At the beginning of January 2021 Venus is still visible in the pre-dawn sky but it is lost in twilight and not so easy to see any more. It will next be visible in the evening sky in twilight in June, setting about 90 minutes after the Sun by mid-June when it will be close to a waxing cresecent Moon on the 11 and 12th. It will be low and not well positioned being lost in twilight from July but will appear again as a low twilight object by November. It is sometimes called the evening or morning star even though it is not a star at all.
As the Earth rotates on its axis Venus will appear to 'move' westwards until, at the beginning of the year, it disappears in the dawn as the Sun rises behind it. In the autumn it will appear in the west to follow the Sun.
Venus is extremely bright because of where it is in its orbit around the Sun compared to where Earth is. On the 29th October 2021 it will at greatest eastern elongation and the best time to see it in the evening, although it will still be twilight for most of the time. Look at our glossary for an explanation of greatest eastern and western elongation.
How bright an object appears in the night sky is called its magnitude (again have a look at the glossary for an explanation). We can see things with the unaided eye that are as dim as magnitude 6. Venus at the moment is magnitude -3.8 which is over 9,500 times brighter than the dimmest thing we can see without using binoculars or a telescope (magnitude 6).
Facts about Venus:
Low on western horizon at 21:40. Sunset 21:08 so lost in twilight but you may see it because it is very bright.
Fourty minutes after sunset.
Where can you find a large family group in self-isolation in the sky? The answer is the Pleiades, otherwise known as the Seven Sisters. This little group of stars really is a group of siblings. It’s what astronomers call an open cluster. This is a cluster of stars that were formed at a similar time (by astronomers’ standards - we aren’t talking minutes here, or even years), from the same cloud of dust and gas. This means they all have a similar chemistry and a similar age - a mere 100 million years or so – not that old as stars go.
Like many families, sibling stars in open clusters tend to drift off to different places with time but the Pleiades won’t be noticeably changing in our lifetime. The current estimate is that it could take around 250 million years for this to happen. Looking at this group in binoculars or a small telescope, shows lots of stars in the group but with the unaided eye it’s not possible to see as many. The story goes that the ancient Greek army used to use them as an eye test. You had good enough eyesight if you could see at least 7 of the stars.
In some photographs of the Pleiades or in large amateur telescopes, you can see dust clouds (nebulosity) around them but don’t be tempted to think this is the cloud they were formed from. The cluster just happens to be passing through at the moment. The stars light up the dust to make a reflection nebula, which can be seen as the blue wispy bits in the photograph.
The Sun would have been formed in an open cluster like this and had sibling stars but they have long since drifted apart. Astronomers got very excited a while ago when they found a star so similar to the sun that they believed it could be one of the Sun’s siblings.
Image courtesy of Verity Stannard
Finding the Pleiades
The tiny, sparkly cluster of the Pleiades is easy to find in the early evening during the first half of April 2020. Right now it is just above the bright planet Venus. Venus will get closer and closer, until it actually looks as though it is in the cluster on 3rd April 2020 and will then move off upwards and to the left. The Pleiades will be a little lower in the sky each night as darkness falls until, by the very end of the month, they will be below the horizon and not possible to see.
To find the Pleiades in the night sky, first find something you know, maybe the Plough (Big Dipper) or Orion’s Belt.
From Orion’s Belt
From Orion’s belt, imagine a line stretching off to the right and it will point almost directly towards the Pleiades.
From the Plough
Instead of using the pointer stars that point towards the North Star, use the top two stars of the Plough’s box. You will need to follow an imaginary line from here to the right, right across the sky, through the bright star Capella and on to the Pleiades.
Clips taken from Stellarium.org
Pleiades from Orion
Pleiades from the Plough
The Hyades cluster of stars forms a relatively distinct V shape in the constellation Taurus. Astronomers call this type of cluster an open cluster. It is the nearest open cluster to the Sun at 153 light years away. Have a look at the astronomy glossary for an explanation of what a light year is. Even though you can’t see them with the unaided eye there are hundreds of stars in the cluster. They are all the same age, they were born in the same place, they share the same chemistry and they move through space together. However, there is one exception! The brightest star which is an orange/red colour isn’t actually in the cluster at all. It only looks like it is part of the cluster from where we are on Earth. This star is called Aldebaran and just happens to lie along the same line of sight as the stars in the Hyades cluster even though it is only half the distance to the cluster.
The V shape is the head of the bull, Taurus. The star Aldebaran represents the fiery red eye of the bull. Above the shoulder of the bull, hovering like a swarm of bees, is the open cluster Pleiades. In Greek mythology, the Hyades were the five daughters of Atlas and half-sisters to the Pleiades.
The stars in the Hyades cluster are estimated to be about 625 million years old; a lot older than the stars in the Pleiades cluster.
Finding the Hyades Cluster
The Hyades cluster is pretty easy to find and you will be able to look at it in the western sky after sunset during the first half of April. It will get a little lower in the night sky every night until it is no longer visible above the horizon.
From the constellation Orion
By using Orion’s Belt, a compact and noticeable line of three blue-white stars in the constellation Orion the Hunter. Draw a line westward (generally toward your sunset direction) through the Belt stars, and you will come to the bright reddish star Aldebaran, the Bull’s fiery red eye. You should then be able to make out the V shape of the Hyades cluster.
The V-shaped figure of stars (except Aldebaran) highlights the brightest of the Hyades’ few hundred stars. A dozen or more Hyades stars are visible to the unaided eye in a dark sky, but several dozen of the cluster’s stars can be resolved through binoculars or low power in a telescope.
By the middle of April Venus will form the top of a triangle with Hyades and Pleiades on the 2 points of the triangle’s base.
Clips taken from Stellarium.org
Sirius is not only the brightest star in the Canis Majoris (the Great Dog) constellation, but the brightest in the entire sky! Sometimes called the “the dog star,” Sirius is also one of the closest stars to us at a distance of just 8.6 light years. For comparison, the Sun is just 8 light minutes from Earth and our nearest star is 4.2 light years away.
