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BBC Sky at Night (2019-12)

BBC SKY at Night 2019

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311 views102 pages

BBC Sky at Night (2019-12)

BBC SKY at Night 2019

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georgetacaprarescu
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BIG Showing PU naa ents Py odiccremest-1c laa Tare Benlom UCeled aman t-X-1alUal-m A-01Lale] tele bo Cai Pees) rab) at iF AC ete ne PICEA T sights aan i " Watch out for mam fhe Geminid ang fl ne | UES onl J seca pe neta Ly G YTV , Cee aT aT UTE T a a Vel sts rs Pra aaa a i CULE in the stars 5 pe ‘ , fear ee =e 0-1 | Sean Fae cr (URC Saleen ache ae ; 5 ate Pee’ JN bats 57 STOTT ay 7 ena SUR UU CL nL een ee a me) [Rua P71) Sie Ta hed reece amg el ea EAR co [ mer Lee ET a POs We ae ea lat ae landing mission ends Rept cas EOE eee me ee : Beare rene eo) ripen) Lae etien ne ee Corea) cere Porn Td Carer oe) eee renter Seen tert bene ter! Peters Your hobby is important You want eri cone et eee ere ey Senos Soraccrertt So gry ere seg 3 eee S es; (| oe a eae [cu rere Pec eat erent cs ener ee ee ert erence iy ihe) eee ics EAGLE2 [Telescope Control Hil systems. Ee Pema mee = 35%, ae pa 3 CN a % a (ley lo a Clay CoE ee cues ee eee un eau Soe tet et ta em eae eeu ney ieee ee ION ties Meru ee ed eee a a of our experts. We attend all major events on the UK's Astro calendar or see us monthly with London's Baker Street Irregular Astronomers! Considering a new purchase? Come and see us today. The Widescreen Centre ~..01353 776199 Showroom 10-6 Mon-Fri, 40-4 Saturdays", CLOSED Sundays & Bank Holidays. Showroom 2 Rosemary ane + Sutton nr. Ely * Cambridgeshire ci 2NZ www.widescreén- centre. co1uk *107990 646466 + Sr Oe -centre cK ee ee er = Welcome Join our tour of the 12 celestial MW sights of Christmas Christmas, that time of good news, provides just that for amateur ‘stronomers this year. With a new Moon on the 26th, the skies will be at ‘their darkest over the festive season and anyone who's lucky enough to ‘get some new observing kit under the tree has a great opportunity to try it out, What better way than with Director of the Vatican Observatory ‘and author of Turn Left at Orion, Brother Guy Consoimagno, whose tour of 12 of December's best sights begins on page 28. New Moon late in the month means that on the 13th/4th, peak night for the Geminid meteor shower, it willbe just past full. Its light will affect the number of meteors seen this year but, as it’s strong shower, its still worth watching out for Geminids in darker areas of the celestial sphere. The less famed Ursid meteor shower gives meteor watchers, ‘another chance to catch a shooting star, peaking in nice dark skies ‘on the 22nd/231d, during the Moon's thin woning crescent phase. See page 47 of the Sky Guide for more. ‘As well as shooting stars, December sees the arrival of o ‘Christmas ‘Star’ in the form of Venus, shining brightly in early evening skies cll month, There are eye-catching close encounters with Saturn and the thin crescent Moon detailed in the Sky Guide on page 43, and Director of the British Astronomical Association's Mercury and Venus section, Paul Abel, examines amateur observations of bright spots on the plonet’s night side on page 65, Well see more of Venus in the New Year ‘sit continues to be a feature of evening skies during winter and spring. Enjoy the issue and season's greetings! Chris Bramley, Editor PS Ournextiissue goes on sale 19 December. HOW TO CONTACT US EE Subscriptions, binders ond back issues 03330 162119" Me Fi Bam-Opm; Sat Sam—|pm ienceedtanan eee Editorial enquiries +44 (0)117 300 8754 30pm, +444 (0}117 300 8145 Print subscription enquiries 0 ireijanghobyabscpton.con tl subscription en bbcayanighdigtlBbysubscrptenscom Editorial enquires Subscription enquiries Oe ene: HUEPOST WAVEDXAE MEDIA (please wile in capitals) Overseas encuiis: PO Box 3320, 3 Queensbridge, Nothamplon NN4 78, UK Editorial enquiries BBC Sky a! Nighi Magazine, nmediolo Atedio Co Biol Ud, Eogla Hosa, Calon Avenue, Bl BSI 45 Become an Insider “The more