Innehållsförteckning för June 2021 från BBC Sky at Night

The excitement was building at Sky at Night Magazine as we put this issue together, in anticipation of the partial solar eclipse that’s soon to be visible across the UK. On the morning of Thursday 10 June, the Moon will obscure a sizeable chunk of the Sun’s disc for viewers on this part of the planet – we won’t see a greater solar eclipse until 2025 – making it appear as a dramatic crescent shape. Get ready to witness the spectacle with our observing guide on page 46, imaging guides on pages 73 and 76, and ideas for simple ways to view without the Sun’s bright glare damaging your eyesight on page 72. We stay with the Sun elsewhere in this issue too, with a look behind the scenes at…

Jamie Carter Astronomy journalist “Everyone wants to see more stars, and light pollution is easy to fix. All the UK’s dark skies movement needs now is the law on its side.” Jamie outlines what Westminster’s APPG for Dark Skies wants to legislate for, page 34 Paul Money Reviews editor “Although annular for the Arctic region, we still get to see a partial solar eclipse from the UK on 10 June so, weather-permitting, it’s best to be prepared in advance!” Paul gets ready for the partial solar eclipse, page 72 Stephanie Yardley Space weather expert “I am excited to see what the Sun has in store for us during SolarCycle 25. Recently, solar activity has started to increase and so it looks like the Sun may have woken up!” Stephanie looks…

Email us at inbox@skyatnightmagazine.com Where is it? Please could you tell me the location of the picture on the front cover of the May 2021 issue of the magazine? John Taylor, via email Our cover image is a picture of Neist Point Lighthouse on the Isle of Skye. - Ed. Name that galaxy! Chris Lintott asked readers to suggest a new name for a merger of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. (Cutting Edge, ‘When galaxies collide’, April 2021, page 19). Here are your suggestions: I was reading the article about the two galaxies colliding within the next 4.5 billion years. My suggestion for the new name is Milandroway. Eric Loper, via email Just off the top of my head – Miland Way Eva Frida, via email Milkier Way Faizan…

The frequency of solar activity, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, increases at solar maximum and alters what we can expect in terms of space weather. Space weather describes the everchanging conditions in the near-Earth environment due to the arrival of magnetic fields, radiation and high-energy particles that have been ejected from the Sun. The Sun’s interaction with Earth’s magnetosphere and upper atmosphere can produce dazzling auroral displays, but can also cause hazardous space weather conditions. Space weather can disrupt GPS navigation, cause radio blackouts, damage spacecraft and satellite electronics, and pose a severe radiation risk to crewed spaceflight. To protect ourselves and mitigate the risk to our technological infrastructure we need to forecast these events prior to their occurrence. The current forecasting approach is to observe an…

DOUBLE SHADOW TRANSITS View Jupiter’s moon shadows on its disc NIGHT-SHINING CLOUDS The noctilucent cloud season gets underway 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… ⟡ Asteroid 30 Urania at opposition ⟡ Two clair-obscur effects on the Moon ⟡ An evening conjunction of Mars and Venus 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 for in the night sky and more, sign up…

Mee Type: Crater Size: 133km Longitude/Latitude: 35.2°W, 43.6°S Age: Older than 3.9 billion years Best time to see: Three days after first quarter (20 June) or two days after last quarter (5 June) Minimum equipment: 10x binoculars Mee is a large crater that is located in the southwest quadrant of the Moon. Its ancient form sits among a hotchpotch of craters of all different shapes and sizes. Mee is over 3.9 billion years old and its boundary has become worn and eroded by smaller impacts, making it quite hard to see under more direct lighting. There are several ways to locate Mee, depending on whether you’re looking at a waxing gibbous or a waning crescent Moon. Let’s take the waxing gibbous case first. To begin, identify the distinctive 86km ray…

Planetary imaging is a compelling side to astrophotography. If you’re considering capturing the other worlds of the Solar System for the first time, or perhaps have already dipped your toes into the subject and been disappointed with the results, this article will help you understand what it’s all about and why it requires special consideration. Although an extensive subject, it is still possible to get decent results with basic equipment. In astrophotography, planets are often lumped in with the Sun and Moon under the generic heading of Solar System imaging. Although the Sun and Moon present discs that are larger than the planets, the goal is still to image tiny surface detail. Earth’s atmosphere is a big problem here; variations in air temperature and density cause incoming light to deviate…

