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MESSAGE OF THE MONTH
Ancient light
Recently, I have been listening to a number of Professor Brian Cox’s fascinating lectures on YouTube. He mentioned that light travels in straight lines and I have a question about that. Does this mean that in the Hubble pictures of multiple galaxies – where the farthest object is 13 billion lightyears away – the 13 billion-yearold light has not been blocked or absorbed by any other object? Are we only observing the light that got through, and could there be more that we do not see – or is this where gravitational lensing comes into play?
David Hewitt, Leigh on Sea
That’s correct, David, the light we see from 13 billion years ago is indeed only what manages to get through the dust and gas that fills the cosmos. Lensing is a bit different, though, and is where distant light is ‘bent’ around massive objects closer to us and not absorbed by it, sometimes making the light dimmer, sometimes brighter – Ed.
This month’s top prize: two Philip’s titles
The ‘Message of the Month’ writer will receive a bundle of two top titles courtesy of astronomy publisher Philip’s: Nigel Henbest’s Stargazing 2022 and Robin Scagell’s Guide to the Northern Constellations
Winner’s details will be passed on to Octopus Publishing to fulfil the prize
Great ball of fire?
At around 5pm on 23 November I was running with friends between classes at the Southend Campus of Essex University, when we suddenly all noticed what looked like a fireball falling in front of us in the sky. Fortunately, I was lucky to have my phone in my hands and I took a quick picture (above). I have no idea how long the meteor’s tail was because it wasn’t that close, but I think it was between 50 and 100 metres long. The trail also smoked a little and lingered for about 30 to 40 seconds after the fireball had vanished. When I took the photo, the meteor was falling practically vertically and was in a northwest direction.
I didn’t hear any particular noise or a sonic boom coming from the fireball; we all just noticed it in front of us as it was very bright.
Kristina Valeri, Southend on Sea
Well done on being vigilant, Kristina! But this looks rather like an aircraft contrail catching the winter evening sunlight: when they’re illuminated like that it’s easy to mistake them for a meteor fireball. A fireball as spectacular and close as the object in your photo is likely to have made a sonic boom. One useful place where you can check up on potential fireballs is the UK Meteor Network, and its Fireball section (ukmeteornetwork.co.uk/fireballs). Keep looking up! – Ed.
New Big Bang?
I’m sure Professor Brian Cox said on his TV programme, Universe, that ‘far away’ galaxies were racing away from us and Andromeda, our nearest galaxy, over 2.5 million lightyears away, is racing towards us. Can I ask why the Milky Way isn’t racing in the same direction as Andromeda? If the Universe is supposed to be expanding, how can galaxies be charging together?
I always understood that we were peering further and further back in time but haven’t been able to see as far back as the Big Bang yet, but if the Andromeda Galaxy is charging towards us while distant galaxies are charging away from us, surely the Big Bang happened somewhere between Andromeda and the outer galaxies? One imagines that if galaxies millions of lightyears apart can come together, the expanding Universe is at some point going to stop, contract and end up in one more Big Bang!
Kind regards, Peter Haste, via email
Because of the way galaxies formed, they are clumped together in groups. Even though these groups are all moving away from each other as the Universe expands, inside the groups they’re close enough to be affected by each other’s gravitational pull, causing them to jostle about and sometimes collide. – Ed.
Creating squares
There have been some exciting developments with the RAS (Royal Astronomical Society) Bicentennial Quilt this year. The side showing the orbital paths of the Solar System is now completed, but the Sun and planets still require a skilled embroiderer’s hand; plus a number of squares have been joined together for the patchwork side.
Also, I’ve almost finished populating the online image gallery with all the squares for the patchwork side of the quilt (https://ras.ac.uk/ras-bicentennial-quilt-100-patchwork-squares). With any luck we will be able to host some in-person stitching sessions in the RAS building next year.
Annie Hogan, Royal Astronomical Society, Piccadilly, London
Society in focus
The Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal (EAS) was formed in 2004 by local author and astronomer Stuart Atkinson to promote and celebrate the transit of Venus. EAS is named after Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the founders of modern astrophysics, who was born in the Cumbrian town of Kendal.
