Archive for the ‘Astronomy’ Category
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 2, 2012
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It has been a long time since I wrote about Space travel or Astronomy. Two of my favourite subjects deserve a better airing but I have other things to think about. Humankind has always been inquisitive. It is as though we are pre-programmed to be so but if you think about it, it is hardly surprising. One piece of information leads to another question being asked. Almost everywhere that is habitable on this planet has had at some point human beings living there. Not content with what we have on this world we look toward colonising other worlds. We claim that this world is running out of resources but in reality there are plenty of resources here. It has more to do with mis-management and wastefulness. Assuming humankind eventually colonise another world, and there aren’t that many close enough for it to be a viable proposition presently, what will we do when we get there? Looking at our near neighbours, only one or two of them are candidates for colonisation and even they are hostile environments for human beings. The first place is the Moon. It has no atmosphere which is the first problem. There is little likelihood of water being present there. Mars is a marginally better prospect but even there the atmosphere is extremely rarefied having less pressure than exists on top of Mount Everest! Water probably does exist on Mars but is yet to be proven. Even so, Mars isn’t exactly a human-friendly place either. Massive structures would have to be built to contain a man-made atmosphere on either world or we would have to continuously walk about in a space suit. Then there are the problems of higher radiation, low temperatures and low gravity to contend with. Colonisation of other worlds would be a far greater problem than anything mankind has had to undertake colonising places on Earth. Any colonisation I feel would be simply one dedicated to research for I cannot see the possibility of a mass-exodus from this world ever becoming feasible. Other worlds do exist outside of our solar system of course but they are so far away that travelling there would take generations upon generations to get to them, assuming we found them hospitable in the first place, something very difficult to ascertain from where we are. I like the romanticism of Space colonisation but unless we can develop super speed travel methods we are wasting our time trying. It could be that we are not meant to go elsewhere and that is why the prospect is so limiting. I’ll leave you to decide.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Astronomy, Science, Travel, Universe | Tagged: Colonization, Earth, Human, Mars, Moon, Solar System, Space colonization | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on November 26, 2011
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One of my interests is in Astronomy. I have always been fascinated by the cosmos, how galaxies are spread out far and wide, so far and wide it goes beyond human understanding. The visible universe is so vast that normal measuring devices cannot successfully give us an idea of its true size. At the edges of visibility the galaxies are moving so fast away from our standpoint that even the light they have been producing cannot escape to reach us. It is presumed that just beyond what we can presently see there are such galaxies in existence, or were in existence once long ago. Observable galaxies at these tremendous distances have been measured at receding from us at more than half the speed of light. The distances are mind-boggling. Our moon sits at a distance from us of little as one and a half light seconds. The Sun is approximately eight and one-third light minutes away. When we measure the distances to the outer planets in our solar system we have to begin reckoning in light hours. Then there is the nearest star, Proxima Centaurus a satellite star of Alpha Centaurus which is approximately four and one-third light years away. There are thousands of millions of stars in our Galaxy, The Milky Way and we have to measure their distances in light years and parsecs. A parsec is around 3.26 light years and represents that distance at which an object would subtend a parallax angle of one arc-second. It is still a small amount of distance at 19 trillion miles or 31 trillion kilometres in the grand scheme of things. Some of the distant galaxies are umpteen trillions of miles away. In real terms they probably no longer exist as galaxies but simply of matter. When we look at anything we look at it as it was when the light emanating from it began its journey into our eyeballs. It is suggested that all the material which makes up the universe will at some time stop accelerating away from us and will then begin contracting to a single point. If you believe in the universe having been born into existence from ‘The Big Bang‘, which was a single point, then a contraction back to that single point is a definite possibility. What started the process has been debated by clerics and scientists over many generations. I believe that God produced matter from what didn’t previously exist as is claimed in Scripture. You may have your own theories on the subject. This ‘matter’, this substance that makes up the entire universe evidently can be squeezed into a pinpoint. If we look at matter itself it is composed of atoms which in turn are composed of protons, neutrons, electrons and a few other particles each according to the type of matter. However the bulk of the space that atoms and their orbiting components occupy is in fact empty space! It would appear that there is no such thing as a solid object when it is suggested that the tiniest fraction of any object is actual matter. Even the whole universe has been described as being able to fit inside a cube measuring a mere one or two inches if all that ‘free space’ were to be eliminated! So looking at it that way, we don’t exist, you don’t exist! Bears some thinking about considering how much value we place upon ourselves.
