Innehållsförteckning för February 2021 från BBC Sky at Night

We look ahead to a year of stargazing opportunities! The New Year may not have started the way we’d have wanted, but there is a spark of solace: the promise of long, dark nights ahead under the cosmos, observing the silent celestial sphere. For me, stargazing provides a lift from the labours of day-to-day life, and a reminder that the natural world – in its grandest of forms – keeps on going. There is lots to look forward to in the night sky in 2021, and on page 28 Jamie Carter guides us through the top stargazing events to look out for over the next 12 months. Expect stunning conjunctions, the return of familiar favourites and eclipses both lunar and solar ahead! The science of astronomy continues too, and in…

Jamie Carter Astronomy journalist “2021 will bring Venus as an ‘Evening Star’ and a perfectly timed Perseid meteor shower, but it’s the partial solar eclipse on 10 June that most excites me!” Jamie looks at 2021 ‘s stargazing highlights, page 28 Shaoni Bhattacharya Science journalist “Hearing about Jupiter’s ‘glow-in-the-dark’ moon fired my imagination and made me wonder if one day humans really could find a home in Europa’s interior”. Shaoni meets NASA’s Dr Murthy Gudipati, page 98 Mary McIntyre Outreach astronomer “It was a challenge designing a stylish yet educational model of a comet using household items. I hope you love the result as much as I do.” Mary shows you how to make an educational model of a comet, page 74…

Email us at inbox@skyatnightmagazine.com Online star Brother Guy Conslomagno’s Christmas Lecture, The Great Conjunction and The Star of Bethlehem’, was my very first Sky at Night Magazine webinar and I look forward to many more. The time allotted seemed perfect for the topic and the amount of time I could put aside for it. I enjoyed both the subject matter and Brother Guy’s presentation of it. I learned a lot, but the way he presented some of the material, and answered people’s questions, had me looking at things in a different way than I had previously, which was really amazing. So, thank you for having the webinar, I got a lot out of it! Bethany Ford, via email Narnia’s night sky I enjoyed the feature on conjunctions of planets in…

StarFest Dark Skies Festival Cranborne Chase, 15-20 February The International Dark Sky Reserve hosts a mix of online and (subject to restrictions at the time) live events, including talks on astronomy basics, astrophotography, storytelling and activities for kids. See the full schedule at www.chasingstars.org.uk. DOCUMENTARY Behind the Curve The Earth isn’t rotating and ’Earthrise’ was faked. Or so believe the fact-phobic subjects of this highly entertaining documentary exploring modern-day Flat Earthers, the startlingly large number of people who put our globe into the category of ’fake news’. www.netflix.com ONLINE TALKS Newtown Astronomy Society 13 February Newtown Astronomy Society (NAS) has a great programme of Zoom talks planned for the coming months, including Rob Davies on home observatories on 13 February and Pete Williamson’s talk, ‘From Birr to Hubble’ on 13…

The stars may be enduring, but our sky is always changing thanks to the orbits of the planets and our Moon. So what can stargazers expect in 2021? “We won’t have a spectacular Mars in 2021, and nor will we have any particularly close conjunctions, but we will have Venus looking brilliant,” says Nigel Henbest, author of Philip's 2021 Stargazing Month-by-Month Guide to the Night Sky in Britain & Ireland. “There is always a lot of interest in conjunctions, but what people really love is a crescent Moon with a planet. Crescent Moons tend to be quite low down on the horizon, too, so they’re easily noticed.” There is also arguably the UK’s biggest celestial event of the year. “The solar eclipse on 10 June will be seen as an…

1 Monday A telescopic view of Mars as the sky is darkening at 18:30 UT will show Mare Sirenum locaated slightly south of centre. The giant Olympus Mons volcano sits to the north of this dark mare. 2 Tuesday This morning’s 77%-lit waning gibbous Moon passes just 1.2˚ from the binary star Porrima (Gamma (g) Virginis). 6 Saturday If you’re up early today, look towards the southeast where you’ll see a 33%-lit waning crescent Moon sitting 5.3˚ north of mag. +1.0 Antares (Alpha (a) Scorpii). 11 Thursday A tricky spot in the morning sky, Venus and Jupiter are half a degree apart and rise 15 minutes before the Sun. A daytime view would be easier, but only attempt this if you can protect your view from the glare of the…

KEY TO STAR CHARTS When to use this chart 1 February at 00:00 UT 15 February at 23:00 UT 28 February 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 February* Moonrise in February* Lunar phases in February MORE ONLINE Paul and Pete’s night-sky highlights Southern Hemisphere sky guide…

