Digital Delivery

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 October 22nd, 2019 Digital Back Issue Cover

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine Astronomer's Yearbook 2020 (Digital)

(Write a Review)

Single Digital Issue

Astronomer's Yearbook 2020

$10.39

Powered By Zinio

Zinio

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Instant Start

Also available on ZINIO Unlimited logo

Get unlimited access to The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines

1-month free trial

Renews at $8.99/month after trial.
Cancel anytime.

Get unlimited access to The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines. Renews at just $8.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Start Trial Learn more

43 Articles

…to your complete stargazing companion to the year. Keep it handy and, whatever the season, you’ll have all the info you need to discover the best sights in the night sky. Month by month, our guides and sky charts lead you through the stars and galaxies not to miss. Discover the delights of Andromeda, Lyra, Gemini and Leo in our tour of the seasons’ most rewarding constellations. Follow the paths of the planets and be ready for rare conjunctions and best-chance-to-see oppositions. Ready to dig a bit deeper? Take a look at our articles on getting more out of meteor watching and on tracking down our Galaxy’s rare green stars. If you’re up for even more of a challenge, try our Challenge Yourself section – can you measure the changing…

Get the best from your TELESCOPE

Setting up a telescope for the first time can be a daunting experience, but with a bit of practice and a little know-how, it will soon become second nature. Dealing with the telescope tube is straightforward enough and even if yours is a reflector or Cassegrain that has adjustable collimation, it’s best not to tinker with it until you gain more experience. But the next vital element of your setup is the mount, the part that actually holds the telescope. All mounts do the same basic job – they point the scope at your chosen target – and there are two types: altitude-azimuth (often abbreviated to ‘altaz’) and equatorial. Altaz mounts have two axes of rotation: one is vertical, allowing the scope to spin clockwise or anticlockwise; the other horizontal,…

Get the best from your TELESCOPE

An eyepiece for detail

High power Short focal length eyepieces like this Baader Hyperion 5mm offer higher magnification. This is great for viewing planets and smaller objects. Look for multi-coated lenses when choosing eyepieces. £97 • www.tringastro.co.uk Wide angle The 100° apparent field eyepieces reveal galaxies in their surrounding context (and are easier to use with averted vision). The 2-inch Explore Scientific range offers value-for-money options. From £267 • www.telescopehouse.com Zoom eyepieces Zoom models have an adjustable focal length for changing magnification without swapping eyepieces. The Meade S4000 Zoom goes from 8mm to 24mm – ideal for most observing situations. £83 • www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk Eyepiece sets Eyepiece families share characteristics across focal lengths. The 1.25-inch Tele Vue DeLite range is lightweight and works with astigmatism correctors, so you can use them without spectacles. £225 each…

An eyepiece for detail

The sky often looks ideal for stargazing, but looks can be deceiving. Amateur observers describe viewing conditions using terms such as ‘transparency’ and ‘seeing’. Transparency is straightforward: observing a sky with poor transparency is like trying to look through a dirty window, but in this case the dirt is high, in thin clouds, atmospheric dust or moisture, or even aircraft contrails. Seeing describes how steady or turbulent the atmosphere is and it can be estimated by observing brighter stars with the naked eye. When the seeing is poor, stars appear to twinkle more. Weather forecasts for astronomers can be helpful for anticipating observing conditions (try en.sat24.com or www.clearoutside.com) – if good conditions coincide with a dark new Moon period, the view should be outstanding. Ambient temperature also plays a role,…

The complete guide to METEOR OBSERVING

Meteor showers are a majestic event to witness – you scour the night sky waiting to see the flash of light as a piece of space debris meets its end in our atmosphere. For many people, watching a meteor shower is their first foray into astronomy. If the skies are clear and there’s little moonlight to battle against, it can provide a great show for casual observers. Plus, with several showers happening throughout the year, there are many opportunities to catch one. But for the more advanced astronomer, it offers a chance to do more than just look up and say “Wow!”. There are a number of advanced techniques that add an extra level of interest to the experience, and that bring a whole new set of challenges. In this…

