Hi all,
(NB, all times are summer time when in force, for convenience)
1. Meteor Shower - PERSEIDS avoid Moonlight
The annual Perseid Meteor shower is one of the two best each year, and this year conditions are favourable, with no bright moonlight to spoil the show.
Most of the annual meteor showers are caused by streams of tiny particles emitted from comets as they orbit around the Sun, and the Perseids originate from Comet Swift-Tuttle, named after the two astronomers who discovered it. The Earth passes through this shower of tiny particles each August, with the maximum on the nights of 11-12th, and especially of the 12-13th, when up to 80 meteors per hour can be observed under ideal conditions in the early hours of the 13th. However, some Perseids can be seen from the beginning of the month up to about the 20th, although the rates are much lower the further away from the date of maximum.
They can appear anywhere in the sky, at random, but if you trace the direction of their tracks backwards, they will all appear to come from a small area in Perseus, near the famous Double Cluster in the Milky Way.
Perseus will be rising in the North East when the sky gets dark, and the number of meteors seen will increase from then as Perseus gets higher up in the East and then almost overhead, until dawn twilight gets too bright.
The young crescent Moon will set as twilight ends, so moonlight will not interfere this year.
You don't need a telescope, or even binoculars, to see them, just your own eyes. But you must allow time for your eyes to adapt to the darkness before you'll start to see any: if going out from a bright room, this takes 10 minutes for a reasonable view, but around 20 minutes to get the best view. For comfort, use a reclining chair or lounger, and wrap up well as it will get quite cool after a while.
And you should try to observe from the darkest location possible, away from light pollution, i.e. the effects of bright city lights, or even nearby street lights or security lights. If you can see the Milky Way, you've got a reasonably good location. The new OM/Davagh Dark Sky Park in the Sperrins is being developed for observing events such as this.
Although they appear to come from Perseus, they can appear anywhere in the sky, and the best place to look is about 50 degrees above the horizon (a bit more than halfway up to the overhead point, and about the same distance to left or right of the radiant, in whichever direction you can get the clearest and darkest view. Obviously if it's cloudy, you won't see any, but if you look on the few nights on either side of the 12th/13th, you should still see quite a good display if it's clear then.
Perseid meteors are quite fast, with a good proportion of bright ones, although as with all showers, there are many more faint ones than bright ones. That's why you'll see more from a very dark site, and when your eyes have fully dark-adapted.
METEOR PHOTOGRAPHY:
If you have a digital SLR which can give longish time exposures, and you can manually focus it on infinity, and adjust it to a high ISO (film speed equivalent), you can image the meteors with a bit of luck. Use the widest-angle lens you have. It will help to have a tripod.
Point the camera about 50° up in the sky, about 40° from the radiant, for best results. Consult your camera handbook, or experiment with exposures until the sky fogging becomes too severe. Start with exposures of about 10 minutes, and see if the background is still dark; if not, reduce the exposure times a bit. But usually the bright meteors pass just outside the field of view of the camera!
See also Perseid meteor shower peaks this month! New moon bodes well for skywatchers. | Space
2. Paul Evans's August Sky Video
3. Dark Skies Events, 16, and 17- 19 August
We're hosting new online events for Heritage Week, and we'd love to see you there.
All three official dark sky places on the island of Ireland are collaborating to present a FREE series of online events on 17th, 18th & 19th August (5pm). Join us for An Island of Dark Skies
These events are part of Science Foundation Ireland/ESERO Ireland's "Dark Skies & Biodiversity" education programme
Register soon because space is limited.
We hope you're able to join us!
The above live events are a follow up to the ESERO / Science Foundation Ireland programme for Primary School Teachers - "Dark Skies & Biodiversity Course" - a 5 module online course on Earth & Space, Stargazing & Constellations, Light Pollution, Biodiversity & nocturnal wildlife, Dark Skies in Culture & Heritage.
Available now via https://esero.ie/upcoming-workshop/online-summer-course-steaming-through-dark-skies-and-biodiversity-with-esero/
ALSO
Dark Sky Accreditation, 16 August
Are you seeking dark sky status for your local area? Join John Barentine PhD, Director of Conservation, International Dark Sky Association (IDA). John will talk about the process to obtain dark sky designation and the supports available from the IDA. Followed by Anthony Tekatch of Unihedron - Anthony will discuss the typical measurement tool used by most designations for dark sky accreditation - the Sky Quality Meter (SQM).