For over 60 years, humanity has been pushing ever further out into the Solar System, exploring our seven sibling planets and their many moons, as well as countless asteroids. Yet we’ve done this all from a distance: it isn’t people that have been making the journey, but robotic spacecraft. While humans have yet to stray far from Earth, robots have been to the hellish surface of Venus, ranged the hills of Mars and bounced across asteroids. Their road to the heavens has been far from a straight one. Along the way there have been dozens of false starts, fallen hurdles and unexpected twists. Here are some of the more surprising tales from the journals of robotic planetary exploration. Viking’s team photo A field trip to test NASA’s first Martian camera…

Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars Kate Greene Icon Books £14.99 • HB HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is a geodesic dome isolated on the slopes of Mauna Loa, a volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. From 2013 to 2018 it was used by NASA for six ‘analog missions’ – field tests in locations that have physical similarities to space environments – to Mars. Crews of ‘almost astronauts’ remained in complete isolation for up to a year, in conditions as close as possible to those expected of a small crew on the Red Planet. This book follows the first of those missions, which took place over four months in 2013 and which studied, among other things, the role that food resources would play on a long-term mission.…

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Visit www.skyatnightmagazine.com/bonus-content/7CXVMDT/ to access this month’s selection of exclusive Bonus Content FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS Interview with a spaceflight professional Aerospace expert and suborbital scientist Kellie Gerardi discusses the secrets of the commercial space industry, how we can democratise access to space, and getting human feeton the Moon and Mars. The Sky at Night: State of Astronomy Chris and Maggiejoin an illustrious group of the UK’s best astronomers to pick their top moments from the past decade. Download observing guides and charts Access planet observing forms, binocular and deep-sky tours and our guide to Southern Hemisphere stargazing. The Virtual Planetarium Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel guide us through the best sights to see in the night sky this month.…

Any robotic mission that explores the Solar System is a marvel of miniaturisation, but there are limits to what can be achieved. By returning a sample to Earth, a full arsenal of scientific techniques can be deployed. The return of Hayabusa 2 means Ryugu joins an exclusive club – apart from the Moon, we only have a few micrograms of asteroid Itokawa from the troubled first Hayabusa, and a little of Comet Wild, gathered by NASA’s Stardust. Change 5’s lunar haul is still only the 10th sample to make it back. Even a pinch of dust from its payload can transport us to the volcanoes of the Oceanus Procellarum. Scientists will be eagerly awaiting their arrival. Chris Lintott co-presents The Sky at Night…

Bringing the Bullet Cluster to life “This image of the Bullet Cluster of galaxies actually provided the first direct proof of dark matter. I worked with Zolt Levay, Hubble’s image expert at the time, to create this image, and we went through a series of iterations of different colour mappings. At one time we had the X-rays in blue and the [gravitational] lensing map in pink, and it just didn’t work. So we reversed the colour scheme to be as you see it now. I don’t think we quite realised that we would be setting a standard of sorts for these types of images for years to come.” Kimberly Kowal Arcand Imagining Pluto “I did this illustration 11 years ago and at the time we had no images, or very…

Planets, Comets and Asteroids With the Great Conjunction and Comet NEOWISE offering fantastic photo opportunities, this category looks set to be one of this year’s most hotly contested. Our Moon The ever-changing face of the Moon offers a host of photo opportunities. Whether the whole disc or a crater close-up, enter your lunar images here. Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year Helping to foster the astrophotography talent of tomorrow, this category is open to anyone aged 15 and under by the closing date. Aurorae Getting out to see the aurora has been a challenge this year – unless you happen to live in the auroral oval – but if you did manage to capture images in 2020, be sure to enter them. Our Sun The Sun is just beginning to…

Spotting thin evening Moons is fun and time-friendly; you’ll typically need to be in position, looking towards the west-southwest 20–30 minutes after sunset. The thin Moons on 13–15 February will be easiest for young eyes. Make sure the Sun has set, then see who can spot the thin Moon crescent first. On the 14th or 15th as the sky darkens, see if you can view the weak glowing night side of the Moon. Explain that this is due to light reflected by Earth illuminating the Moon’s night side; a phenomenon known as ‘earthshine’ or the ‘old Moon in the young Moon’s arms’. www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/stargazing…

