Dr Ian Musgrave gives us his fabulous Holiday SkyGuide where he tell us all the fabulous sights that are in store for us over December and January.
Most of the planetary action is at family-friendly times in the evening skies.
We have Venus Jupiter and Saturn all at their best these holidays, a meteor shower still worth a look despite the full moon mid-December, an occultation of Saturn by the moon, and a re-appearance of the 'Lunar X' phenomenon.
In Ian's Tangent he reveals the latest advances in the science of tracing the origins of meteors. It's beautiful Science!
For those celebrating festive occasions with friends and family in December and January, have a happy and safe festive season.

Astrophiz

Astrophiz205~Holiday SkyGuide

Today we’re zooming over 16 time zones from rural Australia to Toronto Canada where we are a guest on The York Universe Podcast with Dr Elaina Hyde and Julie Tomé where we are talking about What’s Up in the Skies Down Under.

YorkUniverseInterview

Meet Dr Alex Cameron from Oxford University who is making fantastic discoveries about the earliest and most distant galaxies in our universe using the James Webb Space Telescope …

Astrophiz 208-Unusual galaxies in the Early Universe

Dr Ian Musgrave brings us his February SkyGuide … telling us when, where and what to look for in the evening and morning skies this month, with some great astrophotography tips. 
Listen: 

Summary:  February is again a wonderful month for celestial observers with a great lineup of planets in your evening skies/

February Moon Phases: 

Feb 2 		Moon at perigee
Feb 5 		First quarter moon. 
Feb 13 	Full Moon 
Feb 18 	Moon at apogee 
Feb 21 	Last quarter moon
Feb 28 	New moon 

February’s Observing Highlights:

All the action in Morning Skies has now moved to the Evening Skies where we have a fabulous line-up of planetary action all month.
Saturn, Venus, Jupiter and Mars are putting on a marvellous visual display for us and blue Uranus is also relatively easy to find.

Venus, even though it is in crescent phase, is at its brightest this month,

As usual Ian gives us ‘Ian’s Tangent’ … and this month it’s all about present and future ‘Planet Parades’

and in two weeks we're zooming over to Oxford University to speak with Dr Alex Cameron, an amazing astrophysicist who has used the JWST to discover a new and most unusual class of galaxies in the very early universe, just after the big bang

Keep looking Up!

Astrophiz207 - February SkyGuide

March Moon Phases:

Moon at Perigee March 2 
First Quarter: March 7 
Full Moon: March 14
Moon at Apogee March18
<<Earth at Equinox March 20>> 
Last Quarter March 22 
New Moon: March 29 
Moon at Perigee again on March 30


Evening Skies: 

Mercury is very low in the evening twilight in the West. (binocs recommended but only after sunset) and Mercury will return to morning skies in April and will be quite nice then.
Venus in the early evening twilight is very low in the West (and as a fine crescent in telescopes) … and will disappear from us by the end of the first week of March, and then will re-appear in the East as the ‘Morning Star’ in April.
Jupiter is in the north west all night and best viewed around midnight. 
Nice new storms can be picked out in telescopes in the equatorial belt.
Mars can still be seen in the West
Uranus at mag 5.8 is still visible
Saturn returns to evening skies in late March

Highlights:

1 March: Saturn and Mercury near to thin crescent Moon (2° apart for Mercury) very low in evening twilight, will require binoculars.
2 March: Crescent Moon near crescent Venus very low in evening twilight (5°)
6 March: Waxing Moon near Jupiter in evening twilight (6°) 
9 March: Waxing Moon near Mars in evening sky (5°), Moon close to Pollux
14 March: Occultation of bright star Beta Virginis around midnight
20 March: Earth at Equinox
21 March: Occultation of bright star Antares just after midnight behind moon


Astrophotography Challenge: 
The T Coronae Borealis Nova.
The challenge is to capture a Nova before and after it blows!
This Nova is ‘overdue’ so all eyes are on it!