The complete guide to METEOR OBSERVING

Visual observations

A lot of people visually observe meteors but don’t collect any data, which is a shame. All you need is a chair from which you can comfortably view the sky and something to record your information with, either a notebook or voice recorder. It doesn’t matter what direction you look, but note it down. Also record what the sky’s like: how clear it is in terms of cloud and what the limiting magnitude is (the brightness of the faintest object that can be seen with your optical instrument). Then write down what time you started observing and your time zone to avoid later confusion. Then just watch. When you see a meteor, note the time it appeared and what kind of meteor it was. Was it from a shower or…

Visual observations

Finding micrometeorites

Many meteor hunters share one dream – making an observation that will lead to the discovery of a meteorite. By tracing the path of a bright meteor, you can work out where to look for any surviving meteorite fragments. Some meteorites have been found like this in flat and uniform places, such as Australia or the Arctic. In the UK, which is neither flat nor uniform, the task isn’t so easy. However, there is a way to search for meteorites without trudging through the British wilderness. Every day, 60 tonnes of cosmic dust falls to Earth, including tiny metallic particles known as micrometeorites. Over the last decade, over 500 micrometeorites have been found on roofs and sifted out of gutters as part of Project Stardust, led by Jon Larson. All…

Finding micrometeorites

What causes a meteor shower?

When a comet travels close to the Sun, it begins to melt and form the spectacular tails that can be seen from Earth. The gas and dust in these tails is left behind once the comet passes, creating a stream of particles in orbit around the Sun. Earth’s orbit crosses some of these streams – when it does, the particles strike the atmosphere at a speed great enough for the air around the meteoroid to superheat and glow. This bright light streaking across the sky is what we know as a meteor. However, the heat causes the outer layers of the meteoroid to burn up and often, by the time the friction of the air has slowed the space rock down, there’s nothing left of the meteoroid except dust. Only…

What causes a meteor shower?

Automatic camera monitoring

Setting up a camera at home means that you can record meteors all night, every night. “To get started, you need a CCTV camera with an auto iris lens, which will automatically protect the camera from the sunlight during the day,” says Peter Campbell-Burns, one of the founders of the UK Meteor Observing Network (UKMON), a group of amateur astronomers who run their own meteor detection cameras. “The cameras need to sit inside a waterproof housing so that you can set them up outside. You need a video decoder, which turns the analogue camera signal into a digital form and passes it to a PC. Then we use the UFO software suite from SonotaCo to run the cameras, and record and analyse data. Alternatively you can use CAMS. Depending on…

Automatic camera monitoring

Radar observations

Most meteors can only be observed on a clear night, but you can view meteors no matter the time or weather using radio waves. All around the world, stations are broadcasting radio waves into the upper atmosphere to track the flight of spacecraft. When the radio waves hit a satellite, they bounce back and can be detected here on the ground. However, these signals also bounce off the plasma trails left behind by meteors travelling through Earth’s atmosphere, enabling anyone with the right equipment to use it as a meteor detector “All you need is an antenna, a radio and a computer,” says Dave Jones, a member of the Norman Lockyer Observatory. Before you set anything up, however, you need to identify your nearest broadcasting station. For UK observers, that…

Radar observations

Capture the night sky with a SMARTPHONE

You don’t need the Hubble Space Telescope to see that some of the biggest recent strides in amateur astrophotography have happened when astronomers have seized upon innovations in consumer electronics. Take the advent of webcams. Never intended for use in astrophotography, they precipitated the birth of an entirely new field of lunar and planetary imaging by amateurs. The same is happening today with camera-equipped smartphones. The phones themselves may not be a new phenomenon, but advances in the camera technology within them mean that huge numbers of people are carrying powerful tools for capturing the night sky in their pockets. So how do you go about using your smartphone to get an astrophoto? There seems no better place to start than the very simplest type of shot, where you just…

Capture the night sky with a SMARTPHONE

Angling for a great shot

One of the trickiest aspects of afocal smartphone astrophotography with a telescope is getting the phone’s camera lined up to the eyepiece. If you don’t, the edge of the eyepiece field of view can encroach into the shot and spoil the image or, at the least, the view will show ‘vignetting’, where the picture exhibits dark gradients. The trick to overcoming this is, firstly, to use an eyepiece with a relatively large exit pupil, as these tend to be more forgiving. If you have several eyepieces, experiment to see which gives the best results. Secondly, while ensuring that your smartphone camera lens is centred above the eyepiece aperture itself, also check that the device is held parallel to the top of the eyepiece and isn’t at an angle.…

