased an 8 inch Cooke and Sons telescope which was complete in every respect possible. The telescope cost £600.  Today that would be over £95,000

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Eclipse of the Moon in 1856 seen with a Cooke telescope at Hove

 

Brighton Gazette Thursday 16^th October 1856

ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. THE EDITOR THE BRIGHTON GAZETTE. Sir,—-

 

Perhaps the following description of the beautiful lunar eclipse that took place on Monday, as seen from Howell’s observatory, at Hove, may not be uninteresting to some of your readers.

 

The moon was shinning with intense brightness over the sea, in a cloudless sky, S. E by S., and at an elevation of about 45 degrees, when, punctual to the predicted time, 9h. 21m., a slight diminution of light was evident on the eastern limb of our satellite, like a very faint wash of Indian ink, and after little a while she advanced in her easterly course, dipping into the earth’s shadow, this latter appeared like a small dent in the moon’s side, gradually growing deeper and wider, until a large piece seemed to have been actually eaten away. At this time the indented part could not he distinguished from the surrounding ebon sky, but about half an hour from the commencement, carefully looking through Howell’s equatorial for the obscured portion, I could plainly distinguish it, clearly defined by a sharp edge and of a delicate roseate hue, and which, on my drawing their attention to it, was also seen by Captain Shay and the other gentleman present. As the eclipse proceeded and more of the moon’s disc became covered by the earth s umbra, the red color grew much stronger, pervading, though with unequal intensity, the whole portion of the disc on which the shadow was advancing like a smoky haze, with a very flat curved outline. In advance of the curved and coppery umbra a variable band of bluish tint gradually came into view, sometimes very light, which continued until the period of deepest immersion (l1h. 54m.), when a very small portion of the moon’s upper limb remained visible, and of a yellowish green colour. For a quarter of an hour the moon remained almost entirely buried in the earth’s shadow, but still visible, the larger portion being of coppery glow, but towards the upper limb dissolving into orange, this again into blue, and the very small segment at the top into yellowish green. The appearance of the moon was now very peculiar, like a transparent body crossed by coloured zones, parallel to our horizon.

 

As time proceeded, the moon was seen slowly rising above the shadow (at one time looking like a crescent with its horns turned downward), and as more of the illumined surface came into view the colours gradually faded away, in reverse order, until the finally disappeared at 27 minutes after midnight, at the south-west edge of the disc, the obscuration having lasted just three hours six minutes. The obscuration of the moon made a very perceptible difference to the brilliancy of Jupiter, situated about to the west, and also to that of the stars which shone brightly all around, and two small ones within 15 degrees of the Moon itself. For a short time after eleven o’clock few clouds passed over the moon, and then the sky remained clear again to the end.

 

A total eclipse of the moon occurred some years ago, when, contrary to the expectation of several of us who were observing it, the moon’s disc remained visible as an ill-defined circle of coppery red, even when completely buried in the earth’s shadow. Remembering this made me desirous of watching the eclipse of last night, to see whether any similar phenomena would be displayed during a partial obscuration, and which I expected, because the eclipse was so nearly total. The appearances presented last night could be seen with the naked eye; but through the telescope we could also see the whole surface of the moon, and plainly distinguish the various spots, lines, and circular ranges of mountains so well known to astronomers.

 

The cause of the singular and beautiful appearances witnessed by last night was the refraction and decomposition of the sun’s light in passing through the earth’s atmosphere; but those desirous of investigating the subject will find it fully explained, on mathematical principles, in Herschell’s Outlines of Astronomy, sections 421, 422, 423, and 425. BARCLAY PHILLIPS. 75, Lansdowne Place, Brighton,

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.oc.uk

A little ramble through Andromeda

 Andromeda is an easy constellation to find. It is found in the autumn sky. It is also involved in probably the most famous mythological story.

Andromeda is the princess linked with the story of Perseus and the Medusa plus Cassiopeia, Cepheus and Cetus (Kraken). Andromeda is depicted in the sky chained to a rock, however needless to say the pattern is nothing like a princess.

In mythology Andromeda is the daughter of queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus, Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids these were 50 charming daughters of Nereus the wise old man of the sea. This was a decidedly tactless thing to say, offended by Cassiopeia’s remarks they complained to their protector the sea god, Neptune. 

In anger Poseidon struck the water with his trident flooding the lands of the Palestine coast and calling up from the deep the sea monster the Kraken or Cetus. (There could be a basis in truth here because the great flood could have been caused by a meteor strike 3,700 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean. The meteor crashed into where Austria is found but chunks could have fallen off into the sea causing the flood).

Cepheus consulted the oracle as to how to save his kingdom and was told that his land could only be saved if his daughter Andromeda was sacrificed to the monster. Accordingly, Andromeda was chained to rocks near Joppa.  Jaffa is the modern name for (Joppa) The name Joppa appears for the first time in the list of cities that Thutmose III captured (15th century BC). The legend of Andromeda being bound to the rock was first associated with Joppa by Strabo (1st century A.D.).

