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Old 20-04-2012, 15:24
Carlos_dfc
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very bright star in the sky last night at 11 pm ... looking NW
could it be Jupitor ?
or maybe a space platform ?
Venus - see the last few posts above.
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Old 28-04-2012, 15:53
Blackjack Davy
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Thanks Henry...
Venus apparitions repeat in cycles of 8 yrs (as Elissa Richards has already pointed out) - and the fact that it's bright and visible until after midnight, is indeed down to it's distance (angular separation) from the Sun.
Another big factor is the time of year - i.e. the Sun setting later at night.

In the winter - with the Sun setting earlier, and at a shallower angle - even if Venus was the same angular distance from the Sun, it would set far earlier, and much sooner after sunset.

With Venus, there's also the '36 day rule' - where significant events follow after 36 day periods....
Greatest Eastern elongation was the night of March 25th/26th this year.

Venus at it's brightest is 36 days later - April 30th/May 1st.

Then inferior conjunction - 36 days later - the night of 5th/6th June.
This year - as Henry mentioned - venus transits the face of the Sun, and from UK the end of the transit - Venus moving slowly off the face of the Sun, will be happening as the Sun rises on the 6th.

36 days later - Venus reaches it's brightest morning apparition on 12th July

And again, another 36 days until Venus reaches it's greatest Western elongation. (17th Aug)

Then there's a 440 day period until the next Eastern elongation - when the 36 day periods will begin again. A total of 584 days (about 1yr 7½ months) for the whole cycle.
Over a period of 8yrs, Venus will go through 5 cycles, 5 periods as an 'evening star', and 5 periods as a 'morning star'. Then when the 8 year cycle completes, it will be back in pretty much the same position, on the same date.
April 20th, 2020, Venus will be pretty much where it is tonight.

Looking ahead though - next evening apparition will be from late summer 2013, through autumn (max eastern elongation late Oct/early Nov) and into winter - Unfortunately, it'll be low in the sky, like the Sun, and setting at a shallow angle.

Spring and summer 2015 though, will be another high and late evening apparition, and Venus will be visible until after midnight towards the end of May, and well into June.

And remember how Jupiter passed only 3º away from Venus, earlier this year..??
June 30th 2015, Jupiter will pass less than ½º from Venus
Thanks, the comment about Venus being visible all night I got from an american website I believe, their viewing conditions are different from ours of course. Thanks @ HenryGarten too.
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Old 02-05-2012, 09:26
Gneiss
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there's the 'Stargazer's Lounge'
Sorry to raise an old post but I have to say that in the light of my appalling treatment there recently after answering a query on a product I am no longer recommending the 'Stargazer's Lounge' and have removed links to them from my own site.

********************************************

Anyway, not much chance to get any observing done around here for a while. I'm tempted to take up radio astronomy instead

For those who do get a chance to see Venus, the crescent phase will be quite obvious in a small telescope even at quite low powers.
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Old 02-05-2012, 19:02
Gneiss
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Sorry to raise an old post but I have to say that in the light of my appalling treatment there recently after answering a query on a product I am no longer recommending the 'Stargazer's Lounge' and have removed links to them from my own site.
On the plus side I did find the link to your site which is worth another mention www.astrochat.co.uk/forum
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Old 02-05-2012, 19:22
HenryGarten
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Venus is really bright in the night sky and it's visible all night long apparently which is really unusual I don't think I can ever remember that happening before. If it was christmastime we'd get reports of people saying the Star of Bethlehem had reappeared...

... I flogged my pair of binoculars a while ago as I hadn't used them in donkeys years, I could really do with them now!
Here is an interesting graph for you.
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Old 02-05-2012, 22:18
HenryGarten
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A European probe to Jupiter. Mind you with an arrival date of 2030 it is a long time away.
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Old 04-05-2012, 11:57
Elissa Richards
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Sorry to raise an old post but I have to say that in the light of my appalling treatment there recently after answering a query on a product I am no longer recommending the 'Stargazer's Lounge' and have removed links to them from my own site.

********************************************

Anyway, not much chance to get any observing done around here for a while. I'm tempted to take up radio astronomy instead

For those who do get a chance to see Venus, the crescent phase will be quite obvious in a small telescope even at quite low powers.
May I ask what happened? they're a great bunch of friendly people, it would be extremely out of character if the forum members as a whole took to treating you appallingly, they're very hot on people being ganged up on, it isn't DS.