we know about what you lite the better placed we are tobring you the best magazine possible. So wed tke to invite you tojoinour online eader pane! insiders. Just log on to www.immediateinsiders.com/ register to flout the short registration survey and wellbe in touch from time to time to ask for your opinions on the magazine and other relevant issues. Seung ea ASTRONOM Television Online SocialMedia Podcasts iPhone/iPad eNewsletter Findoutwhot The Vistourwebsite _—Allthe detolzof our ListontoourRacio Get eachmonth’s The besttorgetsto Shy atNightteom for competitions, _latestisnueon Twitter Astronomy podeaste issue on your observe each week, willbe exploringin_ostrophoto ‘one Facebook, Wwherethe magarine iPod oriPhone, delivered to your thiemonths episode ollie, observing pliswebsts and «teamandgquestsnowwithbonue inbox. Viet our conpoge ® Slides ond more newsupdates dscussastronews imagegollees website to signup, Find out more at: www.skyatnightmagazine.com December 2019 B2C Sky at Night Magazine Orion Starla: tir on the sky tin jazimuth tra 9 Join Brother Guy Consolmagno for a festive tour of the night sky Cutting edge over the fest Inside The Sky With the Moon and Mars in ht, we look at the big missions launching next year haethon: the unlikely Gemini Discover the enigmatic object thts behind December's big meteor shower, 54 Binocular 55 The Sky Guid Himoloye ck centuries, at Night Magazine December 2019 To get started, check 0. guides ond gl www.skyatnightmagazine.com/astronomy-for-beginners This month’s contributors Cultural astronomer Danielle explores the! heritage of astron« YM en the Arabiar See page 40 BAA director, Mercury & Venus Vatican Observatory director Science journalist ‘Shaoni enjoys the latest book by Maggie-Aderin ‘oc, aimed ot pre-teen chiken, See page 94 ityon Visit www.skyatnight magazine. com/bonus-content/83F4F8F/ to access this month’s selection of Bonus Content. The Sky at Night: Question Time ‘Watch an hour-long special in which The Sky at Night teamjoins quests fore QBA\n front of studio audience, Video interview: ESASolar Orbiter We speak to Prof Richord Horizon about the new ESA spocecraft that will orbit and image our host starlike never befor. Southern Download this month's all-sky chert, including « Quidetothe best targets Visible in southern skies ‘over the coming weeks. Astrophoto gallery, extra EQMOD files, binocular tour, observing forms, deep-sky tour chart, desktop wallpope's..and much more PLUS: Every month Pete Lawrence and Poul Abel discuss the top sights to coe this month. December 2019 ky at Night Magazine 5 3 3 EY tee ae MIEN Astronomy never stops; not even Cran tel HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE, 28 OCTOBER 2019 See acres Cee cael ee eee oe Re eee Pree eee hed Eee aoa eed Saas eee ee eee) eter ker cena eee ere eed ere ee Seren anes Ereeee e e ee ‘objects including afar part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, This image was ee ge eed for Surveys, taking separate exposures in eerie Rear ctr called the ESO 85-38 group. Zoom Ceo ee ee feel ereer eer ie eee Sore ees ‘of gafaxies gravitationally bound and Cee eas ete eur eee ee ir} Cer ena ‘the Universé. Our home Galaxy, the Miley ‘Way, belongs to the Local Group, which pipe enter Ur eee sets Small and Large Magellanie Clouds and ‘the Tiangulum Galaxy. Perens sree dinner cast your mind back nearly two Ce ee Re eae eee ced ee eee eras eetet er ee pee een La USL US AEN Paes Berar ST eeu Sateen Crete ee egos ere eae ned Sed eer Tee Interstellor dust and gos even further st V Lumpy death star Oe ang AND SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY, Dirac Se eee DoE Ree eee ey ere aed Sed eee peer ee ace ees ‘the lumps are the esul of an explosion with ee ee eed eee eee Peis ita tlt mach cere Cee ae ae Sco ROA LL RO caren a Perec Si een ee eee terra ent ee eee eet neem form. These bright dots ore two such discs, surrounding a pair of Se ee ee Cee a Pena eae tee eee AP tal ecole Sera ee aCe a eT ae GUNA eae erate Ce ae age eed Pee eer et eee eee ky eer eo) Pena ipe ein cued Bere ee eer eee creer ee eee a eas