A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Red Stars in 1874

 Academy, Saturday 7^th February 1874 

Mr. Birmingham, of Tuam, has lately been examining the red stars comprised in the list formed by Schjellerup some years ago, and has already communicated some interesting results to the Astronomische Nachrichten and Monthly Notices. He finds curious changes of brightness in some stars, whilst others have disappeared altogether; and his results are confirmed by observations made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

The connection between colour and variability in stars is very curious. It would appear that the red stars are in the condition of a fire dying out, and that the embers are sometimes raised to a white heat by some unknown causes only to die down again in an equally mysterious, manner. We are much in the dark as to the how and the when of many of these changes, but this much we do know, that solid bodies become brighter as they become hotter, and in doing so pass from red through yellow to bluish white. But what is the behaviour of gases under such conditions, is a problem of the immediate future, and it must be remembered that the changes in stars are probably due to gases; so that we are hardly yet in a position to speculate.

 The interesting question remains, whether we can justify a division of variable stars into two classes, the one of short period (a few days), showing the phenomena of rotation or of the interposition of a dark satellite; the other of periods ranging from a month to many years, in which the change has a physical origin. The stars of the latter class are generally red.

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE 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.

 

Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for Cambridge

 In 1867 William Henry Mandeville Ellis of St John’s College, Cambridge purchased a 4 inch Thomas Cooke & Sons telescope. I think that William Ellis was an architect. 

The telescope came with six astronomical, one comet, one eclipse and one terrestrial eyepieces. All the eyepieces had to be packed in a mahogany box.

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A little ramble through Hydrus the Lesser water Snake

 Hydrus the Lesser water snake is located near the south pole and therefore cannot be seen from Britain. It was one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman on their explorations of what would become the Dutch East Indies and today is Indonesia. The constellation first appeared on a 35-cm (14 in) diameter celestial globe published in late 1597 (or early 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603.

This is a smaller southern hemisphere version of the great water snake, Hydra. Hydrus is sandwiched between the two Magellanic clouds and almost bridges the gap between Eridanus and the south celestial pole. The Magellanic clouds are two nearby galaxies that can be seen with the naked eye from the southern hemisphere.  As Hydrus is so far south it was not known to astronomers in Europe or the Middle East and therefore has no old myths or legends attached to it.  Unfortunately, Hydrus is not a very bright constellation.

The brightest star is beta with a magnitude of magnitude 2.8 lying at a distance of only 25 light years. Beta is a G class star.

Alpha is the second brightest star with a magnitude of 2.9, its a F class star lying at a distance of 72 light years.

Located mostly in Dorado the Goldfish, the Large Magellanic Cloud also extends into Hydrus.

There are no bright deep sky objects in Hydrus

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A little ramble through Yorkshire Astronomy - The Devils Arrows at Boroughbridge

We stay with pre historic sites but move from features in the earth to standing stones. Keeping the North Yorkshire theme we travel to a site near Boroughbridge in the Harrogate district. We move forward in time to about 2,000 BCE to discover the Devils Arrows a line of three huge stones sometimes called ‘the three sisters’ there are suggestions that originally there were four stones.

The stones which are made from millstone grit which is  believed to have been quarried at Knaresborough which is around seven miles away and then dragged to their present positions. The stones each weigh around 25 tons so moving them using the technology available 4,000 years ago was no mean feat.

The stones that are still standing are aligned southeast to northwest and they form a line 374 metres long. The stones are between five to six metres high and are sunk into the ground to a depth of about 1.5 metres. The Devils Arrows today are actually less than 200 metres from the A1M motorway.

The name the Devils Arrows only dates back to the 1700s when according to legend the devil threw the stones at the next town which is Aldborough however much to the annoyance of the devil the stones fell short of their intended target and landed near Boroughbridge instead! I am not sure what a town in Yorkshire did to get the devil so annoyed?

As with many of these standing stones across the country there almost certainly was an astronomical connection. I am not sure if anybody is certain just what the connection might be. It certainly is not as clear cut as with the Thornborough Henges and the link with Orion. The fact that they align southeast to northwest suggests a possible link with the Sun and Moon. If as astro-archaeologists believe that there were originally four stones at this site it  could suggest a connection  with the position of the Sun and Moon during the four seasons during the course of the year. I am afraid that as with many of the stone circles and standing stones we will probably never know for certain.

