Astronomy

Sky Notes for Early Spring Brought to you by Roy Greon, Vice Chairman and Journal Editor of The Nongham Astronomical Society. Everyone is welcome to aend the Society’s monthly meengs which take place at The Gotham Memorial Hall, Nongham Road, Gotham, Nos. NG11 0HE on the first Thursday of each month. Contact details are on Soar Valley Life’s Website, or go directly to the Nongham Astronomy website: hps://nonghamastro.org.uk/

What’s that bright star? That’s a queson you may be asked any evening this spring. The answer is Venus, the nearest planet to Earth, and by far the brightest in our sky. Alfred Lord Tennyson imagined what it would be like to stand on one of our neighbouring planets and see the bluewhite Earth hanging majescally in their sky, when he wrote, “...Venus – were we nave to that splendour, or in Mars, we should see the Globe we groan in, fairest of their evening stars. Could we dream of wars and carnage, cra and madness, lust and spite, Roaring London, raving Paris, in that point of peaceful light?...” Space research over the last halfcentury supports Tennyson’s warning that appearances can be decepve, for as we gaze at our apparently serene sister planet, we are now aware that Venus is indeed a hellish place, with clouds of sulphuric acid driing over a surface hot enough to melt lead. Venus is oen thought of as Earth’s twin, especially in terms of size, as it is 7500 miles across compared with Earth’s 7900 miles. But that’s about as far as the likeness goes, for Venus suffers a runaway greenhouse effect, resulng in that blistering temperature. At the Nongham Astronomical Society meeng at Gotham Memorial Hall at 7:30pm on June 4th, Dr Richard Ghail will be speaking on ‘VENUS why so different?’ Do come along if you would like to learn more. The Planets in March and April As already noted, Venusis the standout object this spring, parcularly in March and April. You will see it shining with a steady light (not twinkling) high in the west aer the Sun has set. Through a telescope it will show a ‘phase’ rather like the Moon: gibbous unl late March, then a steadily thinning crescent throughout April and May. Looking west Mercury, a much more elusive planet, will become visible low down in the west aer sunset in the second half of May. Meanwhile, the superior planets (those further from the Sun than we are) connue to be poorly placed for observaon from the UK, as they remain south of the equator throughout the spring. However, a fascinang spectacle awaits those willing to rise early (before 5am) between midMarch and midApril, as all three planets will be close together in the morning sky. Marswill swoop past the other two during this period, and around March 26th it will be midway between Jupiter and Saturn, in the constellaon of Sagiarius. But to see them you will need to pick a spot with a clear southeastern horizon – no houses or trees to spoil the view! A nakedeye comet? This spring a comet is swinging past the Earth on its 350,000year orbit around the Sun. Comet C/2017 T2 Panstarrs will reach its closest point to the Sun on May 4th, and around that me should be at its brightest. Having said that, comets are notoriously difficult to predict, and while this one may become visible to the naked eye, it may also fall short, and require the use of binoculars. A good resource for tracking the comet can be found at hps://www.heavensabove.com Phases of the Moon for March and April 2020 Phase Date Date First Quarter March 2nd April 1st & 30th Full Moon March 9th April 8th Last Quarter March 16th April 14th New Moon March 24th April 23rd

The arrow poinng to the boom right of the crescent moon photo points to the posion of the Sun. This moon indicates that the Sun has set and shows a new moon before its first quarter approximately 4 days old

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