Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i BBC Sky at Night

The Northern Lights have lit up our skies already this year, with bright displays visible in Scotland, northern England and, during one particularly energetic display, as far south as Norfolk. But why do we see more aurora activity in the winter and spring months? On page 28, scientist Maria-Theresia Walach reveals all, explaining why displays are often most energetic in March (spoiler alert: it's not just because the nights are longer!) and how these enchanting light shows are the spectacular sign of our planet's connection with its star 150 million kilometres away. Also in this issue, we mark what would have been Sir Patrick Moore's 100th birthday. On page 60, we look at what made him Britain's best-loved amateur astronomer, while on page 18 Chris Lintott shares personal memories of…

Visit www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content/UTDXPBX to access this month's selection of exclusive Bonus Content MARCH HIGHLIGHTS Interview: When white dwarfs collide Astronomer Robert Fesen reveals how he observed an 850-year-old stellar collision, and looks at its implications. View our online astrophoto gallery See this month's selection of photos captured by Sky at Night Magazine readers and humanity's most powerful telescopes. Access extra observing materials Download and print out forms to sketch and record your planetary observations throughout the year ahead. The Virtual Planetarium Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel guide us through the best sights to see in the night sky this month.…

Chinese rover fails to wake China's Zhurong Mars rover was supposed to wake up from its winter hibernation at the end of 2022 but has failed to make contact with Earth. The problem is likely to be dust on the solar panels preventing them from charging, though it is possible the rover could reestablish contact as the planet continues to warm up. Early opening for barred galaxies Barred spiral galaxies like our own Galaxy - where the central regions are stretched out into bars - existed when the Universe wasjust three billion years old, according to JWST observations. The bars feed gas into the centre of galaxies, so tracking them through cosmic history is vital to understanding how galaxies grow. Planet spirals to its doom A planet spiralling towards its…

Patrick Moore 100 Back on the 4 April 1979 episode of The Sky at Night, Patrick took the time to look not at the stars but the seemingly empty space between them. While this might look like an empty void, it is actually filled with a cocktail of gases. Early astronomers believed space was filled with ‘aether’, a hypothetical substance they thought light travelled through. It wasn't until 1904 that the first signs of gas were detected by Johannes Hartmann while he was observing the binary star Delta Orionis. Hartmann noticed that while most of the spectra! lines created by elements within the star broadened and shifted as the stars rapidly orbited each other, the calcium lines remained steady. He concluded that calcium wasn't within the star's atmosphere, but in…

Email your queries to scopedoctor@skyatnightmagazine.com Is there a way to attach large astronomical binoculars, such as those made by APM, to an equatorial mount? ALAN HOLT Large binoculars like those manufactured by APM can physically be attached to an equatorial mount by first attaching a dovetail bar to the binocular's tripod adaptor using a ¼-20 bolt from the underside of the bar, and then attaching the bar to the dovetail clamp on the equatorial mount. However, this would absolutely not be recommended. An equatorial mount moves in an arc as it tracks objects across the sky, so the binoculars would spend most of their time at an awkward angle and at varying heights from the ground. The eyepieces would be positioned anywhere from vertically above one another to horizontal, depending…

The ashen light refers to the pale glow seen on the night side of Venus by visual observers, and is said to look similar to earthshine on the Moon. The phenomenon is somewhat controversial as it has never been imaged. However, a number of reliable observers, including Patrick Moore, have seen it repeatedly on a number of occasions. Recent observations made by NASA's Parker Solar Probe might add validity to the observations. In July 2020 and February 2022, Parker saw surface details on the night side of Venus in infrared wavelengths that could also be seen visually. Venus's surface glows in the infrared and if the clouds over the night side are thin for some reason, then sightings of the hot, faintly glowing surface might be the cause of the…

The Beehive Cluster, M44, is a superb and easy target for youngsters to hunt down. Start at the Plough, on the side nearest the handle. Extend a line down towards the horizon for a distance twice the length of the Plough to find the bright star Regulus. Next, find Orion. Extend a line from Orion's lower-right star (Rigel) through its upper-right star (Betelgeuse) for twice that distance again to find Castor (upper) and Pollux (lower). Using binoculars, you'll find M44 slightly below the mid-point of the line ioining Castor to Regulus. www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/stargazing…