Shirley Anne
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Posted in Astronomy, Creation, Environment, Science, Universe | Tagged: Astronomy, Big Bang, Galaxies, Galaxy, Hubble Space Telescope, Matter, Milky Way, Space Telescope Science Institute | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 20, 2011
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You know, we live on a very special planet and for those of us who believe in a Creator God, one that was purpose-built. Well even if you are an atheist or believe in other things the fact remains, this is a very special place. Consider these things..
1 The planet itself is just the right size to have and maintain an atmosphere, more especially one that we can breathe. If the Earth was smaller it could not hold on to its atmosphere, gravity would not be strong enough. If the Earth were larger it would hold on to the more poisonous gasses and the air we now can breathe would not be breatheable and probably far denser too.
2 The Earth is situated at just the right distance from the sun so that it is neither too cold nor too hot having temperatures between -60C to +60C (approximately) with the greater portion of the surface being at a temperature we can live with. Think about the planet Mercury, the closest planet to the sun. It has a daytime temperature that is hot enough to melt the metal lead and a night-time temperature that approaches absolute zero! If it has an atmosphere as some have suggested in more recent times, it is very tenuous indeed, almost a complete vacuum to be precise. Venus, the second closest to the sun does have a very dense atmosphere but it comprises very poisonous gasses, acidic in fact and with a very high temperature also capable of melting lead (>500C).
3 The Earth has an axis which is tilted at 23.5 deg from the ecliptic (the suns apparent path around the sky during the year, which is in fact the path we travel around the sun). This factor alone gives rise to our seasons so that each of the hemispheres are alternately pointed toward the sun then away from it. This allows a temperature variation which when coupled with the tidal motions of the seas and oceans cause us to have a weather system, essential to circulate the atmosphere and the oceans to prevent stagnation. This serves to allow precipitation too, essential for watering the planets flora which in turn produces our food. Now although all the other planets have similar axis tilts with Uranus having one that is tilted at 98 deg making it a very unusual object indeed, none of the other planets are at the same distance as we are away from the sun and their ‘seasons’ are accordingly vastly different from what we would call a season. Only the planet Mars comes anywhere near what we have on earth but without large oceans and a substantial atmosphere to sustain life as we know it.
4 We have a large Moon circling the planet without which we would not have tidal motion. The seas would become stagnant through a lack of movement around the globe which also would considerably affect what resulting weather we might have should it not be there.
5 The Earth has just the right gravitational pull on both ourselves and every other living creature on the planet, including plant life as well as the atmosphere. Anything much stronger would have an adverse effect on our growth and ability to get around. Plants would not be able to grow tall to produce enough fruit and seeds for us to eat. Trees would be stunted and there would be no such thing as jungles or forests. No jungles, no diversity of animal life. No forests, no cover for other plants or animals and no wood for us to use as a building material. Also, as mentioned, the atmosphere would be completely different too.
6 The Sun is just the right type of star to support life on Earth. If it were cooler it would be red, either dwarf in size producing insufficient radiation to keep us warm and well-lit or a supergiant engulfing us! If it was hotter it would most likely be too large and producing way too much radiation, we would in this case be fried! The Sun is also stable and produces a fairly steady output of heat, light and other radiation. As it is the Sun, although just the right size, does produce deadly radiation too. However, because the Earth has a molten iron-based core which produces a very strong magnetic field encompassing the whole planet, this ‘shield’ diverting harmful rays around the planet. Some of this radiation however is drawn into the north and south magnetic poles of the Earth giving rise to the Aurora Borealis and Australis, the northern and southern lights.
Yes this special planet revolves around a special star which circles around a huge galaxy (The Milky Way) at just the right distance from its centre so we are not bombarded with the extremely high radiation levels present where the star density is so great there could never be night-time and the heat would be unbearable. Don’t you think this planet is a very special place?
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Life, Nature, Universe | Tagged: Astronomy, Earth, Mars, Mercury (planet), Milky Way, Nature, Planet, Solar System, Sun | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 15, 2011
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The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, no other publishing sells as well. Considering its pages were penned thousands of years ago and by forty different authors it can be said that the information regarding the Universe and Creation are accurate having been proven by modern science. Here are some examples
1 Time had a beginning. (1 Corinthians 2:7)
2 The universe had a beginning. (Genesis 1:1)
3 The universe was created from the invisible. (Hebrews 11:3)
4 The dimensions of the universe were created. (Romans 8:38-39)
5 The universe is expanding. (Job 9:8)
6 Creation of matter and energy has ended in the universe (refutes steady-state theory). (Genesis 2:3-4)
7 The universe is winding down and will “wear out” (second law of thermodynamics ensures that the universe will run down due to “heat death”-maximum entropy). (Psalm 102:25-27)
There are other verses than those quoted which confirm the claims.