 With Andromeda chained to the rocks and the monster appearing everything seemed lost, however at the very last-minute Perseus riding the winged horse Pegasus appeared on the scene. He had just killed the Medusa. Anyone looking at Medusa would turn to stone. By chance Perseus still had the head of the medusa with him, he showed it to the monster who turned to stone. Perseus then landed and rescued Andromeda. They were married and lived happily ever after. All these characters can be found in the night sky.

Although we know the Greek version of the story of andromeda goes back to the Babylonian Epic of Creation much earlier than the Greeks, this would probably be the basis of the story of andromeda. In some editions of the Alfonsine Tables and the Almagest she is Alamac which is the star marked as gamma on star maps of andromeda. The Alfonsine Tables were produced in Toledo in Spain under the auspices of Alfonso X of Castile 1221- 1284 CE, the Almagest was written by the Greek astronomy Ptolemy around 150 CE and recorded all Greek science and astronomy up to that date. The Almagest is the Arabic name for Ptolemy’s book.

The idea of using the Greek alphabet to label stars in constellations was introduced by the German astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603 on his Uranometria star atlas. The idea was that the brightest star would be alpha the first letter of the alphabet, then the second brightest star would be beta all the way down to omega the 24^th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Sometimes the system works and sometimes it doesn’t. People have asked me why, I simply don’t know.

Arabic astronomers over a thousand years ago portrayed the constellation not as a maiden chained to a rock but as a seal chained to a rock.

We start with something of a mystery in andromeda.  Starting with alpha or Alpheratz which is also sometimes called Sirrah which means the Horses Navel. This name clearly has nothing at all to do with a maiden chained to a rock.

Most of the star names you will see on star charts today are Arabic.

For some reason in 1930 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) the controlling body of world astronomers decided to standardise the constellation boundaries which had never been accurately defined. We still use the constellation borders that were introduced in 1930 today. The IAU decided to move one of the stars from the square of Pegasus to the neighbouring constellation of Andromeda.

 Therefore, delta Pegasus whose name is Alpheratz and was the top left-hand star of the square became alpha Andromedae.  This star is not unique there are many examples of stars getting transfers from one constellation to another. 

The other main stars in Andromeda are marked by a rather irregular line from the square of the Pegasus pointing from the top left-hand corner of the square of Pegasus towards the constellation of Perseus. In order they are alpha or Alpheratz, delta, Mirach or beta, and Almach or gamma.

Alpheratz itself is a double star lying at 97 light years from Earth. There is a third star that was discovered by William Herschel on July 21^st, 1781. However, this star is not part of the system merely a line-of-sight effect which makes it look like a companion star to Alpheratz.  Herschel was the astronomer who discovered the planet Uranus on March 13^th March 1781, Its brightness is ranked as magnitude 2.0 which is the same brightness as the North Star and therefore can easily be seen with the naked eye.

Alpheratz is much hotter than our Sun, it is a spectral class B star with a surface temperature of around 11,500 degrees compared to the 5,800 degrees of our Sun which is a G class star.

If we continue our line of stars that form andromeda from the square of Pegasus the next star along is the fainter star, delta andromeda. This star does not have a name, it’s worth pointing out that only the brighter stars tend to have names.

Delta which is the faintest star in this line of stars only has a magnitude  of 3.3 it appears as just one star to the naked eye however there are in fact three stars that make up this system. The other two stars can only be observed by using an instrument called a spectroscope. The star that we can see with our eyes is 105 light years away. This star is much cooler than our Sun it is classed as a K class giant star.

If we continue along this line of stars the next one, we reach is Beta or Mirach which means a girdle in Arabic and the star’s position marks the left hip of the princess. A much older Babylonian name for the star is Kamushikeu which means the Deleter.

Mirach is a single M class red giant star larger but cooler than the Sun with a surface temperature of around 3,500 degrees. It appears that from a study in 2023 that there might be a close companion object to Mirach not a planet but possibly a brown dwarf or a kind of failed star.

Beta or Mirach is also of magnitude 2.0 and can be used as a guide to find the Andromeda Galaxy. A line drawn upwards and slightly to the right from the star Mirach leads to the faint star Mu then slightly further along to Nu Then just to the right of Nu if the night is very clear and you are away from city light year will be able to see a little smudge of light in the sky. This is the Andromeda Galaxy. The Arab astronomers 1,000 years ago knew of the galaxy because in 905 Al Sufi described it as the ‘Little Cloud’ in Andromeda.

The first record of a telescopic observation we have from Europe is in 1612 from the German astronomer, Simon Marius who described the soft glow to the light of a candle shining through horn. 

Until the 1920s it was referred to as the Andromeda Nebula because it was assumed to be in our galaxy, which we refer to as the Milky Way, however in 1923 Edwin Hubble after whom the space telescope is named realised that the Andromeda nebula was another galaxy lying outside our own Milky Way Galaxy. It was Hubble who made the universe much bigger when he placed the Andromeda Galaxy not 700,000 light years away but over 2 million light years away. Today astronomers generally agree that the Andromeda Galaxy lies at around 2.5 million light years.