Both Jupiter and Saturn are excellent targets for smaller instruments. Jupiter presents a decent apparent size which can be captured to reveal its oblate shape. Get the exposure right and you can record the two main, dark equatorial belts that run parallel either side of the planet’s equator. The polar regions also tend to look dark and this is fairly easy to record too. If you’re getting good results with the disc, try and image the planet’s four brightest satellites too. These are the Galilean moons, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They are easy to record as bright dots, but see if you can image the shadows they sometimes cast on the planet’s atmosphere as well. Saturn’s disc is harder to image in terms of detail, its belts and zones…

At a press conference moments after the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, NASA’s science chief Thomas Zurbuchen invited the audience to, “take a look at the RAW images, and play with them,” adding “What can you find on those pictures?” Planetary scientist Emily Lakdawalla (see box, left) didn’t need an invitation. As soon as the first photos of the eerie landscape captured by Percy’s navigation cameras were published online, she was busy removing geometric distortions, adjusting colour levels and interpreting metadata on the image files. Meanwhile, 3D visual artist Mattias Malmer (see box, page 68) was using the RAW images to reconstruct the landscape in Mars’s Jezero crater so his kids could visit the Red Planet wearing virtual reality goggles. Malmer is doing the same with data from…

The best in equipment, accessories and books each month HOW WE RATE Each product we review is rated for performance in five categories. Here’s what the ratings mean: ★★★★★ Outstanding ★★★★☆ Very good ★★★☆☆ Good ★★☆☆☆ Average ★☆☆☆☆ Poor/avoid PLUS: Books on capturing the iconic M87 black hole image and time travel, plus a look at must-have astronomy gear SUBSCRIBE Discover the best new kit each month…

Light in the Darkness Heino Falcke Wildfire £20 • HB Two years ago, an iconic photo graced the front pages of newspapers all over the world: a slightly asymmetric orange ring, surrounding a pitch-black centre. The first image of a black hole, some 55 million lightyears away, put us face to face with the ultimate cosmic mystery: a one-way abyss in spacetime that may hold the key to our deepest understanding of nature. The black hole image was the result of years of planning, organising and fundraising. Radio observatories across the world (including ALMA) joined forces, and telescopes needed high-tech upgrades. Personal rivalry played a role, too, in particular between Harvard astrophysicist Shep Doeleman and Radboud University radio astronomer Heino Falcke – the first director and the science council chair…

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The last time two robots operated in tandem on the Martian surface was 1997 when the Sojourner rover explored the area around the Pathfinder lander. Like Sojourner, Ingenuity is a demonstration mission, and it’s easy to imagine its successors scouting ahead of future rovers or conducting science missions, hopping from site to site, as the Dragonfly mission to Titan hopes to do in 2036. But NASA’s plans for the next decade call for a string of missions to retrieve samples of rocks stowed by Perseverance, not for helicopter-powered exploring. Without a dramatic rethink, and more money, it may be a long while before anything but Ingenuity flies in the thin Martian air. Chris Lintott co-presents The Sky at Night…

On 23 April, I was imaging the Moon during the day in our back garden, taking a video to give me some clear frames. I completed a total of about nine minutes of footage and, by a stroke of luck, a red kite flew between my camera and the Moon while I was recording! I was able to track down the frames the red kite appeared in and stack them to produce an image of the bird in front of the Moon. I also took out my favourite single frame and saved it as an image on its own. Jamie Hopkin, aged 14, via email A great capture, Jamie. It brings a whole new meaning to ‘lucky imaging’! – Ed…

All month Noctilucent cloud season is upon us and displays of these high-altitude ice clouds may occur at any time. Typically viewing periods are 90-120 minutes after sunset low above the northwest horizon, and a similar time low above the northeast horizon before sunrise. Tuesday 1 Jupiter will appear close to a 62%-lit waning gibbous Moon in the early hours. The planet is currently shining at mag. -2.3. Look for the pair low above the southeast horizon. Wednesday 2 A telescopic view of Jupiter this morning will reveal the dark spot of Europa’s shadow passing across the planet’s disc. The shadow will be centrally located on Jupiter at 02:50 BST (01:50 UT), leaving the disc just after 04:00 BST (03:00 UT) in the dawn twilight. Thursday 3 Around 01:00 BST…

The Solar System’s innermost planets, Mercury and Venus, can present interesting challenges as they never stray too far from the position of the Sun in the sky. Mercury is the trickiest to image because – during the period of evening or morning twilight – it tends to be positioned quite low against the horizon. This causes its small apparent size to be badly affected by seeing. But it should be possible to show its phase with smaller kit if you can catch the planet in a moment of steady seeing. Venus presents a larger maximum size and can appear further from the Sun than Mercury. When at higher altitude, the effects of reduced atmospheric turbulence give it a more stable appearance. Despite this, Venus is a tricky world to image…

