The Night Sky astronomy

less impressive where meteor showers are concerned. The Alpha Aurigid shower will have two peak times of activity. The first and busiest peak will be on the 1st during a bright Moon phase so not too easy to spot. We could expect up to 10 meteors per hour, which are bright and worth trying to photograph. Make sure you head outside at least half an hour before you start observing to allow your eyes to become dark adjusted. Ensure you are observing in an area with as few obstructions, like trees or tall buildings, as possible. Again, check on an app such as SkySafari to find the location of Auriga so you can anticipate where the meteors will seem to emanate from.

Virtual Space journey : Ceres, the largest asteroid? Our virtual journey today will take us a mere 23.8 light-minutes away from Earth. We follow in the path of the Dawn probe which passed this way in 2015. The Dawn probe survived a three year orbit of this large body and finally died in 2018. We will stay for only a short time. Ceres used to be known as the largest asteroid but now has the designation of 'Dwarf Planet'. This giant of the main asteroid belt is much smaller than our Moon, with a diameter of 970 kilometres. As we approach you can see Ceres' rocky and dusty surface laced with large salt deposits. It won't be possible to leave our craft as the surface temperature is never more than -73 degrees Celsius. We could, in theory, walk on the surface of this planet, even though its gravity is less than 3% that of Earth. The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory found that water vapour ejects into space from Ceres, possibly from volcano-like icy geysers or ice patches on the dwarf planet's surface. So do have your cameras ready to try to capture a shot of these faint e lusive vapours.…

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is cruising back to Earth with a sample it collected from the rocky surface of asteroid Bennu. When its sample capsule parachutes down into the Utah desert on Sept. 24, OSIRIS-REx will become the United States’ first-ever mission to return an asteroid sample to Earth.

After seven years in space, including a nail-biting touchdown on Bennu to gather dust and rocks, this intrepid mission is about to face one of its biggest challenges yet: deliver the asteroid sample to Earth while protecting it from heat, vibrations, and earthly contaminants.

Fun Facts

▪ Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets, are rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago .

▪ There are millions of asteroids in the solar system. ...

▪ Some asteroids became the moons of planets. ...

▪ Asteroids can have moons, rings and tails. ...