Splodges From The Dawn Of Time

Nasa pictures from 13 billion years ago

You may have heard on the news yesterday squeezed in between, the apocalyptic menace of Swine fever and the unacceptable behaviour of the home secretaries husband, that a Nasa Space Telescope, Spitzer, managed to capture a few photons that began their journey 13 billion years ago, very near the beginning of time and space for that mater, that doesn’t mean they know what they’ve photographed though. I’ve put the picture on the blog. To a casual observer it could be the psychedelic creation of a mischievous puppy that has dipped its paws in paint. But it may be one of the most extraordinary pictures ever snapped. One possibility is stars, the first to light up after the dawn of time. They would have been "humungous", said NASA, "more than 1000 times the mass of our sun".
But let’s get back to what we can see, tonight, the Moon shines in the middle of Gemini this evening: below Pollux and Castor, which are lined up almost horizontally. So if you want to find Gemini and the twins tonight’s the night
The Moon which is waxing again shines under Regulus on May 2nd and Saturn on May 3rd.

Mercury is still there low in evening twilight, but starts to fades rapidly this week. Look for it low in the west-northwest about an hour after sunset. As the sky gets darker, the Pleiades glimmer into view very near it. The Pleiades are above Mercury early in the week, and to the right of it by May 1st and 2nd, again take a look at the blog.

Venus shines low in the east during dawn. Don't confuse it with Jupiter, higher and far to the right in the southeast. In a telescope, Venus is a thickening, shrinking crescent.

Mars remains about 5° from Venus all week. It's below Venus early in the week, and lower left of it toward the week's end, but definitely not worth getting up early for

Jupiter still with Venus and Mars shines in the southeast before and during dawn.

Saturn is far away the most social able of the planets is high in the south during evening. In a telescope, Saturn's rings appear 4° from edge on, their widest for the year.

I had a comment on the blog last week, from Boston Mass, asking a question, which was heartening, because unlike you lot Americans don’t know that I haven’t got the faintest idea what I’m talking about.

Look To The West

April's highlight is on the 26th in the west just after sun set.

So get your cameras out.

We have a bit of a celestial treat this Sunday in the late evening just after Sunset; it may be even be worth a trek up the garrison for it. Though if you’re lucky enough to live on St Agnes, or even Bryher, you should get a lovely view across the sweep of the western rocks.

On Sunday The Pleiades a very pretty little constellation and star cluster will be sparkling in the early evening sky between a thin crescent moon and the planet Mercury. You’ll need a clear view of the western sky just after sunset. This should make for fine viewing with the naked eye or with binoculars, but it would be nice if someone with a decent camera with a telephoto lens could catch a picture and email it in or maybe put it up on the Scillywebcam. There’s a guide on the blog, which means there’s no excuse so out with your cameras just after sunset on Sunday and that’s an order.


We have a new moon on Friday and after sunset, the elusive, extremely thin young crescent Moon displays its early-springtime upright smile. Look for it just above the west-northwest horizon, to the lower right of Mercury.

Mercury (about magnitude –0.5) is having its best evening apparition of the year. Look for it low in the west about an hour after sunset. Especially on Sunday when it hooks up with the Pleiades.

Venus still very bright shines low in the dawn. Look for it above the horizon due east about 60 to 40 minutes before sunrise. Don't confuse it with Jupiter, which is much higher, much dimmer, and much farther to the right in the southeast.

Mars is still loitering below Venus in the dawn and still isn’t up to much.

Jupiter is setting brighter and shines in the southeast before and during dawn.

Saturn is still the only planet which is with us all night it shines high in the southeast at dusk and highest in the south around 9 p.m.

We’ve had our first month of spring and the winter stars are fast disappearing. Look for a bright, bright star in the south west before 11 pm, this is Sirius, Orion dog.. As spring advances, bright Sirius is getting lower in the southwest at dusk. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest. It’s actually 2 stars, Sirius A and Sirius B, Sirius A is the one we can see, and if you stare at it, it seems to change colour ranging form white through yellow to blue. And its pretty close, which is why its so bright, at a distance of only 8.6 light-years, the Sirius system is one of our near neighbours.

Sirius A is about twice as massive as the Sun and is 25 times more luminous than the Sun, Sirius B is a white dwarf and well past its sell by date. The system is between 200 and 300 million years old it was there even before Nora started working at the paper shop, and its nice to see her back. And sadly, Sirius will on the other side of the sun until the autumn.

See you next week, if you can cope with it.

V enus, Mars, Saturn and its moons in transit.

Saturnian Moons In Transit, courtesey of Hubble.

