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.

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.

Persieds

Firstly the Persied meteor shower which peaked on Saturday, but will be with us for a few days yet, look to the N E below Cassiopeia, the wonky w on its side. But looking to the north east should be enough. I think I saw one but that may have been wishful thinking. I have the same relationship with meteors as the bloke in the kit kat advert has with pandas, I look for ages and see nothing then look away and it’s Guy Fawkes Night. But you may have better luck; I’ve put a picture of one taken from space on the Radio Scilly Facebook page, and on the Scilly stars blog.

Persied shot from Space.

The planets are pretty much the same as last week, no Venus or Mercury, too close to the sun, and they have been joined by Saturn which now sets very soon after the Sun. Mars rises around 3 am but isn’t very far above before the predawn twilight blinks it out.

Jupiter is the only naked eye planet we have at the moment rising around midnight and blazing in the SE sky and very high in the South by dawn.

Uranus which is just naked eye visible and Neptune which isn’t are well up in the east and SE by midnight, but they are both very difficult to find, I did spot Uranus once but Neptune has always stayed elusive.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 706^th anniversary of William Wallace, Scottish being hung, drawn and quartered for high treason by Edward I of England. And recent research has confirmed that it was exactly like it was depicted in Braveheart. 

Not Much Again.............

Here's a current super novae I haven't mentioned this week.

Supernova 2011dh, which was discovered in the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51, on May 31st, has been brightening ever since — though the brightening is now levelling off. As of June 16th the supernova was about V magnitude 12.6 and visible in a lot more amateur telescopes. 

Well so much for last weeks eclipse, which wouldn’t have been overly fantastic even if it hadn’t been cloudy, which it obviously was, but never mind there’s another one on December the 10^th, but its at 2:30 in the after noon but we should catch the tail end of as the moon rises at about 4, with the sun setting shortly afterwards. Putting disappointing lunar eclipses to one side, which is always a little traumatic, this week, is much last week. But we do have an event coming up in less than a half hour, at 8:16 in fact, summer starts and the axis of the earth’s rotation starts to edge away from the sun. So today is the longest day, with about 16 hours of daylight. This gives me an excellent opportunity to waffle.

The Earths axial tilt is 23.4 degrees and it always points in the same direction throughout the year, which means it changes with respect to the sun. In spring and summer towards and in autumn and winter away from the sun. At the equinoxes the tilt is at right angles to the sun and we have equal days and nights. Now 23 and half degrees may not seem much but double it and it makes the sun 47 degrees higher today at noon than it will be in mid winter, which is a lot. Now you may have noticed that the rate of change of daylight hours is much slower now or in mid winter than it is in early spring or autumn. It’s best thought of as a pendulum effect, at 8:16 the days stop getting longer and begin to slowly get shorter. The pendulum has reached the top of its swing and starts to fall the other way and begins accelerating again down to the bottom of the swing, which next happens at the autumn equinox, when the swing begins to slow again toward the winter solstice when it will stop and then begin to fall toward mid summer again. And like any pendulum effect the swing is always faster at the bottom slowing to zero at the top.

Now because we had a full moon last week, we have a last quarter moon this week which will rise in the early hours and means that when the stars do come out form 11pm onwards they will be showing well, this of course is under the rather optimistic assumption that the skies ever clear, well if the do the milky way should be lovely arcing over head the North East to the South East, and there’s always the possibility of shooting stars, not that we are expecting a shower at the moment.

As for the planets bar Jupiter and Saturn they are all to close to the Jupiter at the Aries-Pisces border shines in the east during dawn, if you’re up and about it will just about the only thing of note in that part of the sky.

Saturn is in fine view in the south to southwest after dusk. And just ¼° to its upper right is fainter Porrima (Gamma Virginis), turning Saturn into a naked-eye "double star." Shining 15° to Saturn's left is Spica.

And that was your night’s sky for the week ending on the 120^th anniversary of The Street railway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, commencing operation.

Götterdämmerung Postponed.

Very much the same in the pre midnight sky this week, in fact if you haven’t noticed yet, the sky shifts by a smidgen less then 7degrees to the west each week, or 360 degrees dived by 52 weeks. This is why we don’t get a great deal of change week by week. The planets give us a bit more variation because the obviously move against the fixed background of the sky.

