2006 – What’s Up

Week of 25th December

 

• The Moon will be First Quarter on Wednesday
• The Sun is currently blank but a large sunspot on the far side of the Sun is liekly to appear mid-week and should cause increased activity
• The ISS is visible (fog permitting) in the early evening throughout the week, the best passes are as follows: On Christmas Day at 17.33.41 from WSW to E, Boxing Day at 17.56.05 from W to E, Wednesday at 16.43.26 WSW to E, Thursday at 17.05.43 W to E, Friday at 17.28.00 W to E and Saturday at 17.50.13 W to SE
• There are 2 bright evening Iridium flares: On Christmas Day at 16.33.20, 28 degrees altitude in WNW and on Boxing Day at 28 degrees altitude in S

 

Week of 18th December

 

• The Moon will be New on Wednesday
• The Winter Solstice is on Friday when the Sun follows its shortest path in the sky from its southernmost rising point on the Eastern horizon to its southernmost setting point in the West
• The Sun is highly active with spot 930 giving rise to X-ray flares. Auroral activity is high and may increase during the week
• The ISS is back with evening passes on Friday at 17.59.59 from SW to SSE and Sunday at 17.09.38 from SW to E
• There are two evening Iridium flares: On Tuesday at 17.45.23, 14 degrees altitude in WNW and on Thursday at 17.15.26, 20 degrees altitude in WNW

 

Week of 11th December

 

• The Geminid meteor shower peaks on Thursday morning 18th at 8.20 UT. It is worth looking out for fast moving meteors on Wednesday and Thursday nights
• The Moon is waning and will be Last Quarter on tuesday
• The Sun has and active spot 930
• There is a beutiful association of planets in the pre-dawn sky, Mercury, Jupiter and Mars
• There are no evening ISS passes or bright Iridium flares this week

 

Week of 4th December

 

• The Moon is waxing and will be Full (Frosty Moon) on Tuesday
• The Sun is now active with sunspot 930 having produced 2 high energy X-ray flares. Activity is likely to continue over the next few days
• Saturn is now returning (though the Ring system will be less favourable than last year, due to decreasing tilt) to the evening sky in Leo and rises at 22.00hrs preceded by the Beehive Open cluster M44 and the eskimo planetary nebula (though these are badly effected by the Moon next week)
• There are no evening ISS passes
• There is one bright evening iridium flare on Monday at 16.27.55, 27 degrees altitude in WNW

 

Week of 27th November

 

• The Moon is First Quarter on Wednesday
• The Sun is quiet and devoid of spots again
• The ISS is making early morning passes at present, for those who are up early the best is onMonday at 06.35.27 from W to E reaching 86 degrees altitude ie almost directly overhead
• There is one bright early evening Iridium flare on Monday at 16.46.44, 17 degrees altitude in SSW

 

Week of 20th November

 

• The Moon is New at the start of the week and will be waxing to First Quarter by the start of next week
• The Sun is quiet as the large spot 923 disappears
• The November meteor showers appear to be producing some very bright meteors, it is worth watching out if the nights are clear and indeed for any late Leonids
• The are no evening passes of the ISS this week
• There are 2 bright evening Iridium flares: Both on Monday at 17.00.59, 28 degrees altitude in SSW and at 18.27.23, 38 degrees altitude in SSE

 

Week of 13th November

 

• The Moon is waning till New at the start of next week, so is ideally dark for the Leonids
• The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Friday at 19.11. This year there is just a chance of increased activity due to the 1933 debris stream, predicted at 4.45am on Sunday morning. Though the radiant in Leo does not rise in the East till 22.00, it will be worth watching into the night over the week-end, especially as Leo climbs towards the Zenith
• The Sun has a large but quiet spot 923
• There are no evening ISS passes this week and no bright Iridium flares

 

Week of 6th November

 

