The former Philippine Episcopal Church

Venus at an extremely bright magnitude –4.7, in Taurus, is blazing the highest and brightest it ever appears in its 8-year cycle. It comes into easy view high in the west right after sunset, and doesn't set in the northwest until midnight.

Look high to Venus's upper right at dusk for Capella, to its lower left for Aldebaran, and farther to its lower right for the Pleiades. Far beneath Venus, Jupiter is sinking into the sunset.

Cappella is the brightest star in Auriga, which as far as I know is the only constellation named after a local guest house. Aldebaran is the blood red eye of the bull in Taurus, and the less said about the Pleiades the better.

Mars is due south at 9pm paired with Regulus, which is the brightest star in Leo which couldn’t look less like a Lion if it tried. In fact it doesn’t look like anything at all. Now as a species we are notoriously good at pattern recognition, why only 3 weeks ago someone spotted Jesus’ face on the back of a sting ray, I’ve put the picture on the blog, but Leo doesn’t look like anything except Doctor Who’s dog K9, which I always hated incidentally.

Saturn which is in the SE at sunset is similarly paired with Spica which is the brightest star in Virgo, which looks more like a maiden than Leo looks like a lion, but a maiden with a disproportionately large head and a matchstick body.

Mercury almost lost in the sun, and makes a very poor very swift appearance a few minutes before dawn.

The Lyrid meteors are past their peak now but there may still be some poking about in the Northeast after midnight. I didn’t see one, but as I’ve said before I have the same relationship with meteors as the bloke in the kit kat commercial has with panda’s, and don’t get me started on panda’s, suffice to say if any animal deserves to become extinct it’s pandas.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 22nd anniversary of The former Philippine Episcopal Church (supervised by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America) being granted full autonomy and raised to the status of an Autocephalous Anglican Province and renamed the Episcopal Church of the Philippines.

Easter

Firstly please forgive me for failing you all so dismally last week when I forgot to record Scilly Stars, needless to say it was the best week we’re going to get for at least 10,000 years, with at least 48 vivid comets and 3 supernovas, sadly this week is a little more humdrum. Though saying that it’s not that bad, firstly we have a full moon on Friday. This is the full moon that dictates when Easter falls. You may have noticed that Easter flips around rather annoyingly, and apparently randomly, though it’s not the least bit random. Last year it fell on the 24^th of April, the latest it can be is the 25^th; the earliest is 22^nd of March. This is how it works, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. So if there is a full moon on the equinox, the 21^st of March which also happens to be a Saturday, then Easter Sunday is the next day on the 22^nd. This year it’s a bit more rational and falls on the 8^th. If you don’t like it then blame Moses because its all based on the Jewish Passover, which is a celebration of the alleged escape of the Jews from Egypt, it may be time to move on a bit.

Venus and Jupiter are still very bright in the Western sky after Sunset, Jupiter is getting lower all the time now, but Venus is holding it’s position as it moves closer the Earth, it doesn’t set now until after 11, which is very late for Venus.

Mars and Saturn rise well before Venus sets, Mars is quite high in the SE after Sunset, very bright and very orange, it’s getting dimmer everyday now as it moves away from us, Saturn rises at 9 shortly before Jupiter sets. Tonight Mars is a little to North of the moon, and on Friday when the Moon is full it’s just to the south of Saturn. I’ve put some guides on the blog if you need a little help spotting them.

Well we’re is Aries now as are Uranus and Neptune, which means they’re on the other side of the sun, which means if you are Aries you may well have an encounter with an amorous goat this week, I can’t be too specific about precisely where and one, but be prepared. 

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 100^th day of the year and the 100^th anniversary of the Titanic leaving port in Southampton. If your unfamiliar with the story she struck an ice berg and sank a few years later, but mercifully Kate Winslet survived, but less positively so did her fiancée who was frankly a bit of a cad.

Anti Temperance Riots In Basingstoke and some star stuff.

Rather alarmingly this is the 200^th Scilly stars, well obviously not for me, because I’m keeping count and this is sky 200. So at an rough average of 3 mins each that’s 10 hours or around 8 CDs, and I’ve got pretty well all of them still, so if anyone would like a complete set to perhaps give as a late mother’s day gift, please get in touch, but I’m sure most of you don’t maintain a deep and abiding loathing of your mothers and won’t wish to take advantage of this offer.