Early Friday morning,  if your one of the legion of listeners who live in the Western United States a pretty unimpressive star, Nu Pegasi, will be occulted for up to 1.2 seconds by the small asteroid 4569 Baerbel along a thin track (only 9 miles wide!) running from southernmost California through Arizona, Colorado, and the Dakotas. The star will be low in the southeast. But blink and you’ll miss it.

Summer almost upon us and we’re into the brightest 6 weeks of the year now which means the summer constellations are appearing Scorpio is up in the South East now. The brightest star in the east these nights is Vega. You can't miss it. Look for the little triangle-and-parallelogram pattern of the constellation Lyra dangling to its lower right.

We have a new moon tomorrow, so more spring tides.

The planets are a little better this week Saturn is a little West of South when it gets dark, and Saturn has a mate this week. Saturn and the star Porrima have now closed to 17 arc minutes of each other, practically as close as they will get. Although they look like neighbours, Saturn is only 76 light-minutes from Earth, while Porrima is 39 light-years in the background. That's more than a quarter million times farther away!

Low in the dawn, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter continue drawing farther apart in a long diagonal line. Jupiter is the highest and easiest. Far to its lower left are faint Mars, then bright Venus, and then very-low Mercury, as shown in the scenes above. Bring binoculars for Mars and Mercury. If you’re up an hour before the sun look east Venus and Jupiter should be unmissable.

Now for some news about the Black Shadow’s deadly gamma ray space laser, apparently the chap who set up the orbital synchronous lock was a bit of a cowboy and Barbara’s doomsday machine is now sedately heading for a low lunar orbit which will render it useless. But I have been told by a very unreliable source that she is hoping to get it up and running in time for the next projected end of the world on October 21^st, keep your fingers crossed.

And that was your nights sky for the week ending on the 167^th anniversary of the founding of  The Young Men's Christian Association.

Lyrid Meteor Shower And Jesus

Not much movement this week, but we do have a lack lustre meteor shower latter peaking on Friday.

Vega, the "Summer Star," is now rising in the northeast right around the end of. Later in the night as Vega rises higher, look for its dim little constellation Lyra dangling from it toward the lower right.

The radiant of the Lyrid meteor shower is Magnified in the NE.

Which bring us to this week’s high light, The Lyrid meteor shower should peak late on Friday, but it's usually quite weak. The best chance to see an occasional Lyrid will be around midnight, when Lyra is up fairly high but the Moon hasn't yet risen. So look to the North East after 10pm and you may see a few from Wednesday to as late as Monday, but this shower is by no means the best of the year.

Now the planets, for what it’s worth Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter are buried deep in the glare of sunrise (well to the lower left of Venus), pretty well in a wasted conjunction.

Venus (still a respectable magnitude –3.9) is visible very low in the dawn. Look for it above the eastern horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise. But it won’t be showing well if at all.

But we still have Saturn which is still the only planet showing well. After passing through opposition on April 3rd, it glows low in the east-southeast as the stars come out. Saturn rises higher in the southeast during evening and shines highest in the south around midnight. Look for twinkly Spica 12° below it or to its lower left. Don't confuse Saturn with brighter Arcturus 30° to its left or upper left.

A small telescope will always show Titan, Saturn's largest moon.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on Batman’s 72^nd birthday. 

And as it's Passion Week here's a picture of Jesus.

The Song Remains The Same

A pretty worthless week again, pretty well exactly the same as last week, and next week for that matter.

We have Venus but barely, it rises just before the sun and is visible for a very limited period and Saturn, it glows low in the east as the sun sets and is about to set in the west as the Sun sets. The planet is pretty well due south at midnight. It’s fairly easy to spot. There are 3 bright stars, one being Saturn, in that area of the sky, Arcturus which is the brightest star in bo o teas which helpfully is written as bootes, is quite a bit higher and further to the east of Saturn and the other is Spica, or Spy ka the brightest star in Virgo which is a little below and to the right of Saturn. So Saturn’s the middle one. And that’s about it.