SS Ce Se ea oe YOU’RE GOING TO NEEDA BIGGER FRAME SI are prous to announce a new lange format camera, the GS-6162. This features the mighty KAF-16200 CCD sensor, produced specifically for astraphotography, ‘The larger case accommodates the 1BMP sensor and 2" filters, with the same high quality GSI electronics. Options include an aff axis guider and a choice of a S ar 8 position fier whee), for the complete astrophotography solution. Now available to order. Ifyou want quality, you want GSI Qs Www.QSIMAGING.coM The latest astronomy and space ne written by Elizabeth Pearson BULLETIN ene oat Catastrophic collision BETWEEN TWO EXOPLANETS The crash has dramatically changed the system in just a decade ‘The dramatie ofto:math of @ collision between two ‘exoplanets has been spotted in recent observations of BD +20 307,o double star system 300 lightyears away. ‘The planetary system first attracted curisity in 2005 when astronomers noticed signs of watrn dust ‘oround the stars, Usually hot ises ate found around ‘much younger stars, which are stil forming planets. But BD +20 207 isa mature one billion years old, Any lust should have long cooled off Instead it seamed the system has been replenished with hot debris in the wake of two planets coliding. Intriguingly recent meost & brightness ~ an indicator of how warm the dusts by the SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrated Astronomy) telescope show the discs brightness increased by 10 per cent over the last decade, suggesting the effects of these collisions {90 on long after the intial impact. ents oft infrored “The warm dust around 8D +20 307 gives us @ impse into what catastrophic impacts between rocky exoplanets mightbe lke” says Moggie “Thompson from the University of California, Santa CCruz, who led the study. "We want to know how this system evolves after the extreme impact. Its thought that a similar event occurtedin our ‘own Solar System, when a Mars-sized object slammed into the proto-Earth. As the resulting cloud of debris settled, it formed the Moon, “This is a rare opportunity to study catastrophic collisions occurring late ina planetary system's history says Alycia Weinberger from the Comegie Institution for Science in Washington, who also helped lead the project. “The SOFIA observations show changes in the dusty disc on a timescale of only a few years: www sofia.usta.edu December 2019 22: Comment by Chris Lintott The weirdest thing about BD #20307 isthotit's more than ailion years old, We see discs of dust, leftover from the star formation process, around young starsall the time, but the ‘material seen here cantthave survived from the time of the star's formation, That's why the reseorchers believe wore seeing debris fromacollsion between two planets, but any such event must have happened after ebillon years of quiet life. It's tue that our Solar Systemisearly years wore matked by chaotic collisions, but ound here these big changes happened early. BD #20 207 isa reminder that our stability might be tnillusion.As we study itmore, welllunderstand how common such events are, {and might look nervously at ‘ur neighbours! ky at Night Magazine 11 eer en Serer Beatin tents Ice world has ingredients of life Saturn's moon Enceladus could be our best shot at finding life beyond Earth ‘Anew kind of organic compound has boon found in plumes of water bursting from Saturn'siey moon, Encelodus, ‘according to the latest interpretation of data from the Cassini spacecraft. The plumes fist discovered in 2008, core believed to originate from hydrothermal vents on the floor of the ‘ocean that lies beneath the moon's ice crust, These allow gases tropped in the ‘moon's core to escape and interact with the 1ock ofthe ocean floor, creating new ‘molecules while mixing with the chemicals ‘lready there. As the gas tises, it carries thismaterialasit forces its way up through the cracks in the crust. “The gas bubbles come fiom the depths to the surface and when they burst, the material goes upwards —just like if you open the ld of «.cola bottie” says Nozair 42880 Skyat Night Mogazine December 2019 Khawaja from