The Devils Arrows like Thornborogh Henges are also listed as Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

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A little ramble through the winter sky - Canis Minor the Lesser Dog

 In mythology it is the smaller of the dogs that follows Orion the Hunter.

 It has only one bright star alpha or Procyon which means ‘Before the Dog’, this is because it rises before Sirius. Procyon is the 8^th brightest star in the sky with a magnitude of 0.3. It is close to the Earth being only 11.5 light years away. It is an F class star meaning its slightly hotter than our Sun.

Procyon forms a very prominent and large triangle with Sirius in Canis Major and Betelgeuse in Orion. This is often referred to as the Winter Triangle.

By a remarkable coincidence both of the dog stars are accompanied by white dwarfs. The pup orbiting Sirius was discovered by Alvan Clark in 1862 when he was testing a new telescope. The white dwarf orbiting Procyon was discovered in 1896 at the Lick observatory using the 36 inch refractor.

White dwarfs are the remains of a star that has used up all its hydrogen fuel and what remains is mostly helium, this makes them super dense objects with a tea spoon weighing many tons.

The only other notable star is beta or Gomeisa which means the ‘Bleary Eyed One’ It is of magnitude 2.9 and is 160 light years away, its a B class star which means it is hotter than the sun.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for London in 1858

 Sir Thomas Cunningham of Eaton Place Belgrave Square London purchased in 1858 from Thomas Cooke & Sons a universal 3.5 equatorial telescope. Later in 1859 he purchased from Cookes an equatorial mounting with tangent screw motion on a tripod for the latitude of Great Britain.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - observations of stars in March 1866

 Astronomical Register March 1866 

Sir, I shall be glad if you would accord me space in the register for the few following remarks. 

Between 21^st and 28^th February 1865 the atmosphere here was unusually steady. There was scarcely any limit to the magnifying power which the stars bore. 

Antares. On the morning of the 22nd, 27^th and 28^th, the companion was distinctly visible with my Cooke’s 4.5 inch refractor before and up to sunrise, free from the light of the large star. The green colour for the companion was in fine contrast with the brilliant red of the large star. 

Lambda Ophiuchus. 4, 6, dist. 1.16” according to the Leyton observations, was clearly separated on the mornings of the 25^th, 27^th and 28^th. 

Psi2 Orion. 5.11.5 dist 2.95” (Knott). On the evening of the 26^th the small star was occasionally quite free from the rings of light around the large star, a minute but bright point. 

Trapezium The fifth star has been generally very distinctly visible, and on several nights the sixth, though it has appeared to me minute in comparison to the fifth. 

Eta Orion. My Object glass fails to separate this close double star. The fine state of the atmosphere has enabled me to use very high powers, which show the two stars wedged together or overlapping, but without dividing them. 

I have also seen distinctly the components of 15 Pleiadum, 8,14, dist. 5”, and the 15^th mag companion to Beta Aquarius. 

Sun Spots. On the 28^th February a feature was visible which I have never before seen so distinctly. A brilliantly luminous band boarded the f side of a small spot which followed the large spot.  Another spot of some size followed the small spot at a little distance. I observed this one with one of Dawes’s eyepieces and powers from 90 tom 300, with glasses of different tints. Other details in the spots were at times beautifully defined. It is probable that this spot and luminous band were observed in England with instrument of larger aperture. 

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,  

D A Freeman

Mentone, Alpes Maritimes: Feb 7^th 1866

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE 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.

Cooke Telescope Tales - Planets observed from India in 1870

The Rev J Spear observed Jupiter, Saturn and Mars in 1870 from Chukrata N W Provence's, Bengal using a Thomas Cooke & Sons 4.5 inch telescope. 

He also observed double stars using a Barlow lens more than doubling the telescopes powers.

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A little ramble through the winter sky - Canis Major the Greater Dog

 Canis Major is a stunning constellation with many bright stars and clusters, unfortunately for observers in Britain it is always low in the sky, so we never see it at its best. It represents one of the two dogs the other being Canis Minor that follows at the heels of Orion the Hunter.

The brightest star in Canis Major, Sirius is also the brightest star in the sky. This is the dog star and sometimes known as the scorching one or the Nile star. Although low down in winter skies it is easy to find. If you do need a guide to find Sirius, you can use the stars of Orion’s belt and draw a line down and to the left this will lead you to Sirius.