Taking them one at a time
1 The explanation below about the forming of the universe points the way to show that Time itself had a beginning for if nothing existed at some point then Time also must not have existed. The full explanation is too involved to explain here, even if I could explain the logic myself. The ancients would certainly not have understood these things.
2 For many years many scientists/astronomers believed that the universe was in a stable state in that it is in a constant state of transforming itself and it has always existed as such. However it has been shown that this isn’t true and from more thorough examination evidence suggests that in fact the universe did have a beginning. This is the basis of The Big Bang Theory. The universe, it is stated, was formed from something that wasn’t visible beforehand. The people of the Bible had no proof of how things came about.
3 As previously stated in 2 above, scientists have shown that the universe did not exist at one point. People in ancient times could not have known how things came into existence, many people today lack that understanding.
4 There will be a certain point in time when the galaxies cease from moving away and will begin, by gravitation, to collapse inward to its point of origin. This point must mark the finite edge of the universe. On a smaller scale each galaxy is different and each has finite size, including our own galaxy. More facts we know today that could not possibly have been known then.
5 If we study the universe we see that it is primarily composed of galaxies in all shapes and sizes. Our own galaxy The Milky Way is one of thousands upon thousands of galaxies scattered throughout the universe. These island universes are all moving away from each other, the universe is expanding but in order to expand there must be a point of origin. This point of origin will be where the universe was created. The telescope had not been invented to show how the universe is made and how it behaves.
6 Scientists have determined that matter itself is no longer being created showing therefore that the universe is not in a steady state but has evolved. Ancient people could hardly have known that the universe would end sometime. They knew nothing about universes.
7 As explained in 4 above the universe will begin to cease moving outward by the laws governing thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics are a more recent discovery.
It is obvious to anyone with any intelligence that these things could not possibly have been known to the people of the Bible but what is written down in its pages show that they, the writers, got the information through inspiration. Inspiration needs knowledge beforehand and this knowledge was just not available. The inspiration points to divine intervention. They were given what to write in their thoughts but they could not have understood the meaning.
So how could the writers have written something factually correct without possibly knowing anything about the subject matter?
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Creation, Science, Universe | Tagged: Astronomy, Astronomy Alternative, Big Bang, Cosmology, Creation, Galaxy, Milky Way, Second law of thermodynamics | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on May 9, 2011
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This year, sometime in November, our little planet will be visited by a large Asteroid. It will pass us by at a distance of 201,700 miles or so, approximately 38,000 miles less than the average distance of the Moon! By all accounts we shouldn’t worry about it as it will have little effect on the Earth and is very unlikely to cause any damage whatsoever. This asteroid however could collide with us at some point in the future as its orbit around the Sun occasionally crosses the earths path around the sun. It just takes the two to be at that point at the same time!
Some asteroids circle around the sun in elongated orbits and in doing so cross Earths orbit every so often. Sometimes, they come very close to Earth itself. In January, asteroid 2010 AL30 passed within about 80,000 miles (130,000 km) of Earth. AL30 was just at 36 feet (11 meters) wide though. A greater danger presents itself in the year 2036 when the asteroid Apophis is predicted to come very close to the Earth on April 13 at a distance of 18,300 miles above Earth’s surface. Apophis is larger than two football fields. While that’s not big enough to create global devastation, it could cause significant regional damage, if it was to strike the Earth.
It is difficult to believe that we could never find ourselves at the mercy of a stray asteroid given that there are so many of them out there, comets too! In the early solar system collisions would have been commonplace but as time passed the frequency of such collisions dropped dramatically. It is just as well I guess!
