Orionid Meteor Shower 2018 – Everyone loves a good meteor shower and we have at least one every month starting in October through to January.
Early in October we had the Draconid Meteor Shower, which could have almost become a meteor storm. According to NASA the earth just missed a very dense part of the showers debris stream. We will have to wait another year to see if this minor shower will become a storm.
Now the Draconids are over, we can look forward to the Orionid Meteor shower – also known as the Orionids.
We think of telescopes when looking at ways to explore the night sky. But binoculars are more useful than telescopes in many situations. They come in various shapes and sizes. Which ones are good for astronomy? (more…)
The Orion Constellation – Mighty Guardian of Winter Skies
Out of all the constellations in the night sky, one of the most well known and obvious is Orion. Anyone just looking up at the winter sky can’t help but notice this celestial wonder. Orion is probably the most striking of all the constellations. Let’s explore it some more. (more…)
During the winter months and around this time of year, after dark we in the northern hemisphere are able to see the mighty constellation of Orion rise high in the sky with a very bright companion in a nearby constellation: Sirius – The Dog Star.
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and can easily be found in the faint constellation of Canis Major to the left and below Orion. Its name comes from ancient Greek meaning “glowing” or “scorcher.”
Sirius (a CMa) is the alpha star in this trusty hound and is roughly 8.5 light years away from Earth, making it one of the closest stars to us. It has a tiny companion star making it a binary system composed of “Sirius A” the main component (which is a white main sequence star) and “Sirius B,” a white dwarf star. As seen with the naked eye, Sirius can be seen to twinkle many different colours low in the winter evening sky. (more…)
ISS Long Exposure photo of a visible ISS pass Credit: Mark Humpage
UK ISS Pass details for Autumn 2018
The International Space Station (ISS) is back over UK skies with some great evening passes during Autumn 2018.
The ISS is the largest Space Station/ laboratory ever built, it can be spotted with the naked eye at certain times as it orbits Earth at 17500mph at an altitude of roughly 200 miles.
Spotting the station is very easy and you don’t need any special equipment. You only need your eyes! Read the rest of this post to find out when and how you can spot the station this autumn.
Credit: Maxwell Palau from the VirtualAstro Flickr group
Lunar Eclipse July 2018
Lunar Eclipse July 2018 – July is proving to be a fantastic month for stargazers. This is due to all of the naked eye planets on view, warm star filled skies and a lunar eclipse (Blood Moon) at the end of the month.
This isn’t just any old lunar eclipse though, it’s going to be the longest in over a century!
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