Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i BBC Sky at Night

If, like me, you've been eagerly watching Mars improve in appearance over the past few months, you'll be excited that December is here. It really is the month of Mars: not only is the Red Planet at its closest to Earth and at opposition this month - putting it at its brightest and largest for observing - but on the same date as opposition it will also briefly vanish behind the Moon. This event, a lunar occultation, is rare, so set your alarms early! For all the details, turn to the Sky Guide on page 46. You'll also find a guide to photographing this exciting meeting of Mars and the Moon on page 76. But Mars is well-placed in the night sky all month and well into 2023, so read…

Everyone loves black holes, especially when they’re doing classic black hole things like ripping stars apart and consuming them whole. The authors of this month’s paper, led by Fulya Kiroglu from Northwestern University just outside Chicago, use powerful simulations to look at what happens when a Sun-like star, minding its own business, encounters a black hole which outweighs it by a factor of between a hundred and a thousand. I should say at the start that it’s not very clear that black holes of this intermediate size actually exist. We know smaller ones do, formed in supernovae at the end of a massive star’s lifetime, and gravitational wave experiments have detected mergers of black holes that add up to about 100 solar masses. We also know that supermassive examples, weighing…

First Contact: An Alien Encounter There’s no episode of The Sky at Night in December, but instead you can catch up with this ‘21st-century War of the Worlds’, which is available to watch on the BBC iPlayer. First Contact is a featurelength drama documentary imagining what might happen if humanity detected evidence of an extraterrestrial civilisation. Based on interviews with SETI expert Jill Tarter, the drama attempts to answer one of the greatest questions facing humanity: what happens if we find out we are not alone? www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ctnr…

Our equipment specialist cures your optical ailments and technical maladies with Steve Richards Email your queries to scopedoctor@skyatnightmagazine.com I have a pair of Celestron SkyMaster 20×80 binoculars with a Horizon Heavy Duty Tripod, but I find the screw in the tripod’s mounting plate is too short to hold the binoculars. Am I doing something wrong? ROGER ROOKES This is a rather puzzling problem as there is no reason why this combination shouldn’t work correctly. The binoculars have an adjustable, but not removable, tripod adaptor attached to a cylindrical bar running from the front to the back. This adaptor is tightened onto the bar using a thumb bolt at the top and projects downwards, exiting from underneath the binoculars where you will find a 1/4–20 threaded hole. The captive bolt in…

Annual Royal Observatory Christmas Lecture Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London, 9 December, 7pm This year’s Christmas lecture at the Royal Observatory Greenwich comes from Professor Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College, London, who will be speaking about Mars and the rover missions currently exploring it. The professor is well-placed to discuss this subject, being a planetary scientist researching environmental change on both the Red Planet and our own blue and green one, and also a co-investigator on the camera teams for the ExoMars, Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers. Booking essential. Tickets £10 for adults, £5 for children and £9 for students. www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on…

Imaging Mars can be as addictive as observing it. There are striking details to be resolved and, as December kicks off, we’re looking forward to widefield planetary imaging opportunities. Look for a night with good seeing when the air is stable. You won’t need the kind of long exposures that nebulae require, so patchy clouds shouldn’t put you off. Because of the planet’s position relative to Orion and Taurus this month, it will form a beautiful orangey-red triangle with Aldebaran and Betelgeuse. Why not head out with your DSLR, wide-angle lens and a sturdy tripod to image this stunning arrangement? Set your exposure time to the longest you can achieve without startrailing - for an approximate maximum exposure time divide 500 by the focal length of your lens or telescope.…

A very rare lunar occultation of Mars occurs in the early hours of 8 December. Disappearance of the planet is around 04:57 UT, so careful planning and an early night before will be required. Aim to rise around 03:00 UT. The Moon will be full and obvious, as Mars should be too, appearing to the left of it. The event can be enjoyed with the naked eye, binoculars or through a telescope if you have one to hand. Reappearance of Mars occurs around 05:57 UT. Make a friendly game out of its reappearance by seeing who can spot Mars first! bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/stargazing…