• This is the week for the second in the pair of Mercury transits (the last so beutifully viewed in 2003). Sadly none of this transit will be visible from the UK (next will be in 2049 on 7th May and 2052 on November 9th). However, the transit can be seen on various websites including the SOHO site (see Links). The transit begins at 19.11 GMT and ends at 00.15 GMT on 9th. Note: The next visible transit will be the much rarer transit of Venus (seen in total in 2004) on 6th June 2012, but this will only be seen at the end for the 1st hour of daylight from 5 till 6 am local time
• TThe Moon will wane during the week to Last Quarter next week-end. Whilst these clear and misty nights are common, look out fro Lunar Halos and other rainbow effects caused by water and ice particles at high altitude
• The Sun still has a large sunspot group (921) which could cause magnetic activity
• There are no more bright evening ISS passes this week
• There is one super bright Iridium flare on Wednesday at 17.45.37 at 40 degrees altitude in S

 

Week of 30th October

 

• The Moon is waxing and will be Full (Hunter’s Moon)on Sunday
• Tuesday sees the feast of Halloween or All Hallows, this is believed to have developed out of the more ancient feast for the Pleiades (M45), one of the most cross-culturally significant calendar fixing and cosmologically significant celestial ‘objects’
• The Sun is again active with a fast growing sunspot group (921)
• The ISS makes a couple more passes: On Friday at 17.15.12 from W to ESE reaching 53 degrees and on Saturday at 17.36.32 from W to SE reaching 29 degrees

 

Week of 23rd October

 

• The Moon will now wax till First Quarter next Sunday
• The Sun remians quiet
• Comet Swan continues a good object in Binoculars heading up through Corona Borealis. This week-end it is near the bright star Alkalurops (the left hand of Bootes)
• The ISS is back for evening passes: The best are on Tuesday at 19.25.59 from WSW to ESE, on Wednesday at 19.47.35 from W to WSW, on Thursday at 18.34.19 from WSW to E, on Friday at 18.55.51 from W to E and Saturady at 19.17.27 from W to E
• There are no bright evening Iridium flares

 

Week of 16th October

 

• The Orionid meteor shower peaks on Saturday afternoon, though it is worth watching on Friday and Saturday nights. With no Moon this could be a good year, though rarely getting above 25 meteors per hour. The debris stream is that left behind by Halley’s comet (last pass 1986)
• The Moon continues to wane and will be New at the start of next week
• The Sun is again blank
• Comet Swan (with a greenish tinge) is still well placed to find with binoculars by following the handle of the Plough
• The ISS returns to the evening sky on Saturday at 19.56.23 reaching 25 degrees altitude
• There are 2 bright evening Iridium flares on Tuesday at 18.45.55 at 49 degrees altitude in S and the brightest at 20.21.32 at 47 degrees altitude in ESE

 

Week of 9th October

 

• Comet Swan is now visible in Binoculars and reasonably easy to locate half way between the handle of the Plough (saucepan) to orange Arcturus. The fuzzy round head is not visible to the unaided eye at magnitude 6)
• The Moon will now wane to Last Quarter next Saturday. With a bright Moon and plenty of moisture in the atmosphere it is a good time to see Lunar halos (circular rainbows around the Moon) or Lunar Aureole (straw coloured circles around the Moon)
• The Sun has few spots and little activity, though a dark 250,000 km filament is currently visible
• The are no ISS evening passes this week
• There is a medium bright Iridium flare on Wednesday at 19.12.54, 54 degrees altitude in SSE

 

Week of 2nd October

 

• The Moon is waxing and will be Full next Saturday (Harvest Moon) Though the October Moon is usually the Hunter or Blood Moon, the Full Moon nearest the Autumnal Equinox is known as the Harvest Moon. We are ending the Major Lunar Standstill season, with the lowest First Quarter Moon on 30th September (Which barely reaches 10 degrees above the horizon). We will have to wait till 2015 for another standstill season (Minor) and till 2024 for the next Major (extremes of Lunar altitude.
• The Sun has several potentilaly active and growing spots after some time of inactivity
• The planet Uranus is currently easy to find being less than 0.5 degrees form 4th magnitude lambda Aquarius
• ISS pases this week are all just before dawn
• There is one very bright Iridium flare on Thursday 5th at 19.39.52, 57 degrees altitude in SSE

 

Week of 25th September

 

• The Moon will now wax to First Quarter next Saturday. For many the New Moon this week-end signifies the start of Ramadan
• The Sun remains quiet with just one small sunspot
• This is a poor time for planet watchers, only Uranus is well placed and visble in small telescopes
• There are no evening ISS passes this week
• There is one reasonably bright iridium flare on Friday at 20.06.55, 58 degrees altitude in SE