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Uncategorized | Tagged: 99942 Apophis, Asteroid, Earth, Mile, Near-Earth object, Sun | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 2, 2011
As I was going upstairs on Sunday evening I could hear the noise of propellar blades. The police helicopter was active. I went into the toilet as that is where I was headed and whilst I was in there the noise got louder. I thought it must be very near and hovering over some spot. I finished with the toilet, switched off the lights and opened the window. I looked up to see the lights of the helicopter fixed over one place about a half-mile away. The side of our house, where the toilet is situated, faces roughly west toward the main road into town about a hundred yards or so away. Next, I saw the blue flashing lights of a police car headed toward the road that would bring it beneath the helicopter. It’s siren was silent. The helicopter flew onward after a minute, presumably the car had caught up with whoever it was they were after. All went quiet again and as it was after midnight there was little traffic noise. I continued to look skyward but now was looking at the stars. The night sky was clear of any clouds and although there was pollution from the street lighting, seeing was quite good. Over to my left, that is SW, Orion (the hunter) was setting. Directly in front of me was Auriga (the charioteer) and to the right was Cassiopea. Had I looked directly upward I might have seen Gemini (the twins) but I was tired and bed was calling me! I haven’t done much stargazing for a while, the weather puts paid to that quite a lot here in the UK but when the skies are clear I like to gaze upward and see our little corner of the Galaxy. I often wonder what the sky must look like on a planet circling one of the stars nearer to the centre of the Galaxy. Thousands of ‘suns’ shining in the night sky would make it daytime all of the time! I can only imagine what it would be like.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy | Tagged: Astronomy, Auriga, Earth, Environment, Helicopter, Light pollution, Night sky, Orion, Star, Stars | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 18, 2011
Humans have this instinct to explore and to colonise. From the earliest times man has been an explorer, initially to find food but then to search for better places to live and to find resources. Thousands of years ago men roamed the earth and traded with those he met on the way. As mankind grew he wanted more. Later expeditions into the unknown were primarily to seek for gold and other riches. When west met east and discovered spices there was a ready market waiting to be exploited. Even today men still explore and yet for all their efforts there are still undiscovered places on the planet, less so on land but most of the oceans on this world have yet to be explored to their depths. Not content with that mankind aspired to move away from this planet and to make that first step into the Universe, the last frontier as is says in ‘Star Trek‘. It isn’t just for the sake of exploration that mankind wishes to escape from this world, ultimately he seeks to colonise other worlds, fanciful as that may sound. Whether colonisation is a realistic aspiration is debatable. Our solar system is thwart with difficulties in regard to colonisation and there are but few places where it is even possible to land on other worlds, most of which are hostile to the human species. Once we leave the relative safety of our world we are open to severe radiation from the sun and that has to be considered when travelling through open space. The most obvious place for colonisation on a world that isn’t extreme in its environment is the planet Mars. Even so Mars is still a hostile place. Initial steps have been taken and are ongoing for a trip to Mars sometime in the not too distant future. Mars has a length of day which is very similar to that on Earth being around half an hour more than the average twenty-four we have here. The seasons, such as they are, being twice as long as they are here for Mars takes around two Earth years to encircle the sun. Temperature and atmosphere are a big problem as it the need to find water and Mars often suffers planet-wide dust storms too. Gravity on Mars is but 40% as strong as it is here which will have an impact on health. I am of the opinion that one day mankind will be living on Mars but under very different circumstances than what we find on Earth. As for other worlds within our solar system only the moons of the giant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune offer any sort of solid ground on which to land but their environments are far harsher than anything we might find on Mars. The only other planet possibly suitable for some kind of colonisation is Mercury but the extremes of temperature make that very unlikely. Journeys beyond the solar system would require speeds of travel approaching the speed of light or some other means to cover the vast distances involved even to the nearest star systems. I fancy that day may never come but I can never be certain of that. Man being the creature he is will probably attempt it anyway!
