We are proud to present you with another edition of Marshall's night sky events this week! Welcome, we hope you find something of interest! Let us know in the replies if you did, we would love to hear about it! We have also started a look back at events this week in history, hope you enjoy the new segment.
Let's get started by examining the highlights of the night sky this week, 29th April to 5th May. As usual we will list the highlights and discuss a few. We hope you find this info useful and if you have anything you wish to discuss or add, please hit the "Reply" button below and let us know!
Please note that all images are from Stellarium, the link to the webpage is here: http://stellarium.org/ All other information is freely gathered from various websites, Apps, planetarium software and social media. We would encourage you to download and print your finder charts more specific to your location, the charts/graphics included are for basic guidance only. Many websites like Sky maps.com will allow you to download and print out a free planisphere for each month, link: https://www.skymaps.com/
EVENTS
29th April - Mars is 0.04° south of Neptune
30th April
1th May - Moon at Third Quarter 11:27
2th May
3th May - Saturn is 0.8° north of the Moon
4th May - Neptune is 0.3° north of the Moon
5th May - Peak of the Eta Aquarid meteor shower
PLANETS
Mercury recently passed in front of the Sun at inferior solar conjunction, it is not observable. It will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is 7° below the horizon at dawn. It was at highest altitude in evening sky on 25th March and will be at greatest elongation west on 9th May.
Venus will soon pass behind the Sun, it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is 2° below the horizon at dawn. It will be at greatest elongation west
on 24th October.
Mars recently passed behind the Sun at solar conjunction, it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is no higher than 0° above the horizon at dawn.
Jupiter will soon pass behind the Sun at solar conjunction. It will be visible at Sunset above the western horizon. It will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 34 minutes after the Sun.
Saturn recently passed behind the Sun at solar conjunction. It will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is no higher than 2° above the horizon at dawn.
Uranus will soon pass behind the Sun at solar conjunction. It is not readily observable with a separation of only 17°.
Neptune recently passed behind the Sun at solar conjunction. It will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and is 6° below the horizon at dawn.
COMETS
C/ PONS-BROOKES(12P)This comet is finally visible from the southern hemisphere. This week is the best time for observing and photography.
Low on the horizon at evening twilight there is a short but sweet observing window at the end of astronomical twilight. It begins the week in Taurus moving into Eridanus. The comet is not visible to the naked eye unless the atmosphere is very transparent. From most locations, it is easily visible in mid-sized binoculars from western urban fringes looking away from the city light pollution. It is an easy telescopic object in any small telescope.
- PONS-BROOKES_map.jpg (22.32 KiB) Viewed 191 times
This photo taken by Joe Cali on April 27 from the western edge of Canberra -
- Pons-Brookes(12P)-7978-mono-Joe-Cali.jpg (12.38 KiB) Viewed 191 times
C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)
Panstarrs, fading in Cygnus, brightened up to 9.6 mag from February to March, this week it is 10.9 mag. It will fade out rapidly after this. In the Northern Hemisphere, it stays observable in good condition. In the Southern Hemisphere, it will be unobservable in May.
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
Tsuchinshan, brightening in Virgo, will reach
13P/Olbers
Olbers, brightening in Taurus, returned for the first time in 68 years. It will brighten up to magnitude 7.5 mag in summer. Now it is at 9.8. Brightening rapidly. It stays extremely low in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it will be unobservable soon.
STARS
Zeta Herculis - An unequal binary pair with a highly eccentric 35 year orbit. Currently at maximum separation. Zeta Herculis is the star at the bottom right of the Hercules keystone
Sirius - Have you ever tried for Sirius B? Sirius A and B are now at their widest apparent separation in their 50-year orbit, 11 arcseconds apart, and will remain so for the next couple years before they start closing up again.
T Coronae Borealis - A star system, located 3,000 light-years away from Earth, is predicted to become visible to the unaided eye soon. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity as the nova outburst only occurs about every 80 years. T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, last exploded in 1946 and astronomers believe it will do so again between February and September 2024. Plan ahead just in case! Full article here.
SPACE LAUNCHES
29th April
30th April
1th May
2th May
3th May
4th May - Delayed - Eris - TestFlight1 - Launch site: Pad 1, Bowen Orbital Spaceport.