Sirius is a winter star and is now approaching the beginning of its season in the northern hemisphere. It rises in the east: mid November at about 11.30pm; end of November approximately 10pm; mid December approximately 8.45pm; end December approximately 7.45pm. You can easily find it after it has risen and cleared the horizon and any obstacles such as trees etc. It is a bright beacon and when it is low in the sky you should see a number of colours as the light from this fairly nearby star travels through the atmosphere which is thicker on the horizon. As the light enters and travels through the atmosphere it is refracted splitting the white light into a rainbow of colours. This refraction is what makes stars twinkle (stellar scintillation).
If you know the constellation of Orion (the Hunter), just follow the line made by the three stars of his belt down to the left and you’ll find Sirius. You can’t miss it! Sirius is easily seen with the naked eye.
Sirius has been a familiar sight in the sky for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians associated it with the god Osiris, and its appearance ahead of the sun in the early morning heralded the flooding of the Nile river and Egypt’s season of fertility and growth.
Although Sirius looks like just one bright star, it’s really two stars orbiting each other. The brightest, Sirius A is twice as massive as the Sun and 25 times more luminous. The fainter star, Sirius B (sometimes called “the pup”), is much smaller and orbits Sirius A about once every 50 years. Sirius B was once a much more massive star, bigger even than Sirius A, but consumed all its hydrogen and collapsed into what astronomers call a white dwarf star around 120 million years ago. It’s now even smaller than the Earth, but with about the same mass as the Sun!
Fun Facts about Sirius
Image taken from Stellarium.
Polaris is also called the Pole Star or the North Star. You can always see it in our night sky whatever time of the night or whatever time of the year. In fact it is even there in the day time we just cannot see it because the Sun (our star) is so bright it washes out all the other stars.
Polaris is in the constellation Ursa Minor (the little bear). It is a very important star especially for navigation because the axis of Earth is approximately aligned to the star. What does that mean? If you were able to draw a line from the North Pole straight up into space it would point to Polaris (well almost!). The line represents the Earth’s axis. The Earth spins around its axis once every day and because the axis pretty much lines up with Polaris then this is the only star in the northern hemisphere sky that doesn’t appear to move over the period of the night. Everything else appears to move around it because the earth is spinning. So Polaris tells you where north is.
Another important thing about Polaris for celestial navigation (finding your way around using the stars to guide you) is that it can tell you your latitude. The angle that Polaris makes with the horizon is your latitude north of the equator. If you were standing on the North Pole, Polaris would be right above your head. If you were at the equator Polaris would be in line with the horizon. The equator has a latitude of 0 degrees and the North Pole is at latitude 90 degrees north.
Polaris has not always been the Pole Star (North Star) and it won’t be the Pole Star forever. Even though it will still be called Polaris because that is its designated name, it won’t always point to the north celestial pole. Over a period of 26,000 years the Earth wobbles on its axis a bit like a gyroscope. This is called precession. Have a look at the astronomy glossary for an explanation of precession.
This beautiful image was taken by Verity Stannard who is a member of staff at The Observatory Science Centre.
Facts about Polaris
Finding Polaris
You will need to be able to locate the plough in the constellation of Ursa Major. Look at the map below. It also looks like a saucepan.
The 2 stars at the edge of the pan are called Merak and Dubhe. Draw an imaginary line from Merak, through Dubhe and keep going until you come to the next nearest bright star; this is Polaris.
It is about 25 degrees away from Dubhe. If you spread out your hand with your fingers as wide as they can go and then hold your hand up to the sky at arms-length then the distance between your thumb and little finger is about 25 degrees (this obviously depends on how big your hand is! It is based on an average adult hand).
Clips taken from Stellarium.org
Finding Polaris from the Plough
Merak and Dubhe point to Polaris
Many people think the stars are colourless, or all white, but if you venture outdoors on a cold winter night and look south you’ll see at least one star that is noticeably red. This is the star Betelgeuse, normally the ninth brightest star in the sky (but see Fun Facts below) and conspicuous as the left hand shoulder of the Orion constellation (the Hunter). Betelgeuse is bright partly because it’s relatively close to us (a mere 640 or so light years) and partly because it is very big and luminous (about 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun). The star is what we call a red supergiant, with a surface radius that would extend to the orbit of Jupiter if it was at the centre of our own solar system. That’s five times the distance of the earth to the Sun!
To find Betelgeuse, look above and to the right of the brightest star, Sirius, and above and left of the three stars in a line that make up Orion’s belt. But don’t hang about. Orion is fast dropping below the western horizon and if you don’t look soon after it gets dark now you may miss your chance until Autumn!
Although less than 10 million years old, Betelgeuse is a dying star. Its mass is 30 times that of our Sun and it’s fast consuming its hydrogen, such that it’s expected to explode as a supernova in the next million years or so. When it finally goes “pop” it will be the brightest star in the sky and even visible even in daytime. Its core will have fused carbon, neon, oxygen and then silicon until all that is left is a hyper-dense core - a rapidly spinning neutron star the size of a city but with a mass greater than that of the Sun!
No-one is really sure how to pronounce “Betelgeuse” because it derives from the Arabic “Ibt al Jauzah,” which is said to mean “the armpit of the central one” or “hand of al-Jauza" (Orion). The best guess is thought to be “bet-uhl-gurz” but it’s often pronounced in English as “beetle juice” which may not be accurate but is certainly fun!
Fun Facts
Finding Betelgeuse (from Stellarium.org).
Capella, sometimes called the “Goat Star,” is the bright, golden star currently shining above Venus in the West after dusk. Just 42 light years away (very much a stellar neighbour), Capella is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga (the Charioteer) and the sixth brightest in Earth’s skies. Using very large telescopes astronomers have discovered Capella is actually not one star but four!
Two of the stars are yellow giants, just under 10 times the diameter of the Sun and orbiting each other very closely. Despite their size they are only around 60 million miles apart, or about two-thirds the distance of Earth from the Sun. The surface temperature of these two stars is similar to the Sun’s, which is why Capella appears yellow in our sky. In fact, the Sun would appear similarly golden in the sky of a planet (if there were one!) orbiting Capella, although much fainter because of the Sun’s smaller size. In every other way, though, Capella’s stars are very different from our own. These giant stars have burnt up their hydrogen, expanded, and are well on their way to becoming cool, dying red giant stars.