The Society meets each month and hosts guest speakers at meetings that cover a wide range of topics. EAS also holds public ‘Moonwatches’ and outreach events, particularly when there is something significant happening. We set up telescopes and encourage the public and passers-by to look through them: in many instances it’s their first view.
Despite COVID, the EAS has met regularly and has had some fascinating talks via Zoom, and our monthly newsletters have proved to be popular. We are currently experimenting with hybrid meetings, where members attend either in person or via Zoom.
Our most recent planned Moonwatch – our first since the pandemic – was due to take place in November 2021 along with Friends of the Lake District. Sadly, the weather was not in our favour, but we hope to host another one soon!
If you are in the area and want to join in, why not get in touch. Our programme and blog are on our website (address below).
Ian Bradley, chairperson; David Glass, meetings coordinator > eas-online.org.uk
CORRECTION
Nikos Charalambidis wrote to point out that in the main text on page 46 of the January issue (‘Sky Guide’, Big Three, Quadrantid Meteors), for the name of the stars in the Plough asterism, the Greek letter zeta should have been ‘ζ’, not ‘ξ’, which is the Greek letter xi.
Tweet
Andrew Morl @AndrewMorl • Dec 14
There was normal cloud for the peak of the Geminids, but gaps in the cloud gave us views of the Moon through the 8-inch Dobsonian. The picture is straight off the phone, not edited. @GrassholmeObser @ThisisDurham @ThePhotoHour @skyatnightmag #moonshots
Naturehawk @NaturehawkPhoto • Dec 30
Grid No. 1… #Astrophotography #milkyway #astro #nightsky @BBCStargazing @skyatnightmag @practphoto @UKNikon @NikonEurope @Adobe
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WE ASKED: What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Harold Siddons The lunar occultation of Mars in December! Jim Hendrickson Getting clouded out of another lunar eclipse on 15 May.
Keith Mountjoy A partial solar eclipse, oh, and a clear sky!
Steve Roach To seeing if Comet 15P/Finlay is going to give parental guidance to the Delta Cancrids.
daydreamastro • 10 December
The Rosette Nebula, as captured with a SkyWatcher Evostar ED80 telescope, HEQ5 pro mount, ZWO294 OSC camera, L-eNhance Optolong filter, using 14x 10min subs, with a total integration of 2 hours and 20 minutes, and processed in Photoshop.
Scope Doctor
Our equipment specialist, Steve Richards, cures your optical ailments and technical maladies
Email your queries to scopedoctor@skyatnightmagazine.com
I have a pair of Vixen BT 80mm binoculars and observe from a moderately light-polluted site. Are there any eyepieces or filters that would help improve my views? ANDREW WELLS
The Vixen BT-80 binoculars have an effective focal length of 900mm achieved by the use of a built-in teleconverter within the 500mm-long optical tube, and they use two Amici prisms to produce a correct orientation image with a 45° viewing angle for 1.25-inch eyepieces. To achieve the best views through these binoculars, keep the magnification to below 85x, which means selecting eyepieces with focal lengths down to about 11mm at the shortest. There’s eyepieces that shipped with this instrument. These include: Vixen SLV Lanthanums (12mm and 25mm); Baader Hyperions (13mm and 24mm); or BST StarGuiders (12mm and 25mm).
Observations of nebulae under your Bortle class 4 skies would benefit from the use of OIII (Oxygen) eyepiece filters like those made by Astronomik or Explore Scientific. For more general observations, a UHC (Ultra High Contast) filter from either of these companies would also be worth considering.
Steve’s top tip
What is backfocus?
Backfocus describes the distance from the end of the eyepiece drawtube to the focal plane of a telescope. It is important to ensure that the focuser has sufficient travel both inwards and outwards to achieve focus with either an eyepiece or a camera.
Finding focus with eyepieces is normally straightforward, but the use of a camera can make it difficult to achieve, especially with Newtonian reflectors that often have insufficient inward focuser travel. Insufficient inwards travel is difficult to resolve without moving the primary mirror or inserting a Barlow lens in the optical path. When it comes to a refractor, an extension tube will easily resolve any issue of insufficient outwards travel.
Steve Richards is a keen astro imager and an astronomy equipment expert