Observing – Astronomy Now

Here’s your chance to spot Mercury, as it cosies up to Venus this weekend

21 May 2020 Mark Armstrong

Look to the north-west this evening (21 May), soon after sunset, to enjoy a spectacular coming together of brilliant Venus and shy and elusive Mercury.

See Comet 2020 F8 (SWAN) gracing UK skies tonight!

19 May 2020 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2020 F8 (SWAN) is now on show across the UK after rocketing northwards during April and earlier this month, and currently shines at around magnitude +5.8.

Eta Aquarid meteor shower reaches peak

5 May 2020 Mark Armstrong

The annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks 5/6 May, although best observed from the Southern Hemisphere, observers in the UK could expect to see 15 to 20 meteors an hour.

Beginners’ astronomy: how to see the Lyrid meteor shower

20 April 2020 Keith Cooper

If you’ve never seen a meteor shower, then with no work or school for many people in the morning thanks to the continuing COVID-19 lockdown, the Lyrids are a great opportunity to stay up late and witness nature’s own fireworks.

Beginners’ astronomy: That bright light you can see in the western sky? That’s Venus

17 April 2020 Keith Cooper

During the warm evenings and clear skies of recent weeks, you may have noticed a brilliant, shining beacon towards the west, far brighter than anything else in the night sky other than the Moon. That’s the planet Venus.

Seek out 1998 OR₂, the brightest predicted near-Earth asteroid encounter of 2020

12 April 2020 Ade Ashford

A near-Earth object (NEO) and potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) with the catchy official name of 52768 (1998 OR₂) passes just 16.4 lunar distances (6.3 million kilometres) from Earth at 09:56 UT on Wednesday, 29 April 2020. Here’s our guide to locating this fascinating asteroid in 15-cm (6-inch) aperture telescopes and smaller from the UK this month.

See the waning crescent Moon meet the dawn planets, 15–16 April 2020

9 April 2020 Ade Ashford

There’s a lot of planetary activity in the dawn sky in mid-April. If you’re an early riser in the British Isles, let the waning crescent Moon be your guide to the naked-eye planets Jupiter, Saturn and Mars on 15 and 16 April 2020. Typical 7×50 or 10×50 binoculars will show these attractive conjunctions well, while the smallest of telescopes also reveal some of Jupiter’s bright Galilean moons.

Don’t miss the largest supermoon of 2020 on 8 April

7 April 2020 Ade Ashford

The full Moon of 8 April 2020 occurs just 8½ hours after perigee, its closest point to Earth in the oval-shaped lunar orbit. A full Moon occurring close to perigee is popularly called a supermoon, and this one will be 8½ percent larger than average. This is also the closest full Moon of the year and we’ll not see one larger until 5 November 2025.

Get ready for Comet ATLAS (C/2019 Y4) in the northern spring sky!

2 April 2020 Ade Ashford

Comet C/2019 Y4 was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on 28 December last year and brightened 6000-fold in just two months to attain magnitude +7.5 on 1 April. Alas, the comet’s nucleus has now fragmented, dashing hopes for a conspicuous naked-eye spectacle in the constellation of Perseus. Here’s our telescopic observing guide.

Look out for asteroid Juno at opposition

2 April 2020 Mark Armstrong

One of the largest objects in the Asteroid Belt, (3) Juno, comes to opposition on 2 April, when it lies directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth, and is at its brightest – albeit still only visible through telescopes.