BEST TIME TO SEE: Night of 22/23 December The full Moon on 8 December means that there will still be a bright lunar presence in the sky five days later when the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak on the night of 13/14 December. Unfortunately that 70%-lit waning gibbous Moon will have a detrimental effect on the number of Geminid meteors that can be seen. However, there is another shower that peaks in December which, while it may not have the pazazz of the Geminids in terms of peak hourly rate, is still a worthy event to observe. The Ursid shower has its radiant position close to the star Kochab (Beta (g=b) Ursae Minoris). Although not optimal, this isn’t too bad. The shower has a typical peak rate of 10…

When to use this chart 1 December at 00:00 UT 15 December at 23:00 UT 31 December at 22:00 UT On other dates, stars will be in slightly different positions because of Earth's orbital motion. Stars that cross the sky will set in the west four minutes earlier each night. How to use this chart 1. Hold the chart so the direction you're facing is at the bottom. 2. The lower half of the chart shows the sky ahead of you. 3. The centre of the chart is the point directly over your head. Sunrise/sunset in December* Moonrise in December* *Times correct for the centre of the UK Lunar phases in December MORE ONLINE Paul and Pete's night-sky highlights Southern Hemisphere sky guide…

1 NGC 821 Our starting object is mag. +11.3 NGC 821, an elliptical galaxy in the extreme southwest corner of Aries, 12.5° south of mag. +2.0 Hamal (Alpha (α) Arietis). A mag. +9.2 foreground star lies a fraction to the west-northwest of the galaxy’s centre. Even in a 250mm scope, NGC 821 is little more than a smudge, 1.4x0.6 arcminutes across and elongated from southwest-northeast. A 300mm scope doesn’t pull a great deal more from this galaxy. Start off with medium magnification to reveal that the galaxy seems to concentrate towards a star-like nucleus. This is particularly evident at higher magnifications, but increased power won’t do the outer halo any favours. □ SEEN IT 2 NGC 772 We head north towards the three stars that form the most recognisable part…

Launch date: 7 December 1972 Launch location: Launch Complex 39A Landing location: Taurus-Littrow Time on surface: 74 hours, 59 minutes, 39 seconds Distance covered by lunar rover: 35.7km Duration: 12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes, 59 seconds Return date: 19 December 1972 Main goals: Collect highland material; investigate past volcanic activity Achievements: First mission launched at night, first professional geologist on the Moon, furthest travelled from lunar module, most distance covered overall, most lunar material collected, proof of volcanism found, taking the Blue Marble photo Lunar module name: Challenger Command module name: America…

Jack Schmitt collects samples during the final Apollo mission, specimens that would go on to expand our knowledge of both the Moon and Earth When we first landed on the Moon in 1969, fulfilling President Kennedy’s 1962 declaration to put humans there by the end of the decade, I was in high school and over the next several years I followed each missior closely. Although I was already sure I wanted to be involved in space before the Apollo missions, so many of my fellow students were also inspired in that era to get involved in the aerospace industry in some way. This year is the 50th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 17 and although it seems so very long ago, the legacy of Apollo has made a significant…

Asetofbattery-operatedLED fairy lights. Ours was a string of 50 lights. Anartcanvasdeepenough to accommodate the lights' battery pack. Ours measured 30.4cm x 40.6cm x 3.6cm (12 x 16 x 1.5 inches). Blackacrylicpaintplus colours for any nebulae. A white acrylic pen. Anawlhot-gluegun and tape to fix the fairy lights to the canvas. Asheetofblackcard about lcm smaller than the canvas to cover the back and the fairy light wires. Ours was A3 size. Velcroastaplegun and a piece of string.…