Angling for a great shot

Smartphone setups

Handheld There are a fair few celestial targets and scenes that can be snapped by simply holding your camera up to the sky. These include strong displays of noctilucent clouds, twilight nightscapes featuring the Moon or a bright planet near the horizon, and even some of the more prominent atmospheric phenomena that astrophotographers sometimes go after, like a bright 22° ice halo around the Moon. On a tripod If you try to take longer exposures with your smartphone you will soon find that failing to hold the device still will almost always result in blurred images. Small, fixed tripods for smartphones are available commercially and may help you get better results if you’re shooting scenes that require exposures of a few seconds, such as nightscapes of bright constellations. Afocal imaging…

Smartphone setups

Polishing up your astro images

In astrophotography the image captured by the camera is rarely the final version and you’ll no doubt want to tweak pictures you’ve snapped with your smartphone too. You can of course bring your shots into your chosen image editor on your computer for sharpening, level and curve adjustments and colour balancing, but there are also apps such as Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom CC which let you make tweaks on your device. For more advanced work such as noise reduction – often needed with smartphone images – a program like Photoshop or GIMP on your computer is the tool to go for. If you intend to make a mosaic of the lunar surface, using multiple overlapping shots captured with your phone looking down the eyepiece of a scope, you’ll need a…

Polishing up your astro images

Getting the GREEEN LIGHT

For many years I’ve observed all kinds of deep-sky objects. I have been most interested in planetary nebulae, partly because they’re most likely to show colour. Within the last few years I’ve also become interested in the colours of stars, particularly colour-contrasting double stars. A long-time observing friend of mine brought up the idea of observing green stars, and a social observing project began. Stars seem to appear in almost every colour of the rainbow, and both eye physiology and the spectrum play a part in that. The novice observer may detect no colour in stars but, in fact, any star has an apparent colour that is detectable with photometry. The star’s light can be filtered so that separate colour components (wavelengths) can have their brightness measured. The brightness of…

Getting the GREEEN LIGHT

Equipment round-up BEST OF 2019

Nikon Action EX10x50 From the moment you take these binoculars out of their lightly padded case, they ooze quality. They have a robust feel in the hand and everything – the hinge, focusing, twist-up eye-cups – works smoothly, with just the right amount of stiffness to prevent accidental readjustment. The eyepiece rain-guard is tethered, and the objective caps can be secured to the binoculars’ strap to prevent you mislaying them. They are just as impressive under the stars, which snap to focus anywhere in the central 85 per cent of its 6.5° field of view, giving a bright, crisp, high-contrast image. Colour rendition and control of false colour are both very good. There is just enough eye relief for spectacle-wearers to be able to see the entire field of view.…

Equipment round-up BEST OF 2019

Bresser Messier AR-80/640 Nano refractor

Here we have a 3-inch achromatic refractor that’s bundled with everything a newcomer needs to get started: a manual altaz mount, a red dot finder, a star diagonal and a 26mm Plössl eyepiece. Its 3-inch aperture is more than adequate to allow observations of a wide range of celestial objects, its altaz mount is intuitive to use and the whole thing is a doddle to set up. While more expensive optics have special coatings applied to reduce reflections and increase light throughput, this lens assembly has only one coating of magnesium fluoride – the minimum required. But the inside of the seamless aluminium optical tube is nicely blackened, with a baffle to reduce unwanted internal reflections. A substantial, non-retracting, dew shield cuts down on unwanted light entering the telescope and…

