The Astronomy Show 25.07.18

The Astronomy Show 25.07.18


We may be in the middle of a wonderfully hot summer, and the nights are only now beginning to get darker earlier in the evenings, but there is still lots going on in the night sky.  On the Astronomy Show today I will be looking at the Blood Moon Rising, this is an eclipse of the Moon, but this is no ordinary lunar eclipse, this one is the longest one of the century. If that's not enough the Red Planet, Mars rises just after the Moon it is very bright and looks very red at the moment, this is because Mars is now  at its closest point to the Earth in 15 years.

I will be having a look at the night sky over the next week plus starting to look more closely at the constellations of the summer sky. I will begin not with any members of the summer triangle because they are going to be around for quite a while but starting with the constellation of the Scorpion, its very low in the sky and Antares its brightest star which is known at the Rival of Mars will be the first of the bright stars to leave the summer sky. There is also a warning of possible Northern Light activity tonight.

The regular features include the A-Z of constellation which has now reached Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish, while the Messier Marathon is now at M69 in Sagittarius.  The latest astronomy news includes our Milky Way  galaxy had a big sibling but the Andromeda galaxy ate it!!, scientists are chasing dust storms on Mars and their could be another Volcano on the Io one of Jupiter's moons. The astronomical scrapbook includes the discovery of comet Hale Bopp in 1995. All this plus the round up of news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM. You can hear the show live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or catch the show later on the Drystone Radio podcast.

The Astronomy Show 18.07.18 Update

The Astronomy Show 18.07.18 Update

BREAKING NEWS

Astronomers at the Carnegie Institution for Science looking for planet 9 appear to have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter.

All the latest news tomorrow on the Astronomy Show Wednesday 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM on line at www.drystoneradio.com or hear the show later on the Drystone Podcast.

The Astronomy Show 18.07.18

The Astronomy Show 18.07.18

On this weeks' astronomy show I will be looking at a new report asking if Lunar Dust can damage our health. Lunar Dust is made of sharp, abrasive and nasty particles, but how toxic is it for humans?

The night sky will be dominated by the summer triangle stars Altair, Deneb and Vega, with Vega located in the overhead position. The summer triangle will be on view for the rest of the summer months. The four bright planets from west to east Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars easily visible with Mars now brighter than Jupiter and by next week it will be at its brightest this year. 

The A-Z of constellations has now reached Pisces the Fishes a faint group in the zodiac which is important because it contains the Vernal Equinox the point at which the Sun moves across the celestial equator into the northern hemisphere each year. The Messier marathon is now at M68 a globular cluster in Hydra. Our weekly look into the astronomical scrapbook includes the anniversaries of Mariner 4 reaching Mars in 1965 and comet Shoemaker- Levy 9 starting to crash into Jupiter in 1994.

The latest astronomy news includes details of 2 small asteroids that flew past the Earth at the weekend, scientists spot a neutrino at an observatory in Antarctica and the end is nigh for the planet hunting Kepler space telescope. All this plus the news from astronomical societies in the north of England.

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

The Astronomy Show 11.07.18

The Astronomy Show 11.07.18

After a week of cruising and lecturing on astronomy off Norway in very hot weather, this summer is apparently the hottest in Norway since 1947, the Astronomy Show returns and looks at one of the coldest of the planets in the solar system, the strange world of Uranus the sky god.  There is a new theory amongst astronomers that something very large smashed into Uranus billions of years ago, the Astronomy Show will be looking at exactly this new theory is.

The night sky in July means that as far as astronomers are concerned we are now into observing the summer constellations. I will have a look and see which stars and constellations can be seen during the next couple of months. We still have a wonderful display of planets on show, sadly they are all quite low in the sky but with Mars getting closer to us it is becoming even brighter in the sky. There will be details of comet PANSTARRS that has suddenly increased in brightness going from a telescope object to be able to be seen in binoculars. The Sun still has very few sunspots.