STEP 1 Basic kit such as a smartphone can be used to photograph the occultation. Practice on a clear night before 8 December to see whether you can record the orange dot of Mars. An inexpensive phone holder tripod mount is recommended for best results. Point your camera at Mars to see whether it can automatically adjust settings for a night shot. STEP 2 If you manage to successfully capture Mars, find the image info data (normally provided while viewing the shot) and note the settings. Work out how to set your camera's phone into manual mode to replicate the settings. A correct exposure for the Moon will record Mars as rather dim so you may need to slightly overexpose it. In manual mode, ensure focus is set to infinity.…

VITAL STATS Compact enough to be portable, but with enough light grasp to observe a wide range of objects, 130mm-aperture Newtonian reflectors hit the sweet spot for stargazing. Fitting nicely into this very popular spot is the Sky-Watcher Explorer 130P AZ GO-2, especially with its Wi-Fi-enabled altazimuth mount, giving it the power to seek out numerous objects using your smartphone as a controller. The telescope’s metallic black gloss finish with green highlights contrasts nicely with the mount’s white powder coating, sitting on a stainless steel tripod, inviting you to turn it on and observe; we were keen to accept the invitation. Assembly of the various components was straightforward and well-explained in the printed manual, with the optical tube attaching to the…

Phænomena Giles Sparrow Thames & Hudson £50 • HB Johann Doppelmayr’s original Atlas Coelestis was first published in 1742, bringing together (as the introduction to this new volume explains) astronomical theories and areas of interest important to the European Enlightenment. Phænomena, Giles Sparrow’s wonderful tribute to Doppelmayr’s important work, is stunning, enormous and filled with the most amazing illustrations. The book is broken down into 30 sections - one for each plate of Doppelmayr’s original atlas - each giving a brief history of the ideas presented therein. Often these contain explanations of Doppelmayr’s astronomy and are full of terms included in a glossary at the back of the book. To take one as an example, plate 27 shows the paths of various comets superimposed onto a map of the Northern…

Stuart Atkinson Seasoned observer "Planets, nebulae, galaxies, stars: there’s going to be so much to see in the night sky this December, we’re in for a treat”. Turn to page 28, where Stuart reveals his top 25 night-sky sights for the run-up to Christmas Charlotte Daniels Astronomy journalist "Mars is easy to spot and beautiful to view in the right conditions, so getting the chance to see it at its best is always a highlight!" Charlotte tells us how to get the maximum out of Mars season on page 35 Ezzy Pearson Features editor "It’s been fascinating covering the Apollo programme, and none more so than the final mission. The sciencepacked expedition is still revolutionising planetary science 50 years later." Travel back to Apollo 17 with Ezzy on page 62…

Astronaut James McDivitt, who commanded both the Gemini IV and Apollo 9 space missions, died on 13 October. Born on 10 June 1929 in Chicago, McDivitt joined the US Air Force at the age of 21. He flew over 5,000 flight hours on 145 combat missions during the Korean War and was later an experimental test pilot, eventually earning the rank of brigadier general. McDivitt joined NASA in 1962 as part of the agency’s second astronaut class. His first space mission, Gemini IV, was double the length of any previous NASA mission and included the first-ever US spacewalk, by his fellow astronaut Ed White. McDivitt’s second flight, Apollo 9, was the first carried out with the Apollo lunar module. He and his crew performed several manoeuvres with the module in…

Email us at inbox@skyatnightmagazine.com MESSAGE OF THE MONTH This month's top prize: two Philip's titles The ‘Message of the Month’ writer will receive a bundle of two top titles courtesy of astronomy publisher Philip’s: Nigel Henbest’s Stargazing 2023 and Robin Scagell’s Guide to the Northern Constellations Winner’s details will be passed on to Octopus Publishing to fulfil the prize Solar showcase I captured the images above today during the partial solar eclipse using my Google Pixel 4 smartphone and Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope with solar filter attached! Debbie Townsend, Doncaster What a great record of the event, Debbie! Your montage of the whole passage of the eclipse is a really effective way to present the afocal images you captured on the day. – Ed. The glare essentials For the partial…