Now I’m going to waffle about the moon for a bit. Now you may be wandering why Easter is so stupidly late this year. Well it’s the moon’s fault, not that it’s overly contrite about it. Basically Easter, which if you don’t know, is a pretty bizarre myth about an alleged charismatic Jewish carpenter coming back to life on a Sunday around 2000 years ago, it’s not as barking as some of the Norse stuff, but it’s getting there, anyway this bloke was allegedly crucified during the Jewish Passover, which is based on an even more barking great escape myth from around 3500 years ago, there’s book full of this stuff if your interested. Anyway the Passover starts on the first full moon after the spring equinox which is next Monday. So Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. So it’s all a bit primitive. Easter is on the 24^th of April, the 25^th being the latest it can be. And that won’t happen again until 2030, when I’ll be 79. The March full moon this year was on the 19^th two days before the start of Spring. The earliest Easter can be is the 22^nd when the March full moon falls on the spring equinox. Anyway next year it’s much better it’s on then 8^th.  I hope that was clear.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 81^st anniversary of BBC Radio announcing that there is no news on April the 18^th 1930. Be nice if they did it again, though Sky News would find something somewhere, and failing that Keri definitely would.

Darkness At Noon

Another stunning week this week, the moon is just past noon at the moment setting just after sunset tonight and moving further up the western sky over the course of the week, skirting Orion. It’s just below the Pleiades on the 6^th and is just to the right of Aldebaran, the baleful red eye of the bull in Taurus. And speaking of Orion, we will soon lose the hunter as it sinks further into the sun, a sure sigh that that summer’s on the way, his belt is horizontal now.  There are three stars in the belt Alnitak is approximately 800 light years away from Earth and is 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun,  Alnilam is is 375,000 times more luminous than the Sun and is 90,000 times more luminous than the Sun. So they’re all pretty bright.

Orion is very useful as an aid to locating other stars. By extending the line of the Belt south-eastward, Sirius can be found; north-westward, there’s Aldebaran. A line eastward across the two shoulders indicates the direction of Procyon; and a line from Rigel through Betelgeuse points to the twins Castor and Pollux.

And now for the planets, well Saturn anyway, which was at opposition on Sunday; which means that the earth was directly in line with Saturn and the Sun. It glows low in the east-southeast as twilight fades, rises higher in the southeast during evening, and shines highest in the south after midnight. During the evening, look for twinkly Spica 11° below it and brighter Arcturus nearly 30° to its left.

As for the other planets you may get a glimpse of Venus pre dawn in the South East.

But not Mercury which is fading fast and disappearing down into the sunset as it nears inferior conjunction.

Or Mars which remains out of sight behind the glare of the Sun for a while yet, and Jupiter is out of sight in conjunction with the Sun.

Now you may have noticed that the Black Shadow, aka Barbara Simpson, has been quiet of late, well after much clandestine investigation and at no small personal risk I have discovered that she raised a considerable sum smuggling endangered species over the course of the last 6 months and has now invested in am immensely powerful gamma ray space laser, which will be able to take out London, Washington and Ulan Bator at the push of button unless her as yet unspecified demands are met. It’s Sod’s law isn’t it just when you really need James Bond, MGM pulls the plug.

And that was your night sky for the week wending on the 57^th anniversary of the the most boring day since 1900 according to the True Knowledge Answer Engine.

Mercury Again.

Well if you didn’t catch Mercury last week when it was on top of Jupiter, this week it’s at his highest above the western horizon, to night is its highest point. Mercury will be quite a bit higher than Jupiter until the weekend when it will rapidly fall into the horizon, Mercury does rather flip around, this is because it’s so close the sun and has an 88 day year, so by the time we get to mid summer’s day it will be back where it is now.

Venus shines low in the southeast during dawn, lower each week, you can still see it, unless Dean was lying, he claimed to have seen over Peninis last week, I wouldn’t know the planet of love sets at least 4 hours before I get up at the moment. But Venus is getting closer to the Sun all the time and will soon disappear.

