Hampshire Astronomical Group

Astronomical Events for January 2012

Moon

2 Jan - Waxing gibbous Moon lies 5° north of Jupiter.

5 Jan - 88% lit Moon lies north of Aldabaran which can be found in the constellation of Taurus.

11 Jan - 05:30 UT - Moon occults Alpha Cancri (Acubens), which is mag. +4.3).  Best to start observing from 05:00 UT.  Occultation should finish by 6:00 UT.

16 Jan - If you look southeast in the morning, the Moon forms a line with Alpha Virginis (Spica) and Saturn.

19 Jan - Just before dawn, the waning crescent Moon occults M80 in Scorpius.  The occultation starts at 05:10 UT and ends at 06:10.  As they will be low down, a clear southeast horizon will be required.

22 Jan - 07:30 UT - Southeast - 1% lit crescent Moon is visible low down in the morning sky.  Take care not to look after the Sun has risen.

24 Jan - 17:00 UT - Thin waxing lunar crescent should be visible.

31 Jan - At 04:10 UT is the second quarter Moon of the month, the first one being on New Year's Day at 06:15 UT.  This is a great opportunity to look for the many lunar features that can be seen along the terminator.

Meteor Showers

3/4 Jan - Quadrantids at its most active.  Predicted peak is about 7:20 UT on the 4th January.

Planets

8 Jan - This evening, Venus lies 1° north of mag. +2.8 Delta Capricorni.

12 Jan - Uranus can be found 15 arcminutes to the north of HIP 417 (mag. +6.3).  Through a pair of binoculars, they look like a wide binary star.

12 Jan - Venus, Iota Aquarii and Neptune can be found in a small area of sky.  See page 51 of BBC Sky at Night magazine for more details.

13 Jan - Mars lies on the border between Leo and Virgo, and the waning gibbous Moon lies 9° to the west of Mars.  They can be seen around 22:00 UT as they rise above the eastern horizon.

26 Jan - 18:00 UT onwards - Venus and the crescent Moon can be seen together shortly after sunset.

27 Jan - 18:30 UT - Uranus and the Moon lie close together.  Waxing crescent Moon lies 5.5° to the left of Uranus.  They can be found in the southwest part of the sky.

Comets

17/18 Jan - Comet C/2006 T1 Levy can be found south of Alpha Piscium (Alrescha).  It can be observed over two nights.

24/25 Jan - Comet C/2006 T1 Levy passes north of mag. +3.9 star Eta Eridani.

25 Jan - C/2009 P1/Garradd (mag. +7.2) can be found 8 arcminutes to the west of Rho Herculis during the hours before dawn.  Rho lies 1° 45" to the east of the top-left star of the Keystone, and is best seen after 03:00 UT.

Miscellaneous

5 Jan - 00:33 UT - Earth makes its closest approach to the Sun.

10 Jan - Vesta passes close to mag. +4.0 star Tau Aquarii.  Closest approach will be at 23:00 UT when Vesta will be 3 arcminutes northwest of the star. 

Announcement posted by : Website Team

Events in the South of England

8th February - Living in the Sun's atmosphere

Dr Lucie Green (Mullard Space Science Laboratory)

The cafe will be selling a limited selection of alcoholic drinks before this lecture.

Lecture: The intense light emitted by the yellow, seemingly placid, disk of the Sun hides the reality that the Sun is a violent and active star. This violent side is well seen by telescopes that are put above the Earth's atmosphere can take images of the Sun in ultraviolet and X- ray radiation. This talk will show how space telescopes have revealed the true nature of the Sun since the dawn of the space age in the 1950's, and in particular what we have learnt about eruptions from the Sun called coronal mass ejections.

Lucie Green is a solar researcher based at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL's Department of Space and Climate Physics. She studys activity in the immense magnetic fields in the Sun's atmosphere. These sporadically erupt to form a coronal mass ejection.

She take a strong interest in science education and public engagement, and is a member of the Royal Society's Education Committee and was on their State of the Nation reports Working Group during 2007-2009. UCL has been awarded Beacon for Public Engagement with Science status and Lucie sits on UCL's Steering Committee for this project. She runs MSSL's public engagement programme and is the 2009 recipient of the Kohn Award for excellence in public engagement with science. She also works in TV and radio, writes science articles and give talks about the UK's current research in solar system science.

Announcement posted by : Website Team

Autumn Moon & Mars Watch 2012 at Clanfield Observatory

Following the very popular events in the past three years, the 2012 Autumn Moon Watch will run from Friday 21st September 2012 to Sunday 23rd September 2012. This weekend event will offer superb opportunities for viewing the 7 to 9 day old Moon and also the planet Mars.

We will use the same format and cost as our normal open evenings. (£10.00 for adults, £5.00 for children under 12). Please note that neither the Moon Watch nor the Open evenings are suitable for children under 6 years old.

To book for any of these events:
Email: steve.knight@hantsastro.org.uk or mobile 07761 853 560

Announcement posted by : Website Team