In 1885 a nova which is a binary system that throws of shell of gas into space and brightens up, hence its name nova which is Latin for new was seen in front of the andromeda galaxy.  Astronomers today realise that this was not a nova but a supernova. This is a star that destroys itself in a massive explosion. The term supernova was first used by astronomers Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky in 1931.

What the astronomers had observed in 1885 was the first ever telescopic observations of an extra galactic supernova. In 1885 when astronomers thought it was just an ordinary nova it was given the variable star designation of S Andromeda.

There has only been one ordinary nova discovered in andromeda that was discovered in December 1986. It has since been given the designation of OS Andromeda.

A pair of binoculars will show it easily as a fuzzy patch in the sky.

The Andromeda Galaxy is the most distant object you can see with the naked eye at 2.5 million light years away.

Andromeda is larger than our galaxy and in about 3.5 billion years’ time the two galaxies will pass through each other!

The last star that forms this main line of stars of andromeda is gamma or Almach which means in Arabic either a small animal or the left foot of andromeda. It’s a double star with the companion star being discovered by the German astronomer Johann Tobias Mayer in 1778.

Almach also has a magnitude of 2.0 and  is a K class giant star cooler than the Sun with a surface temperature of 3,900 degrees and is 390 light years away.

There is also a meteor shower associated with andromeda, The Andromedids. Many people refer to meteors as shooting stars. They have nothing at all to do with stars they are tiny grains of dust burning up as the meteor enters the atmosphere of the Earth.  A comet is essentially a giant snowball travelling around the Sun leaving a trail of dust behind it.  If the Earth happens to pass through the trail of dust left by a comet we see a meteor shower.

This comet was first discovered in 1772 and is the first comet that allowed us to identify the link between comets and meteors.

In 1845 comet Biela was observed to break up. From that point on, it could not be observed again. There were then spectacular meteor outbursts in November1872 when 10,000 meteors per hour were seen and in November 1885 when 6,000 meteors per hour were seen. Today sadly there are only a very few Andromedid meteors ween every year.

With the breakup of comet Biela and the massive meteor showers in 1872 and 1885 astronomers were able to confirm the link between comets and meteors.

 

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Moon of Jupiter observed in wrong pace with a Cooke telescope in 1868

 The Rev R J Gould at Mortimer Vicarage in Reading using a 5 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons of York telescope and was observing Jupiter on October 7^th 1868 at 11h and 43 mins when he noticed an error in the Nautical Almanac on page 480. 

It stated that the 3^rd satellite will be on the west side of its primary in company with the 2^nd and 4^th; The fact was that it was on the east side with satellite number 1. The places of 2 and 4 were right enough but number 3 was certainly not so. 

Gould goes on to say that we have no right to expect even the Nautical almanac to be absolutely free from errors and misprints, but I should like to know whether others have observed this or whether it can be shown to have been a mistake on the part of myself.

 During the following days several observers confirmed Gould’s observations that the satellite was in the wrong place.

                                                       www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

A Cooke telescope for Old Trafford in 1856

I have come across a reference to a Rev Thomas Buckley of Old Trafford Manchester whom in 1856 purchased a portable 3.5 inch Thomas Cooke telescope for £50. I have not been able to discover any references to observations he might have made with the Cooke telescope. 

I have little information regarding Buckley other than he appears to be the Honorary Secretary of the school for deaf children in Old Trafford. The school was built in 1860 and adjoins the Botanic Gardens in Old Trafford

                                                          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 award winning 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.

Photographs of the Moon taken from York in 1853 with a Cooke telescope

John Phillips 1800-1874 was an eminent geologist. He would become the first keeper of the Yorkshire Museum which was built by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society in 1829, he also had a great interest in astronomy and photography. 

He brought a Thomas Cooke 6.25 inch telescope in 1852 which he set up in the  Museum Gardens and in 1853 took some of the earliest photographs of the Moon. He was a keen observer of the Moon and the Sun. He used the 6.25 inch Cooke to observe both objects. 

He left the Yorkshire Museum in York around 1854 and moved to work at the University of Oxford firstly as deputy reader in geology and then in 1856 he became professor of Geology. 

He was still using the 6.25 inch in the early 1860s, but as with so many Victorian telescopes after his death in 1874 it just disappeared.

                                           www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

 

 

Comet Morehouse observed from Australia with a Cooke telescope in 1909

 

James Nangle observed comet Morehouse on March 19^th 1909 form his observatory at Marrickville New South Wales. He had a 6.25 inch Cooke telescope. 

Nangle described the comet as having a long tail that was distinctly seen. He said that the telescope was not that well equipped for studying comets as the lowest power on the 6.25 inch Cooke was 150 magnification. With this power the comet was a very unsatisfactory object, the head only being slightly visible, and that an indistinctly defined mass showing a bright condensation at the centre. 