The other two stars gravitationally part of the Capella system are about one light year away from the yellow giants and, although faint, can be seen with amateur telescopes. These are long-lived, red dwarf stars smaller and cooler than our sun, which are using up their hydrogen fuel at a much slower rate.
Capella’s other name of the “Goat Star” is thought to derive from an ancient association of the constellation of Auriga with a goatherd. It’s also why the three stars at the top right in Auriga are often called “The Kids.” Auriga is linked to the ancient Greek sea god Poseidon and the Roman god Neptune.
Fun Facts about Capella
Finding Capella
You can find Capella by making a triangle with Betelgeuse and Aldebaran or you can find the distinctive W of Cassiopeia and draw an imaginary line from the W (see the picture below),
Finding Capella (from Stellarium.org)
The Lyrids meteor shower can be seen between 13-29 April and it occurs every year. The peak of the shower when the intensity of meteors coming through our atmosphere is at its highest, will be on the evening of 21 and early morning of 22 April. It is quite a sparse shower with about 18 meteors per hour and they sometimes produce occasional fireballs (another name for very bright meteors). In reality of course you probably won’t see the predicted peak number every year because of light pollution and other factors such as a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) which will dictate how many are actually visible to you in your locality. A bright waxing gibbous Moon may spoil the party this year: it rises on the 21st at 12:28 and doesn't set until 04:28 on the 22nd. It means that all but the very brightest meteors will be washed out by the bright Moon.
Where and when do I look?
The reason why the meteor shower is called the Lyrids is because the point in the sky where the meteors appear to come from (the radiant) is in the constellation Lyra. This constellation will be rising above the eastern horizon at about 8.30pm on the 22nd April but it will be very low on the horizon to begin with. The very bright star Vega is in the constellation Lyra and this is how you will be able to locate where the meteors will be coming from. See the image taken from Stellarium.org to find out where to look on the 21/22 April. Even though Lyra rises just after sunset and you may spot a meteor or two at that time, the best viewing time will be between midnight and dawn on the 22nd. The diagram shows the area that the meteors appear to come from and is called the radiant. It is to the right of Vega and on the border of the constellation Hercules. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Lyra by locating the bright star Vega. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light traced back to the constellation Lyra you are looking at debris particles associated with the Lyrid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Lyrid meteors come from debris left behind by comet C/1861 G1 or Thatcher if they collide with Earth's atmosphere. Comet Thatcher takes about 415 years to orbit the sun once. It is expected to return in about 2283! Comet Thatcher was discovered on April 5, 1861 by A.E. Thatcher and came closest to the Sun (perihelion) on June 3 1861.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
When is the Full Moon a ‘Supermoon’ in 2021?
To find out why a full Moon occurs look in the Astronomy Glossary to learn more about the phases of the Moon.
Full Moon Calendar for 2021. There are 2 'Supermoons' this year (highlighted in bold type) and 2 other close Moons which by some definitions are also 'Supermoons.'
| 28 January | 24 July |
| 27 February | 22 August Traditional Blue Moon |
| 28 March Supermoon | 21 September |
| 27 April Supermoon | 20 October |
| 26 May Supermoon | 19 November |
| 24 June Supermoon | 19 December |
The March and June Supermoons in 2021 have again thrown up some confusion about what the definition of a supermoon actually is. So what is a ‘Supermoon’ and why do experts disagree about what constitutes a ‘Supermoon?’
What is a ‘Supermoon’
The orbit of the moon around Earth is elliptical (see diagram). You will notice that the closest point is called perigee and the furthest point is called apogee. ‘Supermoons’ occur when the full or new Moon coincides or is close to perigee. Of course the Moon isn’t actually any larger than normal it just looks larger because it is closer to us. If you measured the angular diameter between the full Moon at perigee and the full Moon at apogee there would be a 14% difference. Also because it is closer it is brighter. A full Moon at perigee is 30% brighter than a full Moon at apogee. You cannot really see a huge difference between full Moons. You can often get the illusion it is bigger when it rises over the horizon and you compare it with things like trees or buildings on the horizon. So why the disagreement? It’s all in the definition!
What is the definition of a ‘Supermoon’
First of all it is important to say that ‘Supermoon’ is not an official astronomical term and there are differences in the way the term is interpreted. In fact The International Astronomical Union (IAU) who are responsible for naming and defining things in astronomy have not actually recognised the term ‘Supermoon.’
Originally it was an astrologer called Richard Nolle in 1979 who coined the term ‘Supermoon.’ He defined a ‘Supermoon’ as a full or new Moon which comes within 90% of its closest approach to Earth (perigee). So what does that mean?
The average closest approach is about 362,600 km but the range is between 356,500 and 370,400 km. Each orbit of the Moon around the Earth has a slightly different perigee and apogee distance.
So why do people sometimes disagree?
You can determine whether or not the full Moons in any given year are ‘Supermoons’ two different ways:
1. Calculating the difference between the year’s furthest distance (apogee) and the year’s closest distance (perigee) and taking that number to calculate the maximum distance from Earth when a full moon can be classed as a ‘Supermoon.’ Note: Furthest apogee and closest perigee may be new moons or full moons.
This is what is happening this year (2021):
May 11 2021 furthest apogee: 406,512 km (New Moon)
December 4 2021 closest perigee: 356,794 km (New Moon)
Difference: 49,718 km.
90% of the difference = 44,764 km.
Apogee – difference (406,512 – 44,764) = 361,748 km so any full Moon coming closer than this would be classed as a ‘Supermoon’ in 2021.
2. Calculating the distance of the full Moon relative to the apogees and perigees in 2020 (Jan/Feb and Apr/May only: the March and April full Moons fell as ‘Supermoons’ under both definitions).
January 29, 2020 apogee: 405,393 km
February 10, 2020 perigee: 360,461 km
Difference: 44,932 km
February 9, 2020 full moon: 362,479 km
Difference: 405,393 – 362,479 = 42,914 km
42,914 / 44,932 x 100 = 95.5%
April 20, 2020 apogee: 406,463 km
May 6, 2020 perigee: 359,656 km
Difference: 46,807 km
May 7 full Moon: 361,184 km
Difference: 406,463 – 361,184 = 45,279 km
45,279 / 46,807 x 100 = 96.7%
So what does this show?
| Date of Full Moon | Distance km | Definition 1 | Definition 2 |
| March 28 2021 | 362,170 | NOT Supermoon | Supermoon |
| April 27 2021 | 357,615 | Supermoon | Supermoon |
| May 26 2021 | 357,462 | Supermoon | Supermoon |
| June 24 2021 | 361,558 | Supermoon | Supermoon |
Given the narrower definition (definition 1), the full moon on March 28, 2021, was not a supermoon, but given the broader one, it was.