The Solar System’s outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune, give even high-end setups trouble. Ironically, Uranus is the best placed planet visible from the U. towards the end of 2021, appearing highest above the horizon of all of them when due south. However, even a high image scale is unlikely to show much more than just a small circular disc. Uranus has a lovely green-blue hue to it, which requires careful exposure to capture properly. Go too long and the planet will overexpose to white. Its brighter moons can be photographed too, but in order to do this you’ll need to up the image scale. It’s also important to make sure there’s no high cloud or moisture on your optics when attempting this as you’ll need to overexpose the planet, which…

For RAW images from US planetary missions, visit NASA’s Planetary Data System at pds.nasa.gov. Slightly more accessible because of its graphic user interface is the Outer Planets Unified Search (OPUS) website at pds-rings.seti.org, which focuses on Jupiter and beyond. Juno images may also be found at www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing. RAW Hubble images can be retrieved from the Barbara A Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at archive.stsci.edu or, if this is too overwhelming, visit hla.stsci.edu to access the Hubble Legacy Archive. Images are usually stored in FITS format (Flexible Image Transport System), but can be converted to TIFF (Tag Image File Format) through the free software package FITS Liberator at esahubbte.org/projects/fits_liberator, so they can be processed by commercial software like Photoshop. Don’t miss Emily Lakdawalla’s online course at bit.ly/32O04tL or Judy Schmidt’s tutorial…

Practical astronomy projects for every level of expertise FAMILY FRIENDLY PROJECT There are few things more inspiring to the next generation of budding astronomers than having space and astronomy-themed home decor around the house. Even better is when they’ve been involved in the process of creating it for themselves. In this project we are using some basic materials to create a beautiful Solar System mobile that can be hung in a child’s bedroom, so the wonder of space will be the first thing they see when waking up each morning and the last thing they see each night before going to sleep. It would also look great in any room in the house. Although this is an art and craft activity, there are many learning opportunities along the way. While…

Moon Rich Addis, Wallasey, Merseyside, 21 March 2021 Rich says: “This half Moon was the highest of the year and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity once the clouds had cleared. The air was so still and crisp, so I set out to shoot close-up panels. The image is 12 panels, each of 640 frames stacked, and then the panels stitched together manually in Photoshop.” Equipment: ZWO ASI 120MC colour camera, Celestron NexStar 6SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Exposure: 2.70ms, gain 50 Software: FireCapture, AutoStakkert!, Lightroom, Photoshop Rich’s top tips: “I prefer to shoot close-up detail and move around the surface capturing each area separately. This allows sharper detail and better focus, but it can be easy to miss a patch. When making a mosaic image like this, make sure you zig-zag…

What is a black hole? It’s an enormous amount of matter compressed into a tiny amount of space. Gravity and spacetime curvature – Einstein’s idea about explaining gravity – becomes so extreme that everything which comes too close cannot escape. It’s not a real hole, but a hole in space and time punched into our observable Universe. There is something in this Universe, around this black hole, that we cannot see with our current technology. It’s a dark, mysterious region, shielded by an event horizon from which nothing escapes. How do you photograph a black hole? We see this dark region in the very centre of the black hole, the darkness of the event horizon, but surrounding it is an enormous amount of light, and that comes from the fact…

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…

On the 16 June 1984 episode of The Sky at Night, Patrick Moore took a trip to La Palma in the Canary Islands. He visited the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, where dozens of telescopes take advantage of the clear skies and high altitude to observe the Universe. Among these was a ‘new’ addition – a 100-inch aperture reflector called the Isaac Newton Telescope. In truth, it was only new to La Palma, as it had been observing the skies over Herstmonceux, Sussex since the 1960s. Unfortunately, the English weather was hampering the telescope’s scientific ability and so in 1979, its operators began the process of transplanting it to La Palma. Over the next five years it was upgraded with a new mirror and a colour video camera to record…

Email your queries to scopedoctor@skyatnightmagazine.com After cleaning my 8-inch Sky-Watcher Helios’s mirror, I noticed the retaining clamps were very slack. How should I tighten them? PETER BOLT Supporting the primary mirror in a Newtonian reflector is a more complex issue than you might imagine and modern telescope designers go to great lengths to produce supportive mirror cells. Mirror clips are designed to simply stop the mirror from falling out and although some clips are designed to just rest on the bevelled edge of the mirror, careful adjustment is required to ensure that no pressure is exerted on the mirror as this can result in deformation and astigmatism. Using a ‘business card’ to set a space between the mirror and clip is a popular method for avoiding this issue. However, this…