James Nangle 1868-1941 would go on to become Government Astronomer for New South Wales in 1926. One point of interest about the 6.25 inch telescope is that Nangle refers to the lens of his telescope being made by the elder Cooke. This suggests that this is a pre 1857 telescope made before the firm became Cooke & Sons. It also suggests that the telescope was made for someone in the UK and then made its way to Australia. 

In 1910 Nangle worked out that to reduce the glare of an object he was looking at it was useful to place a piece of mosquito netting in front of the lens. Simple but effective!!

                                                     www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk

Alcuin the astronomical monk form York and Charlemagne king of the Franks

 This year 2025 is the 1290 anniversary of the birth of Alcuin one of the greatest Saxon scholars, Alcuin (735-804) was born in Northumbria possibly in York itself in 735, he would go on to become one of the best sources of information during the latter part of the eighth century. Alcuin would be described as the most learned person of his time. The young Alcuin went to the cathedral church school of York. The school become a centre of excellence with people flocking from far and wide to study there. The school would become the Minster School in York which closed in 2020.  It was founded in 627 by Paulinus of York the first archbishop of York. He was sent by the Pope in 601 to Christianise the Anglo Saxons.

It was here in York that Alcuin became a monk and teacher. Within the monastic world he was able to gain access to magnificent libraries, he wrote educational manuals and copied classical texts including those of the great scientists of Greece, it was here that Alcuin became interested in astronomy.

At this period of history monasteries were becoming the centres of learning. They would assume great power because knowledge is power and there was lots of knowledge in monasteries. This is often referred to as the Dark Ages which it wasn’t. There was lots of scientific learning going on. This learning was happening not in Europe it was in the Arabic world with places like Baghdad and Damascus becoming the scientific centres of the world.

In 781Alcuin was sent to Rome and on his return while travelling across Europe he met Charlemagne who was King of the Franks and emperor of what we call today the Carolingian Empire.

Charlemagne ruled a vast amount of western Europe. He would introduce things that would have a major impact on medieval Europe. However, what a lot of people won’t know is that Charlemagne was fascinated by astronomy, the movements of the stars and planets, and Sun and Moon. And then suddenly he was meeting someone who had a great deal of knowledge in astronomy. And luckily for science and astronomy they got on well together.

Charlemagne would build a great palace and library at Aachen it was here that Alcuin would teach Charlemagne and his son Louis at the palace school in Aachen. Charlemagne was able to follow the movements of the stars and studied them carefully with the help of Alcuin.

One of the books that would come into the possession of Charlemagne was a work produced by the Greek poet Aratus 310 BCE- 240 BCE during the period of classical Greek science. Aratus was a poet rather than a scientist, so his drawings had a very artistic rather than scientific nature. However, the work did describe what the constellations looked like.  The images are based on 38 small drawings. This work today is known as the Leiden Aratea because it is stored at the Leiden University library in the Netherlands. The artistic interpretations of the constellations are well known to astronomers today, however because this is an artistic interpretation the stars are not in their correct positions.

Alcuin because of his access to great libraries would have been aware of this work and he possibly knew of the Frankish churchman and poet called Modiun of Autun  770-840/3 which is in east central France. When Modiun tried to find favour with Charlemagne and then Louis the Pious, he wrote a poem talking about the star constellations and how if they were reproduced by Charlemagne he would be compared to the great scholars and philosophers of the  classical period of Greek civilisations of antiquity.   This poem would have helped Alcuin in trying to persuade Charlemagne to get the star maps re produced for future astronomers.

If it had not been for Alcuin encouraging Charlemagne to set up the great library at Aachen, then many books including scientific ones would have been lost to history. In astronomy in particular the wonderful Leiden Aratea constellations images would probably never have been reproduced and could possibly have been lost for ever. Astronomy owes a lot to Alcuin and to Charlemagne.

It was not just in the field of science that Alcuin worked he also in his education work he introduced his student to grammar, and it believed that Alcuin invented the question mark, although it did not look like the question mark of today.

Sadly, neither Alcuin nor Charlemagne would live to see the Aratea reproduced. Alcuin died on 19th May 804 CE. The constellations themselves were produced probably near Aachen around 816 CE and even Charlemagne never saw this work being completed as he died in 814 CE. The work was completed sometime in 816 by Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious.

Alcuin’s legacy in York is such that one of the colleges at the University of York is named Alcuin College.

The work that was being produced by Alcuin during the Carolingian period was just before the great period of Arabic astronomy which began around 830. The following 500 years would see most of the develops in astronomy and science come from Arabic astronomers living in such places such as Baghdad and Damascus. 

 

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A Storm Inspires Britain’s Favourite Hymn - Amazing Grace

Astronomy and Weather often go together and although I am an astronomer I sometimes like to talk about weather related events and here is one such story.

A furious Atlantic storm on March 21^st 1748 so frightens John Newton, aboard a slave trader returning to Ireland, that he prays for divine mercy. Referring to his great deliverance in 1772 Newton now a minister and ardent abolitionist  writes of his salvation in a hymn co written with the poet William Cowper. 

