planets

February Star Stories at Abriachan

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Big thanks to astronomer Steve Owens and Celtic storyteller Alis Ballance for hosting our astronomy and storytelling streams this evening up at Abriachan Forest.

Cosmosis was realised by a combination of Alis’s captivating Gaelic creation myths and Steve’s tour de scientific of the Solar System.

Although skies started off cloudy we were blessed with decent patches of open sky at the end for a deftly guided laser pointer finale, taking in Orion and other bright constellations. Plus binocular and telescopic views of the crescent Moon

Thanks to everyone who came along.

Guide to September Skies

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What’s Up in September 2022 Night Sky Guide.

I hope you enjoy my short guide to September skies. Everything in this guide is calibrated to views around 11pm. Highlights include:

– Jupiter, Saturn and Mars

– The Pleiades and Hyades open star clusters

– The Winter Triangle

– The Milky Way

– Lyra with the double double and ring nebula

– The Plough and its famous double star

Clear skies.

The Atmosphere of Pluto

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One of the most amazing parting shots of the planet Pluto, backlit by our distant Sun. Taken by the New Horizons probe as it rushed away from the planet in 2015. Look closely and Plutonian mountains can be seen casting long shadows through the hazy blue atmosphere.

As of now Pluto is the only trans-Neptunian object with a known atmosphere.

Image credit @nasa

Moon Formation

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Modelling suggests the Earth came very close to having a pair of smaller Moons.

According to simulations by Canup and Ida (2014) the Earth came very close to hosting two smaller Moon’s (right) rather than the large single Moon we ended up with (left).

This fascinating ‘what if’ modelling is based on the giant impact hypothesis. A faster rate of rotation of the post impact disk is the main requirement for a two Moon system to take hold.

Of course multiple moon system are very common. Saturn for example has an abundance of them, with the most recent count totalling 82 orbiting bodies.

Colour Image: Artist’s impression of an alien world with two moons by Angela Harburn.

Mercury and Maximum Elongation

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I hope you enjoy this short video about the planet Mercury, which you can currently see during late evening, low on the NW horizon. Mercury is also approaching its maximum evening elongation on the 17th May.

Joining me once again is Steve Owens, astronomer at Glasgow Science Centre and author of Stargazing For Dummies.

In this video podcast we discuss:

1. Tips for observing Mercury safely.

2. Mercury’s phases.

3. The surface geology of Mercury and how this reveals tantalising hints about its history and formation.

Venus & Mercury

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While I shivered this morning trying to find Mercury amidst a blanket of freezing cold mist, Lynsey Gibson fortuitously snapped it from the cozy confines of her bed.

The bright object in the first image is actually the planet Venus, her intended target, but if you zoom in Lynsey’s phone snap has also picked up Mercury. See the second image which I’ve annotated.

This is a great example of how much fainter Mercury is compared to Venus (I usually use binoculars to help locate it) and the power and versatility of smartphone cameras.

Thanks for the share again Lynsey and clear skies everyone.

Mars at Opposition

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Collage by Instagram’s @NightSkyFlying

Have you noticed the dazzling red star high in the East during late evening? That’s the planet Mars and it’s now nearing opposition on October 13th, offering some of the best naked eye and telescopic views possible.

Opposition is when Mars and Earth reach their closest approach to each other with respect to their independent orbits around the Sun. For Mars and Earth, this happens every 2 years and 2 months.

With the planet’s relatively high altitude and closeness around opposition, current views of the planet even with moderately powerful telescopes should be striking, perhaps revealing dim surface features and polar caps.

These images from Instagram’s @nightskyflying show the dramatic size and clarity change of Mars over a period of many months. If you don’t have a telescope it’s still worth looking up to appreciate the brightness of Mars as a naked eye planet at the moment.

Image by @NightSkyFlying