As Mars recedes from Earth, its telescopic appearance wanes. At the start of March, the Red Planet shines at mag. +0.4, presenting an apparent disc measuring 8 arcseconds across. However, by the end of March Mars will dim to mag. +1.0 and shrink to just 6 arcseconds across. Although this makes it harder to observe and image, through binoculars or a widefield telescope there are still things to look out for. At the start of March, Mars is in Taurus, between the Bull's horns, moving prograde, or east, against the background stars. Its travels take it from Taurus and into Gemini towards the end of the month, ahead of an encounter with the beautiful binocular open cluster, M35, around 2,970 lightyears away. From the UK, Mars maintains a decent altitude…

3-inch brass refractor His first telescope, bought at age 11, was this Broadhurst Clarkson 3-inch refractor on a pillar-and-claw mount. His first paper was based on the observations he made with it. It was restored in 2008 by Telescope House, the retail arm of the same makers who sold it to Patrick in the 1930s. 12.5-inch reflector Purchased after the Second World War, Patrick's first reflector ended up with a Henry Wildey mirror and sat atop a Ron Irving altazimuth mount. Housed in a run-off observatory, Patrick used it to map the Moon, including finding and naming the Mare Orientate in 1946. 8.5-inch reflector When the Royal Greenwich Observatory moved to Herstmonceux, East Sussex, in the early 1950s, Patrick bought this surplus scope, an 8.5-inch With-Browning reflector. He housed it…

The Moon is a great target for photography, whatever your level of experience. Being bright and having a tangible size in the sky, it doesn't call for specialised or expensive equipment. Although it's bright enough to photograph with a smartphone, the Moon may cause disappointment because, despite how it looks to your eye, it's actually pretty small. When fuller phases of the Moon are seen rising or setting, its proximity to the horizon makes it appear huge, an effect known as the Moon illusion. Try taking a photo of a Moon like this and you'll see just how small it really is. A bright, fuller-phase Moon against a dark sky may also cause exposure issues. Attempting to capture the Moon against a foreground horizon, an automatic camera typically either favours…

Whether you're a seasoned astrophotographer or a beginner just starting out, we'd love to see your images. Send them to us at www.skyatnightmagazine.com/send-us-your-astrophotos We've teamed up with Modern Astronomy to offer the winner of next month's Gallery a Hama lens pen, designed for quick and easy cleaning of telescope optics, eyepieces and camera lenses. It features a retractable brush and non-liquid cleaning element. www.modernastronomy.com • 020 8763 9953…

Comet Madness Richard J Goodrich Prometheus Books £21.99 • HB While the appearance of a bright comet in today's skies can invoke great excitement, history informs us that such a spectacle was more likely to provoke quite a different response - one of foreboding. In a comprehensive overview of the literature that documented these apparitions at the time, Comet Madness offers a thorough sweep through the musings of those foretelling the reasons behind a comet's appearance and the consequences likely to befall the world from its fiery presence. Author and historian Richard J Goodrich relates how civilisations reacted to the foretelling and subsequent sighting of a new arrival in the heavens. With the use of intriguing and often whimsical comet-based quotes to head up each chapter, he neatly catalogues in…

Jorge Cham, Daniel Whiteson John Murray £10.99 • PB Out of the 20 questions in this book, I've wondered about nearly all of them, usually after watching a sci-fi film. Why can't we teleport? Will an asteroid hit Earth? Why can't we travel back in time? And why was Biff such a bully? Okay, that last one isn't in the book, but I bet that physicist Daniel Whiteson and researcher-turned-cartoonist Jorge Cham would have a funny, intelligent answer for us if it was. Each chapter tackles a different question, though a single answer isn't guaranteed. Some require a little lenience in the definitions of possible and impossible - travelling through time might not be impossible, albeit with very strict parameters; if general relativity isn't right about black holes, then it…