The hymn Amazing Grace becomes one of the most popular hymn in the English language.

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Snow on Mars seen from Liverpool with a Cooke telescope in 1865

 Mr Joynson of Liverpool on the opposition of Mars in 1865 using a Thomas Cooke and Sons 6 inch telescope which had a focal length of 7 feet and 6 inches and with eyepiece powers from100 tom 550, he also used a Barlow lens up to 1,100. 

Joynson found that no increase of power altered the aspect of Mars, nor did he detect any difference in the markings of Mars since 1862. The snow at the Noth Pole was not visible in 1864. In 1865 the snow at the pole was not so surprisingly marked as usual, and a nearly equatorial belt was very prominent.

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Frederick Longbottom ,a Thomas Cooke telescope and the formation of Chester Astronomical Society

Mr Frederick Longbottom 1850-1933 was born in Scarborough the family would move to Worcestershire where they would become hop merchants.  When he retired he was able to devote much more time to his favourite hobby, astronomy. 

He had a 6 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons telescope which he had before 1896 because he took it with him to Norway to try to observe the eclipse of the Sun. He also went on eclipse trips to Algiers in 1900 and Spain in 1905. He was at Giggleswick for the 1927 eclipse of the Sun. He helped to form the Chester Astronomical Society.

 He eventually left the north of England and settled in Boscombe in Hampshire and it was from here that Longbottom was able in early June 1928 to see the planet Mercury in the day time sky using the 6 inch telescope.

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Thomas Cooke telescope for a bank in LIverpool

 James Leigh 1838- 1895 was born in Liverpool was a banker by profession, and from 1876 until his death he was the manager of the Metropolitan Bank of England and Wales. He was particularly interested in observing the Moon  and double stars. 

He had a 4 inch Thomas Cooke and Sons telescope and his address was given as Bank, King Street Liverpool.

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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 award winning 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.

Edward Pigott 1753-1825 one of the Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy

 Edward’s branch of the Pigott family can be traced back to Adam Pigott who died in 1737, it was Adam Pigott and James Allen who in 1678 negotiated a lease from the Duke of Bedford for the construction of Covent Garden Market. Edward’ s grandfather Ralph married Alethea daughter of William eighth viscount Fairfax of Emley and owner of Gilling Castle in Yorkshire. You need to remember Gilling Castle it will come into our story later.

Ralph’s son Nathaniel was the father of Edward and was also an astronomer, but their characters were very different. Their story could resemble an astronomical soap opera.  Edward could be described as someone who was not phased by anything or anyone and was always a calm character. He never appeared to get flustered and was always very generous when working with colleagues. He also was someone who knew everyone who was anyone in the field of astronomy.

Nathaniel will be the bad guy in the story as will become apparent later. It was probably due to this that Edward was much closer to his mother Anna Mathurine De Beriot of Javingue, which was then in the Austrian Netherlands. Today this area is northwester and central Belgium and most of Luxembourg.

Edward was born possibly in Whitton in Middlesex in 1753 and went to Thomas Plunket’s school in Hammersmith and apparently learned nothing. The Pigott’s were the poor relations of the landed Fairfax’s of Gilling in Yorkshire the Pigott’s would lead somewhat of a vagrant life. They stayed in rented property in parts of Britain and on the continent either with family or friends. Edward lived with his parents in France from 1763-1771.

Edward Pigott

Edward’s father Nathaniel was also an accomplished surveyor as well as an  astronomer although it is unclear how he became interested in the subject. It was this interest in astronomy that must have impressed the young Edward. Nathaniel had purchased some of the best telescopes available at that time. Nathaniel with the help of Edward observed the partial eclipse of the Sun on August 16th, 1765, in France.

While in France they also observed the transit of Venus on June 3rd, 1769. Transits of Venus are very rare and only 7 have been observed since the invention of the telescope in 1608. A transit occurs when a planet closer to the Sun the Earth can be seen passing over the disk of the Sun. The only planets that can do this are Mercury and Venus. The last transits of Venus were in 2004 and 2012 I was lucky enough to see the 2004 transit the next will not be until 2117 and 2125.

In 1771 both Nathaniel and Edward were in Britain visiting both London and Gilling Castle which greatly impressed Nathaniel. Edward caused some interest because of his dress code, having spent a large part of his life in France he dressed in the French fashion with a large, brimmed hat, fluff collars and cuffs and long flowing coats. This very colourful style of dress was not usually seen in conservative Britain.

In 1772 the Pigott’s met representatives of the Austrian Netherlands government through various contacts they had with the Brussels Imperial Academy. They were asked to work out geographically the locations of the principal cities within the Austrian Netherlands. This was accomplished by determining the positions of buildings and towns in relation to the known positions of certain celestial objects.