 

Week of 18th September

 

• The Moon is waning and will be New next Friday when it will eclipse the Sun. The Moon is at Apogee (furthest from the Earth) in its orbit so will only cause at best an annular eclipse but none of the eclipse will be visible from the UK
• Spot 904 is about to depart over the Sun’s western limb for the second time and is still a site of active prominences
• Next Saturday 23rd is the Autummnal Equinox. The Sun will rise due East and set due West before heading into the Southern hemisphere of the Celestial Sphere and our days will become shorter than the nights
• There are no evening ISS passes this week
• There is one bright evening Iridium flare this week on Friday at 20.39.57 at 57 degrees altitude in ENE

 

Week of 11th September

 

• The Moon though still very large and bright is now waning and will be Last Quarter on Thursday
• The Sun has two large groupos of spots which may lead to magnetic activity
• Bright Arcturus is beginning to set late evening in the West and Taurus is rising before midnight signalling the start of Autumn
• There are no ISS passes this week and no bright Iridium flares

 

Week of 4th September

 

• The Moon will be Full (Corn Moon) on Thursday and will rise at 19.40 BST in Partial Eclipse. The Eclipse is only 18% and the umbra will have left the Moon’s surface by 20.40 BST with the Moon returning to normal brightness by 22.00 BST
• There are no bright ISS passes this week but there is a bright Iridium flare on Monday at 22.00.44 in ENE at 41 degrees altitude

 

Week of 28th August

 

• The first week of an 8 planet Solar System since 1930
• The Moon is waxing and will be First Quarter on Tuesday
• The Sun now has a large bipolar spot (905) which is magnetically reversed, more evidence that the next Solar cycle has begun
• The ISS continues to make evening passes though these are better at the start of the week: On Monday at 21.08.58 from W to ESE reaching 72 degrees and 22.44.21 from W to WSW reaching 15 degrees. On Tuesday at 21.32.33 from W to SSE reaching 43 degrees. On Wednesday at 21.55.57 from W to SSW reaching 23 degrees. On Thursday at 20.43.57 from W to SE reaching 43 degrees. On Friday at 21.07.29 from W to SSE reaching 23 degrees and on Saturday at 21.31.55 from WSW to SSW but only reaching 11 degrees

 

Week of 21st August

 

• The Moon will be New on Thursday
• The Sun may retain some activity as sunspot 904 disappears
• Thursday 24th will see the vote by the IAU as to whether we change from a 9 Planet Star (Solar) System to one of 12 (with perhaps more to follow). Friday 25th: The IAU have now voted and have agreed an 8 Planet System, so Pluto has been demoted to a Dwarf Planet with Ceres, UB 313 and potentially many more Trans Neptunian Objects. The critical definition is that a Planet must reign supreme in its neighbourhood ie ‘clearing’ all similar objects, Pluto fails in this respect
• Please note that contrary to articles in some areas of the Press, the planet Mars will not be unusually close and large on 27th, it is in fact at the far side of its orbit and close to the Sun in the sky. This is an Internet generated hoax
• There are evening passes of the ISS as follows: On Friday at 21.33.52 from W to E and on Saturday at 21.57.23 from W to SE. There are no bright evening Iridium flares

 

Week of 14th August

 

• The Moon is waning and will be Last Quarter on Wednesday
• The Sun has been active again and the large sunspot 904 has now broken into two. More interestingly a small spot appeared on 31st July and has now been analysed to have shown reversed polarity, that is the magnetic poles (N and S) were reversed compared to the spots seen for the last 11 years of cycle 23. This may herald the start of cycle 24 which is predicted to be more active than anything seen in the last 50 yeras (peaking around 2011)
• On 24th August the IAU will vote on a new classification for planets and other Solar System objects, this is likely to confirm the planetray status of Pluto (though as a double planet with Charon) and also to elevate the newly discovered 2003 UB313 and also Ceres to planetary status making the Solar System a 12 planet system. The eccentric and inclined orbit objects will be called Plutons, other objects will be called Small Solar System Bodies and the term Minor Planet is to be dropped
• The ISS is back and evening passes are visible as follows: On Friday 18th at 22.05.54 from SW to SSE reaching 36 degrees altitude and on Saturday at 22.27.55 from WSW to SSE reaching 62 degress altitude. Visible passes will continue through next week
• There is one bright evening Iridium flare to look out for: On Thursday at 23.10.46 at 17 degrees altitude in NNE