1 Pegasus Astro Indigo OAG Price £179 • Supplier The Widescreen Centre • www.widescreen-centre.co.uk ADVANCED Off-axis guiders allow your camera and guider to use the same view. This one is just 10mm deep, with 4mm for the telescope adaptor, but is solid enough to support heavy kit. An adjustable prism and large mirror help ensure excellent views. 2 Constellation washi tape Price £2.50 • Supplier Cult Pens • www.cultpens.com Washi tape is a paper-based, low-tack decorative tape that's easy to cut, tear and remove without causing damage. This design features dozens of constellations alongside fascinating astro facts. 3 CCD Guide 2023 Price €29 • Supplier CCD Guide • www.ccdguide.com Locate the best astrophotography targets at any time with this downloadable guide. Along with software to plan your sessions, there's a…

Television Find out what The Sky at Night team have been exploring in recent and past episodes on page 18 Online Visit our website for competitions, astrophoto galleries, observing guides and more Social media Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for space news, astro images and website updates Podcasts Listen to our Radio Astronomy podcasts where the magazine team and guests discuss astro news Tablet/phone Get each month's issue on your Apple or Android device, now with bonus image galleries eNewsletter The best targets to observe each week, delivered to your inbox. Visit bit.ly/skynewsletter Find out more at: www.skyatnightmagazine.com…

Over 840 years ago, in August 1181, Chinese and Japanese astronomers saw a new star suddenly appear that remained visible for 180 days. We now know this was the violent death of a massive star, a supernova, and the 1181 event is one of only a handful to ever have been seen with the naked eye. Now astronomers have started looking at the site of the supernova, in the modern constellation of Cassiopeia, in the hope of finding a remnant. Radio searches, which attempted to uncover a pulsar, failed to find anything suitable, but citizen scientist Dana Patchick, combing through data from numerous earthbound surveys, as well as the infrared WISE satellite, found an unusual circular nebula which surrounds a bright central star around 8,000 lightyears from Earth. Studies of…

The Sky at Night team are taking a break this month, but will be back on our screens in April. In the meantime, explore some of the latest space science and astronomy with the Searching Space collection on the BBC iPlayer. The New Space Race takes a fascinating look at emerging private spaceflight companies, while Cosmic Hunters reveals the new technologies helping astronomers unlock the secrets of the Universe, and Return to the Moon explores NASA's Artemis and the plans to once again put humans on the lunar surface. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dpfs4l…

JUICE and the Icy Moons of Jupiter School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, 2 March, 7:30pm A talk by Prof David Southwood on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission which is scheduled to launch this April and to reach Jupiter in July 2031. Booking not required. www.cardiff-astronomical-society.co.uk Practical Astronomy Show Kettering Conference Centre, Northamptonshire, 11 March This show brings together astronomy businesses, organisations and educational institutions, with free talks and an emphasis on using and getting the best out of astronomy products. Free entry. practicalastroshow.com Spring Stars and Galaxies Far Away! Sutton Bank National Park Centre, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, 11 March, 7:30pm Taking advantage of the new Moon, experienced astronomer Richard Dern offers telescopes and binoculars to unlock the sky's treasures in this beginner-friendly event. Tickets from £11.…

Have you noticed the bright beacon of Venus blazing away in the western sky after dark? Our nearest planetary neighbour is quite unmistakable, sparkling as she does with a brilliant silvery light. It's no wonder the planet represents beauty and mystery in Greek mythology. Though a number of spacecraft have visited Venus, she is reluctant to reveal her secrets and hides her volcano-covered surface beneath a thick atmosphere. But, despite this, there are many mysteries an amateur observer from Earth can help uncover. Sometimes unfairly regarded as ‘bland’, Venus is actually an excellent telescopic target for Northern Hemisphere observers during the spring months. Whether visually or through imaging, your observations of Venus could play an important part in monitoring the planet - for example, by helping to discover if there…