Monday 16th August at 7pm. Details to follow, hosted by Mayo Dark Skies.
4. Saturn at Opposition, 2 August
SATURN: is now at its closest and brightest for the year, but it's very low from our latitude, so viewing conditions are not great. It's now mag 0.2, in Capricorn, with an apparent diameter of 18.2".
The angle of the ring system to Earth has been steadily decreasing recently, reaching 18 degrees at Opposition, so the rings no longer extend beyond the poles. Aesthetically, I think this angle, and down to an angle of about 10 degrees, is the most beautiful.
On 20 August the Full Moon will lie just below it.
Of the satellites, Titan is visible in any telescope, and Rhea is not too difficult. With the low altitude, it may be harder to see fainter Dione and Tethys, especially as they are closer to the planet. Big telescopes and good seeing are required for Enceladus and Mimas. Iapetus is easiest to see when it's at Western elongation; that next occurs around 18 – 22 September.
On the evening of 9 August, all the visible satellites will be on the East side of Saturn, making it look a bit lop-sided! From the centre of the disc, at 22.00 BST/IST moving Eastwards, they are Rhea, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Titan, Hyperion and Iapetus, but probably only Rhea, Tethys, Dione and Titan will be visible except in powerful telescopes.
I've seen them all, using the 10-inch refractor at Armagh Observatory, and my own 37cm Newtonian, but when Saturn was a lot higher up, and in much less light-polluted skies!
5. Jupiter also well placed
Jupiter is now readily visible from Ireland, as it moves towards Opposition on August 20. It's in Aquarius, mag -2.8, some 20 degrees E of Saturn, and with an apparent diameter of 48". It's a bit higher up than Saturn, and that will gradually increase over the next few years.
The four big Galilean moons are visible in even a modest telescope. This year, the Sun and Earth are almost exactly in the plane of Jupiter's equator, so the moons pass backwards and forwards almost exactly in the same plane. This means that sometimes they are so close together that they will appear as one, unless you use high magnification. This will happen with Europa and Ganymede on the night of 14-15 August
And very rarely one moon will actually pass in front of, or occult, another Moon, and sometimes one Moon will pass into the shadow of another Moon, and be eclipsed by it. I'll post details of any of these events which may be visible from Ireland in these email bulletins.
On 19 August it retrogrades into Capricorn, where it remains for the rest of the quarter. On the evening of 22 August the Full Moon will pass just below it.
6. Bright Fireball, 31 July.
Did anyone see or record a bright fireball on Saturday 31 July at 21.54 BST? It was recorded on dashcam in Newtownards, low down in the North, heading away from the driver. So it would have been seen higher and brighter up from Bangor / Holywood, and from the East of Co Antrim. If anyone saw, or even better, recorded, this fireball we may be able to get an accurate orbit. It was bright even though it was still twilight, and was very far from the observer, so please check any camera footage you may have. Let me know asap.
7. ISS. The ISS will commence a new series of morning passes on 28 August. Details at www.heavens-above.com
8. IAA AGM, Wed 18 August, 7.30 p.m.
This will be held by Zoom – more details later.
9. Davagh Dark Sky Park and Observatory now open, with pre-booking, and some restrictions.
See https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/things-to-do/star-gazing/davagh-dark-sky-observatory , and https://www.facebook.com/omdarksky/ I'll post any updates here. Or phone 03000 132 132 for changing Covid-19 advice.
10. Call for Europlanet Outreach Funding Scheme and Prize 2021, 18 August
The Europlanet Society is accepting applications for their 2021 Outreach Funding Scheme and Prize. Applications are accepted through 18 August 2021. Both the funding scheme and the prize are designed to support those in Europe who are doing public outreach for planetary sciences.
Learn more here: https://www.europlanet-society.org/calls-for-europlanet-outreach-funding-scheme-and-prize-2021/
11. Global Hands-On Universe Conference, 23 – 27 August
The 2021 Global Hands on Universe (GHOU) Conference will again be held virtually for teachers, students, educators, and other scientists interested in astronomy education. Registration closes on 10 August 2021. The free conference will be held 23-27 August 2021.