 

Week of 7th August

 

• The Moon will be Full on Wednesday (Red or Corn Moon)
• The Perseid meteor shower peaks next Saturday just after midnight. Though one of the most reliable for good numbers of shooting stars and for Summer temperatures, this year moonlight will reduce visibility. If it is clear though it is worth watching out over the week-end.
• The Sun remains blank
• There are no evening ISS passes this week
• There are no unusually bright Iridium flares

 

Week of 31st July

 

• The Moon is waxing and will be First Quarter on Wednesday when it will be close to Jupiter in the sky. The Moon will also be within 1 degree of Spica on Tuesday and Antares on Friday
• The Sun remains quiet with just one small spot (901) though a Coronal hole has given rise to Auroral activity over the last couple of days
• The Delta Aquarid meteor shower peaks on 6th August, though there are not many expected per hour (15 max.)
• Thr are no evening ISS passes this week
• There is only one bright Iridium flare on Friday at 22.45.56, 43 degrees altitude in NE

 

Week of 24th July

 

• The Moon continues to wane and will be New on Tuesday
• The Sun remains blank but is showing some magnetic activity
• There are no visible ISS passes this week
• There is one bright Iridium flare on Wednesday at 23.20.48, 21 degrees altitude in NNE

 

Week of 17th July

 

• The Moon is now waning and will be Last Quarter on Monday
• The Sun is now totally blank and quiet again
• There are no visble ISS passes this week
• There are two bright evening Iridium flares both on Monday at 22.31.48, 43 degrees altitude in NE and at 23.12.32, 30 deg. alt. in W

 

Week of 10th July

 

• The Moon will be Full (Thunder Moon) on Tuesday
• The Sun is still active from spot 898, which is breaking up, but continues to cause Coronal Mas Ejections (CME) though not towards Earth
• There are no visible ISS passes this week
• There are two bright evening Iridium flares: On Tuesday at 23.30.24, 38 degrees altitude in WSW and on Friday at 23.21.26, 34 deg. alt. in W

 

Week of 3rd July

 

• The Shuttle launch has been delayed by cloud and is now scheduled for 6.38pm BST on 4th
• On 4th the Earth is at its furthest point from the Sun in its orbit (aphelion)
• The Moon will be First Quarter on Monday
• The Sun continues to display a beutifully symmetrical spot 898 (Neptune sized) which at present remains stable as it traverses the disc
• The Moon will be close to 3 bright objects this week; The bright blue star Spica on Tuesday, Jupiter on Thursday and the huge Red Giant star Antares on Saturday
• There are no visble ISS passes this week
• There are 3 bright evening Iridium flares: On Wednesday at 22.50.17, 18 deg. altitude in WNW. On Thursday at 22.53.36, 15 deg. alt. in WNW and the brightest on Friday at 22.45.23, 42 deg. alt. in WSW

 

Week of 26th June

 

• The Moon will now wax till First Quarter at the start of next week
• The next Shuttle (Discovery) launch is scheduled for Saturday 1st at 20.48 BST. and will be critical in deciding the fate of the Shuttle programme (and indeed NASA’s manned space programme) should more problems occur
• The Sun is again devoid of sunspots
• Saturn, Mars and the New Moon will be close in the evening sky on Wednesday
• There are 5 good ISS passes to watch out for. On Monday at 22.10.13 from W to E reaching 88 degrees altitude, then again at 23.45.21 from W to SSE reaching 40 degrees alt. On Tuesday at 22.33.10 from W to ESE reaching 70 deg. On Wednesday at 22.56.08 from W to SE reaching 41 deg. and on Friday at 22.06.51 from W to SE reaching 41 deg.
• There are 2 bright evening Iridium flares: On Friday at 22.52.29 at 26 degrees in W and on Sunday at 22.49.43 at 23 deg. in WNW

 

Week of 19th June

 