the Free University of Berlin, who led the research, These jets of water eject high above ‘the moon, feeding into the planet's outer E-ring, In 2077, the Cossini spacecraft was able to fy through one of these plumes, sompling the water with its ‘Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument, Khawajals team is now using these measurements to determine what molecules ore in the water. Last yeor, the team found some organic molecules within the plume water but these were large and insoluble, meaning they were unlikely to take part in biolagical ecctions. “This time we found soluble, «mal ‘organic molecules that carry oxygen ‘ond nitrogen, says Khawaja, “Such chemicals are precursors to amino acids, I cant say that we have found ife on Enceladus, but what wa have found has great implications.” ‘While the chemicals don't necessary cariginate from biological activity, similar chemicals around Earth's hydrothermal vents combine together +0 form omino acids, ‘On Enceladus, we certainly have the precursors of such biological molecules thot create amino acids in Earth's oceans {And they ate under similar conditions of ‘temperature and pressure. If they ore there ~andif they ore similar to what we have found in Earth's oceans - then there tre high chances that a future space mmission could find biological molecules there. I's giving hope for the future: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/ rmissions/eassini 4 The Hubble Space Teles cope's mage of 2/;Barizov shows the comet 420 milion km from Earth Hubble capt ures interste The comet already ha ‘The bestimage yet of interstellar comet 2V/Barisov was taken by the Hubble Space lescope on 12 October, showing this latest Visitor is acting much more lke @ comet t previous galactic interloper'Oumuamua, which passed by back in 207, ‘Oumuamue looked like a bare rock, but Borisov is relly active ~ more lil ‘comet says David Jewitt from the University of Califomia, LA. "It’s @ puzzle why these two are so tellar comet s of a. coma and tail different. There's so much dust on this thing well have to work hard to dig out the nucleus. Hubble captured the comet when it was still 420 milion km from Earth. Astronomers will study the comet throughoutits tip through our sm, including the closest copproach to the Sun on7 December hoping to gain insight into what the planetary system that created it was ike, www.spacetelescope.org Milky Way stole dwarf galaxies Astronomers have discovered thot several dwarf golax currently orbiting the Milky ‘Way were kidnapped from its smpanion galaxy, the Lav Magellanic Cloud (LMO) The team from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) made the scovety by studying the latest date from Gaia.0 space telescope acc ‘measuring the positions and velocity of var one billion rately stare. Using the motions of starsin the dwarf galaxies surrounding the Milky Way, ‘the team was able to create a ‘computer simulation showing —m several of the part cof the LMC. Two of thes ‘the bright dwarfs Carina and Fornax, while the remaining four were ultifaint galaxies with few stars ond made ‘of dork matter. so, many dwarfs came were along with the LMC only faint recently, that means the properties of th satelite population just one Seed pres poetry) billion yeors ago were radically different, impacting our of how the galaxies evolve understanding says Laure Sales from UCR, whe helped with the study wwwueredu Milky Woy December 2019 BEC Sky at NEWS IN BRIEF InSight feels the heat The heat probe on NASA InSight Martian lander hos popped out ofthe ground, The probe was supposed to hammer itself into the soil buthos struggled to find purchase. During Octobe, the InSight team used the landers robotic arm to’pin’ the probein place end ‘oppeated tobe making progress, only for the probe to backup halfway out agin, Nobel prize for astronomers The 2019 Nobel Prie for physics was awarded to three space scientists on 6 October = James Peebles, for hi theoretical workon cosmology relating cosmic background radiation tothe Big Bang: ond Michel Mayor ‘ond Didier Queer, forthelr discovery