To make matters even more complicated! Simpler definitions by Sky & Telescope (Supermoons are within 358,884 Km of Earth) and Time and Date (Supermoons are within 360,00) Km of Earth then only the Full Moons of April and May are Supermoons.
Take your choice!
What’s in a name?
Full Moons are often named. This is especially true for the Native Americans who tracked the changing seasons by the lunar month rather than the solar year. Here is a list of full Moon names for the year.
| Full Moon Month | Native American Name | Other Names |
| January | Wolf Moon | Moon afer Yule; Old Moon; Ice Moon; Snow Moon |
| February | Snow Moon | Hunger Moon; Storm Moon |
| March | Worm Moon (Earth worms coming out at the end of winter) | Crow Moon; Crust Moon; sap Moon; Sugar Moon; Chaste Moon; Lentern Moon |
| April | Pink Moon (from the pink of the emerging Phlox flowers) | Sprouting Grass Moon; Fish Moon; Hare Moon; Egg Moon; Paschal Moon |
| May | Flower Moon | Corn Planting moon; Milk Moon |
| June | Strawberry Moon | Hot Moon; Mead on; Rose Moon |
| July | Buck Moon | Thunder Moon; Wort Moon; Hay Moon |
| August | Sturgeon Moon | Green Corn Moon; Barley Moon; Fruit Mon; Grain Moon |
| September | Harvest Moon* or Corn Moon | Harvest Moon*; Full Corn Moon; Barley Moon |
| October | Hunter’s Moon | Ying Grass Moon; Blood Moon**; Sanguine Moon |
| November | Beaver Moon | Moon; Oak Moon |
| December | Cold Moon | Moon before Yule |
*Technically, the Harvest Moon is the Full Moon closest to the September equinox around September 22. Most years it is in September, but around every three years, it is in October. The Harvest Moon is the only Full Moon name which is determined by the equinox rather than a month.
** this should not be confused with a total eclipse of the Moon
Image cortesy NASA
Regulus is one of two conspicuous stars (the other, brighter one, is Arcturus) in the Spring southern sky just after dark. Unlike the bright orange ember of Arcturus, Regulus is a fierce blue-white colour, which tells astronomers it’s a lot hotter!
It’s easy to find Regulus, as it provides the dot at the bottom of the reverse question mark that is the head and forequarters of Leo, the constellation of the lion. Dubbed “Heart of the Lion” (or Qalb al-Asad) by ancient arab astronomers, Regulus is about 79 light years from us, so relatively local. Its main star, Regulus A (like most stars, it’s yet another multiple star system) is more than twice as hot as the Sun at 12,190 degrees C. In fact, Regulus A beats the Sun on just about every metric. It’s almost four times the Sun’s mass, three times as wide and about 288 times brighter!
Like the Sun, though, Regulus is a “main sequence” middle-aged star, which means it still gains its energy by fusing hydrogen, the lightest element, into helium. Regulus A also has, like many of us middle-aged, a fat midriff, though this is due to its spin rather than to extra portions of cake. The star spins very fast on its axis, rotating once in just 16 hours. This makes it bulge outward, so it’s not so much spherical as egg-shaped.
Regulus A’s companions are two red dwarfs (much fainter, cooler and smaller stars) at around 4,200 times the distance between Earth and the Sun away. There is thought to be a fainter companion, the dying ember of a star with the Sun’s mass but only about the size of the Earth. Astronomers call these stars white dwarfs, and it’s how the Sun will end its life in about 4-5 billion years.
Fun Facts
Finding Regulus from the Plough (from Stellarium.org) at sunset mid-May.
Arcturus can be found from the tail of the great bear Ursa Major (or the handle of the saucepan). If you follow the arc of these 4 stars to the next brightest star you will find Arcturus. You can easily remember this because you arc to Arcturus. It is the brightest star in the constellation Boötes the herdsman or bear keeper. In fact Arcturus is the fourth brightest star the night sky. It is also part of the asterism called the Spring Triangle which includes Spica in Virgo and Regulus in Leo (or Denebola in Leo).
When you find the star you should see that it looks an orange/red colour. This is because it is a red giant star. The colour is an indication of its surface temperature. Red stars are cooler than blue stars. It is 36.7 light years away from our Sun which is quite close relatively speaking. It is a lot older than our Sun at about 7.1 billion years old and although it is only 1.8 times the mass of our Sun, as an aging star it has expanded to over 25 times the diameter of our Sun. It is 170 times as luminous as our Sun and has a magnitude of -0.04.
Fun Facts about Arcturus
Finding Arcturus from the Plough. Clip from Stellarium.org
One of the brightest comets of the year was going to be visible from now until the middle of June, according to astronomers but it has unfortunately now disintegrated. Alas this is often the story about Comets. In the words of the amateur astronomer David H Levy: "Comets are like cats, they have tails and they do precisely what they want."
Officially known as C/2020 F8 (SWAN), the comet was only just discovered in late March. It takes its name from the Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) camera, which on 25 March captured images of the comet from on board the European Space Agency and NASA's SOHO spacecraft.
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) has said that the comet is fairly bright but fading - and that the best chance of seeing it in the UK was from late May through to early June. The RAS made a guide to spotting the comet in the early evening. With the help of binoculars the comet should have been visible in the north-western sky after sunset, fairly close to the horizon. If you managed to see it - fabulous!
So what should you have been looking for - and what could you have seen?
Comets vary in size - some are the size of mountains, others as big as the Isle of Wight. They are composed of rock and ices, and spend much of their lives travelling through the cold of space. But when they approach the sun, they heat up and the ice begins to stream from the comet's surface. This is what gives them their distinct tails, which point directly away from the sun, rather than in the direction they have travelled from. Comets' tails can stretch for tens of millions of miles, and they are widely considered to be among the most beautiful images in astronomical history.