Bristol Astronomical Society celebrates its 80th anniversary on 8 December. The UK was in the midst of the Second World War 80 years ago, with heavy bombing and air raids a common occurrence. But with the city lights out, the wonders of the night sky became more visible. In winter 1942 an advert in the Bristol Evening Post invited those with an interest in astronomy to join a meeting on 8 December. Little is known about the group in the early years, but enthusiasm clearly grew. In the 1970s the society built an observatory southwest of the city in Failand. An 18-inch telescope was donated by Cyril Swindin CBE and the observatory was officially opened by Sir Patrick Moore in 1972. The society is much changed. Our telescope is now…

At the start of December, Mars is in the constellation of Taurus. Look to the east and then the south throughout the evening and it will be hard to miss. Mars can be enjoyed through almost any telescope; even a short, small-aperture refractor reveals details on the red disc. Adding a Barlow lens will increase the focal length and magnify the image, allowing you to pick up further details, including dark and light patches (known as albedo features). But the ability to magnify is limited by seeing conditions: the greater the magnification, the more disruptive atmospheric turbulence is. A (very) general rule of thumb for magnification is 20x to 30x per inch of aperture, although in reality it is very much down to the weather on the night. A good-quality,…

Universal Time (UT) and British Summer Time (BST) Universal Time (UT) is the standard time used by astronomers around the world. British Summer Time (BST) is one hour ahead of UT RA (Right ascension) and dec. (declination) These coordinates are the night sky’s equivalent of longitude and latitude, describing where an object is on the celestial ‘globe’ Family friendly Objects marked with this icon are perfect for showing to children Naked eye Allow 20 minutes for your eyes to become dark-adapted Photo opp Use a CCD, planetary camera or standard DSLR Binoculars 10x50 recommended Small/ medium scope Reflector/SCT under 6 inches, refractor under 4 inches Large scope Reflector/SCT over 6 inches, refractor over 4 inches GETTING STARTED IN ASTRONOMY If you’re new to astronomy, you’ll find two essential reads on…

Commander: Eugene ‘Gene' Cernan Born on 14 March 1934, Cernan served as a fighter pilot in the Navy. He flew on Gemini 9 and had previously visited the Moon with Apollo 10 before being made commander of Apollo 17. He left NASA in 1976 to work in private business, but continued to commentate on space exploration. He died on 16 January 2017, aged 82. Lunar module pilot: Harrison ‘Jack' Schmitt The only Apollo astronaut never to have served in the US military, Schmitt was born on 3 July 1935. Shortly after achieving his PhD in geology from Harvard University in 1965, he joined NASA and helped to train many other moonwalkers in geology field work. After Apollo 17, he took up politics, serving as a US senator. Command module pilot:…

Winter is the best time of year for newcomers to astronomy. It gets darker earlier, the atmosphere is clearer and some of the best constellations are visible in the night sky. Within these constellations you can see deep-sky objects such as galaxies, star clusters and nebulae. Orion is one such constellation. It’s a great starting point for beginners because it is instantly recognisable in the winter sky and contains wonderful stars and deep-sky objects that demand closer inspection. Here we’ll explore some of Orion’s astronomical treasures and how you can view them. Orion's Belt Orion is easy to spot because of the three stars in an almost straight line that run through its middle. These are (left to right) Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, and they form Orion’s Belt, an asterism…

Why is Doppelmayr such a big figure? He isn’t a name in the same league as Copernicus or Kepler, probably because he doesn’t have a particular ‘discovery’ to his credit. But he should be better-known for his promotion of the idea of a Sun- centred Solar System and vast cosmos beyond. His Atlas helped cement this by showing how accurate it was for predicting the motions of stars and planets. It’s also a fascinating summary of all the competing theories of the day. How accurate was his work? The Atlas’s star maps and depictions of the planets drew on the best observations at that time: they’re a time capsule of the ‘state of the art’ in the early 18th century. But the theory he promoted still stands up. Isn't it…