Learn more here: http://handsonuniverse.org/ghou2021/
12. Series of astronomy lectures by Gresham College.
A. Monday 20 September: Mars Missions 2021: Early Discoveries (gresham.ac.uk)
B. A series of 6 from 29 September to June 2022, at 6 p.m.. See: Cosmic Revolutions (gresham.ac.uk)
13. Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society Workshop II, 3-7 October
Location: Virtual / La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Date: 3-7 October 2021
Website: http://research.iac.es/congreso/quietdarksky2021/pages/home.php
14. A: Clue for Easy Teaser No answers for this one yet, so here's a clue - The last three gave their name to something used in astronomy, and the first one has a similar connection.
Q. What's the connection between – A type of singing, a Keeper of the Mint, a German musician, and a Buddhist monk?
"Rules for Easy Teasers: you're barred from entering if you (A) have already submitted a correct answer to any of the previous teasers, and/or (B) if you've been a member of any astronomy clubs or societies for 15 years or more. Obviously I have to trust your honesty on that latter point, but remember, if you're correct your name will be published here, and other members of your club will see it!"
15. (Moderately) Difficult Teaser Answered.
The O'Neills do it again, this time it's Sara, wife of John who has been successful before. The question was - What's next in this sequence? A, M, A, M, P, M, ? The answer is D. They are the first letters of the stars in The Plough / Big Dipper, starting at the end of the handle: Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phecda, Merak & Dubhe. Well done Sara.
16. New Difficult Teaser
What have 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22 & 23 got in common?
Please send all answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
17. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer - Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS
WIMPS vs. Axions: What is dark matter? - Universe Today
Where can we find a fifth force of nature? - Universe Today
Neutron Stars Have Mountains, They're Just a Fraction of a Millimeter High - Universe Today
Laser pincers generate antimatter by recreating neutron star conditions (newatlas.com)
Stars Made of Antimatter Might Be Lurking in the Universe - Scientific American
X-ray echoes detected from behind a black hole for first time (newatlas.com)
X-Ray telescope captures complete map of Black Holes https://www.facebook.com/17610706465/posts/10158077434326466/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Event Horizon Telescope snaps close-up of supermassive black hole jets (newatlas.com) Light from behind a black hole spotted for 1st time, proving Einstein right | Live Science
The most complete map of Black Holes ever published. https://www.facebook.com/49650744941/posts/10161232873394942/?sfnsn=scwspmo Thank exploding stars for our galaxy's gold – UKRI
Astronomers probe layer-cake structure of brown dwarf's atmosphere -- ScienceDaily
NASA has glimpsed our galaxy's fate in three-way galactic brawl | Live Science No mention of what will happen to M33, our other neighbouring 'full-sized' galaxy. It is a bit further away than M31 – about 2.7 million LY, compared with 2.5 million LY for M31, and they are only 15 degrees apart in the sky, so at a rough approximation, it lies beyond M31. We don't know its radial velocity well enough to be sure, but it
will almost certainly eventually merge with either M31, or the MW, or 'Milkomeda' which is the name given to the future merged Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. A 3-way merger would be fun – only about 4 or 5 billion years: I can't wait!
NASA's TESS tunes into an all-sky 'symphony' of red giant stars -- ScienceDaily
Supernova shockwave https://www.facebook.com/100063510852713/posts/231429638984063/?sfnsn=scwspmo
Nearby star resembles ours in its youth -- ScienceDaily
Astronomers discover how to feed a black hole -- ScienceDaily
Scientists observe gas re-accretion in dying galaxies for the first time -- ScienceDaily
Magnetic fields implicated in the mysterious midlife crisis of stars -- ScienceDaily
https://www.facebook.com/108218329601/posts/10159853950494602/?sfnsn=scwspmoMagnetic 'balding' of black holes saves general relativity prediction -- ScienceDaily
On the hunt for 'hierarchical' black holes -- ScienceDaily
Supernova's 'fizzled' gamma-ray burst -- ScienceDaily
Three dwarf spheroidal galaxies found to rotate -- ScienceDaily
EARTH & MOON
Act on Climate Emergency Now to Prevent Millions of Deaths, Study Shows - Scientific American
https://earth.org/data_visualization/a-brief-history-of-co2/
Dinosaur-killing rock traced to population of "dark primitive asteroids" (newatlas.com)
Thank exploding stars for our galaxy's gold – UKRI
Ailing Earth can't cope as human demands soar | Climat e News Network As I've been saying for years, the Earth is seriously overpopulated with humans.