This is all getting a bit sad because we are about to say goodbye to Jupiter as well it’s very low in the west and not easily seen. But if you haven’t a enough of it since September All you need is a clear evening and a viewing site with an good view down to the west horizon.  Note the spot where the Sun sets, wait another 15 minutes, and then start scanning above that spot for Jupiter and Mercury. Mercury is still about 12° — two binocular fields — above the horizon a half hour after sunset.

But they will all come back, in fact Venus, Mars and Jupiter all rise around 5 am on the 16^th of May and a week later Mercury joins them, so set your alarms.

And of course Mars is still out of sight behind the glare of the Sun.

Saturn rises around 8 p.m. It's highest in the south around 1 a.m. daylight saving time. Spica, slightly fainter, shines about 10° below Saturn all evening.

There is something else we can look out for, these next two weeks, when there's no moonlight in the sky at the end of twilight, are a chipper time to look for the zodiacal light. As the last of twilight is fading away, look for a vague but huge, tall, narrow pyramid of pearly light extending up from the western horizon. It slopes to the left, following the ecliptic. What you're seeing is interplanetary dust near the plane of the solar system, lit by the Sun.

That was your night sky for the week ending 1974^th anniversary of Caligula accepting the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. He was initially reluctant to accept but his horse said he would have to sleep on the sofa if he didn’t, so he did.

Mercury Jupiter Conjunction.

This week for the first time for months we actually have something happen, a good conjunction, tonight mercury is within 2 degrees of Jupiter, pretty well due west at sunset. Sadly there’s not a huge amount of time to catch them, it should be dark enough to catch Jupiter soon after 7 it’s still pretty bright, though its about as far away from us as it gets at the moment, so find Jupiter first and Mercury which will be much dimmer, but will be right on top of the giant planet, and by 7:45 they’ve both set. But it’s the best chance to see Mercury this year. Because they are both so low western horizon you will need a pretty good low view of the western horizon, at least on St Mary’s because the accursed garrison will be in the way. As usual binoculars will help, you’ll certainly see Jupiter as a disc and maybe some of the Jovian moons, and if you’re prepared to use a little imagination you may see Mercury as a crescent. Mercury will be within 5 degrees of Jupiter right up until Friday. There’s a guide on the blog.

The other highlight happens next Sunday at 23:21, when the sun edges north over the equator and spring starts.

We still have Venus which rises around 6:30 in the South East followed very quickly by the sun, so it’s not what it was.

Saturn rises at around 9 again in the SE it’s quite easy to find before midnight look to the SE where you’ll see two similarly bright stars, Saturn is the upper of the two and Spica is the other, now here’s a load of exciting padding about Spica, it’s the brightest star in the in Virgo, and the 15th brightest star in the sky. It is 260 light years distant from Earth. A blue giant, it is a variable of the Beta Cepheid type, so now you know.

The other highlight happens next Sunday at 23:21, when the sun edges north over the equator and spring starts, and our hour goes forward a week on Saturday, hough as usual the Americans got in first.

And it seems that daylight saving came in at 2am on Saturday in most of the US and Canada, though in Arizona Hawaii Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa they don’t bother, and stay on standard time all year.  Though when I say Arizona, I’m obviously excluding that part of the state which is under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation, which isn’t just Navajo being petulant and a little cussed, it’s probably because the Navajo nation straddles Utah, Colorado and New Mexico as well, which would make it even more confusing. That was more padding by the way.

And that was your night’s sky for the week ending on 167th anniversary of the original date predicted by William Miller for the return of Christ. Of course he may well have turned up but people thought he was a bit of a nutter as you would and largely ignored him, but probably William Miller was wrong

The Slough Of Despond

The Crab Nebula 

The sky a seems to have sunk into a Slough of Despond at the moment, which is of course is a deep bog in John Bunyan's, The Pilgrim's Progress, into which the character Christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of guilt for them, not that you should necessarily do this, but that is of course between you and your conscience. There really is nothing much happening, and certainly not before midnight.

So in the absence of any planets in the evening star, except of course a setting Jupiter, and with the waning moon rising later all the time, it may be a good time to look for some deeper sky objects. There’s the winter star cluster M41, visible in binoculars about one binocular field south of Sirius, It contains about 100 stars including several red giants, Its age is estimated at between 190 and 240 million years old. So compared to the Sun, its stars are still in nappies.