Mercury Best time to see: 1 February, from 40 minutes after sunset Altitude: 5˚ (low) Location: Aquarius Direction: West-southwest Mercury is best seen at the month’s start when it’s visible in the evening sky, setting 70 minutes after the Sun on the 1st. At mag. +1.4, it’s not very bright, which will hamper attempts to locate it. It then heads towards the Sun, probably becoming lost from view on the 5th, while inferior conjunction occurs on the 8th. After this Mercury emerges again into the morning sky, passing close to Jupiter and Saturn over February’s last half. Venus Best time to see: 1 February, 20 minutes before sunrise Altitude: 0.5˚ (extremely low) Location: Sagittarius Direction: Southeast Mag. –3.9 Venus is a morning object, poorly positioned due to a shallow ecliptic…

Endymion Type: Crater Size: 126km Longitude/Latitude: 56.5˚ E, 53.6˚ N Age: Older than 3.9 billion years Best time to see: Three days after new Moon (14-15 Feb) and two days after full Moon (30 Jan & 28 Feb) Minimum equipment: 10x binoculars Endymion is an impressive walled plain located close to the Moon’s northeast limb. As a consequence, the crater appears foreshortened from Earth and is subject to the effects of libration – a rocking and rolling action stemming from the fact that the Moon’s orbit is tilted and elliptical. A favourable libration will bring Endymion closer to the Moon’s centre and as it does so, 260km Mare Humboldtianum also rotates into view, visible between Endymion and the Moon’s limb. When the libration is unfavourable and Endymion is close to…

Make a model of a comet Get familiar with the parts of a comet by building a model from household materials Comets are some of the most interesting astronomical objects to observe. Many of us will have enjoyed Comet NEOWISE during the summer of 2020, but these dusty ice balls have been studied for millennia. Early observers treated them with suspicion as they were linked (incorrectly) to natural disasters, and often thought to signify the death of noblemen. Hence, their label ‘Harbingers of Doom’. Comets are icy bodies comprised of rock, dust, water ice, frozen volatile compounds and some also contain long-chain hydrocarbons and amino acids. They were formed from materials left over following the formation of the Solar System. The nucleus of a comet is usually between a few…

Today we are seeing a quiet revolution taking place as more telescopes are being given Wi-Fi control, allowing the modern generation of mobile and tablet users the ability to control their telescopes with their devices. Sky-Watcher introduced the Star Discovery a couple of years ago supplied with a separate dongle for Wi-Fi connections, but here we take a look at the latest version of the telescope that has Wi-Fi integrated into the mount itself. The Star Discovery P150i Wi-Fi comes in two boxes and is straightforward to assemble, allowing you to be up and running in 10 to 15 minutes. The tube assembly is in one box while the tripod, single-arm mount, spreader tray and a box with the eyepieces, finder and bubble level is in the second. It’s best…

What was a typical day like at HI-SEAS? We’d eat breakfast together, have our morning meeting and then get to work on our own research projects, completing surveys and performing tasks for other research studies, chores and maintenance – answering emails, that kind of thing. We exercised in groups of two during the day, at least 45 minutes five days a week. We’d eat lunch together and then went on EVAs, wearing simulated spacesuits to collect rocks for geology experiments. After eating dinner together, we’d supposedly relax, but we’d often catch up on work and emails. On Wednesday and Saturday nights we watched movies. What did you enjoy and hate about it? I enjoyed the experience of stepping out of capitalism for four months because on Mars we had everything…

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/sky news letter Find out more at: www.skyatnightmagazine.com…

On the 7 February 1980 episode of The Sky at Night, Patrick Moore was joined by Saturn enthusiast and artist Paul Doherty, who often produced artwork for the show. The pair were taking a look at the ringed planet – or rather, the un-ringed planet, as Saturn’s most famous feature had been reduced to little more than a slender line of shadow across the planet’s face. Their disappearance of the rings was caused by the fact that they don’t stay at the same angle relative to Earth all the time. Instead, they appear to tip up and down as the inclined orbits of the two planets tilt away from each other. Approximately every 15 years, the orbits line up so that we here on Earth look at the rings exactly…

Email your queries to scopedoctor@skyatnightmagazine.com I have a Sky-Watcher 200PDS Newtonian and use a 2x Barlow and Canon 650D DSLR camera to take planetary images, but Jupiter often looks like no more than a dot and I can’t focus my eyepieces when using the Barlow lens. Can you help? RICHARD WHITE The Sky-Watcher 200PDS Newtonian reflector has a focal length of 1,000mm. However, its tube length has been reduced and the secondary mirror moved closer to the primary mirror. This design results in the focal plane extending further outside the focuser to give more back-focus, specifically for astrophotography. The use of a Barlow lens further increases the apparent back-focus, making camera focus easy to achieve. In your case, I suspect that there isn’t now sufficient outwards focus travel to achieve…