At magnitude -1.4 (it has a minus sign in front of the magnitude number because it is so bright, there are 3 stars with minus magnitudes in the night sky) Sirius outshines all the other stars in the sky but appearances can be deceptive because Sirius is very close to us being only 8.6 light years away. It is an A class star which means it is hotter than the Sun with a temperature of 9,500’C compared to 5,800’C of the Sun.

Sirius was very important in ancient Egypt because astronomers/priests would wait to see Sirius rise just before the Sun rose in the morning sky. They knew this meant the river Nile was about to flood, it was at this point that farmers had to make sure their fields were ready for the inrush of water and sediment that would help their crops to grow. This astronomical event is known as the Helical Rising. 

Sirius has a companion star a white dwarf which was discovered by the American telescope maker Alvan Clark in 1862 when he was testing a 15-inch refractor. A white dwarf is a small, faintly lit object made of super dense stuff called degenerate matter. It is thought that most stars, including the Sun, will end their days as white dwarfs. A teaspoon full of white dwarf material would weigh many tons.

As Sirius is the Dog Star it seems appropriate that the small companion star which is officially known as Sirius B should be known unofficially as ‘The Pup’

We know that the brightest stars in a constellation are allocated a letter from the Greek alphabet with the brightest being alpha then beta etc., and we have also seen that the system often does not work, well here we go again.

Most of the star names are Arabic which is why they can sometimes seem strange to us.

The second brightest star is epsilon (5^th letter of the Greek alphabet) or Adhara which means ‘Virgins’ and has a magnitude of 1.5 it is a B class giant star with a whopping surface temperature of 22,500’C which makes our Sun seem very cool by comparison. Adhara is 440 light years away.

A line drawn down from Sirius and slightly to the left leads to delta or Wezen which means ‘Weight’ which has a magnitude of 1.8 and is a F class supergiant and is slightly hotter than the Sun, Wezen lies about 1600 light years away. It is thought that in the next 100,000 years Wezen could destroy itself in a supernova explosion.

To the right of Sirius is beta or Murzim which means ‘Announcer’ and should be the 2^nd brightest star in this constellation however it is in fact the 4^th. Murzim is a magnitude 2.0 blue giant class star lying 500 light years away, it’s another very hot star with a surface temperature of 22,750’C. 

Below Wezen and to the left is eta or Aludra the meaning is unknown and is B class supergiant of magnitude 2.4 , with a temp of 14,750`. Aludra is about 2,000 light years away. It will also become a Supernova in the next few million years.

A line drawn to the right from epsilon will lead to zeta or Phurud meaning the ‘Bright Single Ones’. This is a magnitude 3.0 star, 362 light years away. Another B class star this time a B2 with a temperature of 18,400’ C.

To the left of Sirius is gamma or Muliphein whose meaning is unknown. Gamma is of magnitude 4.1 and is a B class giant with a surface temperature of 13,100’C and lies 440 light years away. There is a mystery here because Gamma appears to have varied over a period of many 100s of years. It is recorded that in 1670 the Italian astronomer Montanari said that it disappeared from view. It was not observed for another 23 years.

Below Sirius is an open cluster, M41 which contains about 80 stars and shines at a magnitude of 4.5 it is about 2,100 light years away it was recorded as far as back as 325 BCE by Aristotle in Greece. In ‘modern time’ it was reported by the Italian astronomer Hodierna in 1654 and recorded by Messier in 1765.

NGC 2362

An open star cluster NGC 2362 was discovered by Hodierna in 1654 this cluster was not reported again until it was eventually found by William Herschel (discoverer of the planet Uranus in 1781) on March 4, 1783

NGC 2362 contains about 60 stars and is of mag 4.1 and is only about 25 million years old.  The brightest star in this cluster is tau which is of magnitude 4.39 and is a class O class supergiant star with a surface temperature of an incredible 31,500’C, it is one of the most luminous supergiant’s known. The cluster is about 5,000 light years in distance from Earth.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Meteor of June 17th 1873