Send me a link to the thread where it all went wrong...
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Old 06-05-2012, 19:21
Gneiss
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May I ask what happened? they're a great bunch of friendly people, it would be extremely out of character if the forum members as a whole took to treating you appallingly, they're very hot on people being ganged up on, it isn't DS.

Send me a link to the thread where it all went wrong...
It wasn't the members, to be honest I think it's been tainted by commercial interests... Particularly given that a virtually identical statement to my own was posted by FLO the day after I received my ban

But it's not even the ban that riled me to be honest, more the shear discourtesy - not even an explanatory email. I've been an active member of the astronomical community for many years and I'm pleased to say that never in my time have I ever encountered such discourtesy before.

PS. My posts which were in direct response to speculation about Baader Orthoscopic Eyepieces in a thread were removed... Possibly I trod on someone's toes, but I make no apologies for attempting to keep people informed of the facts and I'm as much puzzled as I am irritated by the response.
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Old 11-05-2012, 22:53
StrmChaserSteve
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Big sunspot at the moment

If she blows... it could be big

http://www.spaceweather.com/

This spot is big enough to see with naked eye, during sunrise and sunset, but follow the safety advice about looking directly at the sun
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Old 11-05-2012, 23:18
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Methane clouds scud over an icy landscape that barely registers a temperature above -180 °C. If life exists on Titan, surely it has to be about as otherworldly as any our solar system could support?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...y-of-life.html

For what it's worth, my own view is that relatively warmer places like Mars and Europa are more likely to have developed life and to harbour it since increased heat and energy = more chance of chemical interaction.

And now for some more astro news:

Astrophile: Two craters that launched 1000 meteorites
Vesta thought its days of being the solar system's punching bag were over. Despite 3.5 billion years of pummelling, the protoplanet had managed to hold itself together. The bullies of the asteroid playground had mostly settled down, and aside from the occasional shove or taunt, things were starting to look up. If only poor Vesta had known of the two bullies that were still to come.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...eteorites.html

Death Valley provides rover's-eye view of Mars geology
New Scientist visits Death Valley to find out how human geologists read Earth's past in its present – and how the rover Curiosity will apply those tricks on Mars
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...s-geology.html

Please note that access to the articles above might require free site registration (but not subs).
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Old 11-05-2012, 23:21
grps3
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stupid question time....
why does the sun look white when you look at it now

when i was i kid it looked yellow
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Old 11-05-2012, 23:26
Carlos_dfc
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Big sunspot at the moment

If she blows... it could be big

http://www.spaceweather.com/

This spot is big enough to see with naked eye, during sunrise and sunset, but follow the safety advice about looking directly at the sun
I've been watching it, and doing a few sketches (with a correctly filtered telescope, of course)
It's been developing very nicely - should be front and centre about now - Shame we've had so much cloud the last few days - made it difficult to get clear views of it.
I'd like to get another sketch or two before it disappears round the western limb.
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Old 20-05-2012, 21:26
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The launch of the American SpaceX company's re-supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed by at least three days. The company was forced to abort the flight just as its Falcon rocket was about to leave the pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18118136

This Dragon capsule was going to send supplies to the International Space Station but for that last second launch abort. I hope that any rescheduled launch goes well because this capsule has the potential one day to become crew rated and take astronauts to the ISS.
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Old 25-05-2012, 00:46
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In an update to the above, the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is expected to join up with the International Space Station (ISS) later on this Friday.Hopefully, this will be covered by the news channels and NASA TV.

And in other news stories...

New evidence from meteorites suggests that the basic building blocks of life are present on Mars. The study found that carbon present in 10 meteorites, spanning more than four billion years of Martian history, came from the planet and was not the result of contamination on Earth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18196353

New Report: The UK’s booming space industry, and the case for a UK Spaceport. The first report in the Institute of Directors’ (IoD) Infrastructure for Business series reveals the remarkable achievements and BRIC-style growth of Britain’s £8 billion space sector, and makes the case for a UK Spaceport to drive the industry even further in future.
http://press.iod.com/2012/05/18/new-...-uk-spaceport/
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Old 25-05-2012, 19:40
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South Africa, Australia and New Zealand will host the biggest radio telescope ever built. The nations belonging to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) organisation took the decision at a meeting on Friday. The 1.5bn-euro (£1.2bn) SKA's huge fields of antennas will sweep the sky for answers to the major outstanding questions in astronomy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18194984