• The Moon will continue to wane till New at the start of next week
• The Sun is now devoid of sunspots again and continues to rise and set further North on the E and W horizons respectively, until Wednesday 21st, the Summer Solstice, when it rises at 4.48am local time almost NE at azimuth 49 degrees (ie compass bearing 049). This is the longest day and the Sun will reach an altitude of almost 75 degrees as seen from Oxford
• Mercury reaches its greatest elongation 25 degrees E (angle from Sun) on Tuesday and may be viewed after sunset just south of Pollux in Gemini
• This is a week for evening ISS passes, there are 8: On Monday at 22.39.53 from SW to E reaching altitude 35 degrees. On Tuesday at 23.02.36 from WSW to E reaching 62 degrees. On Wednesday at 23.25.32 from W to E reaching 86 degrees. On Thursday at 22.13.30 from WSW to E reaching 62 degrees and 23.48.32 from W to E reaching 83 degrees. On Friday at 22.36.24 from W to E reaching 86 degrees. On Saturday at 22.59.22 from W to E reaching 89 degrees and Sunday at 23.22.18 from W to ESE reaching 68 degrees.
• There is one notable evening Iridium flare on Wednesday at 22.19.05 at 37 degrees altitude in W

 

Week of 12th June

 

• Ther Moon will wane during the week to Last Quarter next Sunday
• The Sun has a number of spots including an active region around spot 892 which could lead to magnetic storms
• Next Saturday Mars and Saturn will be less than a degree apart in the Western sky at sunset
• The ISS passes are mainly in the early hours though the following may be seen at the end of the week: On 16th at 23.05.30 in SE reaching a maximum of 17 degrees in altitude above the horizon at total pass of 2 minutes. On 17th at 23.24.59 in SW, max. alt. 34 degrees taking 5.5 minutes and the best on Sunday 18th at 23.47.07 in WSW reaching 60 degrees, a total time of nearly 6 minutes.
• There are two evening Iridium flares of note: The best on 13th at 23.49.03, 45 degrees altitude in WSW and also on 14th at 22.45.03, 17 degrees altitude in WNW

 

Week of 5th June

 

• The Moon is waxing to Full (Rose Moon) next Sunday
• The Sun remains blank
• The Moon this week provides a helpful locator to Jupiter (within 5 degrees on Thuirsday) and to two of the brightest and summer only stars. Spica (a giant Blue star) next to the Moon on Wednesday and Antares (an enormous red supergiant) next to the Moon on Saturday.
• There are no evening ISS passes this wekk
• There are however a couple of bright evening Iridium flares: On Monday at 22.33.18, 17 degrees altitude in WNW and on Friday at 22.47.10, 25 deg. alt. in W

 

Week of 29th May

 

• The Moon will be First Quarter on 4th June
• The Sun has few spots but some activity on the Eastern limb suggests an active area over the next few days
• Jupiter is now very obvious in the South as the sky darkens and is the first object to appear
• There are no ISS passes this week
• There is one bright evening Iridium flare on Wednesday at 23.13.38, 35 degrees altitude in W

 

Week of 22nd May

 

• The Moon wanes during the week and will be New next week-end
• The Sun remains quiet

  <li<>There are no visible ISS passes this week

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• There are 4 bright Iridium flares to look out for: On Monday at 22.51.31, 16 deg. altitude in WNW; Tuesday at 22.54.53, 14 deg. alt. WNW;Wednesday at 21.39.10, 19 deg. alt. NNW and 21.47.42, 18 deg. alt. NNW. There are also 2 very bright middle of the night flares (for insomniacs)this Sunday 21st at 04.43.19, 71 deg. alt. in WSW and on Thursday at 01.143.24, 53 deg. alt. in SSW

 

Week of 15th May

 

• The Moon is now Waning and will be Last Quarter next Saturday
• The Sun is quiet again and virtually devoid of sunspots
• The broken Comet 73P is moving rapidly across the sky and can be seen (in binos) from midnight till dawn. On Monday the two largest and brightest segments will be parallel to the two top corner stars in the square of P{egasus and between Pegasus and Cygnus
• There are no visible ISS passes this week
• There are two bright Iridium flares to watch out for: On Tuesday at 22.59.36, 23 deg. altitude in W and on Friday at 00.04.32 at 44 deg. altitude in SW