In 1773 Lord Fairfax of Gilling died and his property passed to his elderly and unmarried daughter, Lady Anne Fairfax. It was her chaplain John Bolton who managed the estate but in 1775 when Nathaniel Pigott settled at Gilling that the problems really started. Nathaniel Pigott wanted to manage the estates of his cousin, with a view to owning the estate. He managed to persuade her to go to London while she was unwell and let him run the estate. He made her sign some articles of agreement which would give Pigott £250 per year to manage the estate. Nathaniel was not a particularly nice person, and he would make life difficult for anyone who got in the way of his plans. In this case owning the Gilling Castle Estate. He did his very best to discredit John Bolton who was a great supporter of Lady Anne Fairfax at  every opportunity.

It was at this time that the Pigott’s stayed briefly with another relative Lady Widdrington at Wickhill House near Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire. They then moved to another of the Pigott estates and to Frampton Hall near Llantwit Major in Glamorganshire where an observatory was built. The observatory was lavishly equipped with no less than 4 telescopes plus other astronomical equipment for recording the positions of the stars and clocks for working out the time for their locality.

It was now that Edward’s career in astronomy would really begin having assisted his father in making observations of the night sky while in France, he had acquired a good knowledge of the sky and how to make and record observations.

However bizarrely they set to work not on an astronomical problem but on a problem on the width of the River Severn. The maps that were produced at the time indicated the width of the river between Llantwit and Watchet on the Somerset shore was between 20 to 21 miles. The Pigott using their knowledge of the positions of the stars and mathematics worked out that the River Severn at this point was only 13 miles wide. This went a long way to explain why some many ships were running around in the area.

Edward now turned his attention to astronomy and to the stars,  while at Frampton House he discovered a nebula in the constellation of Coma Berenices.

 

Coma Berenices or Berenices Hair is a faint constellation with no bright stars.  The constellation can be found when the sky is clear but if there is any haze around, the area will appear blank.

 

Edward Pigott made this discovery on the 23rd of March 1779 twelve days before the German astronomer Johann Bode saw the nebula. This nebula that Pigott had discovered was in fact a spiral shaped galaxy lying at around 17 million light years from Earth.

The galaxy the Pigott had discovered is known today as the Black Eye Galaxy, it is so named because there is a lot of dust between us and the central part of the galaxy which is very bright but the dust blocking the light makes it look as if the galaxy has a black eye.

In 1781 the Pigott’s moved to York there was great expectations of Nathaniel taking over the running of what was left of the Gilling estate. They moved to a house in Bootham near Bootham Bar. They built an observatory consisting of two octagonal rooms on top of each other. The observatory was 14 feet in diameter and was completed in May 1781 it was one of the most well-equipped observatories in the country.

Edward wrote to William Herschel who was a good friend regarding his move to York, however in March 1781 Herschel had stunned the astronomical world when he discovered the planet, we now call Uranus from his home in Bath using a telescope that he made himself. It was completely unexpected, there were five known planets, the Sun and Moon which made the mystical number of seven. The discovery made Herschel the most famous astronomer of this time.

Edward’s connections in the world of science were about to be used to the fullest as it was by good fortune that in 1781 John Goodricke would join him in York and their astronomical adventures were about to begin. They had both already been observing a star in Perseus call Algol or the Winking Demon.

Most of the star names are Arabic and Algol means the winking demon. The star varies in brightness so is classified as a variable star. This variability was discovered by the Italian astronomer Montanari in 1669. The name Algol or winking demon suggests that maybe the Arab astronomers of a 1,000 years ago thought it varied in brightness although we have no proof of this.

Edward Pigott and John Goodricke would become the fathers off Variable Star Astronomy. This was because they were the pioneers in this field of astronomical research into variable stars. They worked together in York between 1781 -1786 until the early death of Goodricke at the age of 22. Goodricke was deaf but there was absolutely nothing wrong with his thinking processes.

John Goodricke observed from the Treasurer’ House in York and Edward Pigott from his observatory in Bootham in York around about a quarter of a mile away.

They noticed that the changes in light variation were very regular. They noted that it changed brightness in just under every three days before returning to normal brightness. The cycle then repeated itself regularly. The whole cycle could be followed by the naked eye. In other words, no telescope was needed to follow the light changes in the star.

It appears as if both Goodricke and Pigott suggested that there were two objects orbiting each other and eclipsing each other and causing the light changes in the Algol. They were correct. It would be about 100 years later that astronomers could prove their theory to be correct.

Astronomers today use this same principle when they notice tiny changes in light from stars suggesting that there might be an object or planet passing in front of the star and therefore orbiting that star. Of over 4,000 exoplanets or planets that are known to orbit other stars around 1,000 have been used using this method.

Goodricke and Pigott were over 200 years ahead of their time with their thinking.

Although Goodricke gets most of the praise it was a joint effort, Pigott because of all his astronomical contacts made sure that the work that Goodricke was published.   Goodricke was only 19 years old and unknown while Pigott through his contacts knew everyone worth knowing in the field of astronomy. Pigott seemed to be quite content for Goodricke to get the praises.