You could also like between the horns of Taurus? Taurus is easily spotted just above Orion, the horns sweeping backward from Aldebaran, the bulls baleful red eye. You should see a hazy smudge which is the Crab Nebula.

And then there’s the Andromeda galaxy around half way between Cassiopeia and Pegasus. There’s a link below if you want to have a go.

 

Finding Andromeda.

As for the planets Mercury, Mars, and Neptune are hidden behind the glare of the Sun. But Venus is still there shining brightly in Sagittarius) shines as the "Morning Star" in the southeast just before and during dawn.

Jupiter shines brightly in the west at dusk and sets roughly an hour after dark now. But by 8:45 the giant planet has set.

Saturn rises at 10p.m., in the south east, you may get a glimpse of the rings in binoculars, and they’re at a reasonable angle to us now.

Uranus is a bout 7° west (lower right) of Jupiter and disappearing into the evening twilight. And it’s easier to see with the naked eye now as it moves away from Jupiter’s glare, but it’s very dim.

On that was your nights sky for the week ending on the 72^nd anniversary of the erroneous word "Dord" being discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation. It seems it was submitted as capital D or d as an abbreviation for density but through a shameful example of howling ineptitude it went in as Dord, which is fascinating.  

150 today.

This weeks Scilly Stars is a very special one, hence the fanfare, it’s the 150^th, which seems rather a lot to me, and it is it’s about 7 and a half hours, and I’ve got all of them. So if anybody wants copies I can just squeeze them onto 6 cds, but do bear in mind I’m not anticipating a huge take up on that offer, even if it were free, which its not. Anyway because it’s so special this Scilly Stars is like the radio equivalent of the end of the Christmas 2 Ronnies, I only wish you could see all the hoopla, suffice to say I'm recording this week’s in a gold lame jacket wearing a very fetching Liberace toupee. I also, in a dream, asked god if he would make a guest appearance, but was told no, because it seems it would have upset Alan Bookbinder, the previous head of religious programming at the BBC, but that was only a dream and maybe Mr Bookbinder wouldn't have minded, but we’ll never know. But in the end I dad manage to get a celebrity, Dieter Markus Stein who holds the record for landing the worlds biggest, but sadly Mr Stein couldn't speak English very well so I dropped him.

 This is a picture of the largest common carp in the world - a colossal record-breaking beast weighing in at 85lb 9oz. It was taken by German ace Dieter Markus Stein from a top-secret stillwater in his homeland, a venue which is regarded as one of the hardest lakes on the Continent where the gap between bites can sometimes run into months

Now sadly for such a special occasion, there is very little going on up there this week, in fact it’s almost the same as last week.

No Mercury and no Mars, in fact no Mars until the summer. But we have the other 3, 4 if you include Uranus, which seems reasonable.

Venus, still a very bright –4.3 blazes as the "Morning Star" in the southeast before and during dawn.

A bright but dimming Jupiter, which is now moving toward the other side of the sun, shines brightly in the southwest as the stars come out; it sinks lower later. We only have Jupiter for another couple of months, by the of March it will be setting with the sun.

Saturn a lot dimmer than Jupiter rises around 11 p.m, and is best ssen due south in the early hours before dawn.

Uranus is naked eye visible, but only just, is about 4° west of Jupiter and pulling away from it.

But anyway its to cold to look anyway, I did try at the weekend and after 45 seconds I surrendered then scurried back in doors with a hacking cough more dead than alive.

And that was you 150^th Scilly Stars for the week ending on the 216^th anniversary of the ratification of The 11th Amendment to the US Constitution.

And if the 11 amendment has slipped your mind here it is.

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.

Cha Cha Cha

This week is very similar to last week, we still can’t see Mercury or Mars, but Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are still putting on a show, and Uranus if you know where to look, which shining a very pleasant blue/green 2 and half degrees to the west of Jupiter.

Venus is still extremely bright, it shines as the "Morning Star" in the southeast before and during dawn. If your up and the sky’s clear, you can’t miss it.