Visit www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content/PF5NNHB to access this month’s selection of exclusive Bonus Content DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS Interview: Apollo 17, behind the scenes Dermot Gethings attended the launch of the last mission to the Moon. He reveals his first-hand view of the event. Watch The Sky at Night: Question Time in this episode of The Sky at Night, filmed in front of a live audience, the team and guests tackle your queries about the cosmos. Observing forms and deep-sky tours Download extra materials including observing forms, deep-sky tours and astronomy software that will guide your mount. The Virtual Planetarium Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel guide us through the best sights to see in the night sky this month.…

Possible November Artemis I launch Will it be third time lucky for Artemis I? NASA has repaired the issues preventing the previous two launch attempts, as well as damage from Hurricane Ian. The rocket will return to the launch pad on 4 November, with a first launch attempt due on 14 November at 04:07 GMT. A tight-knit pair A ‘cataclysmic variable’ binary pair of stars has been discovered orbiting each other once every 51 minutes – the shortest timing known to date. The pair, located in Hercules, will get even closer together over the next 70 million years, eventually reaching an orbit time of just 18 minutes before drifting away from each other. Red alert for supergiants Red supergiants could blink out a warning alert before they go supernova, as…

When the December 1976 episode of The Sky at Night was broadcast, Venus was shining brilliantly in the evening sky. Our understanding of the cloud-covered planet had changed dramatically by the middle of the 20th century and so Patrick Moore took this episode as an opportunity to have a closer look at Venus. In 1956, radio measurements of the Venusian atmosphere suggested the planet’s temperature could be several hundred degrees higher than previously thought – and indeed the surface was later found to be 475°C, with a pressure a crushing 92 times that of Earth. The first real examination of the planet came from the Soviet Venera programme, 16 missions that explored the planet from 1961 to 1984. Some of these were orbital, their fly-by spacecraft using radar to pierce…

WE ASKED: Why do we always see the same side of the Moon? Steve Green Is this a trick question? The moon is a sphere, so it doesn’t have a side! Ed Jonze I thought it was in synchronous rotation with Earth but no - it’s apparently some white-tac that got stuck on the camera lens. Gilles Blanchette The Moon rotates one turn in the same number of days that it takes to make one revolution around the Earth. That’s why we always see the same side of the Moon. Philip Horn-Botha Coz the Moon is shy? The other side is full of junk? Pete Madge The Moon’s rotational period is almost the same as its orbital period around its parent body, with some libration. Mark Pearsons The 19 largest…

A History of Women in Astronomy University of Wolverhampton, 5 December, 7:30pm Join Mary McIntyre FRAS and the Wolverhampton Astronomical Society for a talk celebrating the myriad contributions made by women to the science of astronomy. www.wolvas.org.uk/event The Goodwill Moon Rock National Space Centre, Leicester, 7 December, 6:15pm and 8:15pm A talk by Dermot Gethings, who as a student ambassador in 1972 was sent to cover the launch of Apollo 17 and became the custodian of the Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock. Tickets £8. spacecentre.co.uk/whats-on Stargazing with Astro Dog Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire, 8–23 December, 6:30pm A laser-guided tour of the night sky in the North York Moors Dark Sky Reserve, with binoculars and telescopes available for viewing star clusters and nebulae. £20. astro-dog.co.uk/collections/stargazing-events Apollo 17's 50th anniversary World Museum,…

As the countdown to Christmas begins, we bring you glad tidings: if you have 'buy advent calendar!' on your shopping list, you can scribble it out, because this year we’ve produced a special astronomical advent calendar just for sky-watchers. There are no little cardboard doors to prise open and no strange-tasting chocolate snowmen to eat. Our calendar is the winter night sky and we're giving you 25 different, glorious sights to find in the run-up to Christmas. So cross your fingers for good weather, because after you've dumped your shopping bags, and grabbed a cuppa and a mince pie, you can wrap up warm and head outside to enjoy a winter wonderland of bright planets, beautiful constellations and sparkling star clusters. Many of our targets are visible with the naked…

