The Great Nebula In Orion's BeltNot a huge amount to get excited about this week, pretty well all we’ve got at the moment is Mars and Saturn. Mercury has cleared off again and Venus is about to turn up next week.
The stars are still all there of course and if you get the chance take a look at Orion while it’s so high, if you’re your eyes are good you will be able to see a fuzzy patch in his belt, but it’s easily seen with binoculars. This is the Orion Nebula (aka M42, or NGC 1976). It is one of the brightest nebulae; it’s located at a distance of 1,350 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. And its enormous at an estimated 24 light years across
The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula. There are also supersonic "bullets" of gas piercing the dense hydrogen clouds of the Orion Nebula. Each bullet is ten times the diameter of Pluto's orbit and tipped with iron atoms glowing bright blue, real Jovian thunder bolts if you like.
But mercifully it’s much quieter around here.
Mercury after a brief reappearance is sinking back into the sunrise. Look for it just above the east-southeast horizon about 30 minutes before sunup. Binoculars help. Venus is hidden nearby but she’s on the way back.
Mars, fiery bright at magnitude –1.1, shines in the east-northeast in twilight and higher in the east later. It's in Cancer, more than halfway from Regulus below it to Pollux and Castor above. Mars is highest in the south by midnight. Dramatic things are happening on Mars's north polar cap (bottom) as it shrinks in the Martian springtime. With billowing white clouds, and dust storms, unfortunately the clouds are co2 as is the ice at the poles. And if you’re an idiot like me and got your hand painfully stuck to a lump of dry ice as a kid, you’ll know just how cold it is. Mars has ice caps at both its north and south poles. The perennial or permanent portion of the north polar cap consists almost entirely of water ice. In the northern hemisphere winter, this gains a seasonal coating of frozen carbon dioxide about three feet thick.
Jupiter now almost gone is descending into the sunset glow low in the west-southwest. But it will be in a close sunset conjunction with Venus on the 16th.
Saturn’s in Virgo and rises in the east around 9 p.m, standing highest in the south around 2 a.m. I’ve not seen it yet this yet, but it will get easier to find as the year progresses.
Now I rarely mention the outer planets because they’re so dim and distant, and on Uranus can be seen with the naked eye. Uranus and Neptune are hidden in the glare of the Sun. Pluto is low in the southeast before dawn, but I defy any one to find it, I know I couldn’t. As usual I’ve put some guides up on the blog and will attempt another video this week, but they are a little time consuming.
Now on a more serious note sadly we must return to the Black Shadow and a particularly poignant plea from a little girl who must remain nameless. In early December the Black Shadow aka Barbara Simpson cleared the poor child’s house, including her mum’s dentures. Since then mum just sits on a over turned wheel barrow day and night vacantly drinking meths, because her dentures were her life. The hapless child’s dad couldn’t stand it anymore and ran off with a shepherd on Christmas Eve. All the little girl wants is for the Black Shadow to return her mum’s false teeth, so that her dad will hopefully come back and then they can begin rebuilding their lives.
And that was your Scilly star for the week ending on 142nd anniversary of New York’s City Jolly Corks organization renaming itself the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
The stars are still all there of course and if you get the chance take a look at Orion while it’s so high, if you’re your eyes are good you will be able to see a fuzzy patch in his belt, but it’s easily seen with binoculars. This is the Orion Nebula (aka M42, or NGC 1976). It is one of the brightest nebulae; it’s located at a distance of 1,350 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. And its enormous at an estimated 24 light years across
The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula. There are also supersonic "bullets" of gas piercing the dense hydrogen clouds of the Orion Nebula. Each bullet is ten times the diameter of Pluto's orbit and tipped with iron atoms glowing bright blue, real Jovian thunder bolts if you like.
But mercifully it’s much quieter around here.
Mercury after a brief reappearance is sinking back into the sunrise. Look for it just above the east-southeast horizon about 30 minutes before sunup. Binoculars help. Venus is hidden nearby but she’s on the way back.
Mars, fiery bright at magnitude –1.1, shines in the east-northeast in twilight and higher in the east later. It's in Cancer, more than halfway from Regulus below it to Pollux and Castor above. Mars is highest in the south by midnight. Dramatic things are happening on Mars's north polar cap (bottom) as it shrinks in the Martian springtime. With billowing white clouds, and dust storms, unfortunately the clouds are co2 as is the ice at the poles. And if you’re an idiot like me and got your hand painfully stuck to a lump of dry ice as a kid, you’ll know just how cold it is. Mars has ice caps at both its north and south poles. The perennial or permanent portion of the north polar cap consists almost entirely of water ice. In the northern hemisphere winter, this gains a seasonal coating of frozen carbon dioxide about three feet thick.
Jupiter now almost gone is descending into the sunset glow low in the west-southwest. But it will be in a close sunset conjunction with Venus on the 16th.
Saturn’s in Virgo and rises in the east around 9 p.m, standing highest in the south around 2 a.m. I’ve not seen it yet this yet, but it will get easier to find as the year progresses.
Now I rarely mention the outer planets because they’re so dim and distant, and on Uranus can be seen with the naked eye. Uranus and Neptune are hidden in the glare of the Sun. Pluto is low in the southeast before dawn, but I defy any one to find it, I know I couldn’t. As usual I’ve put some guides up on the blog and will attempt another video this week, but they are a little time consuming.
Now on a more serious note sadly we must return to the Black Shadow and a particularly poignant plea from a little girl who must remain nameless. In early December the Black Shadow aka Barbara Simpson cleared the poor child’s house, including her mum’s dentures. Since then mum just sits on a over turned wheel barrow day and night vacantly drinking meths, because her dentures were her life. The hapless child’s dad couldn’t stand it anymore and ran off with a shepherd on Christmas Eve. All the little girl wants is for the Black Shadow to return her mum’s false teeth, so that her dad will hopefully come back and then they can begin rebuilding their lives.
And that was your Scilly star for the week ending on 142nd anniversary of New York’s City Jolly Corks organization renaming itself the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
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