$Bresser Messier AR-80/640 Nano refractor$

Daystar Solar Scout SS60-ds H-alpha telescope bundle

Hydrogen alpha (Ha) solar observation and imaging has never been so popular, but it can be expensive, something Daystar aims to address with this keenly priced scope. Included in the bundle is a 1.25-inch diagonal, a 25mm eyepiece, a power pack and a mains charger. The Quark optical component is fixed to the telescope and can’t be removed, making this an all-in-one unit. On the bottom is a Vixen-type dovetail shoe for camera tripods. One of the main features of the SS60-ds is the internal Ha filter, giving a bandpass of around 0.5Å. Most solar telescopes have a bandpass of around 0.7Å, making this the equivalent of a narrower bandwidth double-stacked solar scope. There are positives and negatives to this, depending on the features you like to view or image;…

Daystar Solar Scout SS60-ds H-alpha telescope bundle

iOptron CEM40 centre-balanced equatorial mount

The CEM40 is an interesting prospect. While it has features normally found on high-end mounts, at a little over 635kg it also maintains a strong foothold in the portable grab-and-go arena. It has an impressive 18kg load capacity (for comparison a Celestron C11 optical tube weighs 12.5kg), free-running lockable clutches, permanent periodic error correction, GPS and a semi-automatic electronic polar-alignment system. It doesn’t skimp on quality: the mount body is solidly constructed from CNC machined aluminium. We were also impressed with the online documentation which took us through initial setup in a well-organised, logical fashion. The iPolar polar alignment system recognises stars around your local celestial pole but doesn’t need to be able to see the pole itself – a useful option if visibility is limited. Once polar alignment is…

iOptron CEM40 centre-balanced equatorial mount

Celestron Advanced VX 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

The Celestron Advanced VX mount and C9.25 telescope make for an impressive setup that packs a punch. Easy to transport and straightforward to assemble, the C9.25’s 9.25-inch (235mm) aperture is generous, gathering a third more light than an 8-inch (200mm) reflector. Its f/10 optics put it in the slow category and, in theory at least, it is best suited for Solar System objects. However, if your interest is deep sky, it’s no slouch on that front either. Using the supplied 24mm eyepiece gave us 98x magnification. The Orion Nebula’s bright core practically filled the view, bumpy, mottled and full of detail. At its heart, the main stars of the Trapezium cluster were beautifully split. Even the dimming tendrils of glowing gas that arc away from the centre were fascinating to…

Celestron Advanced VX 9.25-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope

4 JANUARY Quadrantid meteor shower peak 10 JANUARY Penumbral lunar eclipse 26–31 JANUARY Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS near the Double Cluster 20 JANUARY Mars, Antares and a crescent Moon in the morning sky 27 JANUARY Neptune 4.3 arcminutes from Venus January at a glance The January night sky is spectacular, dominated by that most iconic constellation, Orion the Hunter. Seven bright stars define the hunter’s main pattern, with three belt stars at the centre forming the most famous straight line in the night sky, Orion’s Belt. It may not be obvious at first, but when you’re looking at Orion’s Belt you’re also staring into an open cluster known as Collinder 70. Binoculars reveal many stars belonging to the cluster and long-exposure photographs reveal additional wisps of nebulosity here. The Orion…

4 FEBRUARY ‘Jewelled Handle’ visible on the Moon (morning) 10 FEBRUARY Mercury at eastern elongation (evening) 19 FEBRUARY Morning Jupiter near waning crescent Moon 26 FEBRUARY Callisto’s shadow will transit Jupiter 06:30–09:38 UT 27 FEBRUARY Evening Venus near waxing crescent Moon February at a glance February and March are transitional months. The period of daylight lengthens noticeably towards the end of February, with the nights beginning to shrink. In addition, the nature of the night sky alters as the fainter and more subtle constellations of spring nudge their brash winter counterparts off to the west. Orion the Hunter remains well placed early evening. His northeast ‘corner’ is marked by the red supergiant star Betelgeuse (Alpha (α) Orionis). This distinctive orange-coloured star marks one vertex of a large asterism known as…

6 MARCH Northern part of M44 occulted by the Moon 8 MARCH Venus is 2.2° from Uranus in the evening sky 20 MARCH Jupiter and Mars in close conjunction 26 MARCH Mars, Jupiter and Saturn together in the morning sky 28 MARCH Waxing crescent Moon, Venus and Pleiades in the evening sky 29 MARCH Start of British Summer Time March at a glance The Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox occurs at 03:50 UT on 20 March, the instant when the centre of the Sun’s disc crosses the Celestial Equator, heading north. The equinoxes mark the time of year when the lengths of day and night are changing at their fastest. In the Northern Hemisphere, the March equinox has a bittersweet feeling, bringing brighter and (hopefully) warmer days, but also shorter nights…