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Universe | Tagged: Astronomy, Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Planet, Solar System, Star Trek, Uranus | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on February 1, 2011
A short while ago I wrote a post called ‘How big is big’? Click on the Astronomy ‘Picture for today’ on the right just here and watch a nine-minute movie. It was made in 1960 so some of you may already have seen it. I thought it was fascinating. Tomorrow the picture will change although you should still be able to view the movie by clicking on the archive arrow at the bottom of the screen.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Nature, Universe | Tagged: Astronomy, Nature | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on January 21, 2011
Yesterday I clicked on the ‘Picture for today’ Astronomy link on my front page, which I do every day. It showed the beautiful Andromeda Galaxy, our nearest neighbouring galaxy if you disregard the two satellite galaxies which circle our own galaxy The Milky Way, the large and small Magellan galaxies best seen from the southern hemisphere. It stated that the Andromeda galaxy is a ‘mere’ 2.5 million light years away! Have you any idea how far even one light year is? Well light year = 5.87849981 × 1012 miles! Now multiply that by 2.5 Million! Well that would be 14. 696249525 x 10 followed by 18 noughts! And that is the NEAREST galaxy. There are millions upon millions of galaxies in the known universe and their distances away from us are staggering, too far for us to really comprehend. Some are so far away that they most probably do not exist any longer. We are only seeing them as they WERE billions upon billions of years ago. Think about it. Anything we look at we only see as it was when the light left it, even the things we see around us we only see as history. Admittedly those things near to us are only billionths of a second old but as the distance increases so we see them as they were further back in history. Take the Sun for instance; because we are approximately 93 million miles away from the Sun it appears as it WAS about 8.5 minutes ago! When we look to Pluto at the far reaches of our solar system we see it as it was more than 3.5 Hours ago! The nearest star, Proxima Centauri (revolving around Alpha Centauri) is approximately 4.3 light years away or 4.3 x 5.87849981 × 1012 miles! So you get an idea of the vastness of space. Getting back to the Andromeda Galaxy, that galaxy is twice the diameter of ours or 200,000 light years across. Just to travel from one side of our galaxy to the other, travelling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) would take us 100,000 years! That’s big. We watch programs like Star Trek and Star Wars and our imagination runs wild thinking it all might be possible one day. Perhaps locally but when you consider the distance and the time involved it appears less likely unless we imagine that one day we could ‘Time Travel‘. Yes? No! Methinks not. Thinking about such things in connection with Alien life and the possibility that there are others out there makes us wonder if we should ever come in contact with them unless solely by chance. Fantasy or reality? Which side of the fence are you or are you just sitting atop of it for now?
Shirley Anne
Posted in Aliens and UFO's, Astronomy, Universe | Tagged: Andromeda Galaxy, Galaxy, Light-year, Milky Way, Proxima Centauri, Star Trek, Star Wars, Time Travel | 2 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on December 23, 2010
Soon people all over the world will be celebrating the New Year. I won’t be one of them. I have never celebrated New Year and when the millenium year was upon us I didn’t celebrate that either. It has always been a non-event for me and I never saw the reason why people enjoy it. To me, new years day is just another day and new years eve the day before. So people make merry, get drunk and supposedly have a great time. Snag with that is they seldom remember it! That’s not to say I don’t like parties per se, I do like to meet with people, have a few drinks and maybe some food because I like to socialise. I don’t like getting drunk for the sake of it or celebrating something I have no interest in whatsoever. The new year actually starts, if there be a starting point, on 22nd December as we pass through the winter solstice. The Earth passes through that point in its orbit around the sun where the sun appears at its highest point over the northern horizon in the southern hemisphere, their summer and the lowest point over the southern horizon in the northern hemisphere, their winter, our winter, my winter! From that day forward the days (daylight hours) get longer until the tables are once again turned at 21st June. January 1st is chosen for convenience as the start of the year. If we look at the biblical calendar it looks far different from the secular one. The new year starts at the first sighting of the new moon nearest to the Spring Equinox! Other religions have the new year at other times. So why celebrate December 31/January 1st? Just another excuse for self-indulgence methinks.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Behaviour, Celebration | Tagged: Astronomy, Behaviour, Earth, Equinox, New Year, Northern Hemisphere, Solstice, Southern Hemisphere, Spring Equinox, Winter solstice | 3 Comments »
Posted by Shirley Anne on November 21, 2010
I have been looking at some of the pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and what I have seen is absolutely mind-boggling. I have seen many pictures of the Universe in the various books I have and other publications so I am used to them. One thing struck me though whilst browsing these very deep space images. They contain hundreds even thousands of images of other galaxies such as our own. Nothing new there of course but when you see the minute images of very distant galaxies, almost invisible behind the closer images you begin to realise how vast the Universe is. I look at the images, the tiny little specks in the photographs and wonder if ever there was life in any of them. It is very hard to imagine what it is like elsewhere inside our own galaxy or even those galaxies which are relatively close but looking deep into these photographs I can see hundreds of others so far away it is difficult to understand if they are still there. When we look out into space we are of course looking back in time or rather we are seeing images of things as they were when their light started out toward us. The size of the known Universe is about 14 billion light years in diameter so the scientists tell us and we see galaxies seemingly as far away as that but the actual images are far younger than that. They may have travelled 14 billion light years but we were travelling apart when their light started out toward us. That means we may be seeing them as they were only 2 billion light years ago! For a better understanding see http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/index.html What you see there will astound you. It is a huge galaxy in which we live and our sun is a nothing out-of-the-ordinary star, in fact it is a little below average star within it. It is one of thousands of millions of stars within our galaxy, commonly known as The Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy is one of a small local group of galaxies, one of many groups in the known universe. What lies beyond the boundaries of the known universe of course is unknown and who is there to say that nothing exists there? Even more ‘universes’? Distances become just numbers when we study the skies, our human brains cannot comprehend the distances involved and we can only make scaled models to help us understand. Even the scaled down models are hard to envisage! Too vast and incomprehensible!