Scilly Stars 18th March 2009

Mercury was back briefly, and now before one gets chance to catch ones breath it’s gone again disappearing back into the sunrise. And if that’s not bad enough we’re about to lose Venus which still shines brilliantly in the west during evening twilight, but alas is getting lower every day. And it's changing rapidly as it swings toward inferior conjunction between Earth and Sun. In a telescope Venus is an eerily thin crescent, waning from 7% sunlit on March 14th to just 3% on the 20th. And it's big: nearly an arc minute from cusp to cusp, which is one 60th of a degree.

Some people have claimed they have resolved the thin crescent of Venus with the naked eye. If you want to try, look right after sunset in a bright sky before the planet's glare becomes a problem. To reduce the effects of your eye's optical aberrations, try looking through a small, round hole 1 or 2 mm wide in a piece of aluminium foil or cardboard. But hurry up because this is the last week that Venus will be with us, in a few days the planet will cross in front of the sun to re-emerge in the April dawn.

If your up early enough and have a clear view of the Eastern Horizon, which eliminates St Agnes, most of Bryher, Tresco and St Mary’s, so just St Martins really, there’s a fairly dim Mars showing very low in the sunrise glow. Look for it just above the east-southeast horizon, well to the lower left of much brighter Jupiter, about 30 minutes before sunrise. Or even better wait until the summer.

Jupiter a much better bet is getting a little higher in the dawn sky each week. Look for it very low in the east-southeast about an hour before sunrise. On March 22nd, Jupiter shines just to the left of the waning Moon. Although they look close together, Jupiter is actually 2,200 times farther away at the moment, and 40 times bigger.

Saturn is just past opposition and is glowing yellow and bright, low in the east at dusk; well up in the southeast by midevening; and highest in the south around midnight. And there was a quadruple transit of Saturn’s moons across the planet's face on February 24th? Hubble was looking, and very kindly has released the images. Which I’ve put on the blog along with some other equally riveting stuff.

But the big event this week, whether you’re interested in the stars or not, happens on Friday; the first day of spring; which this year is on the 20th rather than the 21st. At 3:44 am on Friday the North Pole flips from pointing away from the Sun and starts to point toward it for the next 6 months. 6 months of unbroken sunshine apart from a little light early morning drizzle on the 11th of July.
That was your night sky for the week ending the 24th March 2009.

Ceres, Comet Lulin, Venus and the Moon 24.02.09

Comet Lulin

The Path of Comet Lulin, close to Saturn in the North East this week.

Venus and the Moon

Comet Lulin

The path of Ceres through Leo in the North Eastern Sky

This Weeks Scilly Stars.

We have an adrenaline drenched week this week, with a comet on fly by, our largest asteroid only 60 million miles away, Neptune’ s on the way back, and there’s an important anniversary, not the big one but the big ones granddad.

Comet Lulin this week is at its brightest and closest to Earth — right when the sky is conveniently moonless. Use binoculars or a telescope to look for it once it's well up in late evening. The comet is glowing at about magnitude 5.6 as it moves rapidly westward across Virgo just skirting Leo, and very close to Saturn all week, in the North East around 9pm. In recent days the comet's dust-spike has grown longer and stronger, completely outclassing its "true" tail, which points properly away from the Sun like a comet's tail should. It’s dim but easily visible with binoculars and both tails should show. It will be visible for most of the night, look at the blog for a find it guide.

And sticking with Leo, Ceres the largest of the Asteroids is at the closest and best viewing position of our lifetimes and a lot of subsequent lifetimes for that matter. Ceres will pass closer to Earth than it has been since 1857, it won’t be this close again until 4164, an occasion I may well miss. You can spot it with binoculars, which are essential, in Leo, again close to Saturn using the chart at on the blog.
And Friday is a red letter day for Uranus when its as far as it gets from the Sun as it can in its 84-year orbit. So we can all take comfort knowing that no matter how bad things get, for the rest of our lives, Uranus will be just a touch closer every day.

Of the planets Venus and Saturn are the only two really showing at the moment. Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars remain very low in the glow of sunrise, where they're changing configuration daily. Mars is very faint and may require binoculars. But Venus is still dominating the western sky until 9pm, someone asked my mum to ask me what the very bright star above Star Castle perhaps pre-empting the second coming is, well it’s Venus, which I may have mentioned previously on Scilly Stars.

The planet sets about 9pm and if you want to catch it and Saturn together find Venus around 8:30, turn 180 degrees and almost diametrically opposite you will see the yellowish glow of Saturn, in the same area of the sky where you will also find Ceres and Comet Lulin.

March the 3rd is the 40th anniversary of Apollo 9, which was the third manned mission of the Apollo Program, and proved the Lunar Module worthy of manned spaceflight. Further tests on Apollo 10 would prepare the Lunar Module for its ultimate goal, landing on the Moon.

That was you nights sky for the week ending next Tuesday.