The Night Sky October

October 2022

I decided to give you a full view of the night sky looking North and South from Embsay this month. See if you can find your way around!

Looking North

11th October at 10pm or 25th October 2022 at 9pm

Looking North you will see the seven stars of the Plough, perhaps the most recognisable pattern in the night sky. It is in fact just a part of the constellation of Ursa Major, seen on the diagram above. It is a pattern that is seen throughout the year, although it changes its orientation when viewed in different seasons. Further up in the sky is Ursa Minor, very similar in shape but smaller and very important as it contains the Pole/North star.

Looking South

11th October at 10pm or 25th October 2022 at 9pm

Looking South, the most obvious highlights are the string of planets that seem to form a line across the sky -the brightest of them being Jupiter. Here is an image I took a while back.

Even with a modest pair of binoculars you may be able to spot the bands across its disc. You may even be able to spot the bright spots of its 4 main moons too. This is because Jupiter is closer to us than it has been for 60 years. It is very bright at the moment because it is currently ‘in opposition’. What does that mean and why is it so close? Click the link to find out more.

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/09/25/jupiter-is-coming-its-closest-to-earth-in-decades/

To the right in the sky is Saturn, much fainter but still easily visible to the naked eye. If you have time take a look. It is one of those ‘Wow!’ objects when you see it for the first time through good binoculars or better still, a telescope.

The Great Square of Pegasus is pretty much overhead. Face south and find the square. You will see the top left-hand star seems to have 2 sets of stars in line coming from it. Pick the upper line of stars and count 2 stars. Out just to the right is a fuzzy region. This is our nearest large neighbour galaxy. I find fixing your eyes just away from the spot gives you a better view. This technique is called averted vision. Having trouble finding it? https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/2-ways-to-find-the-andromeda-galaxy/

Here it is, taken from Embsay. The line is a satellite that decided to photo-bomb the image during a long exposure leaving a trail.

Partial Solar Eclipse 25th October 11am

Please do not attempt to look directly at the sun.

You don’t need any special equipment to view the eclipse - just your hands! If it is a clear day instead of looking up, look at the shadow of the gaps in your fingers.

Place your fingers at right-angles to each other leaving small square gaps and look at the shadow.

Even a colander shadow will work, making many small image. Remember do not look directly at the sun but the shadow it makes.

The eclipse will begin just after 10am. Only a small portion of the sun will be covered (15.4%) as the moon passes between us and the sun. Just before 11am we will reach the maximum of the eclipse and by 11.50am it will be over.

https://gostargazing.co.uk/2022/09/13/see-a-partial-solar-eclipse-from-the-uk-in-october-2022/

Full Moon 9th

New Moon 25th

October 30th British summer time ends.

Clear Skies

Milan Davidovic

The Night Sky September

September 2022

It’s time to dust off your telescope and binoculars as our true astronomical night-time returns once again. There will be plenty to see this month as the dark nights draw in.

The Milky Way will arch overhead mid-month from North-East to South-West. We are lucky and privileged to be able to see this wide faint band across our sky from our gardens in Embsay. Around the 25th (New Moon) is a great time to see it if we have a clear night. Almost directly overhead you will see a ‘stick’ shaped figure with arms set almost in a crucifix. It is the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. The brightest star (Deneb) marks its tail as it flies along the Milky Way with its long neck heading South-West.

Looking overhead 25th September at 10pm

Many of the stories of the stars are derived from Greek tales but the origins of the Swan go further back still to Sinbad’s second voyage. In one of the Arabian Nights’ Tales, Sinbad found a huge egg belonging to an enormous legendary bird. When the bird returned to its egg, Sinbad clung on to the bird (Cygnus) and was carried along a Valley of Diamonds (Milky Way) and returned home with quite a haul of treasure.

Quite close to the tail (or the star Deneb) is a hook shaped part of the Milky Way. It is only visible in ideal conditions to the naked eye. This is an emission nebula and looks very similar to the North American Continent. Hence it being called the North American Nebula (NGC 7000). It is difficult to believe it covers over ten times the area of a full moon, particularly as it appears as a small glowing patch, if you are lucky!

North American Nebula

Photo: M Davidovic Oct 2016

When we look into the Milky Way we are seeing what looks like a band of light but is in reality billions of stars that are difficult to distinguish individually. We and our solar system are part of a much larger structure and that is our Milky Way Galaxy, spiral shaped and very similar to a spinning Catherine Wheel. We are positioned in one of the ‘arms’.

You will remember that in my last article I wrote about The James Webb Space telescope. This is now fully operational and has returned some stunning images. One of its primary objectives has been to catch the light that has been travelling from the outer edges of our expanding Universe in order to image the earliest known galaxies and stars. You can catch up with its progress here - they are remarkable. https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

At the time of writing this article NASA has just delayed the launch of Artemis 1 due to engine problems. By the time you read this it may well be on route towards our Moon. It is hoped that this unmanned launch will be the precursor to establishing a base camp and a stepping stone towards eventually visiting Mars. https://www.nasa.gov/what-is-artemis

Clear Skies

Milan Davidovic

The Night Sky May

May 2022

Comet Watch. (From 5th May onwards)

Comet 2021 03 was discovered in July last year and is due to swing around the Sun in April. If it survives, we may get a glimpse of it through May and even into June. On 8th May it will be at its closest to us. Binoculars may be necessary but comets are unpredictable in terms of brightness. Try and find this first time visitor. Here is a link to explain and help you locate it.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/comet-c-2021-03-comets-2022/

NASA has recently spotted a very large comet (C/2014 UN271) heading in our direction but fortunately it will not be a danger to us as it will pass at least a billion miles from the Sun. This is predicted to be around 2031. It currently has a core 50 times bigger than any known comet and estimated to be 80 miles across! Travelling at 22,000 miles per hour it is a hundred thousand times more massive than other comets found close to the Sun. To put this into perspective, some scientists now believe that the extinction of the dinosaurs were caused by a comet impact (rather than an asteroid). The diameter of that one was estimated to be about 7.5 miles. (Gulp!)

Total Eclipse of the Moon. (16th May)

Very low in the south-west in the early hours of 16th May, the Moon will pass into the shadow of the Earth. For those of you who are awake at 4.30am and have never seen an eclipse of the moon, set your alarm and try to get a clear view of the horizon. It will be brief, as the moon will start to set after totality.

A very peculiar phenomenon occurs during a total eclipse of the moon. The sun’s rays glance off the Earth’s atmosphere scattering the shorter wavelengths away casting a strange reddening glow on the moon’s surface.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/lunar-eclipse-guide

Photo: Milan Davidovic January 2019 (Embsay)

Hercules.

This month see if you can spot the constellation of Hercules in the sky. It has a very distinctive centre, a keystone shape. It will be high in the East sky mid-month.

Looking East (almost overhead). May 30th 10pm

Hercules of Greek myth was forced into undertaking 12 tasks for killing his family. He is depicted as being a kneeling man. Strangely, despite the constellation’s great size, it lacks bright stars but does have one of the finest star clusters (M13). It is marked on my star chart as a very small green dot just slightly above the centre of the diagram. In reality it is the best northern hemisphere cluster in our skies. With binoculars it looks like a nebulous patch but through a telescope? Well, you need to get one!

Image: M13 Stephen Nicolas

Planets

The early morning (5am!) of the 1st May sees Venus and Jupiter rise together (superimposed), Mars to the right and then Saturn further right.

Full Moon 16th May

New Moon 30th May

Clear Skies

Milan Davidovic