Space Science and Astronomy thread



redandwhiterob said:
No idea mate, just noticed a bright planet looking thing in the sky and pointed my app at it
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Uranus is not that bright to the naked eye. Dimmer than the stars that make up the Plough/Great Bear.

Capella and Alderbaran are bright and out to the east and Jupiter is bright to the south. Could have been one of those. Sometimes it can be hard to point phones directly at it. Hold it at just two degrees twisted, it is hard to notice but makes a huge difference to where the phone thinks it is pointing.
 
Went to Greenwich yesterday to the Xmas market (disappointing) and decided to pop in to the National Maritime Museum and the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition. It was brilliant.
DaveH said:
Uranus is not that bright to the naked eye. Dimmer than the stars that make up the Plough/Great Bear.

Capella and Alderbaran are bright and out to the east and Jupiter is bright to the south. Could have been one of those. Sometimes it can be hard to point phones directly at it. Hold it at just two degrees twisted, it is hard to notice but makes a huge difference to where the phone thinks it is pointing.
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The kids (4) are really into the planets right now and watch some crappy song on YouTube that tells them facts about each one. Tonight on the way home from school, I stopped them in a pitch black playground and pointed to the big bright star they could see and told them it was Jupiter and the one next to it was Saturn.

Minds blown. 😁😁
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HellsBells said:
Went to Greenwich yesterday to the Xmas market (disappointing) and decided to pop in to the National Maritime Museum and the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition. It was brilliant.

The kids (4) are really into the planets right now and watch some crappy song on YouTube that tells them facts about each one. Tonight on the way home from school, I stopped them in a pitch black playground and pointed to the big bright star they could see and told them it was Jupiter and the one next to it was Saturn.

Minds blown. 😁😁
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Hope for a clear night on the 28th December and the few nights following. About half an hour after sunset you should be able to see Mercury and Venus low on the western horizon, to the south Saturn and Jupiter, then a hour later when it is really dark, with binoculars you might be able to see Neptune and Uranus. Both are fairly dim and not in the easiest part or the sky to find, but you might get lucky.

If you manage it, tell the kids there is a 7th planet that is really easy to see that night and see if they can find it. They might pick out a few bright stars, but need to look down not up!

There is a guide to finding some of them here:

See Mars at its closest point to Earth on 1 December

Find out what planets are in the night sky tonight and throughout the month of December 2022.
www.skyatnightmagazine.com www.skyatnightmagazine.com
 
Just been out the back garden with the Celestron 114EQ and showed the boys Venus. “It looks like the crescent moon mammy!”

It was a bit wobbly as I don’t think I’ve got the tripod set up properly, and the image was a bit “double vision” even when I focussed it. Now I always struggle with my glasses to look through a scope properly anyway, but is that likely to be a problem with my eyepiece, or my mirror? It’s been in the loft for a few years getting hot and cold so I’m wondering if it’s done summat to it.
 
HellsBells said:
Just been out the back garden with the Celestron 114EQ and showed the boys Venus. “It looks like the crescent moon mammy!”

It was a bit wobbly as I don’t think I’ve got the tripod set up properly, and the image was a bit “double vision” even when I focussed it. Now I always struggle with my glasses to look through a scope properly anyway, but is that likely to be a problem with my eyepiece, or my mirror? It’s been in the loft for a few years getting hot and cold so I’m wondering if it’s done summat to it.
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Maybe check your collimation?
 
Hyltonian said:
Gutted to have missed this ☄️
https://twitter.com/x/status/1487507136112476161
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I only saw one once. Was out setting up my telescope, or may have just even been out for 10 minutes naked eye astronomy. I had not been out long, happened to look up, right as there was a massive one above me.

It did cross my mind to put a Raspberry Pi and camera in a small camera dome, have it watch the dark sky, count stars and rate how clear it is, giving an alert if it is a particularly good night. I decided for now, looking out the window was probably far easier. Looking at those images makes me wonder if it would be worth doing, but to have it image and report meteors and fireballs.

For something cool to try and find, I was out looking for a comet the other night, see:

Comet C/2019 L3 ATLAS

Satellite predictions and other astronomical data customised for your location.
www.heavens-above.com www.heavens-above.com
C/2019 L3 ATLAS, if you search for that and planetarium software such as stellarium, you can add it and see where it is each night. The heavens above diagrams are not always the easiest to follow.

It should be reasonably easy to find. You have the belt of Orion and above it there is the large orange star of Betelgeuse. Following roughly the same line, there are two bright similar stars, Castor and Pollux, the heads of the twins of Gemini. Look for a while and let your eyes adjust to the darkness, and you can make out stars forming two matchstick people side by side. It should be just above the middle of the higher one.

I used 10x50 binoculars and the night was not that clear, with a lot of humidity in the air. I could see the stars of gemini fairly sharply and could then see a fainter fuzzy blob. It is not a "wow, oh my god" moment and nowhere near as impressive as Neowise. You can't really pick out the tail. But it does give the satisfaction of having found something and seen something different, even if it does just look like a star that is really out of focus.
 

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