Thursday 1 The planet Mars is closest to Earth today, presenting its largest apparent disc size of 17.2 arcseconds. This evening's 54%-lit waxing gibbous Moon sits 3.8° west-southwest of mag. -2.4 Jupiter. Sunday 4 As midnight approaches tonight and into the morning of 5 December, our Moonwatch target, the 85km-diameter crater Mersenius will be revealed. See page 52 for more details. Monday 5 The Moon occults Uranus between 16:50 UT and 17:21 UT. Times correct for the centre of the UK and will vary slightly depending upon your location. See page 47 for more details. Thursday 8 The planet Mars is occulted by the full Moon. Disappearance occurs at 04:57 UT, with reappearance at 05:57 UT See page 46 for more. Mars reaches opposition at 05:36 UT. Wednesday 14 The annual Geminid meteor shower reaches…

7 Dec 02:53 Launch held at T-30 seconds due to a pressurisation issue with an oxygen tank 7 Dec 05:33 Mission launches 7 Dec 08:51 Translunar injection propels Apollo 17 towards the Moon 10 Dec 19:53 Crew arrive in lunar orbit 11 Dec 17:20 Lunar module separates from command module and descends towards surface 11 Dec 19:54 Lunar module touches down on lunar surface 11 Dec 23:54 EVA 1 begins, lasting 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds 12 Dec 23:28 EVA 2 begins, lasting 7 hours, 36 minutes and 56 seconds 13 Dec 22:25 EVA 3 begins, lasting 7 hours, 15 minutes, 8 seconds 14 Dec 22:54 Lunar module relaunches 15 Dec 01:10 Lunar module redocks with command module, reuniting the crew 16 Dec 23:35 Trans-Earth injection propels spacecraft towards…

FAMILY FRIENDLY PROJECT One of the first steps for any new astronomer is to learn to recognise star patterns. These light-up displays are a simpleto-make astronomy-themed Christmas decoration that will help you to become more familiar with your favourite constellations. They also look so stylish that you’ll want to keep them up all year. They would even make a great nightlight in a child’s bedroom. The materials you need are readily available at budget craft stores or online. We chose batteryoperated lights to avoid untidy trailing cables. Our lights had a remote control, but the design allows easy access to the battery pack so they can be turned on and off from there. It works better if your lights have small protruding bulbs because it is easier to poke them…

More ONLINE A gallery containing these and more of your images The Pelican Nebula ▽ Vikas Chander, remotely via Insight Observatory, New Mexico, USA, 4-8 May 2022 Vikas says: “This is a popular target among astro imagers, so I wanted to do it differently. I added more Ha but also more blue, as the target seemed lacking in that filter. I wanted to keep the reds more 'bubble gum' than bright red, and I think I succeeded. 57 Cygni causes a bright halo and that was a challenge to tame. Since the filters could not be changed, I had to fight the halos in post-processing." Equipment: FLI Proline 16803 CCD camera, Dreamscope 16-inch f/3.7 astrograph reflector, Paramount ME mount Exposure: Ha 28× 600", L 10× 600", R 12× 600", G…

When to use this chart 1 Dec at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) 15 Dec at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 31 Dec at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is different at other times as the stars crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. DECEMBER HIGHLIGHTS Mars is fascinating, being the only planet we can see surface features on. Dark and light regions betray the presence of mountains, valleys and plains. The best time to see it is at opposition. This happens on 8 December, when the planet reaches 17.1 arcseconds in diameter. Because Mars’s day is 40 minutes longer than Earth’s, if you observe at the same time each night, in five weeks you’ll…