November - December 2020

Australian Sky & Telescope

The Essential Magazine of Astronomy

Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Astronomy – Not A Nerdy Pursuit
I FIND IT HARD TO UNDERSTAND those people who think astronomy is a waste of time, or some kind of pursuit that only nerds enjoy. They don’t seem to realise that relishing the night sky is just as valid as going on a bushwalk or a visit to the beach,
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min read
AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE
EDITOR Jonathan Nally ART DIRECTOR Lee McLachlan CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John Drummond, David Ellyard, Alan Plummer, David Seargent, EMAIL info@skyandtelescope.com.au ADVERTISING MANAGER Jonathan Nally EMAIL jonathan@skyandtelescope.com.au TEL 02 9439 1
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
No Signs Of Life In Vela…
detected during a deep search for low-frequency transmissions emanating from a region in the direction of the southern constellation Vela. The volume of space covered by the survey — conducted with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Austr
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
.. But Signs Of Life On Venus?
A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS LED by Jane Greaves (Cardiff University, UK) has announced the detection of phosphine in the cool cloud decks of Venus. Phosphine is a trace gas in Earth’s atmosphere associated with anaerobic life. Astronomers have previously o
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Jupiter Might Have 600 Moons
JUPITER COULD HAVE around 600 moons measuring at least 800 metres in diameter, according to a team of Canadian astronomers. Most of the moons are in wide, irregular and retrograde orbits. Over the past 20 years, astronomers have found dozens of small
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Astronomers Find SN 1987A’s Neutron Star
SUPERNOVA 1987A WAS one of the most-observed supernovae in history after it exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud just 168,000 light-years away. Telescopes around the globe and in space captured the blast wave, which illuminated three overlapping ri
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Close Encounters In The Milky Way’s Bulge
NEW RESEARCH SHOWS that stellar flybys are common in our galaxy’s crowded centre. Visits from interlopers could affect how young worlds grow in the Milky Way’s bulge. Moiya McTier (Columbia University) and colleagues conducted simulations of interact
Australian Sky & Telescope3 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Astronomy In Transit
November is a month to celebrate those relatively rare celestial events known as ‘transits,’ the passage of Mercury or Venus across the face of the Sun as viewed from Earth. During a transit, the planet in question looks like a tiny black dot, slowly
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min read
The David Malin Awards 2020
The winners of the 2020 Central West Astronomical Society’s David Malin Awards were announced at a ceremony at Parkes, NSW, in July. The awards are named for, and the entries were judged by, renowned professional astrophotographer, David Malin. In ad
Australian Sky & Telescope12 min readPhysics
To Touch The SUN
THE LAUNCH OF THE DELTA IV HEAVY sounded of fire and thunder. The rocket’s vibrations rumbled over the team of scientists and engineers standing kilometres away in the early hours of August 12, 2018, as they watched the rocket carrying NASA’s Parker
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
To The Sun, Via Venus
Approaching the Sun takes more energy than leaving the Solar System altogether, as any spacecraft leaving Earth inherits its orbital speed of 30 km/s (107,000 kph). Slowing that momentum counterintuitively takes more energy, says mission designer Yan
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readScience & Mathematics
New Product Showcase
Explore Scientific now offers a polar-alignment scope for its compact IEXOS-100 German equatorial mount. The IEXOS-100 Polar Finder and Adapter (US$89.99) is a small, focusable alignment scope with an etched reticle that shows the positions of stars
Australian Sky & Telescope11 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Radio Sky
CABLE UPON CABLE UPON TANGLED CABLE… Never had I seen such a convoluted jumble of wires, screws, pliers and other whatnots in such a small space. It was like a hardware store had imploded. In imploding, the mayhem had become strangely alive. I could
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readPhysics
Long Waves And Longer Waves
Observers on Earth receive radio waves from cosmic sources in two ways. The first is by recording the source’s flux density, which is the power received per unit area at a specific frequency. The unit of flux density is the Jansky, in honor of Karl.
Australian Sky & Telescope11 min readPhysics
Star Clocks
HOW DO WE TELL TIME in the Milky Way? To understand the history of our galaxy, its star systems, and even its elements and molecules, we need a way to put a timeline to events — a timeline that spans billions of years. The Milky Way didn’t form in on
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readPhysics
How a Star Slows Down
1 Particles stream out of the star as a wind. 2 Particles follow the stellar magnetic field lines out and get whipped around by the rotating field as they travel. 3 Eventually the particles break free, carrying some of the star’s rotational momentu
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Wanderer
Our target this issue is Uranus. This planet is a great binocular target. Unless you have a big planet-killing telescope you’re not going to see much more than a little dot anyway, so you might as well use a more convenient instrument. Another reason
Australian Sky & Telescope3 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Shine On With Firsts And Bests
Why in the world are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear And why on earth are you there When you’re everywhere, Come and get your share. And we all shine on Like the moon, and the stars, and the sun. Yes, we all shine on, Everyone. — From t
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Using The Star Chart
WHEN Late October 11 pm Early November 10 pm Late November 9 pm These are daylight savings times. Subtract one hour if daylight savings is not applicable. HOW Go outside within an hour or so of a time listed above. Hold the map above your head wi
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Giants Stride The Sky
