INTERACTIVE

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This month’s top prize: four Philip’s titles

PHILIP’S The ‘Message of the Month’ writer will receive a bundle of four top titles courtesy of astronomy publisher Philip’s: Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion’s Star Chart, Robin Scagell’s Guide to the Northern Constellations, Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest’s 2021 Stargazing, and a planisphere for the night skies as they appear at latitude 51.5˚ north.

Winner’s details will be passed on to Octopus Publishing to fulfil the prize

MESSAGE OF THE MONTH

One night, two meteors

For most of my life I’ve been an armchair astronomer, occasionally venturing out and lying on the ground to marvel at the stars, meteors and satellites. I live in Cambridge with lots of light pollution so have never tried to image the night sky. Enter the August issue of ! I read the articles by Stuart Atkinson: “Just be content to stand there in the dark and wait for shooting stars…”; and by Pete Lawrence: “Can you capture a Perseid?” and decided that since I have a GoPro, there must be a chance, even with street lights. Well, the night of 6 August was clear and I thought I would practise. Guided by hints and tips from the magazine’s articles, I opted for an exposure of 30 seconds at ISO 400 and took a few hundred images of different parts of the sky. I managed to capture two meteors, the first passing through Ursa Major (not a Perseid) and the second streaking past Mirfak (certainly a Perseid); how lucky was that? They’re not brilliant images (there is some trailing), but thanks to those articles and the challenge to try astrophotography, it’s great that I can identify the whole of Perseus and Mirfak, the Pleiades, Ursa Major and Capella, in addition to capturing the meteors. Thanks for reawakening the night sky for me!