Leo the Lion is best seen during the first half of the spring period as the expanding hours of daylight rapidly engulf it as June approaches. The head of the lion is depicted by the very recognisable asterism known as the Sickle. This looks like a backward question mark with Leo’s principal star, Regulus (Alpha (α) Leonis) as the punctuation dot. The body then extends east, with legs dangling south and a tail marked by the star Denebola (Beta (β) Leonis). Regulus is an interesting star. It’s located 79 lightyears from Earth and from our viewpoint appears just 0.5° north of the ecliptic. This means that it’s a candidate for lunar and planetary occultations. Planetary occultations are rather rare but conjunctions, when a planet sits near the star, are quite…

1 APRIL Mars 1° south of Saturn (morning) 3 APRIL Venus passes in front of the Pleiades (evening) 13 APRIL Rising Moon occulting the Lagoon Nebula (morning) 22 APRIL Favourable peak of the Lyrid meteor shower 26 APRIL Venus close to an evening crescent Moon April at a glance The April sky presents a number of generally large and ill-defined patterns towards the south. One exception is Leo the Lion, distinctive thanks to the backward question mark pattern known as the Sickle. The bright star at its base is Regulus (Alpha (α) Leonis). One way to locate Regulus is to use the familiar Plough or Saucepan asterism that is virtually overhead near midnight. Imagining a Saucepan, extend a line south from the side of the pan closest to the handle.…

ALL MONTH Venus shrinks to a slender crescent 12 MAY Waning gibbous Moon rises close to Jupiter and Saturn 22 MAY Mercury appears very close to Venus 23 MAY Thin evening crescent Moon, Mercury and Venus all close 24 MAY Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS near M81 & M82 May at a glance The period of true darkness shrinks quite rapidly this month. The Plough or Saucepan lies virtually overhead and paves the way to locate a number of interesting galaxies. Extend a line from Phecda (Gamma (γ) Ursae Majoris) through Dubhe (Alpha (α) Ursae Majoris) and keep going for the same distance again. This will bring you to the area containing M81 and M82, Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy. Comet C/2017 T2 PanSTARRS will pass close to this galaxy…

ALL MONTH Noctilucent clouds possible 9 JUNE Waning gibbous Moon rises close to Jupiter and Saturn 13 JUNE Mars appears 1.6° south of Neptune 19 JUNE Daytime lunar occultation of Venus 20 JUNE Summer solstice June at a glance The Sun reaches its most northerly position in the sky at the start of the third week of June, a point in time called the June solstice. The exact time of the solstice varies slightly each year, and in 2020 it will occur at precisely 22:43 BST (21:43 UT) on 20 June. After this, the Sun’s apparent motion against the background stars turns south again. Near the solstice the Sun never really gets very low beneath the northern horizon during the middle of the night. As an example, on 20 June,…

Lyra the Lyre is a small but well defined constellation, prominent in Northern Hemisphere summer skies thanks to its brightest star Vega (Alpha (α) Lyrae). In mythology Lyra represents the harp-like lyre that Hermes fashioned out of the shell of a tortoise. One story goes that, fleeing the unwelcome advances of Aristaeus, Orpheus’s wife Eurydice was fatally bitten by a venomous snake. Heartbroken, Orpheus ventured into the Underworld to plea with Hades for the return of his dead wife. He charmed Hades with the lyre’s music and a deal was struck: Eurydice could follow Orpheus back to the land of the living, but only if Orpheus didn’t look back. Unfortunately curiosity got the better of him. Just before they escaped, he glanced back to make sure his wife was following.…