The RAS has issued guidance for those who do try to spot SWAN, advising them to "look for a haze of light marking the head of the comet - the cloud of gas and dust erupting from its surface"
Image of Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) obtained by UK astrophotographer Damian Peach on 2 May 2020. The long greenish tail emanates from the head of the comet at the top left of the image.
D. Peach / Chilescope team
Licence type: All Rights Reserved
Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was discovered on the 27th March 2020 by NASA’s Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft. It passed to within 43 million kilometres of the Sun at its closest point on the 3rd July (perihelion) and survived! It is now gracing the pre-dawn sky and at magnitude approximately 1.0 it can be seen with the unaided eye. As you can see from the image which was taken by our very own astronomer John Pilbeam on the morning of the 7th July, it has a pretty spectacular tail.
From the 8th July it became a circumpolar object and therefore never sets below the horizon. It is initially in the constellation of Auriga but this will change throughout the month – see diagram from Astronomy Now. At the beginning of the month it is best seen in the pre-dawn sky looking towards the north eastern horizon below the bright star Capella.
As the month progresses, the comet’s visibility improves and it gets higher in the sky as it moves north-eastwards through the constellation of Auriga. Hopefully, it will hold steady in brightness, but there’s no knowing exactly how it will behave as it pulls away from the Sun. In the words of the Canadian amateur astronomer David H. Levy "Comets are like cats: they have tails, and they do precisely what they want."
Towards the middle of the month you will be able to see it before 11pm looking towards the north-north-west and it will have moved into the constellation Lynx at about 20 degrees altitude.
Image by Greg Smye-Rumsby, courtesy of Astronomy Now.
By this time the comet has picked up speed in its motion across the sky as it heads towards closest approach to Earth, which occurs on 23 July when NEOWISE passes us at a distance of 103 million kilometres. At this time the comet will be in the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Between the 23rd and 28th July it will pass under the belly of the bear or if you prefer to see it as a saucepan, underneath the pan.
Try looking for the comet with a pair of binoculars first because it is quite a diffuse object and therefore not as easy to spot as a star of similar magnitude. After you spot it with the binoculars, try and find it with the unaided eye.
Jupiter reached conjunction on the 29th January which means it lies on the opposite side of the Sun to Earth and is therefore behind the Sun and not visible at all. Dont be dismayed however, it will come back into our evening skies in the summer coming to opposition again on 19 August 2021. Opposition marks the middle of the time when you can see Jupiter the best. It will be a mere 599.9 million kilometres away from Earth (4.01 Astronomical Units). At this point, light from Jupiter takes just over 33 minutes to reach our eyes (it takes light 8.3 minutes to travel 1 AU). It is at its brightest around opposition at magnitude -2.9 and sticks out like a beacon.
If you want to spot Jupiter in Spring then you need to be awake in the wee small hours so if you are a morning person you will be able to see it before dawn. For the rise times of Jupiter see the Sky Diary.
In the summer you will see this magnificient planet in the southern sky crossing from east to west throughout the night. It will lie in the constellation Capricornus or the She Goat.
Jupiter won’t rise higher than 25 degrees this year so find a spot with a flat horizon that is as uninterrupted by buildings and trees as possible. It will come to its highest point due south at about 1am around the time of opposition but as the month progresses Jupiter will rise and set earlier each night. By the time it gets to late autumn Jupiter will be heading towards the western horizon when it gets dark. It will be visible in the evening sky until late December.
If you have a pair of binoculars then look for the largest moons of Jupiter – the Galilean moons. These are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. While Io is the closest and Callisto the furthest away from Jupiter they do not always appear in that order because they are orbiting around Jupiter at different speeds and at different distances. In fact they are not always just on one side of the planet. To find out which moon is where on the night you are viewing, look at the website In The Sky (https://in-the-sky.org/jupiter.php). Sometimes you may not be able to see all 4 moons. This is because of their orbital motion. Sometimes they will disappear behind the planet (occultation) and sometimes they will cross the face of the planet during a transit. If they are crossing in front of Jupiter then their shadow can be seen on the face of the planet if you have a telescope. Unfortunately it’s not so easy if not impossible to see a shadow with binoculars. The moons will pass behind the planet from west to east and in front of the planet from east to west.
While 10 x 50 binoculars are good to use if the magnification of your binoculars is not as much as 10 then still have a go. I have seen them clearly with 8 x 56 (56 means they do let in more light but they don’t magnify as much). You will find that Jupiter and the moons wobble about a lot so rest your arms on something solid. This could be a gate or even a friend!
Image courtesy NASA. The black dot is a shadow of the moon Europa
Another feature on Jupiter is the Great Red Spot which can be seen on the NASA image. It is a storm that has been raging for hundreds of years. You will need a telescope to see this though.
This year we are treated to a double planet experience with Jupiter rising closely behind Saturn. This is the opposite of what happened in 2020 when Jupiter rose in before Saturn, "caught up to" Saturn on the 21 December 2020 in a great conjunction, undertook it and now they are moving further apart from each other.
Image capture from Stellarium for 1 April at 05:30. Saturn and Jupiter rapidly being lost in the morning twilight. Sunrise at 06:35.
Image capture from Stellarium at 23:00 on 19th August (Jupiter at opposition). Sunset 20:14.
Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system and at the moment like Jupiter is fast disappearing in twilight. It reaches conjunction on the 24th January 2021 which means it lies on the opposite side of the Sun to the Earth. It is behind the Sun at this time from our line of sigt on Earth and is therefore not visible. However, like Jupiter it will be in our evening skies again in the summer and will reach opposition on 2 August 2021. Oppositions of Saturn occur every year but about 2 weeks later than the previous year. The farther a planet is from the Sun, the shorter the period of time between successive oppositions.
If you want to spot Saturn in Spring then you need to be awake in the wee small hours so if you are a morning person you will be able to see it before dawn. For the rise times of Saturn see the Sky Diary.
At oposition, Saturn will rise above the eastern horizon as the Sun is setting below the western horizon so you will see it all night long. Opposition marks the middle of the time when you can see Saturn at its best because around this time it appears bigger and brighter. This year at opposition it will be about 1.34 billion kilometres away from Earth (8.94 Astronomical Units). When close to Earth like this it takes light from Saturn about 1 hour 15 minutes to reach our eyes. It is at its brightest around opposition at magnitude 0.2.