Academy Saturday 20^th June 1874 

DR. GALLE, of Breslau, has discussed at some length, in the Astronomische Nachrichten, all the available observations of the meteor of June 17, 1873, which passed over the north of Hungary, Austria, and Bohemia. It appears that it was first seen at a height of 100 miles above the earth, and that it disappeared when about twenty-one miles high, after having described a path of 290 miles in about ten seconds, giving a velocity in space of about twenty-eight miles in a second. his velocity is too great for a parabolic orbit, and it would seem, therefore, though there is some uncertainty about the observations of duration, that the meteor, at the time it was seen, was describing an hyperbola. But it is to be remarked that it was then under the influence of the earth’s attraction, and it would be necessary to calculate the effect of this, which Dr. Galle does not appear to have done, before drawing any conclusions as to the orbit described previous to the rencontre. It may very possibly have been peaceably circulating round the sun in an elongated ellipse, as other meteors are in the habit of doing, until it fell in with our planet.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - Jupiter 1860

RAS vol 31 1871 p 75 

Part of a note on the changes in the colour of the equatorial belt of Jupiter by John Brown esq. 

On a fine night in January 1860, I turned Mr Pritchard’s 6.75 inch equatorial by Cooke, for about half an hour on Jupiter. The planet was so well defined, and the details of the markings on the equatorial belt were so peculiar, that I mad a sketch of them, noting at the same time the remarkable brown colour of the equatorial belt. One of the edges of the belt (I think the upper side in the instrument) was beaded or divided into egg shaped masses, which must have been of brighter or lighter colour than the background of the belt, to have given them so much prominence.

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A little ramble through Hydra the Water Snake

Hydra is the largest constellation in the sky but is by no means easy to find on account of its faintness. Hydra winds its way from the head in the northern hemisphere on the borders of Cancer to the tip of its tail south of the celestial equator near Libra and Centaurus.

There is a suggestion that Hydra it is part of the story of Jason and the Argonauts in that it represented the Dragon of Aetes helping to guard the golden fleece. The Hydra would be destroyed by Hercules.

It is possible that the Hydra was the snake depicted on a uranographic stone from the Euphrates dating to about 1200 BCE.

The Arab astronomer Al Sufi thought that the constellation was Al H’ail the Horse and was formed of stars that are now in Hydra but some also from Leo and Sextans

The Egyptians considered it the sky representative of the river Nile and gave it their name for the river.

Hydra has only one bright star Alphard which comes from the Arabic Al Fard al Shuja which means the Solitary One in the Serpent. Another Arabic name for Alphard was Al Fakar al Shuja which means the Backbone of the Serpent.

Tycho the last of the great pre telescopic astronomers called the star Cor Hydrae or the Hydra’s Heart in the 1590s.

Alphard is a magnitude 2.0 star the same brightness as the North Star but because it is not as high as the north Star it does not seem as bright. Alphard is 177 light years and is a K class star making it cooler than the Sun.

There are three Messier objects in Hydra.

Messier 48

An open cluster discovered by Messier in 1771 there is some confusion with M48 because the position given by Messier was not where M48 actually is. In 1783 Caroline Herschel, sister of William Herschel identified it, but the credit still goes to Messier. Sir John Herschel Caroline’s nephew described it “a superb cluster which fills the whole field; stars of 9th and 10th to the 13th magnitude – and none below, but the whole ground of the sky on which it stands is singularly dotted over with infinitely minute points

 M48 is 2,500 light years away shines at mag 5.8 and contains around 450 stars. A ;pair of binoculars will be needed to see it. 

Messier 68

A globular cluster discovered in 1780 , William Herschel described it "a beautiful cluster of stars, extremely rich, and so compressed that most of the stars are blended together". Its magnitude is 9.7 and is 33,000 light years away. A small telescope will be needed to find M68 

Messier 83

The Southern Pinwheel Galaxy so named because it looks like M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy in Ursa Major, it was discovered in 1781, it had been seen earlier by Nicolas Loius de Lacaille in 1752 from the Cape of Good Hope. M83 lies at a distance of 15 million light years. M83 shines with a mag of 7.5. A small telescope will be needed to see it.

Six supernovae have been observed in M83: SN 1923A, SN 1945B, SN 1950B, SN 1957D, SN 1968L and SN 1983N.

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A little ramble through the winter sky - Perseus

Perseus was the hero of Greek mythology who rescued Andromeda who was chained to a rock waiting to be eaten by the Kraken sea monster.  Previously he had killed the medusa.  The Gorgons eye is marked by Algol. Perseus lies in a rich part of the milky way and is worth sweeping with binoculars.