This is a bit of a surprise since both bids have effectively won! Still, the good result of sharing the radio telescope across two continents is that the resolution of the telescope will be all the better.
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Old 27-05-2012, 15:42
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Station grabs SpaceX Dragon ship. The California SpaceX company has seen its unmanned Dragon cargo ship attach successfully to the International Space Station (ISS).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18195772
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18154937
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Old 27-05-2012, 23:10
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An 2 hour audio for all the DG Space fans,
very interesting I thought
you can listen on the web site
go here
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/RzjnUzYf/...MARS_ETC_.html


.
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Old 30-05-2012, 17:33
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An 2 hour audio for all the DG Space fans,
very interesting I thought
you can listen on the web site
go here
http://www.4shared.com/mp3/RzjnUzYf/...MARS_ETC_.html
Thanks for sharing that link, xxtimbo.

Next month sees the transit of planet Venus across the solar disc and that is the subject of tonight's Frontiers programme on BBC Radio 4:

Astronomer Marek Kukula from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich explores the scientific implications of the forthcoming transit of Venus across the face of the Sun, a rare astronomical event that will not occur again until 2117.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01j5nx1

Only the last third of the transit wil be visible from the UK (it means getting up early) but it will be visible in full from Norway's Svalbard and there should be live internet streaming of the event.

/!\ CAUTION - please do not directly at the sun with your eyes, a telescope or binoculars as it could mean permanent eye damage. A safe way to watch the event is on the internet or binocular projection of the sun's image on to a screen: http://solar-center.stanford.edu/observe/#section1
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Old 01-06-2012, 19:56
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The American SpaceX company's Dragon cargo capsule has splashed down in the ocean off the California coast. The return to Earth completes a historic first mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by a privately operated vehicle. Impact with the water was confirmed at 08:42 Pacific Daylight Time (15:42 GMT; 16:42 BST).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18273811

That successful resupply mission to the ISS means that more Dragon resupply missions to the ISS will be commissioned (thus avoiding overdependence upon Russia) and it also means that work on making the launcher and capsule crew-rated to take human astronauts to the ISS and back again will continue.
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Old 02-06-2012, 00:31
Gneiss
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The start of this can be seen on a special Horizon program... http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jszy4

It's also being covered live by NASA from various locations around the world. http://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2012/transit/webcast.php

If you want to see it for yourself from the UK then you will need to be up at sunrise and where you will catch the tail end.

Please remember you should never look at the sun directly without a proper solar filter or specialist equipment designed for that purpose

Proper eclipse glasses are dirt cheap, so it's really not worth risking your eyesight for the sake of a few £s...

Failing that you can project the sun through a pair of binoculars or a small telescope http://resources.yesican-science.ca/.../pinhole2.html
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Old 03-06-2012, 13:30
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Following on from Gneiss' thread above, there are a couple of other sites of interest.

The Sunaeon site has a specific transit of Venus subsection and this most interesting news report here about the potential implications of the Venus transit on the study of extrasolar planets:

Astronomers around the world will be using advanced telescopes to watch Venus cross in front of the Sun on June 5 and 6 in the hopes of finding clues in the hunt for other planets where life may exist. By studying the atmosphere of a well-known planet in this once-in-a-lifetime event, scientists say they will learn more about how to decipher the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system as they cross in front of their own stars.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/venus-trans...102905092.html
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Old 04-06-2012, 17:26
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...starting with Horizon on BBC2 tomorrow at 9pm:

Horizon assembles three scientist-presenters to explain why the transit matters hugely to the history of astronomy and the search for extra-terrestrial life. This they do by visiting gorgeous locations, accompanied by cool music — an Austrian mountaintop, a Hawaiian volcano, the Nevada desert, and so on. It’s photogenic, awe-inspiring TV that tells us a lot about our “evil twin” planet and where it went wrong.
http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/qx...orizon-special
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00t8zvz


Articles from The Guardian here http://www.guardian.co.uk/search?q=v...ansit&section= and from Jodrell Bank here http://www.jodrellbank.manchester.ac...nomy/nightsky/.
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Old 07-06-2012, 21:48
jojo2008
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Anyone watching "Destination Titan" on BBC4?
Wonders of the Solar System was listed as being on earlier this morning. I wonder why it's been replaced with this
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Old 07-06-2012, 21:51
afcbfan
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Wonders was on at 20.00, and again at 2.35.
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Old 07-06-2012, 21:55
jojo2008
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Wonders was on at 20.00, and again at 2.35.
Ah right
Oh well I have them all on DVD. Might stick one on after this
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