As for last Tuesday fabulous conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, well it was miserable and overcast from Saturday to Friday and no one saw a thing. Unless you lived in Manchester, I know this because a very earnest young lady from Vodafone called me on Tuesday afternoon to regale me with offers I didn’t want, informed me that in Manchester the sun was cracking the pavements, which was much appreciated. It goes without saying that the star walk was unsuccessful, though. But while we waited to tell people who turned up politely to go away again, and one person did turn up, which showed optimism above and beyond the call of duty, I was asked why Venus and Jupiter were clearly visible early Saturday evening but then bizarrely disappeared, for peculiar reasons of there own. I explained, I hope without being to patronising that they set around 9pm. Up until that point it hadn’t even crossed my mind that everybody didn’t know that stars and planets rise and set like the moon and sun, well they do. So I’ve decided to dumb this down for a few seconds, if you’re up early enough to catch the sunrise, and occasionally glance at the sun during the day all the way through to sunset then you are looking at the same place all the time, the earth is spinning which gives the sun, or the stars at night their apparent motion.

Venus and Jupiter are drifting apart now in the western sky before 10pm but still well worth a look. Mars, very bright at the moment is over in the east by dark, while Venus and Jupiter are in the west, Saturn rises around 10, just before Jupiter and Venus set, so with 4 planets in the sky at once this is good week, particularly this week with no moon.

I’ve put a diagram on the blog which shows why Venus and Jupiter are so close, and also that there is another spectular conjunction this week, two in fact but sadly they are only visible from Saturn or Jupiter. From Jupiter, or perhaps one of its moons which would be a little less deadly, Venus, the earth, mars and Saturn are arranged in line, which works the other way from Saturn.

And this big conjunction will effect you profoundly if you are Aries, with Venus and Saturn just below your sign, your decision to open a sex shop in the Vatican city will start to pay dividends this week, and if you are Virgo then with Saturn loitering nearby, you may find you come to regret standing in the forthcoming bye election because if you get in you will soon discover that being a councillor is less glamorous than you think and that there is no secret stash of Viagra in the town hall.

And lest I forget today is the first day of spring, at 5:14 this morning we went from winter to spring.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 121^st anniversary of rioting in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperance by the Salvation Army. It wasn’t an issue here they weren’t even allowed to get of the boat.

Libby Riddles Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Champion.

The main event this week is tonight’s conjunction of Venus and Jupiter over in the west, moving NW as the night progresses, after the sun and the moon Venus and Jupiter are the next two brightest objects in the sky. These conjunctions are not that rare, there’s another in May but just before dawn, but this is a good one because Venus is so high. Both planets can be seen at once in binoculars. Mercury is there as well shortly after sunset but to near the horizon to be worth a look.

Shelia Thomas put a post on facebook asking what the two bright lights were, Jackie a visitor one assumes later posted “Can't wait to be there & see them for ourselves.” Well Jackie they’ll both be somewhere else when you get over, but don’t worry just go out into the garden and look west, this isn’t an IOS exclusive.

Mars, very bright at the moment is over in the east by dark, while Venus and Jupiter are in the west, Saturn rises around 10, just before Jupiter and Venus set, so with 4 planets in the sky at once this is good week.

Which is why myself, Tom and Jacqueline are having another star walk tonight, it’s free, so if you are so inclined turn up at Life Long Learning around 7:15 this evening and if you can bring binoculars. If the weather is ok I’ll set up my telescope in the Carn Thomas car park, I’m not carting it up Buzza it’s too heavy and it needs power, so don’t ask.

Orion, Taurus, Sirius (our brightest star), and the Pleiades are all up in the SW in the early evening all worth a look in binoculars, especially this week with the waning moon rising quite late.

Solar flares have been in the news over the last week with some overly dramatic headlines, though the BBC was a little more considered. The sun has weather system like we do, though snow is on the rare side, and every so often these storms are so violent that billions of tons of ionised gas is thrown out into space. Sometimes it heads toward the earth as it did on the 8^th. We are protected by the earth’s magnetic field, and the interaction of the solar storm and our magneto sphere is what causes the Northern Lights, which can be seen on occasion from the Islands. There are billions of volts of EMF whirling around this can cause disruption to satellites and even cause power cuts.

And now your weekly dose of drivel, your horoscope. Cancer first.

You’re feeling really low this week and could do with the reassurance of supportive friends but you can’t face the effort of actually making some.

And now for Scorpio, which this week is especially tailored for me.

Here I go again on my own, going down the only the only road I’ve ever known”. Whitesnake really captured the helter-skelter life of a rural bus driver, didn’t they?

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the last day of winter and more importantly the 26^th anniversary of Libby Riddles becoming the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.