You will see it in the southern sky crossing from east to west throughout the night. It will lie in the constellation Capricornus the she goat.
Saturn won’t rise higher than 20 degrees this year so find a spot with a flat horizon that is as uninterrupted by buildings and trees as possible. It will come to its highest point due south at about 1am around the time of opposition but as the month progresses Saturn will rise and set earlier each night.
Saturn has the most beautiful of all the ring systems in our solar system. During this opposition they will be tilted about 21 degrees to our line of sight and we are looking at the northern hemisphere at the moment. Maximum tilt is around 27 degrees, so they are still well presented. It is very difficult if not impossible to see the rings through a pair of binoculars especially if they are only a modest magnification such as 10 times but don’t be put off having a go you may see that Saturn is a bit elongated. However, you need to hold your binoculars very steadily. Larger magnification means the binoculars tend to be heavier and even more prone to wobble so you will need a tripod or better still a telescope.
Image courtesy NASA
Mars is the outermost rocky planet of the inner solar system. It is about half the size of Earth. At the moment it is a recognisable object in our night sky even though it is become much dimmer now. It will remain in the night sky until the beginning of June. There is no oposition of Mars this year but it comes to conjunction on 8 October but by then is behind the Sun.
There is an opposition of Mars every 2 years and 50 days when it will be at its brightest. However, because of the elliptical nature of the orbit of Mars the distance from Earth at each opposition is not always the same.
No matter how close or far away it always appears to be very red and is quite unmistakeable. The closer it is the redder it appears.
Image capture from Stellarium. Mid to End April at 21:30.
Image capture from Stellarium. Sunset at 21:08, image at 22:00, 50 minutes after sunset.
The Perseid meteor shower can be seen between 16 July to 23 August and it occurs every year. The peak of the shower when the intensity of meteors coming through our atmosphere is at its highest, is actually in the evening of the 12th and early morning of the 13th August. It is one of the more prolific showers and you may see up to 60-100 meteors per hour. They are pretty fast moving and can leave persistent trains. In reality of course you probably won’t see the predicted peak number every year because of light pollution and other factors such as a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) which will dictate how many are actually visible to you in your locality. The phase of the Moon is a favourable waxing crescent and will set at 22:23 on the 12 August making it nice and dark after this time and easier to spot the meteors.
Where and when do I look?
The reason why the meteor shower is called the Perseids is because the point in the sky where the meteors appear to come from (the radiant) is in the constellation Perseus (see image to locate Perses). From the UK Perseus is almost circumpolar with only the bottom part of the constellation dipping below the horizon so can be seen all through the night and all through the year. In fact the radiant is circumpolar. However, the best time to look for the meteors will be between midnight and dawn as the radiant rises higher and higher in the sky. The diagram shows the area that the meteors appear to come from (the radiant). If you find the more prominent constellation of Cassiopeia which looks like a giant W use these stars to locate the Perseid radiant. Starting at the top left of the W this is star 1 then star 2 then star 3 etc. Draw an imaginary line from star 3 to star 2 and keep going a little and that is the area close to the radiant. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Cassiopeia to find Perseus. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light traced back to the constellation Perseus you are looking at debris particles associated with the Perseid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Perseid meteor shower occurs as Earth passes through the outskirts of a cloud of debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. The dust and bits of rock left behind are called meteoroids. Comet Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the sun once. It was last seen in 1992 and is expected to return in 2126 when it is predicted to be a bright naked eye object: if you can predict what comets will do! Comet Swift-Tuttle was discovered on July 16, 1862 by Lewis Swift and independently by Horace Parnell Tuttle on July 19 1862 hence the double-barrelled name.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Image captured from Stellarium.org
The Geminid meteor shower ranges from 4-17 December and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is on the evening of 13 December and morning of 14 December. It is one of the most reliable meteor showers of the year and often has very bright, moderately fast meteors and some may have long persistent trails. The added and unusual bonus is that the meteors are multi-coloured. They are mainly white but you should see yellow and some red, blue and green too in the streaks of light zooming across the night sky. The colours are a result of traces of metals in the meteors such as sodium and calcium.
This shower can produce up to 100 meteors per hour at its peak but in reality you probably won’t see this many every year. Also light pollution and other factors such as light from a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) will dictate how many are actually visible to you in the area you are looking.
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Gemini (see image to locate this constellation). The 2 brightest stars helping you to locate Gemini are Castor and Pollux. These depict the heads of the twins in mythology. The meteors appear to come from the area close to Castor. This is called the radiant. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
Gemini rises in the east on the 13 December at about 7.30pm. It is easier to see the meteors as the constellation rises higher in the sky so it is better to wait until later in the evening. To see them at their best you should wait until the constellation is at its highest around 2am but that’s a bit late so still look out for them before midnight.
It is going to be a waxing gibbous Moon so there will be some natural light pollution that may spoil the spectacle. Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Gemini and look in that direction. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Gemini you are looking at debris particles associated with the Geminid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Geminid meteors come from debris left behind by the asteroid 3200 Phaeton. Even though the meteor shower was first recorded in 1862 the asteroid was only discovered by a satellite in 1983. It is unusual to get a meteor shower from an asteroid, they usually come from the debris left behind by comets. In fact the Geminids and the Quadrantids are the only meteor showers that don’t originate from a comet. Even though 3200 Phaeton has been officially classified as a B-type asteroid it has also been called a “rock comet.” Scientists have suggested that it could be a “dead comet,” but there is still quite a lot of debate about what it actually is.
3200 Phaeton has an elliptical orbit and only takes 524 days to orbit the Sun. It gets closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Image capture from Stellarium
The Ursid meteor shower ranges from 16-25 December and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is on the evening of 21 December and morning of 22 December. It is only a sparse shower with about 5 meteors per hour.