ALL MONTH Noctilucent clouds possible 1 JULY Pluto 41 arcminutes from Jupiter 5 JULY Evening full Moon close to Jupiter and Saturn 14 JULY Jupiter reaches opposition 20 JULY Saturn reaches opposition July at a glance As darkness falls, bright orange supergiant Antares (Alpha (α) Scorpii) appears low towards the west of south. To its north lies the large ill-defined form of Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer, often likened to an inverted flower-pot. It contains a number of interesting deep-sky objects, including globular clusters M9, M10, M12, M14, M19 and M107. It also contains the lovely open cluster IC 4665 near Cebalrai (Beta (β) Ophiuchi). Slightly east of IC 4665 look for the dim, yet distinctive V-shaped asterism known as Poniatowski’s Bull. Serpens the Serpent crosses the Serpent Bearer. Serpens Caput…

1 AUGUST Nearly full Moon near Jupiter 12/13 AUGUST Perseid meteor shower peak 15 AUGUST Waning crescent Moon close to Venus this morning 18 AUGUST Morning thin Moon spotting opportunity 28 AUGUST Dwarf planet Ceres reaches opposition in Aquarius August at a glance The wonderful balmy evenings of August bring a return to astronomical sanity as dark skies become available to the UK once again. The magnificence of the Milky Way is dominant and even if your skies are too light-polluted to actually see it, the sheer number of brighter stars in its general direction hints at its presence. One of the most distinctive patterns of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer night sky is that of the giant asterism known as the Summer Triangle. It’s formed from the bright stars Vega…

6 SEPTEMBER Gibbous Moon half a degree from Mars this morning 11 SEPTEMBER Neptune reaches opposition 14 SEPTEMBER Waning crescent Moon and Venus close to M44 22 SEPTEMBER Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox 25 SEPTEMBER Waxing gibbous Moon near Jupiter and Saturn September at a glance The Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox occurs at 14:31 BST (13:31 UT) on 22 September, when the length of the Northern Hemisphere’s night is growing at its fastest rate for the year. A common misunderstanding is that an equinox marks the time when we have equal lengths of day and night. The precise term for such a day is an equilux and it occurs a few days before the spring equinox and a few days after the autumn one. The precise date of an equilux varies…

AUTUMN: Andromeda

Andromeda the Chained Princess belongs to a complex, mythologically rich region of the sky. She was the beautiful daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus. As parents do, her mother boasted about Andromeda, proclaiming her to be more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. This angered Posiedon, who sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the land. In order to restore balance, the king and queen tied the princess to a rock, sacrificing her to the monster. Except that she was saved by the Greek Hero Perseus. He had just slain the Gorgon Medusa and was carrying the creature’s head in a sack. The decapitation of the Gorgon resulted in Pegasus the Flying Horse emerging from her neck. Swooping in on the scene on the back of Pegasus, Perseus…

AUTUMN: Andromeda

1 OCTOBER Harvest Moon for 2020 2 OCTOBER Mars near full Moon this morning 13 OCTOBER Mars reaches opposition 15 OCTOBER Morning Venus close to waning crescent Moon 21 OCTOBER Favourable Orionid meteor shower peak October at a glance Cygnus the Swan is a large constellation occupying the northeast area of the Summer Triangle. It depicts a south-flying swan, wings outstretched. The swan’s beak is marked by the beautiful binary star Albireo (Beta (β) Cygni). Southeast of Albireo is the rather underwhelming constellation of Vulpecula the Fox. Its original name was Vulpecula et Anser, the Fox and the Goose. At one time it was broken into two smaller patterns representing both creatures. A later remerging removed the goose, but it was not forgotten as Alpha (α) Vulpeculae is now called…

11 NOVEMBER Pluto appears 42 arcminutes from Jupiter 12 NOVEMBER Venus 1.3 arcminutes from Theta (θ) Virginis 13 NOVEMBER Thin waning crescent Moon near morning Venus and Mercury 17 NOVEMBER Leonid meteor shower peaks under favourable conditions 25 NOVEMBER Mars near a waxing gibbous Moon this evening November at a glance Facing south in the early evening we see the faint, watery constellations of autumn. Many are large and indistinct, but navigational help is provided by the Great Square of Pegasus. Look south of the Great Square for the faint Circlet asterism. This represents the western fish of Pisces. Southwest sits the sprawling form of Aquarius the Water Bearer. The most recognisable pattern here is a small group of four stars arranged like the spokes of a three-pronged steering wheel,…