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy | Tagged: Astronomy, Extrasolar planet, Galaxies, Galaxy, Hubble Space Telescope, Light-year, Local Group, Milky Way | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 15, 2010
I had been watching television until 1am and wasn’t feeling at all tired, probably because I’d done nothing all day. I opened my bedroom window and stood there for about twenty minutes or more just gazing up at the sky (one does strange things at my age….LOL). The view from my windows is roughly toward north-east and although there are tall trees across the garden I still have quite a lot of the northern sky on view. However, as has been usual these last few weeks, there were clouds. At the time I was looking skyward the clouds were beginning to block my view but as they were moving very slowly they were not a problem. I was looking specifically at three groups of stars, that is constellations, Ursa Major, Cassiopea and Perseus. The main stars in the constellation of Cassiopea are in the shape of a large W with one star at each point of the letter (five stars). I was reminded in my thoughts that everything I was looking at is not stationary but just appears to be. It is all about distance, although the stars (including the sun) are all moving through the Galaxy and all at different speeds, we cannot see that motion because of the vast distances involved. One of the stars forming the W shape of Cassiopea however can be seen to move position over a relatively short period. In fifty years the motion is noticeable and I remember what Cassiopea looked like fifty years ago. The star that is showing this relatively large motion is the first one in the formation of the W and if you draw the imaginary line down to the second star you can see at this time that the angle has widened and it looks as though the W’s leading side is falling outward. Over the next fifty years that will become even more apparent.
I digress.
Whilst my attention was fixed on this and the other constellations my eyes were drawn to the bright light of a meteor and when I traced the course to its origin I found it to be in the constellation of Perseus. I can only assume that it was a straggler of the recent Perseid shower. So I finally got to see one after all! Of course on any night of the year there are meteors to be seen if one is in the right place for viewing and there are several regular major showers during the year.
I went to bed at 2 by which time the sky was beginning to fill with clouds.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy | Tagged: Astronomy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 13, 2010
Watch this space indeed! Well the weather didn’t disappoint me, it was cloudy all night long so I didn’t get to see the Perseid meter shower. No problem. Comet Hartley 2 will pass to within 11.2 million miles of the Earth on Oct. 20 but I’ll have to be up early in the mornings and somewhere out in the country to see it as it will not be very bright. Of course there are other events to see like the Geminid shower on or about Dec 14 and later on the 20/21st there is a total eclipse of the Moon but whether I will see them or not doesn’t really matter there are many other things of interest in the night sky which can be seen at almost any time.
At this moment the Sun is going through a fairly active phase after a long spell of minimum activity. The Solar Cycle (about 11 years) sees the Sun going between phases of minimum to maximum activity, more sunspots, more raging storms and solar prominences with the accompanying higher levels of radiation. For the amateur, the best way to observe the Sun is by the projection method. The output from the telescope is directed on to a sheet of white paper and the Sun’s image shows up quite clearly. Sunspots are easily seen as well as other features. Absolutely no way should one view the Sun directly through a telescope or binoculars as doing so will result in instant and permanent blindness!