He encouraged Goodricke to send his paper to London where in 1783 the paper on the star Algol was read to the Royal Society. It bought him instant recognition throughout the astronomical world and would lead to him being presented with the Copley Medal the most prestigious award that could be given to a scientist.

They continued to observe the stars and in November 1783 Edward Pigott would become the first person to discover a comet from York and the first Englishman to have a comet he discovered named after him.

September 10^th, 1784 would become a night to remember in York when both Edward Pigott and John Goodricke each discovered a new variable star. Edward Pigott discovered the star eta Aquila varied while John Goodricke discovered the variability of beta Lyra. Until this point in time only 5 variable stars were known to astronomers, here on one night a further two were added to that list.

This would be Pigott’s last astronomical discovery in York, in 1785 he left for a two-year visit to France and while he was away, John Goodricke died. On his return he stayed in York until 1793 when his mother died, and he then moved to the city of Bath. He them returned to studying the night sky. In 1795 he would discover two more variable stars, R Corona Borealis and R Scutum.

I just need to finish off the story of Gilling Castle because Lady Anne Fairfax died in 1793 with Nathaniel Pigott becoming owner of Gilling Castle an act or Parliament was needed to allow the Pigott family to take the Fairfax name and inherit the castle. This was done in 1802 and Nathaniel decided that his second son Charles Gregory should inherit Gilling Castle rather than his eldest son Edward. Nathaniel would die in 1804.

In 1802 during the treaty of Amiens between Britian and France Pigott returned to France to meet friends. This was possibly not the best thing to do because in 1804 war broke out again and he was placed under house arrest in Fontainebleau. He was released in 1806 after British and French scientists had petitioned the French government for his release. He was given safe passage back to Calais under instructions by Napoleon.

On his return to England, he carried on with his astronomy and a new passion the study Phycology or Seaweed a subject in which he became something of an expert.

He made some observations of the great comet of 1811 but as he said to his great friend Sir William Herschel in 1821, he was getting older and finding it more difficult to move around.

Edward Pigott died in the 27^th June 1825 in the city of Bath, in accordance with his wishes his body was transported to Bridlington where he was to buried next to his mother in Bridlington Priory.

  

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Edward Pigott and the discovery of R Scutum in 1795

This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of Edward Pigott one of the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ this was a title I gave him and the deaf astronomer John Goodricke who between 1781-1786 would make incredible advances in the discovery and study of the branch of astronomy we know of today as variable stars.

 Pigott was born in Whitton, west London in 1753 and died on June 27th, 1825. His life would make an incredible soap opera story, but much more of that later.

Edward Pigott

Here is another of a series of highlights from his incredible career.

The year 1795 was a busy one for Edward Pigott and his search for variable stars. He had already identified the star R Corona Borealis to be a variable star and now he was about to discover another one. R Scutum.

In the 18^th century at the time of Edward Pigott this star was in the constellation known to him as Sobieski ‘s Shield. This constellation is a modern constellation compared to the ancient Greek ones. It was Johannes Hevelius the Polish astronomer who created the constellation in 1684 to commemorate the victory of King John Sobieski over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Today the constellation is simply known as Scutum the Shield.

Pigott said that there are very few stars in the constellation and that this star was not recorded by Hevelius. This would suggest that Hevelius created the constellation the star was at its faintest and therefore not seen by Hevelius.

Looking at his notes he first saw R Scutum in September 1795 and quickly realised that it changed in brightness. He believed it had a period of around 63 days, a period he would have worked out towards the end of 1795. and varied in brightness between magnitude 5 and magnitude 7.8. Unlike R CrB which faded from view when at its faintest Pigott could follow this star through its cycle of light changes.

Pigott would observe R Scutum through until October 1801. I assume that because he could follow the complete cycle it was easier to study than R CrB which was far more irregular in nature and at its faintest disappeared.

Today astronomers recognise R Scutum as a RV Taurus type of variable star. Strangely though R Scutum is brighter than the named star of this type. These stars vary in a regular and irregular way and are not very well understood. Astronomers today are still trying to work out makes these stars tick. 

Astronomers today know that R Scutum varies between magnitude 4.2 to 8.6 so Pigott’s estimate of magnitude 5 and 7.8 was close to modern day estimates. However, one area that Pigott got wrong was the length of time it took the star to vary in brightness, he thought it was 63 days we know today it is around 146 days

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Edward Pigott and the discovery of R Corona Borealis in 1795

This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of Edward Pigott one of the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ this was a title I gave him and the deaf astronomer John Goodricke who between 1781-1786 would make incredible advances in the discovery and study of the branch of astronomy we know of today as variable stars.

 Pigott was born in Whitton, west London in 1753 and died on June 27th, 1825. His life would make an incredible soap opera story, but much more of that later.

Edward Pigott

Here is another of a series of highlights from his incredible career.

Following the death of his friend and colleague John Goodricke in York in 1786, Edward Pigott finally decided to leave York and move to the city of Bath in1793. He would soon start looking for variable stars.