13 DECEMBER Morning Venus joined by a thin waning crescent Moon 14 DECEMBER Favourable Geminid meteor shower peak 17 DECEMBER Jupiter, Saturn and waxing crescent Moon close in the evening sky 21 DECEMBER Jupiter and Saturn appear just 6 arcminutes apart in the early evening sky 22 DECEMBER Peak of the Ursid meteor shower December at a glance The nights are now cold and dark, with the December solstice occurring on the 21st. Looking south, Orion the Hunter is approaching from the east. The three stars in the centre of Orion form a straight line representing the hunter’s belt. Extend the line made by the belt northwest and eventually you’ll arrive at the orange giant star Aldebaran (Alpha (α) Tauri). This appears to sit at one end of the arm…

Gemini represents the twins Castor and Pollux who in mythology shared a mother, Queen Leda of Sparta, but had different fathers. Zeus is said to have visited Leda in the form of a swan (now represented in the sky by the constellation Cygnus), while a subsequent fruitful union with her husband, King Tyndareus, left the queen pregnant with four children: two mortal – Kastor (Castor) and Clytemnenstra, and two immortal – Polydeukes (Pollux) and Helen. As they grew, Castor and Pollux became inseparable and enjoyed many adventures together, including as part of Jason and the Argonauts’ search for the Golden Fleece. However, an altercation with another pair of twins, Idas and Lynceus, left Castor dead. Distraught, Pollux pleaded with Zeus to grant him immortality, to which Zeus responded by placing…

Project 1: See the Sun’s edge

Solar observing is a hugely popular part of astronomy and, with hydrogen alpha (h-alpha) filters now costing a fraction of what they used to be, more affordable than ever before. Despite this price drop, h-alpha filters still aren’t exactly cheap, but for good reason when you consider the precision engineering and materials required to create an effective, stable and safe filter. The purpose of an h-alpha filter is to remove all wavelengths of light save for a tiny window of values centred on 656.28nm. This narrow band of wavelengths represents the primary radiation give off by excited hydrogen atoms in the visual part of the spectrum. Look at the Sun through an h-alpha filter and you’ll see the machinations of contorted hydrogen plasma sculpted by intense solar magnetic fields on…

Project 1: See the Sun’s edge

Project 2: Spot lunar volcanoes

The Moon is a fantastic target for everyone, regardless of astronomical experience. There is so much to see through a telescope that you could dedicate a lifetime to observing it all. However, it soon becomes clear that the best time to observe features that have height or depth is when the Sun is low in the lunar sky from their position. When this happens, exaggerated shadows really help these features stand out. Some features are so large that they are visible to the naked eye. The most obvious examples are the lunar maria, the dark, lava-filled basins that create a distinctive pattern over the Moon’s familiar face. If you have good eyesight it’s also possible to see the bright ejecta patterns of young craters, such as Tycho in the southern…

Project 2: Spot lunar volcanoes

Project 3: Measure variable stars

Who can resist the pull of a solar eclipse, the drama of a major meteor shower under dark skies, or the mind-blowing beauty of Saturn as seen through the eyepiece? Watching single stars, however, might not be quite so appealing. They are just, well, stars after all. This is where the hidden depths of astronomy lie and, given time, it’s where the greatest treasures can be found. While distant stars only ever appear to us as pinpricks of light through a telescope, that light can divulge a huge amount of information. Variable stars are a prime example and are relatively easy to observe. Regular observations will help you build a library of data that can unlock their secrets and characteristics. How to measure brightness Before picking a few choice examples…

Project 3: Measure variable stars

HOW TO Clean your binoculars

There is an old adage that the best way to clean any piece of optical equipment is to prevent it getting dirty in the first place. Obviously this isn’t practical if you plan on doing something as reckless as actually using your binoculars, but you can certainly reduce the frequency of cleaning if you’re careful. Almost all binoculars come with a case and a set of lens caps. Keep them clean, inside and out, and make use of them whenever your binoculars aren’t in action. Please don’t assume that lens caps alone are sufficient; they are not. While it’s essential to keep the lenses as clean as possible, you also need to reduce the amount of dust that penetrates the various mechanical parts of your binoculars, especially the focusers and…