Atlantic's major current is weakening, signalling significant weather changes – study (msn.com)
New Climate Report Will Detail Grim Future of Hotter, Extreme Weather and Rising Seas - Scientific American Of course, all the CC Deniers know better than these 200 experts, because they've read something on Facebook!
Early molten moon's deep secrets -- ScienceDaily
Icy waters of 'Snowball Earth' may have spurred early organisms to grow bigger -- ScienceDaily
EDUCATION & OUTREACH
World's largest astronomy museum inspired by classic three-body problem (newatlas.com)
EXOLIFE
Harvard-led team to search cosmos for extraterrestrial space tech and UFOs | Live Science
EXOPLANETS
Astronomers snap image of moon-forming disk surrounding an alien world (newatlas.com) and
https://www.facebook.com/35695491869/posts/10159354364566870/?sfnsn=scwspmoHR 8799 super-Jupiters' days measured for the first time, gives a new spin on unraveling planet formation mystery -- ScienceDaily
Ocean world: Rocky exoplanet has just half the mass of Venus -- ScienceDaily
IMAGES
NASA's amazing image of the Milky Way https://www.facebook.com/17610706465/posts/10158077434326466/?sfnsn=scwspmohttps://screenrant.com/hubble-reboot-first-images-galaxies-mystery-nasa/ PEOPLE
Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has died | Live Science
SOLAR SYSTEM
New Images of Mars From China's Rover - Universe Today
Volcanic Activity on Venus Could Explain Phosphine - Universe Today
Mars InSight reveals first crust-to-core snapshot of Red Planet (newatlas.com) and https://www.facebook.com/672161609/posts/10158010612821610/?sfnsn=scwspmo
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch Clipper mission to Jupiter's moon Europa (newatlas.com)
7-year old girl discovers 7 asteroids https://www.facebook.com/100000607066031/posts/4524166817613509/
Water vapor detected on huge Jupiter moon Ganymede for 1st time | Live Science
Dinosaur-killing rock traced to population of "dark primitive asteroids" (newatlas.com)
Mars helicopter's latest flights https://www.facebook.com/685156884880562/posts/4335129439883270/?sfnsn=scwspmo Buried 'lakes' on Mars may just be frozen clay | Live Science
Watch Ingenuity explore intriguing Raised Ridges in new video | Space There's an intriguing view of what looks like a 'track' in that video!
Venus will receive two visitors from Earth next week (newatlas.com)
LUCY mission to the Trojan asteroids https://www.facebook.com/1272698526/posts/10220496713389174/?sfnsn=scwspmoHighest-resolution measurements of asteroid surface temperatures ever obtained from Earth -- ScienceDaily
Lunar samples solve mystery of the moon's supposed magnetic shield: Research may help inform a new wave of lunar experiments based on data that will be gathered by the Artemis mission -- ScienceDaily
Space scientists reveal secret behind Jupiter's 'energy crisis' -- ScienceDaily
https://www.independent.co.uk/space/jaxa-red-asteroid-belt-organic-matter-pompeja-justitia-b1892791.html Planetary scientist puts Mars lake theory on ice with new study that offers alternate explanation: Interdisciplinary investigation of the planet's south pole points to clays being the likely culprit -- ScienceDaily
Earthly rocks point way to water hidden on Mars -- ScienceDaily
Hubble finds evidence of water vapor at Jupiter's moon Ganymede -- ScienceDaily
SPACE
Blue Origin's New Shepard flies passengers to space and back (newatlas.com)
We Need to Fix Space Junk Before It's Too Late - Universe Today
What's Next for Blue Origin After Today's Successful Flight? - Universe Today
"Walking" robotic arm on its way to ISS (newatlas.com)
Revised FAA rules put Branson and Bezos' astronaut wings in doubt (newatlas.com)
Apollo 15: NASA's first moon buggy mission celebrates 50th anniversary (newatlas.com) I've been lucky enough to meet both Jim Irwin and Al Worden, now both sadly deceased.
