The Astronomy Show 21.06.17

The Astronomy Show 21.06.17

Today is the summer solstice the day of the year when we have the most amount of daylight hours, in the Astronomy Show this week I will be finding out why.

I will also be looking at what has happened to the Noctilucent Clouds this year, they were missing at the beginning of summer, I will be investigating to find out what has gone wrong.

Following on from the Andromeda galaxies over the past two weeks the Messier Marathon reaches M33 the Pinwheel Galaxy in Triangulum, while the A-Z of constellations looks at the the tiny constellation of Equuleus the Little Horse, its the second smallest constellation.

The astronomical scrapbook this week looks at events including the discovery of Charon the largest of the moons that orbit Pluto, and the birth of the Yorkshire astronomer Fred Hoyle, this plus the latest astronomy news, what events are happening in the astronomy societies in the North, and of course what we can see in the night sky this week.

The Astronomy Show with Martin Lunn every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio, 103.5 FM. You can listen on line at www.drystoneradio.com or catch the programme later on the podcast.  

The Astronomy Show 14.06.17

The Astronomy Show 14.06.17

On the programme today I will be looking at the Milky Way its very important to us because it is our Galaxy, true it is like many millions of other galaxies but to us  it is home sweet home.

Other news this week includes that astronomers have now worked out how old Jupiter is and we will stay with the largest planet in the solar system as it now has two new moons.

Astronomers watch the sky for  asteroids that could crash into the Earth but  now the situation has become potentially more dangerous because it has been discovered that at least one meteor stream which astronomers believe to be composed of just grains of dust now contain a number of large chunks of rock, I will be looking at this story more closely.

The A-Z of constellations continue with Draco the Dragon which contains Thuban the old North star, the Messier marathon reaches M32 a dwarf galaxy to M31 the Andromeda Galaxy.

This plus  more news stories, the astronomical scrapbook will be looking at what happened in astronomy this week in history together with what can be seen in the night sky, together with what is happening in  astronomical societies in the north.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday from 3.00 pm to 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM you can also hear the programme on line at www.drystoneradio.com or if you cannot listen live then the  show can be heard on the Drystone Radio podcast.  

The Astronomy Show 07.06.17

The Astronomy Show 07.06.17

For astronomers June is the poorest month to observe the night sky, in the north of England we have only about one and half hours of real darkness. So I thought I would begin the first show in June with a look at the proposed NASA mission to the Sun plus a look what we know about the Sun, our local star.

There will of course be a look at the night sky this week despite the lack of darkness, the Noctilucent Cloud season which has already begun, there will be the latest news.

The Messier Marathon continues with one of the most famous of all the Messier objects M 31 the Andromeda Galaxy. There will be a look at the astronomy news this week together with a look into the astronomy scrapbook and see what has happened this week in astronomical history.

The A-Z of constellations continues  with Dorado the Goldfish a southern hemisphere constellation which contains the Large Magellanic Cloud.  This plus a  round up of activities in northern astronomical societies, plus a little selection of the kind of music I like.

The Astrronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon between 3 pm and 5 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, you can listen on line at www.drystoneradio.com or hear the programme on the Drystone radio podcast which is available for the next 4 weeks.

The Astronomy Show 31.05.17

The Astronomy Show 31.05.17

Today on the Astronomy Show I will be looking at the latest information from the Juno probe which is at Jupiter and sending back information that has amazed scientists and is changing our views on the giant planet. This plus the findings of the Schiaparelli probe which crashed onto Mars last year, the findings point to a catalogue of failings in planning.  

We are about to enter the Noctillucent Cloud observing season, so this is a good time to explain what these strange night clouds are. In addition there will be a round up of what can be seen in the night sky this week.

The A-Z of constellations will look at the small summer constellation of Delphinus  the Dolphin, while the Messier Marathon today takes us to M 30 in Capricorn. I will dip into the astronomical scrapbook and find out what happened in astronomy this week in the past,plus the latest astronomy news, together with  a round up of what is happening in the  northern astronomical societies.

The Astronomy Show, every Wednesday afternoon form 3 pm to 5 pm on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, you can also hear the show on line at www.drystoneradio.com or you can hear the show on the podcast.

The Astronomy Show 24.05.17

The Astronomy Show 24.05.17

Today on the Astronomy Show I  will be looking at the North Star I mention it each week but I thought it was a good idea to take a closer look at this most important star.

It is tough looking at the sky this time of year because it is very late before it becomes dark and that period of darkness will continue to get shorter over the next few weeks, but there is still lots to see as I will explain on the show.

The news stories this week include details of the survey of the dusty ring surrounding the star Fomalhaut, with so many new planets being found other stars astronomers are now trying to figure out  how to classify them, and most of the dwarf planets seem to have moons!

A supernova bright enough to be seen in reasonable size telescopes has been discovered in the past few days, bright supernova are rare I will have the details.

The A-Z of the constellations and the Messier Marathon both look at the same constellation, this week its  Cygnus and M 29. The astronomical scrapbook looks at anniversaries including the death of Nicholas Copernicus in 1543. There will also be the weekly review of what astronomical societies in the north are doing. This plus a little bit of my music I like.

The Astronomy Show with Martin Lunn on Drystone Radio on 103.5 FM listen on line at www.drystoneradio.com or hear the show on the podcast.

The Astronomy Show 10.05.17

The Astronomy Show 10.05.17

The Astronomy Show this week will be looking at the X-37B space plane mission. It seems to have been a 2 year mission clouded in secrecy, the conspiracy theories are going into overdrive. However the official line is that the X-37B was used to test new systems for the future. With that in mind I thought it would be a good idea to look at future missions to explore the solar system.

The A-Z of constellations has reached Crater the Cup and the Messier Marathon is now at M 27 the Dumbell nebula. The solar system ramble has reached Pluto and the dwarf planets. There will be the latest astronomical news including the Martian New Year celebrations that happened on May 5th, or maybe you missed that one!! The astronomical scrapbook will be looking at astronomical events in  history this week, plus the round up of events in astronomical societies in the north.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM listen on line at www.drystoneradio.com or hear the programme on the Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy Show 03.05.17

The Astronomy Show 03.05.17

On the Astronomy Show this week I will be looking at an event which happened about 14,500 years ago when the last ice age finished and ask, Did a comet hit the Earth and push the humans into a technological overdrive? If you want to find out more listen to the show today.

As this is the first show of the month I will be taking a look at the night sky for May. The night sky this week is still dominated by the planet Jupiter, which is the bright white spot in the evening sky. Jupiter will be around for the rest of spring.

The regular features include the astronomy news with the latest from Cassini at Saturn, the A-Z of constellations continues with Corvus the Crow. The Messier Marathon is now at M 26 in Scutum. The ramble through the solar system has now reached  Neptune the most distant planet from the Sun. There will also be the astronomical scrapbook plus the latest news from the northern astronomical societies.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, you can also hear the show live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or listen to show on the podcast via the Drystone Radio web site.