HOW TO Clean your binoculars

HOW TO Build a right-angled polarscope adaptor

Do you enjoy getting damp knees, back-ache and a stiff neck as you use the eyepiece of your polarscope while trying to get your mount decently aligned? No? Neither do we. There are several software solutions, and you can even fit a cheap webcam to the polarscope so that you can view the alignment reticule on a screen. But these all add complexity to what, in a perfect world, should be a quick and simple process. The ideal solution for frequent polar alignment, especially when you’re using a portable tracking mount in the field, needs to be one that doesn’t require computers, electrical power or the skills of a contortionist. There’s not much point in an equatorial mount unless it’s properly aligned but, marvellous as polar alignment scopes are, they…

HOW TO Build a right-angled polarscope adaptor

HOW TO Measure the Great Red Spot

The giant planet Jupiter is a popular target for amateurs as even a modest telescope will show its colourful bands and four bright Galilean satellites. Its atmosphere is populated by all manner of interesting features that you could spend a lifetime studying. But here we’re confining our attention to one in particular – the Great Red Spot, a vast hurricane that has existed for centuries – and we’re going to show you how you can measure its size. Jupiter is a gas giant and, unlike Earth, has no solid surface. A telescopic view reveals a planet crossed by dark belts and brighter zones. In reality, this is the top of a very extensive and tumultuous atmosphere where wind speeds of 100m/s have been recorded. It’s thought that the cloud deck…

HOW TO Measure the Great Red Spot

APERTURE The diameter of a telescope’s light-gathering main lens or mirror. The bigger the aperture, the brighter and more detailed the image. AVERTED VISION A technique for observing faint objects through a telescope. It involves viewing slightly to the side of the object, allowing its light to fall on an area of the eye more sensitive to light. BINARY STAR A system of two stars that orbit a common centre of gravity. The brighter star is classified as the primary; the dimmer is the secondary. BLACK HOLE The collapsed core of a massive star. Its concentration of mass is so dense that nothing, even light, can escape its gravitational pull. CELESTIAL EQUATOR A projection of the Earth’s equator into space. CELESTIAL SPHERE The projection of the night sky on to…

In This Issue

Description

Details

Reviews

Recent Digital Issues Browse all

Recent The Astronomer's Yearbook Digital Issues Browse all back issues

The Astronomer's Yearbook Magazine (Digital) Subscription November 3rd, 2020 Issue

The Astronomer's Yearbook Magazine (Digital) Astronomer's Yearbook 2021: $10.39

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) Subscription October 22nd, 2019 Issue

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) Astronomer's Yearbook 2020: $10.39

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) Subscription December 10th, 2018 Issue

The Astronomer's Yearbook 2019 Magazine (Digital) Astronomer's Yearbook 2019: $10.39

Customers Also Viewed

The Astronomer's Yearbook Magazine (Digital) Subscription October 22nd, 2019 Issue

The Astronomer's Yearbook Magazine (Digital)

Astronomer's Yearbook 2022: $10.39

RIDERS JACKET Magazine (Digital) Subscription October 31st, 2019 Issue

RIDERS JACKET Magazine (Digital)

7004066_ch_riders_jackt: $8.24

Batgirl Magazine Subscription

Batgirl Magazine

(3)

12 Issues: $47.88

Landscape Design Archives　ランドスケープデザイン　アーカイブズ (Digital) Subscription October 9th, 2013 Issue

Landscape Design Archives　ランドスケープデザイン　アーカイブズ (Digital)

Vol.5: $6.34

Reviews

0

0

0

0

0

Ask a Question

Ask a question about this product

Please enter content for the question.

Please enter at least 10 characters.

Your question can not be more than 150 characters.

Please enter your first name and last name.

Only letters allowed for first name and last name.

Please enter your email.

Submit Cancel Processing...

Thank you for your question! Your question has been submitted and will be published soon.

OK

Answer this question

Please enter content for the answer.

Please enter at least 10 characters.

Please enter your first name and last name.

Only letters allowed for first name and last name.

Please enter your email.

Submit Cancel Processing...

Thank you for your answer! Your answer has been submitted and will be published soon.

OK