Jupiter shines in the southwest as the stars come out. It sinks lower later and sets around 9 or 10 p.m.

Saturn a lot dimmer then either Jupiter or especially Venus, in rises in Virgo around 11 p.m. but is best seen the South before dawn, the the storm is still rising. The rings are way passed edge on at the moment and are showing well with a little magnification. To find it have a look at the star map for Scilly, next door.

As we lose the moon over the course week, it may be time to see some of the dimmer naked eye objects in the sky. The Andromeda Galaxy is the brightest deep sky object we can see. Though saying that it’s not that deep sky, in fact’s next door at a mere 2 and half million light years, some galaxy’s are knocking 14 billion years away. The Andromeda Galaxy is a spiral galaxy in the constellation Andromeda is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, but not the closest galaxy overall. It is visible with the naked eye from Earth as a faint smudge on a moonless night.. It gets its name from the area of the sky in which it appears the Andromeda constellation. Andromeda is the largest galaxy of the Local Group, which consists of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and about 30 other smaller galaxies. It has up to a trillion stars whereas the milky way has up to about 400 million.

So I’d better tell you where it is, it’s just off the knee of the Andromeda stick figure. The brighter, sharper bottom-point of the Cassiopeia "W" points to it. Again look on the blog for a little guidance.

The Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are expected to collide in perhaps 4.5 billion years. By then the sun will be on its last legs, and the BBC will still be repeating the two Ronnies.

Andromeda

And in case you’re wondering, which your not, there’re are loads more stars than there are grains of sand. Apparently there are at least 100 stars for every grain of sand on earth, presumably that’s an estimate.

And next week the stars will be on Tuesday, because it seems that’s when the jingle says it’s on.

And that was your night’s sky for the week ending on the 50^th anniversary of Ham the Chimp travelling on Mercury Redstone II. He returned 16 minutes later with a slightly bruised nose. He’s sadly dead, January 1983, so he had a good life .His real name was Chop-Chop Chang, and he was so endearing in his lovely NASA helmet, here's ape icture.

Ham aka Chop-Chop Chang

Young Fishmonger of the Year

Not a huge cavalcade of excitement for you this week, though you may have heard about Kepler 10b, a new planet about 4 and half times the mass of the earth about 560 light years away, so we’re not likely to see much of it. It orbits very close to its Sun, and has a surface temperature which will melt rock, but if there's one rocky planet out there there will be others. If your interested here it is, Kepler 10b.

Nearer home, Mercury is having an excellent morning apparition. Look for it low in the east-southeast, far to the lower left of bright Venus, it rises at about 7pm in the E S E, but won’t be all that bright being so close to the rising sun.

Venus considerably brighter balazes as the "Morning Star" in the south east before and during dawn. In fact Venus rises some two hours before the first glimmer of dawn  a weird UFO of a thing low in the east-southeast. Look for Saturn and Spica very far to Venus's upper right in the south, and Arcturus even higher above Venus.

Mars as usual is lost behind the glare of the Sun.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.3, at the Pisces-Aquarius border) shines high in the south as the stars come out, then lower in the southwest later in the evening. Jupiter is the brightest starlike point in the evening sky, but it sets by 10 or 11 p.m. now. In a telescope it has shrunk to only 38 arcseconds wide as Earth rounds to the far side of the Sun from it.

Saturn rises around midnight but is best seen in a telescope high in the south before dawn (far upper right of brilliant Venus). Don't confuse Saturn with Spica below or lower left of it. And Saturn has a bit of a storm that must be a good 40,000 miles long raging across its northern hemisphere, with winds over a thousand miles an hour, at about 130 degrees below. With pellets of ammonia and ice moving like bullets, true sailing is dead.

Saturn's rings, meanwhile, have widened to 10° from edge-on, the widest they've appeared since 2007.

Uranus remains less than 1½° from Jupiter this week, and should be easily spotted in binoculars.

On Saturday, the gibbous Moon shines between Aldebaran and the Pleiades, high above Orion in early evening. Look below Orion for Sirius.

And that was your night sky for the week ending on the 591^st anniversary of King Naresuan of Siam killing Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, which is why this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day. Which strangely is largely ignored in the UK.