The Night Sky July 2019
In 1969, and as a young boy of 13, there was no greater dream for me than the mystery of space and being an astronaut. Brought up on Fireball XL5 and Thunderbirds, my world seemed to be heading for the stars! I had been given my first telescope and was desperately looking out during the mission for the shiny glint of Apollo 11 as it raced towards the Moon and Tranquillity Base. The space age had arrived and I was witnessing perhaps the most remarkable human achievement in the history of humankind.
Looking back now, I am still in awe, perhaps even more so, as the finer details emerged of that trip and of the level of technology that supported the Eagle lunar module as it descended to the surface on 20th July 1969. The Apollo’s guidance computer had 2K memory; my personal computer (ZX80) in 1980 had double that! My current mobile phone has more power than ALL of the NASA computers back then, that put two astronauts on the moon. A few years ago I was privileged to stand on 39A launch pad where it set off, akin to standing at Plymouth Sound where the Beagle set off with Darwin on board. Both journeys were remarkable and a testament to human ingenuity and bravery. Experiments were left on the surface of the Moon that are still in operation. The Lunar Ranging experiment bounces back a laser beam via reflectors left by the Lunar Missions. It has shown that the moon is spiralling away from us at a rate of about 4cm a year and can be measured with millimetre precision. This month sees a partial lunar eclipse exactly 50 years ago to the day that Apollo 11 set off for the moon. Just over half of the moon will be in shadow at about 10.30pm on 16th July. A timely and fitting reminder.
Draco
The constellation of Draco is one of the least known but one of the largest in the northern hemisphere.
Draco means the dragon or huge serpent in Latin. Amongst many legends and stories, it is famed for being the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Despite its size, the stars that make it up are not very bright but the constellation never sets, so if it’s clear it will always be visible if you know where to look. Thuban, a star in this constellation, was the Pole Star at the time of the building of the pyramids and they were built with shafts that directly pointed and aligned to the star, letting the light shine into the structure. Currently we know that Draco has nine stars that have planets called exoplanets. Kepler-10 is famous for being the first star to have at least 2 planets in orbit around it. After 10 years of searching a small patch of space, the Kepler spacecraft discovered a total of 2,600 planets in total - some perhaps capable of supporting life. It did this by watching how some stars regularly dim as planets pass in front of their host star. Another interesting object within the constellation is The Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) which is now believed to have been created just a thousand years ago when a star started to blow off layers of material, but even so, that star is still 10,000 times brighter than our own! Despite this, you will need a medium sized telescope to see it.
The two stand-out planets to spot this month are Jupiter and Saturn. Jupiter is by far the brightest and on 13th July will be just below the moon. On the same night, Saturn is to the left but much fainter. It is possible to see its rings and one of its many moons, Titan, the largest. Both Saturn and Jupiter are quite low in the sky looking south.
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