We’re about to be treated to the best planetary conjunction of the year, when Jupiter and Saturn sidle up to each other in mid-December. It’ll be a sight not to be missed, with the duo so close together that you’ll be able to see both of them in the
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Sky Phenomena
1 Uranus at opposition 3 Moon 5° north of Aldebaran 7 Moon 4° south of Pollux 9 Moon 5° north of Regulus 11 Mercury greatest elong. west (19.1°) 13 Venus 3° south of the Moon 13 Moon 7° north of Spica 14 Mercury 1.5° south of the Moon 16 Mars
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Sparks from Leo & Taurus
November has no strong meteor showers unless there happens to be an outburst from the annual Leonids. That occurred most recently in 2002 when up to 3,000 meteors an hour blazed across the sky. According to the American Meteor Organization, we won’t
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Lunar Phenomena
Full Moon …… Oct 31st, 14:49 UT Last Quarter …… 8th, 13:46 UT New Moon …… 15th, 05:07 UT First Quarter …… 22nd, 04:45 UT Full Moon …… 30th, 09:30 UT Perigee …… 14th, 12h UT, 357,837 km Apogee …… 27th, 00h UT, 405,894 km Last Quarter …… 8th, 00:37 UT
Australian Sky & Telescope4 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Best For Binoculars
Some comets brighten slowly and fade rapidly; others show relatively symmetrical light curves. But the most ‘obliging’ comets (all other things being equal) are those that rapidly brighten as they move toward perihelion, and fade only slowly as they
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
An Opposite Attraction
With the rich star fields of Sagittarius long gone with the winter, you might think that the opposite direction — the Galactic anti-centre — is bereft of interest. Not so! Towards the constellations of Auriga and Taurus, open star clusters, bright an
Australian Sky & Telescope3 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Celestial Calendar
Uranus, will reach a milestone in the early morning of November 1, as it comes to opposition in a barren region of sky in southern Aries. At magnitude 5.7, Uranus is easy to spot through binoculars even from the suburbs. But the fact that so few star
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
November’s Lunar Eclipse
If you weren’t convinced that you saw any trace of Earth’s shadow during previous penumbral eclipses, you should have no doubt as the November 30 event unfolds. At maximum eclipse, 83% of the Moon will lie in Earth’s outer shadow. I’ve struggled at f
Australian Sky & Telescope5 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Changing Face Of Mars
Mars reached opposition on October 13 and at magnitude –2.5 outshone nearly every other object in the night sky. With the Red Planet exhibiting a generously large disk of 22.4 arcseconds, observers have had a great opportunity to study its mysterious
Australian Sky & Telescope11 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Lost Discoveries Of E.E Barnard
THE LIFE OF LEGENDARY US astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard is a rags-to-riches story. Born in 1857, he endured an impoverished childhood in Nashville during the Civil War era. Before his ninth birthday, he was already working as a photographer’s assi
Australian Sky & Telescope5 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Become A Planetary Pro
IMAGES WITH SOUTH at the top and west at left have long been the convention for drawings and photos of astronomical objects, as well as lunar atlases and maps of Mars intended for telescopic observers. A Newtonian reflector produces an inverted image
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Barnard’s Comet Discoveries And Associated Finds
September 3 and October 30, 1888 Barnard found his first two comets at Lick, C/1888 R1 and C/1888 U1. June 23, 1889 In the early hours, Barnard discovered the periodic Comet 177P/Barnard using the 6.5-inch refractor, his fourth catch in a little mor
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
My Virtual Comet Sighting
FEW THINGS STIR THE SOUL like the sight of a comet airbrushed onto a dark starry sky, its ghostly glow intruding on a familiar celestial landscape, its tail blown by unseen winds, reminding us that the cosmos is far from static and fully known. The t
Australian Sky & Telescope7 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Pros And Cons Of Image Stacking
FOR ROUGHLY A CENTURY, photographing deep sky objects was a relatively straightforward endeavor. You’d load your camera with film, aim your telescope at a chosen target, open your shutter, and keep a guide star on the crosshairs of a guiding eyepiece
Australian Sky & Telescope6 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
The Sharpstar Hyperbolic Astrograph
SHARPSTAR, A NEW BRAND in the astronomy market, is offering an attractive line of premium refractors and two unique reflectors specifically for astrophotography. The larger astrograph is the Sharpstar 20-cm PNT Newtonian, which offers a focal ratio o
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readScience & Mathematics
An F/3.3 Masterpiece
WHEN HOWARD BANICH HEARD that the Tele Vue Paracorr provides good field correction down to f/3.5, his first impulse was to grind an f/3.5 mirror and see how well it really worked. He overshot a little and wound up with f/3.3, but as he says, “the mir
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Seeding An Interest In Space
This year’s David Malin Awards attracted another fantastic range of images of all varieties of celestial objects (see pages 14–17). For the next 12 months you’ll be able to see the images in the flesh at the visitors’ centre at the Parkes Observatory
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
Jim Pollock
Jim Pollock has had a life-long interest in astronomy, and has been involved in amateur astronomy in Victoria for longer than he’d like to admit. As director of the Great Melbourne Telescope Section of the Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV), he i
Australian Sky & Telescope1 min readScience & Mathematics
Astrophotos From Our Readers
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR IMAGES Images should be sent electronically and in high-resolution (up to 10MB per email) to contributions@skyandtelescope.com. au. Please provide full details for each image, eg. date and time taken; telescope and/or lens; mount;
Australian Sky & Telescope2 min readAstronomy & Space Sciences
My Time Of Transits
LAST NOVEMBER MARKED the end of a season in my life as an astronomer. As I’m a ‘senior’ amateur, Mercury’s passage across the Sun on that day may have been the last transit of a planet I’ll experience in my lifetime. I savour my two decades of transi

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