Astrognome Scrapbook Comet Arend Roland

Comet Arend–Roland

Comet Arend–Roland was discovered on November 8, 1956, by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland on photographic plates. 

At that time the comet was at visual magnitude 10, in April 1957 it reached magnitude -1, making it one of the brightest comets of the mid-20^th century. At its closest it was within 29 million miles of the Sun.

By May 1957 it was below naked eye visibility. 

The Astronomy Show November 9th

The Astronomy Show 9th November

Discover what a super moon is, you can see the biggest super moon of the 21st century on November 14th, there won't be a better one until November 2034!!

With the longer darker nights discover what can be seen in the night sky this week.

The regular features include, The A-Z of constellations which this week is Cancer the Crab, the bright star is Altair in the constellation of Aquila the Eagle and we have reached Messier 10 in the Messier Marathon.

This plus the latest astronomy news, the astronomy scrapbook and what is happening in the regional astronomy societies. And even a little music!

Drystone Radio 103.5 on line and via podcast

Astrognome Scrapbook Transit of Mercury 1631

Transit of Mercury 1631

The first person to observe a transit of Mercury was the French astronomer Pierre Gassendi, on November 7^th 1631.

 Gassendi was able to use the newly published Rudolphine tables of Johannes Kepler, the first man to understand the elliptical nature of planetary orbits around the Sun.

 In the 1627 tables, which were dedicated to Kepler’s patron, Emperor Rudolph II of the Holy Roman Empire, Kepler made a number of predictions of upcoming events – in particular, a transit of Mercury in November 1631 and a transit of Venus in December of the same year.

Kepler died in 1630 without knowing if his predictions were accurate

Astrognome Scrapbook Edward Brerewood

Edward Brerewood

The first professor of astronomy at Gresham College died on November 4^th 1613. It is believed that he was born in 1565. He was an antiquary and mathematician. He was professor of Gresham College between 1596/7.

He was born at Chester, England

Astrognome Scrapbook Mariner 10

Mariner 10

Mariner 10 was launched on November 3^rd 1973 and would go onto become the first space craft to visit the planet Mercury. It was the last of the Mariner series; Mariner 9 had successfully imaged Mars while Mariners 11 and 12 would be converted to become Voyager 1 and 2.

Although Mariner 10 flew past Venus and made scientific studies there it is usually associated with Mercury. It was not the first space craft to visit Venus there had already been several; in fact the first was the earlier Mariner 2 in 1962.

Mariner 10

Mariner 10 performed its first fly past of Mercury on March 29^th 1974. Mariner 10 would make scientific studies and photographed around 45% of the surface of Mercury.

Its mission ended in 1975 when its fuel ran out. It is assumed to still be orbiting the Sun today.

Astrognome Scrapbook Hilda

Minor Planet Hilda

153 Hilda is a large asteroid in the outer main belt, with a diameter of 170 km. It was discovered by Johann Palisa on November 2, 1875, from the Austrian Naval Observatory at Pula. 

The name was chosen by the astronomer Theodor von Oppolzer, who named it after one of his daughters. Due to the materials that make up Hilda it has a very dark surface.

Astrognome Scrapbook John Radcliffe

John Radcliffe

 Dr John Radcliffe c. 1652 – 1 November 1714 was an English physician, academic and politician, the Radcliffe Observatory was named after him. 

The observatory was at the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934 when the trustees sold it and built a new observatory in South Africa.

Today, the observatory building forms a part of the Green Templeton College of the University of Oxford.