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There will be NO observing tonight (26/11).

There will be NO observing tonight (25/11).

Neptune is at opposition on the 10th September and is also close to phi Aqurius as shown below.

Clear skies.

In the pre dawn morning of August 24th three bright stars in the constellation of Taurus will be occulted by the Moon.

The first is delta 1 Tau which will disappear behind the bright limb of the Moon at 3:42 BST. The graphic below shows the moment just before the star disappears (pointed to by the red arrow).

Before delta 1 Tau emerges from the dark lunar limb at 4:50 BST, Delta 2 Tau will disappear behind the Moons bright south eastern limb at 4:23 BST. It will reappear from the dark limb at 5:08 BST, but before then Delta 1 Tau (also called Hyadum II) will have emerged from behind the Moon’s dark limb.

And not long after that, Delta 3 Tau will be occulted by the Moon’s bright limb at 5:21BST.

Clear skies.

On Saturday morning (10th August), Mercury will be at its greatest angular distance from the Sun during this apparition. It gets 19 degrees from the Sun, making it a bit easier to spot. Look for Mercury just before Sunrise as shown in the image below.

The picture above is for 5:24BST Saturday morning, the 10th August. As you can see it doesn’t get very far above the horizon, only about 10 degrees.

Clear skies.

On Tuesday evening (16th July 2019) a partial lunar eclipse will be in progress as the Moon rises. You will need a clear horizon to see it at Moonrise (21:13BST) but the Earth’s shadow will still partly obscure the Moon until just before midnight.

Clear skies.

Tomorrow night (9/7/2019) Saturn will be opposite the Sun in the evening sky. It will rise at sunset and set at sunrise, which given the short nights does not give you a lot of time to observe it. At its highest, the planet will only get to about 16 degrees above the horizon. Unfortunately this means the views won’t be great, but at least the rings will be open. See how many of its moons you can spot.

Also visible are the Moon and Jupiter, just a few degrees apart. This will make it easy to tell Saturn from Jupiter as Saturn will be the bright object on its own.

Trailing about 5 degrees behind Saturn is tiny Pluto. This will be much harder to spot and you will need a large scope to see the dwarf planet. You should plot it’s position over several nights to be sure it is Pluto you’ve seen and not a faint star.

Clear skies.

Tonight (23rd June 2019), just after sunset, Mercury will be at it’s greatest apparent separation from the Sun.

The picture above shows the view to the WNW, at 9:45BST this evening from Swindon. Mercury is only ~10 degrees high so you’ll need a clear horizon. Mars (the red dot to the right of Mercury in the picture above) can also be seen about 2.5 degrees west of Mercury.

Clear skies.

Tonight (10th June 2019), Jupiter is at opposition (i.e. it is on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun). This means it will be visible all night, weather permitting. It will be crossing the meridian at 1AM (BST), but alas it does not get very high at just under 16 degrees above the horizon.

Clear skies

Clear skies.