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch Clipper mission to Jupiter's moon Europa (newatlas.com)
Boeing Starliner OFT-2 launch to space station delayed following Russian module mishap | Space
China's Space Station Is Preparing to Host 1,000 Science Experiments - Scientific American
Mars helicopter's latest flights https://www.facebook.com/685156884880562/posts/4335129439883270/?sfnsn=scwspmo Russia's Nauka module briefly tilts space station with unplanned thruster fire | Space They were trying to hijack it! I'll bet one of them is called Blofeld! ;-)
Boeing Starliner OFT-2 launch to space station delayed following Russian module mishap | Space
Forget About Interstellar Flights. Tiny Light Sails Could be Used to Explore the Solar System Today - Universe Today These ideas ignore two fundamental problems with light sails. 1. They accelerate only. It's all very well getting to Jupiter or Saturn extremely quickly, but the 'craft' will just whiz by at extremely high speed – many hundreds of thousands of MPH. What good is that? 2. To keep them very light, they can't carry any meaningful instrumentation, and even worse, they won't have the power or antennae big enough to beam any data back to Earth. You might as well fire a bullet past a distant tree and expect to learn something about the tree.
Can the U.S. and China Cooperate in Space? - Scientific American
Future Space Travel Might Require Mushrooms - Scientific American
SpaceX lifts huge Super Heavy rocket onto launch stand (photos) | Space
SpaceX installs 29 engines on giant Super Heavy Mars rocket (photos) | Space
Netflix will co-produce a documentary about SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission | Space
SpaceX stacks Starship atop massive booster for 1st time to make the world's tallest rocket | Space and https://www.facebook.com/100010991197963/posts/1421089724934054/?sfnsn=scwspmo https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-booster-production-breakneck-pace/ Jeff Bezos asks NASA for moon lander contract, offers to cover billions in costs | Space
SUN
Scientists Have a new way to Predict the Most Damaging Solar Storms - Universe Today
Solving solar puzzle could help save Earth from planet-wide blackouts -- ScienceDaily
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES
Good News! NASA Announces that they have Fixed Hubble! - Universe Today Excellent news, and well done NASA / STScI.
Harvard-led team to search cosmos for extraterrestrial space tech and UFOs | Live Science
Balloon-borne telescope promises Hubble-like images on a budget (newatlas.com)
UK-led robotic sky-scanner takes its place on telescope – UKRI
UK scientists join NASA's first steps back to the Moon – UKRI
Construction starts on world's largest radio telescope network – UKRI
How they fixed the HST https://www.facebook.com/47619793252/posts/10158605094708253/?sfnsn=scwspmohttps://www.universetoday.com/151959/a-gravitational-wave-observatory-on-the-moon-could-hear-70-of-the-observable-universe/ But what about the constant bombardment of the Moon by meteorites of all sizes? Anything smaller than a beach ball usually gets destroyed in our atmosphere, but the Moon has no protection, so it gets hit regularly at high speed by objects the size of an apple pip upwards. Even objects that small will cause vibrations which will affect sensitivity. And there are lots of them – the number increases exponentially with decrease in size, and since it's the speed that contributes most of the energy, even small ones pack quite a punch.
UAPs/UFOs
Project launched to look for extraterrestrial visitors to our Solar System | Science | AAAS (sciencemag.org) A good input from Prof Alan Fitzsimmons of QUB!
And Harvard-led team to search cosmos for extraterrestrial space tech and UFOs | Live Science
Experts Weigh In on Pentagon UFO Report - Scientific American
Maybe the Aliens Really Are Here - Scientific American
18. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link downloads a Word document to join the IAA. http://documents.irishastro.org.uk/iaamembership.doc
If you are a UK taxpayer, please tick the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
1 comment:
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.
Tyvm for the helpful post! I would not have gotten this myself!
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