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Ursa Minor. Ursa Minor (the Little Bear) is easy to find because the most prominent star is Polaris (the North Star). It is the only prominent star that appears to stay in the same place throughout the evening. You can find it from the 7 stars marking the plough in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). The plough also looks like a saucepan. The two stars at the edge of the pan furthest from the handle are called Merak and Dubhe. Merak is the lower star and Dubhe is above it. Trace an imaginary line from Merak, through Dubhe and the next brightest star you come across is Polaris. See the image to help you find out where to look in the north. The Ursid meteors appear to radiate from the area near the star Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris) which is the second brightest star in the constellation (see the image). This is called the radiant. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. This point is the radiant.
Ursa Minor is one of the constellations that appears in our sky all year round. It is a circumpolar constellation. Watch the video to find out more about the circumpolar constellations. Because it is in the night sky all evening you should be able to spot the meteors at any time after the sky becomes dark enough. It coincides with the Winter Solstice and the longest night so plenty of hours of darkness to see meteors. Sunset on the 21 December is just before 4pm in the South of England. It is a bright waning gibbous Moon rising on the 21st at 17:40 and not setting until 10:46 on the 22nd which is not very favourable for this years shower. The radiant of the shower is at its lowest point in the sky at about 7pm with Kochab being underneath Polaris. By 2.30am the radiant is to the right of Polaris and by about 7.30am (just after sunrise in the south of England) on the 22 December the radiant will be at its highest and the meteors lost to daylight.
Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Ursa Minor and look in that direction. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Ursa Minor you are looking at debris particles associated with the Ursid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Ursid meteors come from debris left behind by the comet 8P/Tuttle. It is rather a dim comet discovered in 1790, but the Ursids meteor shower was only recorded in England in 1900. It orbits the Sun every 13.6 years.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Adapted from Stellarium
The Quadrantids meteor shower ranges from 28 December to 12 January and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is on the evening of 3 January and morning of 4 January and only lasts for a few hours. It is among the most active meteor showers, and has been known to produce over 100 meteors per hour on a clear night. The shower produces blue streaks of light with fine trains.
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Boötes. So why on earth is it called the Quadrantids and not the Boötids? It is because the name comes from the former constellation Quadrans Muralis which is now part of Boötes. Boötes is easy to find because the most prominent star is Arcturus a bright orange coloured star, in fact the fourth brightest star in the night sky. You can find it from the 7 stars marking the plough in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). The plough also looks like a saucepan. The three stars that mark the pan handle have a nice arc shape. Follow this arc and “arc to the star Arcturus.” See the image below. Boötes also looks like a big kite with Arcturus at the bottom of the kite. The Quadrantid meteors appear to radiate from the area at the top of the kite in between Boötes and the constellation Draco. See the image below. This is called the radiant. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. This point is the radiant.
The very top of the kite shape of Boötes is marked by the star Nekkar or ? Boötis and appears in our sky all year round. It is circumpolar even though the whole constellation is not circumpolar. Watch the video to find out more about the circumpolar constellations. Because the Quadrantid meteor shower is above the star Nekkar it is in the night sky all evening so you should be able to spot the meteors at any time after the sky becomes dark enough. Sunset on the 3 January is just after 4pm in the South of England. It is a waning gibbous phase and therefore fairly bright. It rises at about 9pm and does not set until after sunrise the following morning and may just interfere a little with the best viewing opportunities for the Quadrantids in 2021. The radiant of the shower is very low in the north-north western sky at sunset but rises higher and higher as the evening progresses. By 3.30am the radiant is to the right of Polaris and is at its highest in the pre-dawn sky and the meteors lost to daylight.
Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. It will be easier to spot the radiant when you can see the whole of the constellation of Boötes but this won’t be until about midnight in the south of England and that is after the Moon has risen so try and locate it before then. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Boötes you are looking at debris particles associated with the Quadrantids meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Quadrantid meteors come from debris left behind by the asteroid 2003 EH1 OR is it comet C/1490 Y1? Or are these two objects one and the same? The jury is still out on that one and it is still unsure. It was discovered in 2003 and orbits the Sun every 5.52 years.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Adapted from Stellarium
Mercury is back in the evening sky in May, setting about 90 minutes after sunset on the 1st May but again elusive and you will need to spot it in twilight as it sinks lower. It will be very low on the horizon when it is getting much darker and the image shows just how elusive this planet can be if you dont have a clear horizon.
Facts about Mercury
Mercury's spin-orbit resonance.
Mercury close to the western horizon at 21:15 on the 16 May 2021. Sunset is at 20:47
Image captured from Stellarium.
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower ranges from 18 April to 27 May and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is on the evening of 5 and morning of 6 May. It is a relatively sparse shower especially in the Northern hemisphere and the meteors will appear low on the horizon. They are very fast and travel at about 66 km/s. They often leave glowing trains which can last for several seconds or more which is always a bonus when looking for meteors.
This shower can produce up to about 30 meteors per hour at its peak but only about 10 per hour in the Northern hemisphere. Also in reality you probably won’t see the predicted peak number every year because of light pollution and other factors such as a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) which will dictate how many are actually visible to you in the area you are looking. It is a favourable waning crescent Moon this year, setting in the afternoon of the 5th and not rising until 04:09 on the 6th so there will be no natural light pollution to spoil the spectacle for the majority of the time. However, the Eta Aquarids are best seen in the pre-dawn sky and the Sun is rising after the Moon at 05:23 so look before the Moon comes up if you are an early bird!
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Aquarius (see image to locate this constellation). In the Northern Hemisphere, they can more often be seen as "earthgrazers." Earthgrazers are long meteors that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon. Aquarius is low on the eastern horizon pretty close to Jupiter and Saturn. You can locate it from the square of Pegasus. The diagram shows the area that the meteors appear to come from and is called the radiant. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
Unfortunately Aquarius doesn’t rise in the east on the 6 May until just before 03:00 so you don’t have a great deal of time to spot the meteors before the Moon and then the Sun rises. Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Aquarius and look in that direction. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Aquarius you are looking at debris particles associated with the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Eta Aquarid meteors come from debris left behind by the comet 1P/Halley. Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sheds a layer of ice and rock into space. The dust grains eventually become the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in October if they collide with Earth's atmosphere.