In 1901 a brilliant nova appeared in Perseus it reached magnitude 0.2 between delta and beta.

Near gamma lies the radiant for the Perseid meteor shower which occurs every August.

Alpha  or Algenib which means side  or is sometimes known as Mirfak the elbow. It has a magnitude of 1.8 and is a F class supergiant with a surface temperature of 6,300 degrees and is 510 light years away.

Beta or Algol which means the winking demon is an eclipsing binary star that John Goodricke studied from York in 1782, he realised that there were two stars there eclipsing each other causing the star to change in brightness. The eclipse occurs every 2.8 days and the magnitude varies between 2.2 – 3.5. Goodricke did not discover the variability that was done by the Italian astronomer Montanari in 1669. Algol lies at a distance of 90 light years and has a surface temperature of 13,000’C and is a B class star. The star which is eclipsing Algol cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Zeta has a magnitude of 2.9 and is a B class supergiant with a temperature of 20,500’C and is 750 light years away.

Epsilon also has a magnitude of 2.9 and is a B0. Class star. As hot as zeta is epsilon is even hotter with an incredible temperature of 26,000’C and is 640 light years away. Both zeta and epsilon will probabably end their lives in a massive supernnva explosion.

Rho a semi regular variable varying between magnitude  3.3 and 4.0 in  aperiod or around 50 days. Its a M class red giant with a temperature of 3,800’C and is 308 light years away.

NGC 869 and NGC 884  Mag 3.7 the famous double cluster sometimes also known as chi perseus. These are open clusters with 350 and 300 stars respectively, lying about 7,600 ly away and about 300 light years apart.   NGC 869 and 884 are of magnitude 3.7 and 3.8 respectively, which in binoculars resolves into a grand pair of bright stellar star fields about 0.5 degrees apart. Each cluster contains over 300 blue white super giant stars. They are about 7,500 light years away.  

The letters NGC refer to the New General Catalogue of galaxies and star clusters and was introduced in 1888. Although its name is the New General Catalogue we still use that term today.  

In the 18th century the French astronomer Charles Messier was looking for comets with his small telescope. Although he found around a dozen comets none were very bright. Messier did however come across many fuzzy comet looking objects that  were not comets. He produced this list of noin comet objects whcih today is referred to as the Messier list of non comet objects and is used by astronomers. Its ironic that his comets are forgotten but his list of non comet objects has not been forgotten.                              

 While it was curious that Messier overlooked the double cluster maybe it was too obviously not a comet, he did however discover another open cluster in Perseus, this is M34 glimmering at mag 5.5 just visible to the naked eye to the right of Algol.

M34 is a loose aggregation of about 60 stars, M 34 is about 100 million years old, much older than the double cluster. M34 is only spread across about 10 light years. It is a wonderful sight in binoculars or small telescopes.

It was seen by Messier in 1764 who described it as a faint cluster of stars between the head of medusa and the left foot of Andromeda. The stars may be detected with a simple telescope.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Rio de Janeiro 1874

 Nature June 11^th 1874

Les Mondes announces the death of Mme. Liais, the wife of the director of the Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, who acted as the secretary of and co worker with her husband in all his labours. She accompanied him in his dangerous expeditions into the centre of Brazil, and died in consequence of the sufferings she endured during her travels with her husband.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - a number of telescopes for London

Edmund Wheeler a lecturer (I don’t know in which subject) of London in 1857 purchased a number of telescopes from Thomas Cooke & Sons. 

In February a 2.75 inch was brought, while in May a 4 inch engraved ‘Edmund Wheeler London’ and finally in September a 4 inch telescope on a plain equatorial stand with brass finder, 4 astronomical eyepieces and a sun prism. The cost of this telescope was £40. 

In 1864 the 4 inch which was not engraved was being sold for £40. This was the same price that the telescope was brought for.

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE 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.

A little ramble through astronomy in Yorkshire - Thornborough Henge

 We now travel back in time not this time in millions but in thousands of years to around 3,500 BCE (Before Christian Era) to discover one of the most important ancient sites in Britain, this is the Thornborough Henges. They are located near the village of Thornborough which is in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire near to Bedale. The henges consist of a series of three circular mounds with ditches and banks that were probably in use for over a thousand years. This site is often referred to as the ‘Stonehenge of the North’.