Gilmour Space in Australia is preparing to launch the inaugural flight of its Eris Block 1 rocket. The three-stage launch vehicle is 25 m (82 ft) tall and is equipped with 1.5 m (4.9 ft) diameter payload fairings. The rocket is designed to send up to 305 kg up to low Earth orbit. This first mission, called “TestFlight1,” does not appear to have a payload on board. Delayed from May 4 due to a lack of launch permit.
5th May
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
We highly recommend using "Spot the station" from NASA to find out when the International Space station will be passing over your location. This is a fun object to see flying high above, try using binoculars here, lots of fun!
For the HAM radio enthusiasts among you, please keep a eye on the ARISS website for upcoming contacts or SSTV broadcasts for when the International Space Station is within range. There are several HAMS on board the
This video is from the
THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
April 29th:
21 years ago, in 2003, the BeppoSAX X-ray astronomy satellite re-enters Earth's atmosphere and falls into the Pacific Ocean.
11 years ago, in 2013, the first SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, VSS Enterprise, makes its first powered flight.
11 years ago, in 2013, the Herschel infrared telescope runs out of coolant and is decommissioned.
9 years ago, in 2015, Blue Origin's New Shepard (NS1) makes its first flight to just over 58 miles (93.5km); the capsule is recovered, but the booster crashs on landing.
April 30th:
58 years ago, in 1966, the Saturn I SA-5 second stage reenters the atmosphere and spreads some debris over the Rio Negro District of Brazil.
28 years ago, in 1996, BeppoSAX, an Italian–Dutch X-ray astronomy satellite, is launched.
22 years ago, in 2002, the BeppoSAX X-ray astronomy satellite is deactivated, due to a decaying orbit.
11 years ago, in 2013, the Messenger probe ends its mission and crashes into Mercury.
6 years ago, in 2018, NASA’s decommissioned Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up.
May 1st:
75 years ago, in 1949, Gerard Kuiper discovers one of Neptune's moons, Nereid.
45 years ago, in 1979, NASA's Crawler Transporter One carries the space shuttle Enterprise, with external tank and two inert solid rocket boosters, to Launch Pad A for a fit check.
28 years ago, in 1996, the Ulysses spacecraft crosses the ion tail of Comet Hyakutake.
May 2nd:
244 years ago, in 1780, the first binary star system to be discovered, Xi Ursae Majoris, is found by William Herschel.
19 years ago, in 2005, Boeing and Lockheed Martin announce their intention to form the United Launch Alliance.
19 years ago, in 2005, the British Skylark sounding rocket launches on its 441st and final flight with a Swedish payload, Maser 10.
May 3rd:
363 years ago, in 1661, Christiaan Huygens observes the planet Mercury transit the Sun.
309 years ago, in 1715, during an eclipse in England, Edmond Halley is the first to report the phenomenon later known as Baily's Beads.
38 years ago, in 1986, the first NASA launch following the Challenger disaster, GEOS-G on board a Delta 3914, is destroyed by range safety after a premature engine shut down caused by a lightning strike.
May 4th:
57 years ago, in 1967, NASA's Lunar Orbiter 4 is launched to photograph the Moon.
35 years ago, in 1989, the Magellan spacecraft is brought into orbit and launched to Venus from Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-30).
17 years ago, in 2007, an Ariane 5-ECA rocket set a new commercial payload record, lifting two satellites with a combined mass of 9.4 tonnes.
13 years ago, in 2011, the first organized "Star Wars" Day celebration takes place in Toronto, Canada.
May 5th:
63 years ago, in 1961, Alan Shepard is the first American to be in a suborbital flight around the Earth (Mercury/Freedom 7).
57 years ago, in 1967, Ariel 3, the first satellite designed and constructed in the United Kingdom, is launched to measure properties of the thermosphere and measure large-scale galactic radio frequency noise.
34 years ago, in 1990, the Russian Progress expendable cargo spacecraft makes its last flight (Progress 42).
30 years ago, in 1994, the Clementine lunar probe leaves lunar orbit to fly by asteroid Geographos.
27 years ago, in 1997, NASA ends the International Cometary Explorer (ICE, formerly ISEE-3) mission.
27 years ago, in 1997, Iridium satellites 4,5,6,7 and 8 are the first ones launched to be part of the Iridium satellite constellation service.
6 years ago, in 2018, the Insight probe and the first deep-space CubeSats, the MarCO pair, are launched to Mars for study of the planet's interior; also marking the first interplanetary mission to launch from the West Coast.
And that is it for the upcoming week. We hope you can all get out and do some observing, sketching and imaging.
Clear skies!
The