 

Week of 8th May

 

• The Moon will be Full next Saturday (Flower Moon)
• The Sun is now quieter with few sunspots
• Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 continues to break up daily, fragment B has now split in two. In total 60 fragments have now been seen. B and C are Binocular objects high in the Eastern sky just before midnight. At its closest (25 Lunar Distances or 6 million miles) at less than 0.1 AU, this will be the closest comet approach for 20 years. Just before dawn on Monday one fragment will pass right next to the Ring Nebula in Lyra
• There are no ISS passes this week
• There are two bright Iridium flares: On Monday at 00.46.36 46 deg. altitude in SSW and on Tuesday at 23.07.50 31 deg. altitude in WSW

 

Week of 1st May

 

• The Moon is now waxing and will be First Quarter on Friday
• The Sun has several sunspots, olne (875) particularly active and solar flares have continued to erupt, one giving a 10 minute radio blackout in the States at the end of last week
• Jupiter is now rising early evening and at -2.5 magnitude is very bright as it approaches Opposition, the Galillean moons are also easy in small binos
• Comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 is racing across the sky with its larger segments B and C relatively easy to find in binos as fuzzy patches between Hercules and Corona Borealis at the start of the week and Lyra at the end of the week
• There are sevral bright evening passes of the ISS: On Monday at 22.06.55 W to SE, Tuesday at 22.30.02 W to SSW and Wednesday at 21.17.53 W to SSW
• There are 3 bright evening Iridium flares: On Monday at 23.41.00 at 35 degrees altitude in WSW, Wednesday at 21.23.30, 23 deg. alt. in NNW and 23.40.54 32 deg. alt. in WSW

 

Week of 24th April

 

• The Moon is still waning and will be New on Friday. On Monday in the pre dawn sky the old Moon will be very close to Venus.
• The Sun has few spots but is still producing large flares on its limb
• Jupiter is approaching Opposition next week
• There are several evening passes of the ISS: On Monday at 22.35.21 WSW to SW, Tuesday at 21.23.35 SW to E, Wednesday at 21.46.30 WSW to E, Thursday at 22.09.33 W to E, Friday at 20.57.32 WSW to E and 22.32.37 W to ESE, Saturday at 21.20.32 W to E and 22.55.40 W to WSW and the best on Sunday at 21.43.33 W to E
• There is one bright evening Iridium flare on Tuesday at 23.30.45 at 11 degrees altitude in W

 

Week of 17th April

 

• The Moon is now waning and will be Last Quarter next Friday
• The Sun remains magnetically active despite having few spots
• Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 which has broken into 20 pieces is now brightening and the brighter segments will be visible in the 10 inch from the end of April into May. At its brightest (May 1st) it should be an easy binocular object reaching perhaps magnitude 3. On 8th May it will pass very close to the Ring Nebula in Lyra
• The ISS will be visible in the evening next week and for the first time next Sunday at 22.11.38 from SW to SSWThere are 4 bright evening Iridium flares: On Monday at 23.41.31, 17 deg. alt. in WSW, Wednesday at 23.38.46, 15 deg. alt in W, on Thursday at 23.32.51, 16 deg. alt. in W and Saturday at 23.30.08, 14 deg. alt. in W

 

Week of 10th April

 

• The Moon will be Full (Paschal Moon) on Thursday and is thus followed by Easter Day (the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox)
• The Sun has only a few spots but remians active with several large prominences over the last few days
• The latest ESA probe Venus Express has now gone into orbit around the planet (for its 500 day mission) and hopes to send back first images on Thursday
  <br
• There are no ISS passes visible in the evenings this week

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• There are 3 bright Iridium flares this week: On 13th at 22.56.07, 17 degrees altitude WSW, on 14th at 22.50.13 at 18 degrees altitude WSW and on 17th at 22.41.31 at 17 deg. altitude in WSW

 

Week of 3rd April

 

• The Moon is waxing to First Quarter on Wednesday
• The Sun is active at present and is producing both large prominences and the largest spot no.865 this year
• Venus is bright in the morning sky before dawn
• There is currently no information regardingt he ISS and Iridium flares

 

Week of 27th March

 