Ian’s Tip: use 1sec stacks

T Coronae Borealis last brightened in 1946, and astronomers initially predicted it would brighten again by September 2024.
It's a variable star in Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, a backward-C-shaped constellation east of Boötes.

T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown constellation some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a dense white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbour.


Ian’s Tangent: Sky literacy, or lack thereof, as exemplified by ‘drone sightings’ in the US and amplified by the Governor of Maryland.
We also discuss easy pathways to develop better sky literacy.

Astrophiz209~MarchSkyGuide

You'll be astounded when you listen to A/Prof Elizabeth Tasker as she takes us on an astonishingly brilliant 600million kilometre rollercoaster ride on the JAXA Hayabusa missions to collect the very first Asteroid samples and bring them back to earth for analysis, to reveal the primordial origins of our solar system.
Elizabeth also gives us an update on JAXA's 2026 Mars Moons mission ~ MMX
You'll marvel at this triumph of ingeniously designed and executed science and engineering!
Great science stories of discovery are essentially ... great human stories.

Astronomy Astrophiz 210: ProfElizabethTasker

Dr Ian Musgrave’s April SkyGuide

April Summary

Jupiter & Mars are dominating the NW skies
Venus, Saturn & Mercury dominate the morning skies.
TCr Borealis is ‘lurking’ … ready to go Nova
The ‘Lunar X’ is coming up

April Moon Phases:

First Quarter: April 5 
Lunar X is visible on the 5th
Daylight saving ends on Sunday 6 April
Moon at Apogee April 13
Full Moon: April 13
Last Quarter April 21 
Moon at Perigee April 28
New Moon: April 28 

Evening Skies:

Jupiter is high in the north-western evening sky when the sky is fully dark. Jupiter forms a line with the stars Aldebaran and Elnath. The Moon joins the line-up Jupiter on the 3rd, and on the 8th, Jupiter is 8 degrees from the crescent moon.
Mars is high in the evening sky, setting just after midnight. Mars was at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, earlier in the year on January the 16th. 
Mercury is lost in the evening twilight, but is moving to morning skies.
… AND HAVE A HUNT FOR VESTA!

Morning Skies:

Saturn returns to the morning twilight. It is near the crescent Moon on the 28th
Mercury is pretty easy
Venus - Easiest
Vesta is difficult, but getting easier as the month progresses

Highlights:
3 April  	Crescent Moon near Jupiter in Evening twilight.
5 April  	"Lunar X" visible 
5-6 April 	Mars around 5° from waxing Moon
13 April 	Apogee Full Moon
16-25 April 	The Lyrid meteor shower will be visible 
25 April 	Saturn and Venus close in the morning twilight forming a triangle with the thin crescent Moon
26 April 	Crescent Moon close to Mercury in the morning twilight


Astrophotography Challenges: 
1.	CHASING the ‘Terminator’ on the Moon. Hint: 1/250 sec at ISO 400 every 30 minutes, and making a simple animation.

2.	CATCHING The T Coronae Borealis Nova.
The challenge is still … to capture a Nova before and after it blows!
This Nova is ‘overdue’ so all eyes are on it!
Ian’s Tip: use 1sec stacks
T Coronae Borealis last brightened in 1946, and astronomers initially predicted it would brighten again by September 2024.
It’s a variable star in Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, a backward-C-shaped constellation east of Boötes. 
T Coronae Borealis, dubbed the “Blaze Star” and known to astronomers simply as “T CrB,” is a binary system nestled in the Northern Crown constellation some 3,000 light-years from Earth. The system is comprised of a dense white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of a dead star with a mass comparable to that of our Sun – and an ancient red giant slowly being stripped of hydrogen by the relentless gravitational pull of its hungry neighbour.

Ian’s Tangent: 




Astrophiz211-AprilSkyGuide

In Astrophiz 212, 'Space Governance’ we are speaking with Space Lawyer, Ciara Guy, who has worked in the Justice system and Magistrates Courts. 