One of the stars he was following was in the constellation of Corona Borealis the Northern Crown. This star which we recognise today as the star R Corona Borealis (RcB) is the prototype star of a group of only about 150 stars of this type. 

Pigott started observing the star from July 1783 while he was in York, by the spring of 1795 he was able to confirm that it varies in brightness. He would continue to monitor the star through 1796. When at its maximum brightness it was of the 6^th magnitude just about visible to the naked eye under the very best of condition but when at its faintest it was invisible in Pigott’s telescope. Pigott identifies this period of light variation taking around ten and a half months.

Pigott stated that although it was not in the catalogue of John Flamsteed of 1725 it  was listed in the star atlas of Johann Bayer from 1603 as being of the 6^th magnitude. This would suggest that it was at its brightest when Bayer produced his star atlas.

Pigott noted that when R CrB was either fading or brightening it did so at an uneven rate. This was different to the stars Algol and eta Aquila that he had observed, the light curve on a graph of Algol and eta Aquila were very smooth while that of R CrB was more jagged. He was very curious to the fact that it disappeared for a period before re appearing. He believed that further observations would be needed to confirm the period of ten and a half months for this star was correct or not.

Today astronomers know that the star will remain at it brightest for many months or even years before fading in brightness. It will then return over a long of time period to its brightest. Pigott was wrong in his calculation that R CrB varied over a period of about ten and a half months. This was simply since he was not able to observe the star for a long enough period to see how irregular the light variations were.

As I mentioned R CrB is the prototype star for this small group of stars. The cooling is caused by a cloud of soot which forms around the star from the condensation of carbon rich dust in the star. As the dust cloud forms the star is masked by this cloud of dust, the brightness of the star is affected, and we see the star fade in brightness. Then when the cloud of soot clears R CrB returns to normal brightness.

R CrB is an old star and is only one of two stars in this class that can be seen with the naked eye the other is RY Sagittarius. All the other stars in this class need telescopes to follow their cycles.

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Edward Pigott discovers a new variable star in the constellation of Antinous now Aquila

This year is the 200th anniversary of the death of Edward Pigott one of the ‘Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy’ this was a title I gave him and the deaf astronomer John Goodricke who between 1781-1786 would make incredible advances in the discovery and study of the branch of astronomy we know of today as variable stars.

 Pigott was born in Whitton, west London in 1753 and died on June 27th, 1825. His life would make an incredible soap opera story, but much more of that later.

Edward Pigott

Here is another of a series of highlights from his incredible career.

I have already indicated how good an observer Edward Pigott was, here is an example of his patient watching of the skies. On September 10^th, 1784, he would discover a new variable star, on the same night John Goodricke would also discover new variable star. Two new variable stars in one night, this certainly was a night to remember in York. Up until now astronomers only knew of 5 other variable stars.

I would like to concentrate on Pigott’s discovery. Since July 17^th, 1783, Pigott had been observing the star we now call eta Aquila. Interestingly it was not always in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle.

The constellation of Antinous had been known since ancient times when the Greeks saw it as Ganymede a youth bought to his lover Zeus by the eagle Aquila. The Romans then changed it to represent a friend of the Roman emperor Hadrian.

The constellation of Antinous was represented by stars immediately below Altair the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle. Eta marked the head the rest of the outline are represented by the star’s sigma, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, nu and delta.

The star that Pigott was observing was eta Antinous, now it is eta Aquila as the stars that made up Antinous were by the later part of the 19th century incorporated in the constellation of Aquila.

The idea of using Greek letters to identify stars in a constellation was introduced by the German astronomer Johann Bayer in 1603. In theory alpha is brightest then beta all the way down to omega which is the 24^th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Sometimes this works and sometimes it does not. If you look at the brightness of star in a constellation alpha is not always the brightest star.

Pigott saw that it varied in a regular fashion rather like Algol in Perseus. With eta around every 7 days the stars faded and then returned to its normal brightness.  Also, like Algol the changes in brightness could be observed with the naked eye, no telescope was needed. He continued to observe the star until December 1784.

In concluding that eta Antinous was like Algol, Pigott was wrong. However, we can hardly blame him for concluding what he did. They simply did not know what was going on inside stars. Both Pigott and Goodrick were taking the view that any star that changed in brightness in a regular way must have an unseen companion going around it.

Today we know that eta Aquila to give its modern designation is a variable star that varies in a very regular way. This is due not to some unseen companion orbiting it but to an internal mechanism. Astronomers have classified eta Aquila as a cepheid variable, these are stars that are used by astronomers to measure distances in space. The first cepheid variable delta Cepheus was discovered in October 1784 by you guessed it, John Goodricke.

This would be Edward Pigott’s last major astronomical discovery in York. In 1785 with his father Nathaniel, they planned to be away for around two years going back to France.  One area that Pigott did want to concentrate on was looking at stars that he called suspect variables. These were stars that needed more observations to confirm if they really did vary in brightness.

His next major contribution would be in 1795 after the death of John Goodricke who died on 1786 and this observation would be made not from York but from the city of Bath.

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