Today I have no work to do but we have employed E’s other nephew (the builder and brother to the guy who has done some of the other work in our front garden) to build that buttress I talked about in the rear garden. Today he is digging further to what we have already done after which he will lay the foundation (concrete) for the buttress. Unfortunately he will be going to France on Sunday to see his girlfriend and will be away for a week. It gives us time however to finish the preparations to laying the hard-core for the extension to the existing concrete area. When he returns he will build the buttress and lay the concrete. E and I have unenviable task of either burning the large amount of branches we have stored on another plot to the side of the house behind the garage or ‘mince’ them in the wood-chipping machine. Probably both methods will be used. We are having the old greenhouse brick walls demolished together with some small garden walls in this area ready for the re-building of a perimeter wall and the landscaping of that plot of land which we hope to use as a vegetable garden and adjacent screened patio area but that will be months away yet. It all makes for an interesting life. I’m going to get a beer from the fridge……………………
Shirley Anne
Posted in Activity, Astronomy, Garden, Life | Tagged: Astronomy, General Chat, Life | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on August 12, 2010
People in this country talk much about the weather, its ups and downs and all that, often with justification. Many times in the past has the weather let me down, not just me but many people. We cannot control the weather so we simply accept it and make the most of things. I have been interested in Astronomy since I was about eight years old and love going out on a dark, moonless night to just look at the sky. That of course means no clouds but therein lies the problem. Having no clouds at all in our skies is quite a rare thing in the UK. Last night, in fact over the last couple of nights the Earth has been passing through the debris left by an old comet. The earth does this several times every year although not through the same debris. This produces the well-known meteor showers we can see at different times during the year. The meteor showers themselves are usually named after the constellation of stars from which they appear to be coming from. This is purely a line-of-sight effect because the debris is in fact orbiting the sun albeit in most cases highly elliptical orbits. No doubt the other planets in the solar system experience the same thing when they pass through the debris. Last night was the turn of the ‘Persied’ shower. This particular shower has provided spectacular displays over previous years and by all accounts this years’ shower was going to be the same. This of course cannot last forever as each passage through the shower relieves it of material and we see that material burning brightly as each particle of dust and stones enters the Earths atmosphere. This is when we see the ‘shooting stars’, the long (in some cases) streaks in the sky left in their wake and to their demise. Some meteors are so large that they actually make it to the ground or into the oceans and thus become meteorites. Many places on the Earth have meteorites just lying around waiting for somebody to pick them up. Well all this is fine to know but the real thrill is seeing them light up the sky as they fly through the atmosphere. Last night I saw nothing! Oh they were there but the sky above my head was filled with dense cloud. This is typical of the UK weather. I have found over the years that here in the Uk we are not very well placed for seeing many of the sights that occur heaven-ward anyway but that combined with our notorious weather makes enjoyment of my hobby difficult. It is always the same. In order to see the beauty of the Milky Way for instance I have to travel to some remote corner of the country where there is no artificial lighting. Not impossible but just inconvenient. Perhaps I should have been outside of the country last night to watch those meteors. Maybe I will have another chance to see them tonight when the display is at its peak? Watch this space or better still go outside and have a look for yourself.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Weather | Tagged: Astronomy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Shirley Anne on March 26, 2010
So now it is Spring! When I was young I remember travelling down by steam train to Edgebaston, Birmingham to visit my grandmother with my mother. It was late November, just after my birthday (21 Nov) and the snow was quite deep everywhere. Yes, November. In later years I noticed the snow didn’t arrive until December but there was nearly always snow at Christmas. Later again it gradually stopped snowing at Christmas and we only saw snow in January and February and in some places March too, early March that is. Over the last few years, where I live at least, we have had very little snow over the whole of Winter. Winter is slowly getting milder but so is Summer. I have winter coats that I hardly ever wear now. It may be the effect of global warming, whether that is a natural cycle or aided by mankind. In years to come we might see a reversal. Astronomically speaking of course there is a gradual shift of the seasons caused by what is known as the ‘Precession of the Equinoxes’. We know the equinoxes fall on or around 21 March (Spring) and 23 September (Autumn). Although the precession (or gradual shifting) of the equinoxes is forward, that is they are happening later in the year, the drift is extremely slow and will take many thousands of years before they become appreciably noticeable. We also have a ‘wobbling’ Earth, like a spinning top that is beginning to slow down and this has the effect on the Earth’s axial tilt. At present the axis is orientated so that the north is almost exactly pointed to Polaris, the ‘Pole Star’. In many years to come it will be pointing elsewhere and this will have an effect on the seasons. Although these changes are happening, along with others, we have no need to worry because the changes are extremely slow. Without the seasons life on Earth would be very different from what it is now and possibly human life would be in danger of extinction, if we ever reach that point. So don’t complain because the weather is cold or wet and isn’t dry and sunny all the time, we need the seasonal changes.
Shirley Anne
Posted in Astronomy, Nature | Tagged: Nature | Leave a Comment »