The other regular features includes the latest astronomy news with details of how the massive dust storm on Mars is making the red planet look creepy, the latest news from the Dawn mission looking at the white spots on the surface of the dwarf planet Ceres. The A-Z of constellations continues with  the southern hemisphere constellation of Pictor the Painters Easel, while  the Messier marathon is now at M67 the open cluster in Cancer. The astronomical scrapbook looks at what happened this week in history including the launch of the first communications satellite Telstar and  the American space station Skylab crashing back to Earth .All of this plus the round up of news from the astronomical societies in the north.

The Astronomy Show only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm, you can listen live on line at www,drystoneradio.com or hear the show later on the Drystone radio podcast.

No Astronomy Show on 04.07.18

No Astronomy Show on 04.07.18

There will be no Astronomy Show on Wednesday 4th July, this is because I will be presenting astronomy lectures next week on a cruise ship sailing off Norway. 

As I won't be on air next week I would like to wish everyone in advance a Happy Aphelion Day for Friday  July 6th when the Earth will be at aphelion or furthest point from the Sun this year on its annual orbit around the Sun.


The Astronomy Show normally every Wednesday between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, previous shows can still be heard on the Drystone podcast on www.drystoneradio.com



I will back as usual with the next Astronomy Show on Wednesday 11th July.

The Astronomy Show 27.06.18

The Astronomy Show 27.06.18

On the Astronomy Show today, the first since the summer solstice I will be looking at the new telescope at Greenwich which means that the Royal Observatory is to start studying the sky again.

In the night sky at the moment there are four bright planets in the sky, with Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars all being easily seen as bright dots against a fairly bright sky after 11.00 pm. The Noctilucent Cloud season is in full swing at the moment with reports from all over the UK and the rest of Europe. There is a good chance of seeing some Aurora tonight but, to see it you will have to be in the southern hemisphere where of course the skies are dark as at the moment they are in winter.

The A-Z of constellations reaches the faint southern hemisphere constellation of Phoenix named after the mythical bird, the Messier marathon is a double bill today with the galaxies M65 and M66 which are very close together in Leo. The astronomical news includes details of the Japanese Hayabusa2 probe reaching the asteroid Ryugu and NASA's new plan to destroy asteroids which might threaten the Earth. The astronomical scrapbook includes anniversaries of the Yorkshire eclipse of the Sun in 1927 and the Tunguska comet strike in 1908. This plus the news from the astronomical societies in the north of England.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon from 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, the show can be heard live on line at www.drystoneradio.com or you can listen to the show later on the Drystone podcast.

The Astronomy Show 20.06.18

The Astronomy Show 20.06.18

On today's Astronomy Show I will be looking news that astronomers are closer to solving  a 200 year old mystery regarding the eclipsing variable star Epsilon Aurigae, astronomers have until now been unsure just what types are stars form this binary system. I remember monitoring this star way back in the 1980s when at that time no one had any idea of what was actually happening to the star. 

Tomorrow on June 21st we have the summer solstice when we have the shortest night of the year astronomers have been battling with the lack of long periods of darkness for the past few weeks and after tomorrow the length of the nights will slowly begin to increase although this will be a long process and it will be many weeks before this becomes noticeable. However even allowing for the short nights four of the planets are putting on a great display in the late evening sky for us and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. Although we are now in the Noctilucent Cloud season I have yet to see any this year.

The  regular features include the latest astronomy news looking at how the Apollo astronauts caused a slight Lunar warming, why Venus spins so weirdly and  the half mile wide asteroid whizzing past us, but don't worry it will miss us by around 3.7 million miles. The A-Z of constellations reaches the mythical hero Perseus, the Messier marathon reaches M64 the Black Eye galaxy in Coma Berenices. The astronomical scrapbook looks at events this week in history and includes the discovery of Charon the large moon of Pluto. This plus the round up of news from the astronomical societies in the north.

The Astronomy Show every Wednesday afternoon between 3.00 pm and 5.00 pm only on Drystone Radio 103.5 FM, the show can be listened to live on line at www.drystoneradio.com, or you hear the show later on the drystone podcast.