The observed phase of Venus is always slightly less than the predicted phase of Venus, an effect first recorded by Johannes Schröter in 1793. This phase anomaly (as it's also called) is best shown when Venus appears to be at 50% illumination (dichotomy) in a telescope. This always occurs earlier than the predicted date for evening elongations and later for morning ones. The reason the phase anomaly occurs is still debated, but it is likely to do with Venus's thick atmosphere scattering light, and is even more pronounced in a blue filter. The next dichotomy is predicted to occur on 4 June, so start looking carefully at the phase of Venus a week before this. Early dusk is best as the planet will be higher in the sky. The effect…

As with infrared imaging, ultraviolet images have become essential in monitoring long-term changes on the planet and are another useful tool for amateur and professional astronomers studying the Venusian atmosphere. To make observations of Venus in the ultraviolet, you will need a filter that only allows ultraviolet wavelengths of light to pass through. Typically these are wavelengths between 320 and 380nm. There are a number of such filters available, but since this part of the spectrum cannot be seen directly, you will need to use a camera to record an image. Be sure to double-check that your camera can detect ultraviolet light, as some aren't sensitive to these wavelengths. The cloud markings of Venus are best seen in ultraviolet, and these images often reveal quite complex patterns and can be…

16-PAGE CENTRE PULLOUT CERES DROPS RY The dwarf planet is on view nearthe Virgo Cluster all month BINOCULAR TOUR Delightful sights to find in Canes Venatici About the writers Astronomy expert Pete Lawrence is a skilled astro imager and a presenter on The Sky at Night monthly on BBC Four Steve Tonkin is a binocular observer. Find his tour of the best sig hts for both eyes on page 54 Also on view this month… Mars crosses paths with star cluster M35 Can you spot the eerie Zodiacal Light? Six deep-sky gems to discover in Gemini Red light friendly To preserve your night vision, this Sky Guide can be read using a red light under dark skies Get the Sky Guide weekly For weekly updates on what to look out…

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 dork-adopted Photo Opp Use a CCD, planetary camera or standard DSLR Binoculars 10x50 recommended Small/ medium scope Reflector/SCT under6 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…

From Earth, the Moon appears to wobble. Known as libration, this effect is caused by the Moon's elliptical and tilted orbit. It allows us to see more of the Moon's tidally-locked globe than you'd expect, revealing 59 per cent of the lunar surface over time. When one edge of the Moon tilts favourably towards Earth, extra features roll into view. However, to see them at their best, the phase has to be optimal too. In mid-March, the waning Moon presents good libration prospects for observing the northern region. The evening terminator is also well-positioned, optimising the view. You'll need to start observing in the morning sky from 13 March. There is a catch through, as morning Moons are poorly placed at this time of year, hampered by low altitude. On…

KEY TO STAR CHARTS When to use this chart 1 March at 00:00 UT 15 March at 23:00 UT 31 March at 23:00 BST 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 March* Moonrise in March* Lunar phases in March MORE ONLINE Paul and Pete's night-sky highlights Southern Hemisphere sky guide…

Patrick Moore 1OO The early spring nights of March are ideal for discovery, something Patrick Moore, our late Editor Emeritus, was keen to encourage. To celebrate what would have been Patrick's 100th birthday, we've put together a special challenge based on his very own Caldwell Catalogue. We're inviting you to take a tour of 10 of our favourite objects from his list, all of which are visible this month. Your task is to find them all in a single observing session. Some of the targets are quite popular, and you'll have seen them in our monthly deep-sky and binocular tours, while others are a little less well-known. Hopefully you'll be discovering some of these for the first time. The minimum size telescope for this challenge is a 4-inch refractor: all…

Why do comets capture our imagination? Comets are unlike any other celestial object. They flicker into existence, grow until their silver tails stretch across the star field, and slowly fade. Following orbital paths that can take a thousand years to complete, they are silent voyagers in the interstellar darkness beyond the borders of our Solar System. How did ancient astronomers view comets? Before Edmond Halley, they were widely regarded as a message from the gods. For Chinese astronomers their disturbance of heavenly harmony symbolised divine displeasure, foreshadowing the fall of emperors. Political upheaval was a common interpretation in the West: Halley's Comet appeared before the Norman invasion and the fall of Constantinople. Reformation-era Christians believed they augured God's displeasure with their theological adversaries, and stood as indisputable signs that the…

