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.

Conjunction and Opposition.

The very obvious main event this week is the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, which is actually next Tuesday, Jupiter is closing fast on Venus, absolutely unmissable over in the west, for a good part of the evening, they both set after 10. And if you’re going to get a conjunction of two planets, Venus and Jupiter is the most spectacular. Venus being the brightest and Jupiter the 2^nd brightest objects in the sky.

Mars is pretty good as well; it was at opposition on Saturday and at its closest point to the Earth last night. Not a very good opposition, in fact the worst in its 15 year cycle with the earth, at almost 63 million miles, it can get as close as 43 million miles, when it appears almost twice as big. But we’ll have to wait another 6 years for that. Because Mars is just past opposition, it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise and will be very close to Wednesday’s full moon.

Mercury (about magnitude –0.8) is having its best evening apparition of 2012. But it’s still nothing to write home about, as the afterglow of sunset fades in the west, look near the horizon for Mercury far below and perhaps a bit right of Venus and Jupiter.

Mercury will have slunk back into the sun next week, so this is your last change for a good while, months at least, to see all 5 naked eye visible planets in the one night. Saturn rises as Venus sets at 10pm due east. The planet is fairly easy to spot a little to the left of slightly dimmer Spica, there’s nothing else comparable in the south eastern sky before midnight.

There are no predicted meteor showers until April, but you are always likely to catch the odd one or two, like the one that appeared in the north of England on Saturday, which was claimed to be as bright as magnitude -9, which would have been bright enough to have been seen by day. And I’m sure there must a few wicker folk up in the wilds of Northumberland who are puzzled that that the world didn’t end.

And speaking of mumbo jumbo, its time for your horoscope, and this week it’s Sagittarius which is just now appearing in the predawn sky after skimming the vale of the Sun in December and as you all know Sagittarius is dominated by Jupiter which is closing in on Venus as fast as a monkey’s bum. Which means for Sagittarians that romance isn’t quite dead, it just smells like it, there is hope yet, despite your running over her cat and claiming half heartedly it was an accident, there is hope yet, but you’ll need to work hard to rebuild that trust, and dribbling less would be a help as well.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 91^h anniversary of Mongolia, under Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg, declaring its independence from China.