Thornborough Henge is the world’s only triple henge with the length of the three circles covering a distance of about one mile.  The henges are aligned northwest to southeast and laid out at approximately 550m apart.  All are of similar size and shape, have a diameter between 240 and 275 metres, and stand some three meters in height. We cannot be sure why it was built some astro archaeologists think that Thornborough may have been a pilgrimage centre where people sought spiritual salvation and that it served an economic and social needs however there does appears to be a definite astronomical connection.

The Thornborough Henges align with one of the most famous star patterns in the sky, Orion’s Belt.  The henges do not form a straight line but instead were intentionally shaped like a ‘dog leg’ to reflect the shape that the stars of Orion’s belt form in the sky. The constellation of Orion is very well known and is one of the two main signposts in the sky which help astronomers to find their way around while learning the positions of the stars in the night sky. The other is the Plough or Big Dipper as the Americans prefer to call it. The Plough is part of the constellation of Ursa Major the Great Bear, and while the Plough is visible all year around while in Britain Orion can only be seen in the winter sky.

Orion is one of 88 constellations recognised today be astronomers today. These are just like giant pictures in the sky and if you can find them it is possible to start reading the stories they are telling us. Of these 48 were designed by the Greeks and therefore by convention we tend to use the Greek myth and legends attached to them. Most other civilisations had their own versions of the ones we use here in the west. The other 40 constellations were added from the sixteenth century onwards by astronomers filling in the gaps between the main star groups in the northern hemisphere. When European explorers travelled into the southern hemisphere, they saw stars that cannot be seen in Europe so created a series of constellation in the southern sky. Many of these are depictions of what were at the time newly invented scientific instruments. This explains why in the southern hemisphere we see constellations such as Telescopium the Telescope and Microscopium the Microscope. The vast majority of these modern constellations both in the northern and southern hemispheres are comprised of faint and obscure stars. 

Orion on the other hand is a magnificent constellation easily recognised by four bright stars that form a large rectangle in the sky inside which are the three stars that form Orion’s Belt. The top left-hand star of the rectangle is the famous red star Betelgeux which is often called Beetlejuice!  As we look at the belt stars from left to right they are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.  The stars names may seem a little different to us this is because they are Arabic. When we translate the stars of Orion’s belt into English, we discover that Alnitak means The Girdle, Alnilam the String of Pearls and Mintaka is the Belt.

This same astronomical alignment can be found in the great pyramids in Egypt, but the Thonrborough Henges are about 1,000 years earlier than the Egyptian pyramids. This could be the first known monument to align with the constellation of Orion. Was this co- incidence that the people of Yorkshire and those in Egypt created the same pattern on the ground or maybe people travelled around the world thousands of years ago exchanging thoughts, ideas and customs? 

The structures of the henges were aligned so its western end pointed towards the mid-winter setting of Orion which also meant that the eastern end aligned towards the midsummer solstice.

Today we talk about light pollution and how difficult it is for people who live in cities to see the stars properly.  We can be certain that the night skies were much darker when the henges were constructed over 5,000 years ago, there would be no light pollution at all. Today Orion is still an amazingly wonderful constellation to look at but with darker skies it must have looked even more impressive, and this perhaps is one of the reasons why they had such a fascination for this one particular group of stars.

Today, all three of the Thornborough Henges, as well as the land connecting them together, are listed as Scheduled Ancient Monuments.

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Cooke Telescope Tales - comet seen from Gibraltar in 1860

 Colonel De Rottenburg wrote in a letter dated June 24^th, 1860, from Gibraltar. “I observed a brilliant comet in the constellation of Auriga this evening, a line from beta through a Geminorum continued about three times their distance passed through its nucleus. 

It was easily seen with the naked eye; the nucleus was a little less brilliant than Castor. Its altitude above the western horizon about equal to that of Venus at the same time. 

I turned my 6 feet equatorial of 4.5 inches aperture made by Messrs Thomas Cooke & Sons of York on the comet. 

It has a bifid tail, very like that of the year 1846 as shown in Keith Johnsone’s Atlas of Astronomy which is edited by Mr Hind. I used powers of 26, 50 and 100 on the comet; the nucleus has a very sensible disk. It bore the powers of 100 very well; one portion of the tail is much longer than the other, the south preceding being the longer. 