Justin B Hollander Springer £24.99 • PB OFF-WORLD IDEAS “There will be towns and then cities on Earth's Moon and on Mars sooner than you think,” predicts Hollander in this fantastic book on engineering a future for humans on Mars. And if that's true, he argues, there is much to consider to ensure the survival of our future interplanetary citizens. The First City on Mars is a book about space architecture in the context of planning cities on a planet with 38 per cent of Earth's gravity and a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Such environments require new perspectives in urban planning, theorises Hollander, to ensure the survival of thriving communities living in such inhospitable environments. Drawing on lessons learned from older civilisations and their urban planning methods, the author…

Maria-Theresia Walach Ionosphere scientist “The aurorae allow us to see the interaction between what's in space and Earth's atmosphere, and interrogate the physics that drives this incredible phenomenon.” Discover the science of the aurorae, page 28 Steve Richards Expert astronomer “Patrick Moore's 100th birthday is a great excuse to explore his own deep-sky catalogue and observe some wonderful celestial objects.” Join our tour of 10 Caldwell Catalogue targets on view this month, page 66 Melissa Brobby Science community “It was fascinating to learn from Dr Gramellini about how neutrinos could hold the key to understanding our Universe.” Turn to page 98 to find out how these tiny particles could solve the riddle of antimatter…

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 Off to a great start I just wanted to share with you my first deep-sky astrophoto, which I took by following the excellent guide to photographing the Orion Nebula with a DSLR camera on your website, written by Pete Lawrence and David Tolliday (bit.ly/M42DSLR). The exposure time and ISO settings advice was very useful. I used a WideSky 8OS ED refractor telescope on a Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi mount, with a…

The motion of the inner planets in the sky is quite different from that of the outer planets. Instead of oppositions, Mercury and Venus pass through elongations. Those on the western side of the Sun are visible in the morning sky (western elongation) and those on the eastern side, in the evening sky (eastern elongation). The graphic above shows the changes we see as Venus completes an orbit: starting at superior conjunction, when the Sun effectively lies between Venus and Earth, though the planet is too close to the Sun in the sky to observe at this point. This last occurred on 22 October 2022, and the planet is now on the Sun's eastern side and visible in the evening sky. A phenomenon unique to Mercury and Venus is that…

Weeks after NASA released the very first images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers began reporting the discovery of extremely redshifted galaxies. As we saw in the first instalment of this series, a high redshift means the light has been travelling through the expanding Universe, getting stretched along the way, for a very long time. In other words: these galaxies are incredibly far away. One galaxy, an almost indiscernible smudge of light labelled CEERS-93316, was reported to be a staggering 35 billion lightyears away. At first, it may seem difficult to explain how the distance between our Milky Way and CEERS-93316 has grown to 35 billion lightyears, given the Universe has only been expanding for 13.8 billion years. But in Part 2 of our Cosmology Crash Course, we…

1 Wednesday This evening and tomorrow evening, Jupiter and Venus appear really close to one another in the evening twilight after sunset. This evening they are 0.6° apart and tomorrow they will appear 0.8° apart. 2 Thursday Mercury and Saturn are 1° apart as they rise this morninq. Not well positioned, it may be possible to see them in a blue sky after sunrise. Their closest separation of 52 arcminutes occurs at 14:40 UT. 4 Saturday The Moon's southern polar region is favourably tipped into view, thanks to lunar libration. 14 Tuesday As the 60%-lit waning gibbous Moon rises this morning around 02:00 UT, it'll bejust over a degree east-northeast of mag. +1.0 Antares (Alpha (α) Scorpii). 18 Saturday If you have light-pollution-free skies, this is a good time to look out for the gentle…