After completing her first law degree, she is now an assistant astronomer at Battlesteads Observatory and is majoring in Space Law for her Master's Law degree at Northumbria University. 

Her specialties are Dark Skies and Mega-constellations of proliferating low earth-orbit satellites.

Astronomy Astrophiz 212-CiaraGuy-Space Governance

May Moon Phases:

May 4 ~1st Quarter
May 11 ~ Moon at Apogee
May 13 ~ Full Moon 
May 20 ~ Last Quarter Great for star gazing
May 26 ~ Moon at Perigee
May 27 ~ New Moon Great for star gazing

What’s Up in May?

Planets:
Evening Skies
Jupiter is difficult to see this month
Mars is visible, and nice to see just an hour after sunset
Uranus will return in a couple of months

Most of the planetary action is in the morning sky, Mercury Saturn and Venus are the standouts, but Mercury is lost in the twilight by mid month, returning to evening skies in June.

May 2  ~ Asteroid Vesta (almost a dwarf planet) is at opposition (closest to earth) May 8 ~ Eta Aquariids Meteor Shower should be pretty good this year (debris from Halley’s Comet) Great meteor spotting tips in the audio

Will TCrB go Nova this month? Keep watching

Ian recommends VESTA watching with naked eye under dark skies, in Binocs & ’scopes in the ‘Burbs. See his Astroblog, the Astrophiz FB page or Southern Skywatch for photos and easy finder charts

Ian’s Tangent: The Clouds of Mars.
Ian tells us how earth's clouds were named, and about the clouds on other planets

Websites to visit:
* https://cloudatlas.wmo-DOT-int/en/home.html
* https://europlanet-society-DOT-org/cloud-atlas-of-mars-showcases-array-of-atmospheric-phenomena/

( * copy & paste, then replace the DOT with an actual dot)

Ian’s Astrophotography Challenge: Capture asteroid VESTA on your phone or camera. Great tips in the audio
_______________________________

Next Up on Astrophiz:

In two weeks were zooming over 14 timezones to speak with Dr Anya Nugent who is an enthusiastically awesome astrophysicist who does exciting research into some of the most powerful phenomena in our universe.  You’ll love her stories about how she uses some of the world's most powerful optical and near-infrared observatories to hunt down the host galaxies of supernovae, kilonovae, and gamma-ray bursts to understand their unique origins … see you in two weeks

Astrophiz 213: Dr Ian Musgrave's MaySkyGuide

Please meet Dr Anya Nugent … she is amazing … and she has some beautiful stories for us … let’s hear all about unbelievably powerful Gamma Ray bursts and their host galaxies from an amazing Harvard and Smithsonian astrophysicist who uses incredible observatories like CHANDRA, XMM-Newton, ALMA, CHIME, MEERKAT, the VLA and even our old friend Hubble … to reveal new understandings of how our universe works.

Astrophiz214-DrAnyaNugent

Astrophiz "Exceptional Interviews with exceptional scientists."
Brendan sometimes even gets how and why science works, and each month he conducts in-depth interviews with leading astro and space researchers. In each episode we feature Astrophysicists, Space Scientists, Particle Physicists, Data scientists, Antenna engineers, Instrument scientists, optical & radio astronomers, Satcomm engineers, project leaders and aurora hunters. For Astrophotographers, also each month we also hear from Dr Ian ‘Astroblog’ Musgrave who tells us when, where and what to look for in the sky over the coming weeks and explains astronomical phenomena in ‘Ian’s Tangent’.
This ongoing series has taken us through the history, theory and practice of radio astronomy from Faraday to Gravitational waves. Each episode includes the latest news roundup in this golden age of astrophysics. Enjoy! (& donate if you wish to help keep this podcast ad-free)

New tracks tagged #Astronomy Podcast