• The Moon wanes until it is directly between the Earth and the Sun on Wednesday morning. On Tuesday it is at Perigee (closest to Earth) thus the eclipse on Wednesday is Total and of long duration (over 4 minutes) as seen from Central Africa and Turkey. From the UK it will be a Partial eclipse of at most 25%. This will not be noticeable and is especially dangerous to attempt to view it unless using professional solar filters with the CE mark. Permanent eye-sight damage can otherwise result. The Moon’s edge will start to be seen on the Solar disc from around 9.45am and will be at 25% at 10.30am and will have gone by 11.30am.
• The Sun remains quiet and so at Totality viewers should expect to see a symmetrical and unstructured Corona
• There are no evening ISS passes this week and no bright Iridium flares

 

Week of 20th March

 

• Monday is the Vernal Equinox, the start of the Astronomical year and the origin of the celestial coordinate system. Only at the 2 Equinoxes does the Sun rise due East and set due West, hence spending equal times above and below the horizon
• The Moon is waning and will be Last Quarter on Wednesday
• The Sun has one active sunspot region which is causing some geomagnetic activity
• There are no ISS passes this week
• There is one superbrtight (-8th magnitude) evening Iridium flare on Wednesday at 19.20.04, 63 degrees altitude in SE

 

Week of 13th March

 

• The Moon will be Full on Tuesday (Lenten Moon, last of the Winter. As we might expect with a Solar eclipse approaching on 29th March, there will be a Lunar eclipse on 14th. This will only be penumbral ie the Moon will not enter the dark central shadow of the Earth and will only appear dimmed as it passes through the outer shadow. This will occur from 21.25 GMT for 1st contact, 23.28 GMT 2nd contact, 00.08 GMT 3rd contact and the Moon should be at full brightness again at 02.10 GMT
• The Sun is blank with no sunspots again, though there has been some auroral activity at high latitudes
• Jupiter is now rising at 23.15 GMT
• There are no bright ISS passes this week
• There is only one notable Iridium flare on 17th at 19.41.34, 57 deg. altitude ESE

 

Week of 6th March

 

• The Moon is waxing and will be First Quarter on Wednesday. It will be near Mars on Monday and Saturn on Friday
• The Sun remains blank but there are still active prominences
• There are 4 good ISS evening passes: On Monday at 18.52.42 from W to E, Tuesday at 19.17.20 from W to ESE, Wednesday at 19.41.58 W to S and Thursday at 18.31.19 W to ESE
• There is one super bright Iridium flare at mag.-8 on Wednesday at 18.42.09 at 57 deg. altitude in SSE

 

Week of 27th February

 

• Comet Pojmanski is visble in the early morning as a small blue smudge and will be just east of Venus on Monday (Binoculars will show a small tail)
• Mercury is at its greatest elongation, ie most visible, and can be seen in the pink twighlight in Pisces (just below the square of Pegasus) just after sunset at the start of the week
• The Moon continues to wane and will be New mid-week, the dark skies will be good for viewing fainter objects
• The Sun remains blank
• The ISS returns and will give several bright passes: On Tuesday at 19.34.50 WSW to S. Thursday at 18.49.15 WSW to E. Friday at 19.13.56 W to E. Saturday at 19.38.41 W to E and Sunday at 18.28.13 W to E
• One more super bright Iridium flare at magnitude -8 can be seen on Friday at 19.03.20 at 55 deg. altitude in SSE, a direct beam from Iridium 54

 

Week of 20th February

 

• The Moon is now waning and will be Last Quarter on Tuesday
• The Sun is basically devoid of sunspots though there has been some large prominence activity at the limb
• Jupiter is now making its way into the late evening sky and will be within 5 degrees of the Moon on Monday
• The ISS will be returning next week-end.
• There will be 2 exceptional Iridium flares both direct beams at -8th magnitude on Sunday 26th; at 17.48.50, 45 deg. altitude in SSW (Iridium 34) and then at 19.24.30, 51 deg. altitude in SE (Iridium 56)

 

Week of 13th February

 

• The Moon will be Full on Monday (Snow Moon)
• The Sun remains quiet, though there are a few spots on the far side
• There are no visible ISS passes this week
• There is only one notable Iridium flare this week on 16th at 18.31.16 at 47 deg. altitude in SSE