ofthe fst planet cround a Sur-tle stat Milky Way explosion ‘beam of energy exploded ut of the Milly Way 35 rlion years ogo, shooting @ cone of radiation out from its centre. This shows that the centre ofthe Milly Way ig ‘much moxe dynamic place thon previously thought. es lucky were not residing there!” says Lisa Kewiey from the ARC Centre of Excellence Find out more on page 17, ght Magazine 19 NEWS IN BRIEF NASA plans lunar rover NASA has announced anew lunar rover that wil help pave the way forits Artemis mmission. The Volatiles Investigating Polor Exploration Rover (VIPER) wil be the size of a golf cartand villlook for water at the Moon's southern pole using a ‘im-long dill. Its expected to londin December 2022 and spend at least 100 days on the lunar surface. Saturn's new moons “Twenty new moons have been discovered in obit ‘around Saturn, taking the total up to 82, "We are now ‘completing the inventory of ‘small moons around the siant planets” says Scott ‘Sheppard from the Camegia Institution for Science. "They play a crucial role in helping Us determine how our Solat ‘System's planets evolved: Dark energy investigator ‘An instrument capable of looking at 000 galaxies ‘every 20 minutes began ‘operation on 27 October. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESD willlook at ‘over 30 millon galoxies to mesure how fast they are moving away, creating o map of how the Universe is ‘expanding tehelp researchers investigate dork energy. BULLETIN Do crashing stars create magnetars? New technology reveals how magnetic stars are formed simulations to be refined enough to test the theory. The ‘team digitally recreated the birth of Tau Scorpi a highly magnetized stor known to have been created by two oth ‘combining together. These simulations showed that the turbulence during this merger formed a strong magnetic field which was then trepped within the resulting stor. ‘Magnetars are thought to have the strongest magnetic Pecan if fields in the Universe - up to ‘one hundred millon times star Tau Scorpil stronger than the strongest ~ ‘magnaticfild ever produced Enormously magnetie stars, Astronomers have long by humans, says Freidtich known as magnetars.appear thought stelarmergerscould _REpke fiom the Heidelberg tobe created by two stars be responsible for creating Institute for Theoretical Studies, crashing together, according to magnetars, buthovehad te whehhelped with the research. ‘novel computer simulation. wait untilnow for computer httpsi//www.h-its.org/ First all-woman spacewalk a success ‘The firet all-female spacewalk took place on 18 October NASA estronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir spent seven hours and 17 minutes outside the {SS replacing @ foulty battery unit. ‘Inclusion of diversity in any ‘group is really how you gat thejob done” Meir sold after the spacewalk "ifyou have different ways of looking at things... that is going to lead to higher mission success: Koch was meant to make @ similar histori spacewalk back in March this year, until fellow ‘astronaut Anne McClain realised she needed a recently unveiled designs for a new spacesult Peer) ern different sized spacesuit to the one prepared, _which has been designed to give astronauts of ‘and rescheduled the rata. all shapes, sizes and genders mobility on the The historic event comes as NASA is planning surface of the Moon, while protecting thom Its Artemis mission, which cims‘to place the _ fom the harsh lunar environment, first woman on the Moon by 2024. The agene www.nasa.gov 14 BBC Sky at Night Magazine December 2019 VEabCrEas 1 thé night sky! ‘With Omegon wide-field binoculars, you can take your stargazing to the next level. See entire constellations and star fields, with brighter, clearer and more numerous stars, than with the naked ‘eye. As if you had superhero vision! 