Despite a reduction this year, light pollution in the UK has been steadily worsening. Yet it’s one of the most preventable and readily fixable types of pollution around. Now MPs have formed a new All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dark Skies (APPG) (appgdarkskies.co.uk) in the UK Parliament, dedicated to reducing light pollution across the country. Its aim: to put light pollution on a par with noise pollution, for which many statutory laws exist. The APPG is being spearheaded in the House of Commons by Andrew Griffith, Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs – home of the South Downs Dark Sky Reserve – and in the House of Lords by Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal and a former President of the Royal Society. The group’s 10-point plan to use the law…

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…

KEY TO STAR CHARTS When to use this chart 1 June at 01:00 BST 15 June at 00:00 BST 30 June 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 June* Moonrise in June* Lunar phases in June MORE ONLINE Paul and Pete’s night-sky highlights Southern Hemisphere sky guide…

1 M5 M5 is a bright globular cluster located one-third of a degree north-northwest of the mag. +5.0 star, 5 Serpentis. The cluster shines with an integrated magnitude of +5.7. A small scope shows an object around 10 arcminutes in diameter, 200x magnification resolving most of M5 well. High powers reveal many ‘star strings’: lines of stars running across the object. A 300mm scope shows a core around 3.5 arcminutes across, the entire globular spanning 13 arcminutes through this size aperture. There’s a definite asymmetry to the shape of M5’s outer halo too. □ SEEN IT 2 NGC 5846 Our next target is located in Virgo. Elliptical galaxy NGC 5846 is situated 1° east-southeast of mag. +4.4, 110 Virginis. It has an integrated magnitude of +10.1 and appears as a…

Timing is everything with Mars, as the planet changes size quite dramatically depending on where it and Earth are in their respective orbits. Mars appears largest over the period of a few months centred on opposition, a time when the planet is in the opposite part of the sky to the Sun and closest to Earth. Away from this period, which occurs every 2.1 years, Mars presents a small to tiny apparent diameter, which makes it tricky to get any detail from. When near opposition, Mars presents a reasonable disc size, which is coloured a distinct orange-brown. The planet’s polar caps are bright and can often be recorded quite easily with basic kit. These change in appearance with the Martian seasons through, so don’t be disheartened if you don’t record…

The next step beyond capturing still frames is to venture into lucky imaging using a planetary camera. These are high framerate devices, a bit like an industrial strength webcam, capable of capturing video files made up of uncompressed frames. Lucky imaging, as explained in the main article, helps reduce the effects of seeing. As well as requiring additional expenditure, you’ve also got to consider how you will control a planetary camera. The normal option is to use a laptop, and various free or low-cost control programs are available for download, popular examples being SharpCap and FireCapture.…

Whether you’re a seasoned astrophotographer or a beginner, we’d love to see your images. Email them to contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com. Ts&Cs: www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions We’ve teamed up with Modern Astronomy to offer the winner of next month’s Gallery a Celestron 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…

1 Altair XRings for 60EDF refractors Price £99.50 • Supplier Altair Astro www.altairastro.com An easy mounting solution, this quick release ring mechanism clamps around any scope tube with an outer diameter of 75.5mm to 76.5mm, to give you a carry bar on top and a Vixen rail on the bottom. 2 Meteorite slice Price £75 • Supplier Not on the high street www.notonthehighstreet.com This is a unique gift that’s out of this world – a slice from the Muonionalusta meteorite that crashed to Earth over 110,000 years ago. The display case suspends the slice, showing off the characteristic Widmanstätten pattern found in iron meteorites. 3 Mujjo double insulated touchscreen glove Price £54.90 • Supplier Mujjo • www.mujjo.com Crafted to withstand colder temperatures, these gloves let you continue using your touchscreen…

Catch Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke and enjoy views of the Northern and Southern Crowns When to use this chart 1 June at 00:00 AEST (14:00 UT) 15 June at 23:00 AEST (13:00 UT) 31 June at 22:00 AEST (12:00 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. JUNE HIGHLIGHTS Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke reached perihelion in late May and will spend June near maximum brightness at 8th magnitude; it rises in the late evening and is visible for the rest of the night. Opening June in the constellation of Capricornus, the comet passes through Aquarius and Piscis Austrinus, and ends up in Sculptor. Passing between Jupiter and Saturn…