 

Week of 6th February

 

• Contrary to original thoughts that space had proved too cold for the suit-satellite’s batteries, it is apparently still transmitting, though the signal is now weaker.
• The Moon is waxing during the week and will be Full at the start of next week. Tonight (5th) It is close to both Mars and the Pleiades M45
• The Sun is totally quiet with zero sunspots
• Saturn continues to be high in the night sky and makes a good image next to the Beehive Open Cluster M44
• There are no evening passes of the ISS
• On 11th Febraury (Saturday) at 18.52.26 at 46 degrees altitude, direction SSE we are almost directly under the reflected sunlight beam from Iridium satellite Iridium 4. The resulting flare will be -8 magnitude (over 1500 x brighter than the brightest stars)

 

Week of 30th January

 

• A new novel idea for a satellite is about to be launched on Friday. This consists of an old space suit which will be released from the ISS. It has transmitters ‘on board’ and will transmit its internal temperature as it fluctuates with solar radiation, to the ground, during its unprotected orbits
• The Moon will be waxing over the week to First Quarter next Sunday, when Mars will be within 2 degress of the Moon
• The Sun currently has no sunspots but a 200,000 mile long filament exists on the nearside, which could lead to activity
• Saturn is now at its best, though due to the inclination of the rings, the Cassini division is now harder to see than last year
• There are no visible ISS passes this week
• Information on Iridium flares is not currently available.

 

Week of 23rd January

 

• After several delays the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt launched sucessfully on Friday
• The Moon will be New next Sunday and is close to Jupiter at the start of the week
• The Sun has a fast developing group of sunspots which may lead to flares and increased activity
• Saturn is approaching Opposition and is thus well placed for observation. While there is little Moon the Open Cluster M44 (Beehive) may be seen in Binoculars just above and to the West of the Planet
• There are no evening passes of the ISS this week
• There are 4 bright evening flares: On 23rd at 18.35.24, 38 Deg. altitude SSE. On 24th at 17.12.28, 21 deg. alt. SSW. On 26th at 18.18.29, 11 deg. alt. WNW. On 27th at 18.03.34, 13 deg. alt. WNW and 18.20.18 at 38 deg.alt in S. and on 28th at 17.48.36 at 16 deg. alt. WNW.

 

Week of 16th January

 

• Following the safe landing of the Stardust probe, another milestone in our exploration of the Solar System gets underway on Tuesday with the launch of the several times cancelled (due to Budget) New Horizons mission (originally Pluto-Kuiper express) which will head out to the last unexplored region of our Solar System for a close encounter with Pluto and its large moon Charon (and newly discovered 2 smaller moons) and then travel on into the Kuiper Belt. Arrival at Pluto is scheduled for 2015.
• The Moon is now waning and will be Last Quarter next Sunday.
• The Sun is spotless at present and quiet
• The ISS makes 2 more low passes: On 16th at 17.19.48 W to SSE and 17th at 17.45.27 WSW to SSW.
• There are 3 bright evening Iridium flares: On 19th at 17.24.13, 27 deg. altitude SSW and at 18.50.30 37 deg. alt. SSE and on 20th at 18.48.50 at 38 deg. alt. SSE

 

Week of 9th January

 

• The Moon continues to wax and will be full (Wolf Moon) next Saturday. Having been close to Mars last week-end it will be close to Saturn this coming Sunday
• The Sun remains quiet with almost no sun-spots
• Next Sunday just before 10am the Stardust probe returns its samples of debris from the Coma of comet Wild 2, collected on gel-like fly paper it is hoped that the dust collected may give an insight into early Solar System formation
• The week sees several passes of the ISS (the earlier passes in an evening are better): On 11th at 16.51.04 from W to E. On 12th at 17.15.51 W to ESE. and 18.51.15 W to SW. On 13th at 17.40.38 W to SE and 19.16.48 WSW to SW. On 14th at 18.05.32 W to SSE and 15th at 18.31.07 WSW to SSW.
• There are 3 bright evening Iridium flares: On 12th at 16.36.39 at 29 deg. altitude in W and 17.48.11 at 31 deg. altitude in South and the best on 15th at 17.39.14 at 29 deg. altitude in SSW