With 100 power the nucleus was situated within the nebulosity, and the nebulosity was more arched and prominent on the south preceding part. It was first seen by a gentleman here on Saturday evening 23^rd June.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Meteors in 1869,1870 and 1871

 Academy, Saturday 7^th March 1874 

When Captain Tupman, R.M.A. communicated to the Royal Astronomical Society the results of his observations of meteors during the three years 1869, 1870, and 1871, spent in a cruise in the Mediterranean, the wish was very generally expressed that the observations themselves should be published. This has now been done by the liberality of the British Association, and the details of 2,000 meteor tracks observed are made available for further discussion at any future time. Perhaps the most interesting point is that out of 102 radiants, corresponding to meteor streams observed by Captain Tupman, no less that 79 are identical with those determined by previous observers, leading to the conclusion that the catalogue of these strange streams of small bodies is now nearly complete. This valuable mass of observations shows what can be done, even without instrumental means, provided one object be kept steadily in view.

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A little ramble through Hercules

 One of the oldest sky figures Hercules  is in a very confusing part of the sky there are no bright marker stars but essentially it is made up of a quadrilateral of stars between Vega and Corona Borealis. Hercules is the 5th largest constellation and because of the legends associated with Hercules it should be a very prominent constellation sadly its not.

Hercules was not known by this name to the early Greek astronomers, but he was seen as the Phantom or Kneeling One. Around 700 BCE his 12 labours were seen to refer to the Sun’s journey through the 12 signs of the zodiac. Around 500 BCE Hercules was introduced in the heavens as a member of the crew of the Argo.  It was only around 200 BCE that the Greek astronomer Eratosthenes is said to have described the Hercules and his 12 labours that we recognise today.

The image we see today of Hercules kneeling and holding a club dates to the Farnese Globe which was made around 150 CE and shows Atlas holding a celestial globe. Although it probably was a copy of an earlier piece of work produced in Greece around 150 BCE by Hipparchus..

In ancient Phoenicia the constellation was said to represent the great sea god Melkarth.

The Arab astronomers saw Hercules as either Al Rakis the Dancer or Al Jathiyy a’la Rukbataihi the One who Kneels on Both Knees.

The brightest star alpha is known by it Arabic name as Ras Algethi of The Kneeler’s Head. Nomadic Arabs knew is as Al Kalb al Ra I, The Shepherd’ s Dog.  

The Chinese knew the star as Ti Tso or the Emperor’s Seat.

Ras Algethi is a semi regular variable star varying in brightness between magnitude 2.7-4.0 these changes can be followed with the naked eye in a period of between 80-140 days. It is a M red supergiant star lying at a distance of 360 light years.  

Beta or Korneforos which means ‘Club Bearer’ this term is often given to the whole figure of Hercules. The star lies at a distance of 139 light years. The star is a G giant star and has a magnitude of 2.8.

To the Chinese this star was Ho Chung which means in the River.

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. It remained visible to the naked eye for several months.

There are two Messier objects to look for in Hercules.  Located below the star eta is Messier 13 which is probably the finest globular cluster in the northern hemisphere. Globular Clusters are groups of very old stars. M13 can just be seen with the naked eye if the sky is very clear when it is high up in the summer months. It is very easy to find in binoculars M13 has a magnitude 5.8 and was discovered in 1764

M13 contains anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 stars spread out over 140 light years. It is relatively close to us at around 23,000 light years

M13 is sometimes called the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules If you have a small telescope M13 is fantastic to look at. It is always a target for astro- photographers.

Messier 92

A globular cluster only slightly inferior to M13, Messier 92 discovered in 1781 it lies at a distance of 26,700 light years magnitude 6.3. It contains about 330,000 stars. You will need at least a pair of binoculars to see M92

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Cooke Telescope Tales - telescope for Chester in 1865

 In 1865 Dr William Murray Dobie of Kings Buildings, Chester purchased a 6inch Telescope from Thomas Cooke &Sons. This telescope cost £120 

Dr Dobie was advertising for sale a 5.5 inch telescope that he had brought from Cookes in 1863. I have no idea why he was replacing this telescope as he described it as nearly new, it was only 2 years old and he described it as being of the first rate. He was selling this Cooke telescope for 65 guineas without its stand.