Comet Halley takes about 76 years to orbit the sun once. The last time comet Halley was seen by casual observers was in 1986. Comet Halley will not enter the inner solar system again until 2061. Comet Halley was discovered in 1705 by Edmund Halley. Edmund Halley predicted the orbit of the comet through past observations of comets, suggesting that these sightings were in fact all the same comet. Halley is perhaps the most famous comet—it has been sighted for millennia. This comet is even featured in the Bayeux tapestry, which chronicles the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
The Draconid meteor shower ranges from 5 – 9 October and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is on the evening of 8 and morning of 9 October. It is usually a very sparse shower and is known to be a ‘sleeper’ with only 5-10 meteors per hour. However, it can be unpredictable and in 1933 and 1946 stargazers were treated to thousands of meteors in just one hour. In reality of course you probably won’t see the predicted peak number every year because of light pollution and other factors such as a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) which will dictate how many are actually visible to you in your locality. This year it is a favourable waxing thin crescent Moon, setting in the early evening of the 8th at 19:26 and not rising until the morning of the 9th so there will be no natural light pollution to spoil the spectacle.
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Draco the Dragon (see image to locate this constellation). Draco is a circumpolar constellation and can be seen throughout the evening and throughout the year in the Northern Hemisphere down to a latitude of about 40 degrees north. The diagram shows the area that the meteors appear to come from and is called the radiant. It is in the head of the dragon. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
Because from Great Britain you can see Draco all evening you should look for the meteors after sunset (about 7pm) and when it gets dark enough. The earlier you start watching the higher in the sky is the radiant. As the evening progresses, the radiant heads towards the horizon making it more difficult to see the shooting stars. Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Draco’s head and look in that direction. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Draco you are looking at debris particles associated with the Draconid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Draconid meteors come from debris left behind by the comet Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner. Each time that this comet returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sheds a layer of ice and rock into space. The dust grains eventually become the Draconid meteor shower if they collide with Earth's atmosphere.
Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner takes about 6.6 years to orbit the sun once. The last time it made a close approach to the Sun was in 2018. It was discovered by Michel Giacobini, who observed it in the constellation of Aquarius on December 20, 1900. It was spotted again two orbits later by Ernst Zinner, on October 23, 1913. Hence the double barrelled name.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Image from Stellarium. At 8pm on 8th October.
The Orionid meteor shower ranges from 10 October to 6 November and occurs every year. The peak of the shower is in the morning of 21 October but watch out for them throughout the range and in the evening of the 20 October. It is a relatively sparse shower with about 25 meteors per hour and they are fast, travelling at 66 km/s! They often leave persistent streaks of light and they sometimes produce fireballs (another name for very bright meteors). In reality of course you probably won’t see the predicted peak number every year because of light pollution and other factors such as a bright Moon (depending on the phase of the Moon at the peak of the shower) which will dictate how many are actually visible to you in your locality. This year it is unfortunately a very unfavourable full Moon which is rising at 18:11 on the 20th and not setting until 08:14 on the morning of the 21st. This means the very bright Moon will wash out all but the very brightest meteors spoiling the spectacle.
Where and when do I look?
The meteors appear to come from the constellation Orion the Hunter (see image to locate this constellation). The diagram shows the area that the meteors appear to come from and is called the radiant. It is just to the left of Orion’s right hand where he is grasping the club. Think of driving through a snow storm on a road, even though snow is falling all around, as you drive through the snow the snowflakes appear to come from a point further along the road and the snowflakes radiate out from this point. The point is the radiant.
The radiant of the Orionid meteor shower will start to appear over the eastern horizon at about 22:30 on the evening of the 20 October. It will not reach its highest point in the sky until about 05:00 the following morning and they are therefore best seen in a dark sky just before dawn starts to break.
Choose the darkest site you can get to and be patient, allow your eyes to get used to the dark. It takes 20 minutes to fully adapt to the dark so it’s best not to use a white light torch – use a red one if you do need to use a torch. Find Orion’s right arm and look in that direction. Don’t just look at the radiant look in the wider area in the dark bits around the radiant. You may see other sporadic meteors in other parts of the night sky but if you can trace the streaks of light back to the constellation Orion you are looking at debris particles associated with the Orionid meteor shower. These particles could be as small as a grain of sand! You may want to stay out for a while so wrap up warmly and you may want to take a chair with you. All you need is your eyes! If you use binoculars your view is too restricted and you will miss the beautiful streaks of light.
So where are these meteors coming from?
The Orionid meteors come from debris left behind by the comet 1P/Halley. Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sheds a layer of ice and rock into space. The dust grains eventually become the Orionids in October and the Eta Aquarids in May if they collide with Earth's atmosphere. Comet Halley takes about 76 years to orbit the sun once. The last time comet Halley was seen by casual observers was in 1986. Comet Halley will not enter the inner solar system again until 2061. Comet Halley was discovered in 1705 by Edmund Halley. Edmund Halley predicted the orbit of the comet through past observations of comets, suggesting that these sightings were in fact all the same comet. Halley is perhaps the most famous comet—it has been sighted for millennia. This comet is even featured in the Bayeux tapestry, which chronicles the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
If you want to find out more about why we see the streaks of light often called ‘shooting stars’ then have a look at the meteor shower section in the astronomy glossary.
Image from Stellarium. At 5am on 21st October.
M13 is a deep sky object visible from Spring in the constellation of Hercules. It is a Messier object and that is where the M comes from. It wasn’t actually discovered by Charles Messier the comet hunter, it was discovered by Edmund Halley back in 1714. Find out more about Charles Messier and why he created a catalogue of deep sky objects.
M13 is actually a globular cluster. A glowing ball of some hundreds of thousands of stars all held together by gravity. It is just on the edge of being visible with the unaided eye at magnitude 5.8 but unless you have really good eyesight and an extremely clear night it is very difficult to spot without binoculars or a telescope. However, if you know where to look and have a pair of binoculars it should be quite easy to see and looks like a fuzzy patch of light. You won’t be able to spot individual stars unless you have a telescope (even a relatively small telescope may resolve stars in the outer regions of the cluster) but then again you are looking at something that is 22,000-25,000 light years away! Have a look at the image to find out where in the constellation M13 is located. The body of Hercules is represented by 4 stars that make up the shape of a keystone.
It is about 145 light years in diameter and through a telescope looks like a glowing 3 dimensional ball of stars.
Fun facts about M13