Beloved of patient stargazers, meteor showers demand clear, dark and moonless skies. Getting away from light pollution is imperative if you’re to see plentiful shooting stars, but the rest of it is down to luck. In 2021 only three meteor showers will reach peak activity when the Moon is out of the way. As luck would have it, one of them is the Perseids, perhaps the best-loved and most comfortably observed of them all. There will be almost no moonlight interference for August’s Perseids and October’s Draconids and Southern Taurids, though December’s Geminids will peak during a first quarter Moon, and both October’s Orionids, November’s Leonids and December’s Ursids peak close to a full Moon. "The best time for observing most meteor showers is after midnight, because Earth is turning…

THIN MOON RISING Catch a gorgeous waxing crescent Moon on 12 February MARS MEETS THE PLEIADES Observe the Red Planet as it approaches the beautiful star cluster A TRICK OF THE LIGHT Spot the Moon’s clair-obscur effect known as the Jewelled Handle 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 sights for both eyes on page 54 Also on view this month… ✦ Venus and Jupiter only half a degree apart ✦ Minor planet 29 Amphitrite at opposition ✦ Lunar crater Endymion in a favourable libration Red light friendly To preserve your night vision, this Sky Guide can be read using a…

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 our…

HOPE The UAE’s Emirates Mars Mission orbiter Hope will study daily and seasonal Martian weather cycles and dust storm activity in its lower atmosphere. It will also try to learn why Mars is losing hydrogen and oxygen into space, and why its climate drastically changed in the past. TIANWEN-1 Tianwen-1 is a mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), comprising an orbiter, a lander and a rover, which bears more than a passing resemblance to NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers. It will land in Utopia Planitia to search for evidence of both current and past life. PERSEVERANCE After its ‘Seven Minutes of Terror’ descent, NASA’s nuclear-powered Perseverance rover will be gently lowered down to the Martian surface using the same ‘Thunderbirds- esque’ Skycrane technology that successfully delivered the Curiosity…

Atik has recently introduced a range of three ACIS cameras - the name standing for Advanced CMOS Imaging Systems. The cameras are designed to provide a variety of high-quality scientific imaging applications, which for our purposes makes them highly suitable for astrophotography. The model we are reviewing is the monochrome version of the Atik ACIS 7.1 CMOS, a 7.1 megapixel camera. The build quality of the ACIS 7.1 is very impressive, as we’d expect from a camera designed for professional use; it’s a chunky, solid little unit that is stylishly machined, has no rough edges or flimsy fittings and appears to be very well made. To begin the review, we combined the camera with our 1.25-inch filter wheel and mounted it on our 6-inch imaging refractor, a Sky-Watcher Esprit 150ED.…

One of the first things you notice about this Star Discovery telescope is that there is no hand-controller – although the mount does have a port for connecting one. You don’t need a separate controller with this scope because it is operated with an app, connected via the inbuilt Wi-Fi network. To use it we turned on the power and the mount automatically generated a Wi-Fi network, allowing us to connect our smartphone and later our tablet. Once connected, you ownload the SynScan or SynScan Pro app (we used the Pro version) and run it. There are plenty of observing options in the app, including alignment routines, and Solar System and deep-sky targets. The SynScan app (right) may not look fancy, but it certainly did the job and allowed us…

1 SanDisk Extreme Pro SD card Price from £19.95 • Supplier Wex Photographic Tel 01603 486413 • www.wexphotovideo.com Astrophotography requires lots of large images recorded in a raw format. With these SD cards, ranging up to 512GB, you’ll have more than enough storage to last you through the night. 2 Explore Scientific weather centre Price £139.99 • Supplier Telescope House Tel 01342 837098 • www.telescopehouse.com Continuously keep track of your local atmospheric conditions and make sure you never miss out on another clear sky with this digital weather device. 3 Primaluce Lab EAGLE4 advanced control unit Price £999 • Supplier 365 Astronomy Tel 020 33 845 187 • www.365astronomy.com ADVANCED This little box contains everything you need to streamline your astrophotography setup. The EAGLE4 is a computer that can be…

Spot the peak of the Alpha Centaurid meteor shower and enjoy a view of the stars in Orion’s Belt When to use this chart 1 Feb at 00:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) 15 Feb at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 31 Feb 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. FEBRUARY HIGHLIGHTS The Alpha Centaurids is one of the few meteor showers that’s exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere. Active from 31 January to 20 February, its peak is expected on the 8th. With a new Moon on the 12th, the evenings through to the early morning at peak offer dark skies. Although…