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A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Uranus in 1874

 Academy Newspaper Saturday 17^th January 1874 

Mr. Marth, in a letter to Mr. Lassell published in the Astronomical Society’s Notices, has pointed out the favourable chances that observers may have during the present apparition of Uranus of contributing something towards the decisive settlement of the question respecting the existence of Sir William Herschel's additional satellites of the Georgium Sidus. The geocentric place of Uranus in the heavens is now only some twenty seconds south of that in which it appeared in 1790 at a three-days’ later date, so that the planet in its retrograde course passed on Thursday night (Jan. 15), and will pass on the night of February 6 the same stars which it passed on the evenings of January 18 and February 9, in 1790. Some of these stars were then supposed to be additional satellites. It seems certainly desirable that the opportunity for recovering these little stars, and also for ascertaining the effect of the neighbourhood of the planet upon their visibility, should not be allowed to slip away unused. It will be remembered that Sir W. Herschel announced the discovery of six satellites to Uranus, two only of which, viz., the second and fourth, have been confirmed by subsequent observations. Two inner satellites revolving within the first of Sir W, Herschel’s have been observed by Mr. Lassell (who named them Ariel and Umbriel) at Malta, to which place he transferred his large reflector on account of the great clearness of the atmosphere there, and by others. The existence of four of Sir W. Herschel’s satellites is therefore very uncertain, and it is to these that Mr. Marth refers.

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The Astronomy Show on Drystone Radio

 Join me, Martin Lunn MBE 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.

 

A little ramble through the seasons - Mid Winter Day

 February 2nd marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the sprimng equinox. It's midwinter, a key date in the cycle of the year known to Christians as Candlemass and to pagans as the Festival of Lights. Daylight is steadingly increasing by 4 minutes per day. 

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A little ramble through the winter sky - Taurus the Bull

 One of the most ancient constellations. Taurus has been known to people throughout the world since the dawn of civilisation, for the bull’s attributes of strength and fertility mean that it has always held an honoured place in ceremony and religion.

Usually only the head of the bull is depicted, its face being formed by the V shaped cluster of stars known as the Hyades. Its glinting red eye is marked by the star Aldebaran, and its long horns are tipped by the stars beta and zeta. In addition to the Hyades, Taurus contains the celebrated cluster of the Pleiades or Seven Sisters.

Alpha, Aldebaran which means the ‘follower of the Pleiades’ is a K class giant with a temperature of 3,800’C, it is a variable star and varies between magnitude 0.7 and 0.9, Aldebaran lies 65 light years away

Beta El Nath which means the ‘butting one’, in the times of ancient Greece the star was shared by both Taurus and Auriga but since 1930 it has been permanently transferred to Taurus, its magnitude is  1.7, it is a class B class giant with a temperature of 13,500’C and is 134 light years away.

Zeta lies 440 light years away, it’s a B class giant with a temperature of 15,500’C, it has a magnitude of 3.0.

Gamma Prima Hyadum is the first of the Hyades, with a magnitude 3.6, lying 154 light years away. Gamma is a G class giant with a temperature of 4,600’C

The Hyades is a large and bright open cluster of about 200 stars. The brightest members form a noticeable V shape, easily visible to the naked eye. In mythology the Hyades were the daughters of Atlas and Aethyra, and half-sisters to the Pleiades. Some people think that Aldebaran is a member but while Aldebaran is 65 light years away The Hyades are about 150 light years away.

The Pleiades also known as the seven sisters is the brightest and most famous star cluster in the sky, it is listed as M45. In mythology the seven sisters are named after a group of nymphs the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. About 7 can be seen by keen eyed people but there are about 250 stars in the group. The seven sisters are about 430 light years away.

In Taurus occurred the famous supernova that was seen from Earth in 1054, which gave rise to the Crab Nebula, M1. This is the celebrated Crab Nebula named by Lord Rosse in 1844 using the 72 in telescope. No one is sure why he thought it looked like a crab. At the centre of the nebula is a neutron star.

 Between epsilon and omega lies NGC 1555 the faint Hind’s variable Nebula, discovered in October 1852 by the English astronomer John Russell Hind; at the centre of this nebula lies the star T Tauri, a prototype of a class of irregular variable stars believed to be stars in the process of forming into stars. It lies at a distance of 400 light years and varies between magnitude 9.4 to 13.0.

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