24x magnific: ion W Large field of view With a magnification of 2.1, you see See entire constellations, with a massive objects at twice the size and more light 20° field of view. Explore the Milky Way, From the cosmes. ‘deep-sky objects and bright comets, ‘See more stars than ever before A fantastic sight As comfortable asa pair of glasses, Filter threads unlack possibilities: Use your you can explore the cosmos, Under a binoculars with zine ters from your astronomy dark, or even ightpalluted sky, you can {anamazing and crystal clear experience! P tealkte recognize stars 1.5-2 mag fainter. ‘even with glasses! sinoculars 2.1942 ArtsteNe, | Poeein€ Customers say: ‘handy binoculars _WstxDio mm 4126446, wight 3759 50354 449,00 with greater field ht sky with these is quite at agnify objects in the right sk ae} co.uk eae ACP Aee actly 3g i Our experts exa CUTT rane ein It was a dark and stormy planet Exoplanets could need both clear and storm-laden skies to host life ne of my great pleasures is huddling up safe inside, while an awesome lightning display teors the heavens ‘part with booms of thunder. Earth isnot unique in generating such clectiical storms ints atmosphere Lightning has been observed in the cloud decks of ‘both Jupiter and Saturn. inferred on Uranus and Neptune, and is also debated to be present on Venus. Lightning occurs if colisions between cloud particles create enough ofan electrical potential cifferenes! thatt overcomes the insulating properties Cf the air llowing a discharge to spark, On Earthit’s ‘not only the turbulent convection within storm clouds that can generate thenecessary potential differences, but also the rising ash plumes of volcanic eruptions But the sparks of lightning are only one aspect of Earths dynamic atmosphere building up steep differences in electrical charge. n fact. the entire planet Earth behaves lke giant electric circu. mown as the global atmospheric electrical circuit 16 BBC Sky at Nighi Magacine December 2019 mine the hottest new research ING EDGE (GEO. Lightning shoots electrons towards the ground, ‘ond so thunderstorms generate an electric potential difference - the planet surface becomes negative ‘and the ionosphere (the high upper atmosphere) becomes positive. Just like across the two terminals, cof abattery this voltage drives an electrical curent of chotged particles between the ionasphere and the surface, Crucially «fair weather eurtent is needed to ‘complete this circuit between the Earth's negatively cchorged surface and positive ionosphere. The GEC needs lighting storms and regions of clear skies. Storm chasing THisGEChas on eect on weather pattems ond atmospheric physics Lighting can dive loo ey sguichraratiy on Bath for expe es toon into form access byte. So what conditions might extesclar planets needin order to so suppor sucha GEC crimpewtont conseratonif wena tndertard exsplatet ctmecepvea? CristoneHeling ot the Univesity of St Ancews hos been eserching this question Many exoplonets cra precited tee yet thar tmesphores cool enough to condense eee Beis Seta Lightning has > coud particles, which also presents been observed in the‘ Pe=sbiityofightring storms. cloud decks of both “everyones cpt Jupiter and Saturn, bit theirhost star s0 closely that inferred on Uranus and "2" Guface meken magma Neptune, andmay be icimmeic present on Venus —\ngeneral,Heling concludes that gos giants, or the super-Earths that cre completely overcast, may not be able ‘to support a fair weather curent and so would have no GEC lke Earth's. Other exoplanets, where one ide ie permanently facing their stor, would be so hot fon their daylight side that nothing can condense as @ liquid, and clouds are only possible on the night side. Buta foir-weather current might persist on this day ide, vith lightning in the cloudy night side and so planets with this hemisphere-by-hemisphere separation may develop a GEC on a scale far larger than Earths ‘Characterising these processes is important for our understanding of the atmospheric dynamics on ‘exoplanets, ond which worlds might experience truly epic thunderstorms. “aS Peterson at the University of Westminster Lewis Dartnell wos reading... Lightning in other planets by Chvistiane Heling, Read online at https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.12722 Qurblackhole’s = BN recent eruption ; i

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