Observing

RS Ophiuchi, the most famous recurrent nova and one of just seven such systems, has gone into a very rare outburst, rising rapidly brightness 600-fold in just a day from magnitude +12 to around +5.

It’s that time of the year again! The Perseid meteor shower, which peaks this week, is highly-anticipated by observers hoping to enjoy the spectacular sight of multiple meteors raining down during mild summer nights.

Saturn, often described as the jewel in the Solar System’s crown, comes to opposition on the night of 1/2 August in one of the highlights of the observing year.

Soon after sunset on Monday (12 July) there’s an opportunity to see a close encounter between Venus and Mars with a crescent Moon nearby.

On the morning of Thursday 10 June, there’s a partial eclipse of the Sun visible across the length and breadth of the UK. This special and spectacular event happens when the Moon appears to take a significant bite out of the Sun as it moves between us and the Sun, partially blocking the Sun’s disc from our view.

Mercury is visible now in the early evening sky, offering sky-watchers in the UK and at other mid-northern latitudes their best chance of the year to spot the innermost planet.

Nova Cas 2021, a ‘new star’ – a classical nova – discovered on 18 March 2021 in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, has suddenly brightened in the past few days by around two magnitudes.