DON'T MISS Planetary conjunctions BEST TIME TO SEE: Various times throughout the month March plays host to a number of interesting conjunctions, starting off in spectacular fashion with a very close evening encounter between Venus and Jupiter. For the UK, the closest evening approach occurs on 1 March when the planets appear separated by just 36 arcminutes before setting. The best view is around 19:25 UT when they are about 11° up and 38 arcminutes apart under dark sky conditions. Jupiter will be bright at mag. -1.9, but will be completely outshone by mag. -3.9 Venus. Through a telescope, both can be seen in the same field, in a low-power eyepiece. As 38 arcminutes is about one-and-a-third times the apparent diameter of the Moon, if you have an eyepiece that…

Timocharis Crater 35km 131W, 26.7° N 11-32billionyears Onedayafterfirstquarter (28 February and 1 March} or last quarter (15 March) 50mmrefractor Timocharis is a sharp-rimmed crater located within the vast 1,250km-diameter Imbrium Basin. It lies within the mismatched arc of craters starting at 25km Theaetetus, progressing through 55km Aristillus, 83km Archimedes, 35km Timocharis, 30km Lambert and concluding with 28km Euler. Timocharis lies 550km north-northeast of 93km Copernicus, within the extensive Copernican ray system which is easily visible in the southern half of Mare Imbrium. An appreciable ejecta rampart surrounds Timocharis's polygonal rim, fairly symmetrical in appearance and stretching for around 30km from the main rim edge. Its rim appears well-defined and internally the initial wall fall-off is extremely steep down to a ‘shelf’. From there, the elevation…

Patrick Moore 100 Patrick Moore did more than anyone in history to get people interested in the stars. As the face of The Sky at Night, he introduced millions to the wonders of the night sky and in the process set a television record, by becoming the world's longest-serving presenter on the same programme. Thanks to his passion for astronomy, ruffled appearance and slightly eccentric manner, Patrick's persona made him a celebrity among the general public and a household name in the UK, where he was the only amateur astronomer most people had heard of, while his books and magazine articles gained him recognition the world over. Alfred Patrick Caldwell-Moore was born on 4 March 1923, the only child of Captain Charles Trachsel Caldwell-Moore MC, who had served in the…

VITAL STATS We're used to seeing equatorial mounts of varying sizes and capacities, along with equatorial tracking mounts for lightweight setups and ease of transport. Here we explore the latest offering from Sky-Watcher that does away with the need to polar align and instead provides a lightweight portable altaz mount, the AZ-GTiX. Our review package included the AZ-GTiX mount and tripod with extension pier, plus an L bracket for attaching either a camera or another telescope. This mount is a dual-saddle mount, one where you can have two telescopes or a combination of equipment on just one mount. Its load capacity enables one lightweight telescope up to 6kg on one saddle or up to 10kg total weight if…

Mike Barfield, Jess Bradley Michael O'Mara £10.99 • PB Any book that introduces children to the night sky is to be encouraged. This book uses an engaging comicbook format while managing to pack in an incredible amount of information. Its scope is comprehensive, covering our neighbours in the Solar System and the missions we have sent to visit them. It goes onward and outward to the stars, galaxies, nebulae and black holes. It tells the history of our exploration of the cosmos, including the Space Race, the Apollo missions, and past and future space stations. It also manages to explain complex concepts like gravity, dark matter and dark energy. All this is done in cartoon strips, packed with anthropomorphised stars, planets and asteroids, zooming about shouting ‘Wheee!’ a lot and…

With Glenn Dawes Eyes peeled for the colourful, elusive Gamma Normids, and discover stunning targets in Cancer When to use this chart 1 March at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) The chart accurately matches the sky on the 15 March at 23:00 AEDT h2:00 UT) dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. 31 March at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. MARCH HIGHLIGHTS There are only a few known meteor showers exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere. One is the Gamma Normids, active between 25 February and 28 March, and peaking around 15 March. Even at maximum only a few meteors are seen per hour, but their colour - white, yellow, and orange with some leaving trains - make the wait worthwhile, and their brightness helps…