Observing – Page 50 – Astronomy Now

Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak

11 December 2014 Mark Armstrong

With the Moon past Last Quarter and rising after midnight, prospects are good for observing the closing stages of the Geminid meteor shower — now the richest shooting stars display of the year.

Double the fun as magnitude-3.6 star λ Geminorum is hidden by the Moon

8 December 2014 Ade Ashford

The last lunar occultation of a conspicuous naked-eye star for UK observers in 2014 occurs around 6 am on Tuesday, 9th December. Set your alarm and prepare your telescope for the disappearance and reapparance of λ Geminorum.

New interactive website tools for observers

8 December 2014 Ade Ashford

Astronomy Now Online brings you a powerful interactive global Almanac and UK-based all-sky star maps — the first of a new suite of tools to help plan your observing sessions and travel.

Jupiter’s moon dance and shadow play to delight observers

3 December 2014 Ade Ashford

The orbits of Jupiter’s large Galilean moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are presently almost edge-on to our line of sight, causing the moons to regularly eclipse and occult each other. Multiple shadow transits are also on view!

See the year’s largest First Quarter Moon on 29th November

28 November 2014 Ade Ashford

The Moon’s distance from the Earth, and hence its apparent size, waxes and wanes just like its phases. It so happens that Saturday’s First Quarter Moon is closer than normal…

Leonids meteor shower reaches its peak

17 November 2014 Mark Armstrong

The Leonid meteor shower has been active for a few days now and reaches its peak on the night of 17/18 November. We can expect around 20 meteors per hour at best, with the radiant rising in the UK after 9pm.

Alert: Scotland favoured for asteroid occultation of bright star

15 November 2014 Ade Ashford

Although the weather forecast is not too good, observers in Scotland and northern England could see asteroid (12655) 5041 T-3 occult a 5.7-magnitude star in western Cetus close to 7:48pm tonight.

Giant storm on Uranus in the 2.2-micron IR band

Amateur astronomers image extreme storms on Uranus

13 November 2014 Ade Ashford

Far from always being a featureless blue-green dot in backyard telescopes, both amateur and professional astronomers have recently imaged extreme weather features on Uranus.

Taurid meteors put on celestial fireworks show this month

3 November 2014 Mark Armstrong

The Taurids meteor shower is active throughout November with a double radiant and a double peak. Observers can usually expect around 10 meteors per hour from dark sky locations.

Ghosts on the Moon at Halloween

31 October 2014 Peter Grego

Peter Grego gets into the Halloween spirit by picking out some ghostly craters to thrill those treating themselves to an evening of lunar gazing.