April 2021 EDITION The Solar System April Editor: [email protected] MERCURY: begins the month not Email: [email protected] observable, reaching its highest point in the Website: https://www.ewellastronomy.org sky during daytime and being 3° below the horizon at dawn. By the end of the month, Editorial having recently passed behind the Sun at superior solar conjunction, it remains not Welcome to the April edition of Janus. observable. Reaching its highest point in the sky during daytime it is no higher than 5° Thanks to another bumper collection of above the horizon at dusk. contributions, there’s plenty to read should the weather over Easter prove to be VENUS: recently passed behind the Sun at incompatible with observing. In addition to superior solar conjunction. It begins the the now customary contributions from Gary month not readily observable since it is very and Stephen, Ron Johnson has compiled a close to the Sun, at a separation of only 1° summary of his observing experiences for from it. By the end of the month, it remains 2020. So, there should be something to not observable, reaching its highest point in interest everyone whatever their main focus. the sky during daytime and is no higher than 2° above the horizon at dusk. In one of his pieces entitled “What Will Community Stargazing Look Like in the ‘New MARS: will soon pass behind the Sun at World’? “, Stephen speculates about what solar conjunction. It begins the month visible future group observing sessions might look from around 19:27 UT as the dusk sky fades, like. Will they be possible? What might they 45° above the W horizon. It will then sink look like? Would people want to participate? towards the horizon, setting at 00:41 UT. By the end of the month, it will become visible As I write this, under the current roadmap for around 20:27 UT as the dusk sky fades, 30° exiting from the Covid-19 crisis, gatherings of above the W horizon. It will then sink towards up to 6 people are now permitted outdoors. the horizon, setting at 00:08 UT. This implies that, provided social distancing rules are observed, such sessions might now JUPITER: recently passed behind the Sun at be possible, although (non) sharing of solar conjunction and begins the month not equipment remains a potential stumbling observable. It will reach its highest point in block to things being as they were pre-Covid. the sky during daytime and is no higher than 7° above the horizon at dawn. By the end of However, given that physical meetings will the month, emerging from behind the Sun, it probably not be possible before September is visible in the dawn sky, rising at 02:30 UT – 2021 or, perhaps more realistically, January 2 hours and 5 minutes before the Sun – and 2022, such limited opportunities to meet and reaching an altitude of 12° above the SE talk with other members might be attractive to horizon before fading from view as dawn at least some members, as a way of returning breaks around 04:11 UT. to some semblance of normality. SATURN: also recently passed behind the Finally, don’t forget the Society’s social media Sun at solar conjunction and begins the sites, which are always worth a look, and month not observable, reaching its highest provide a pro-active means for rapid point in the sky during daytime and is no dissemination of information. higher than 7° above the horizon at dawn. By the end of the month, emerging from behind John the Sun, it is visible in the dawn sky, rising at On next observing the Sun, I could still see 01:57 UT – 2 hours and 38 minutes before Ha features of prominences, filaments, and the Sun – and reaching an altitude of 12° plages, but there was often a double rim above the SE horizon before fading from view effect on part of the solar limb, and it was as dawn breaks around 03:47 UT harder to focus. URANUS: will soon pass behind the Sun at solar conjunction and begins the month not Of course, when my previous solar telescope observable. It will reach its highest point in went smack on the ground, there were no Ha the sky during daytime and is no higher than features visible anymore, so I had to get a 9° above the horizon at dusk. By the end of new telescope. Fortunately, I was able to get the month, it is not readily observable since it it on my insurance, but it is so frustrating is very close to the Sun, at a separation of when a simple fall can ruin the whole scope. less than 1° from it. I have a robust tripod, and it was only a bit above 2 feet in height, but despite that, and NEPTUNE: recently passed behind the Sun the fact that it was on the grass, it still at solar conjunction. It begins the month not readily observable since it is very close to the managed to damage it. Sun, at a separation of only 20° from it. At The problem with solar Ha telescopes is that the end of the month, it is not observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during the etalon filter can easily get dislodged, even daytime and is 3° below the horizon at dawn. by a simple bump or fall, and I have seen in online fora on solar telescopes other MOON PHASES: instances of this occurring. My etalon cannot have been entirely dislodged as, if it had Full Moon 28 March been, I wouldn't be able to see any Ha Last Quarter 4 April features at all - luckily, I still can. Of course, New Moon 12 April with any piece of machinery, or any other First Quarter 20 April product, they always have the same "weak Full Moon 27 April link" item in them that invariably fails after a time, ruining the entire product! Notable Events: Meteorite soniC boom - 4 March Observation of some of these events may require a telescope, although some will be It was reported in the papers that a bright visible with the naked eye. More information fireball was sighted and caught on cameras at https://in-the-sky.org across the Uk at about 10pm on Sunday 28th 1 Apr. M104 is well placed February. Simultaneously, a sonic boom was 4 Apr. M94 is well placed heard across Southern England. 6 Apr. Conjunction of Moon and Saturn Unfortunately, I didn’t hear it, but somebody 7 Apr Conjunction of Moon and Jupiter on one of the social media platforms in the 14 Apr. M51 is well placed Banstead area had asked if anyone had 17 Apr: Conjunction of Moon and Mars heard that loud boom. If any meteorite 17 Apr. M3 is well placed fragments reached the ground, it was 22 Apr. M101 is well placed predicted that they would have fallen NE of 22 Apr. Lyrid meteor shower 2021 Cheltenham. Observed meteorite falls are rare, and it’s even rarer to be able to find Collected Observations (and thouGhts) them. The last fall was the Glatton meteorite – Gary Walker in 1991. Breaking News (literally!) - 2 March Latest observations - 7 March My 60mm Solar telescope (Coronado), th mounted on its tripod, was placed on my On 7 March, I saw that Betelgeuse, lawn, ready to use; when I turned my back, it Aldeberan, and Mars, were all of fell flat on the grass! approximately the same magnitude. Of course, Mars has faded significantly, since its opposition 5 months ago, and it was now only just above 6' arcseconds in size. I couldn't Everyone in the Society will know that due to see any dark markings on it even with 333X the COVID 19 Pandemic shutting everything magnification. down, it is now one year since our last physical meeting on 13th March 2020. Even Mars was now about magnitude 1. The two though I could not foresee the lockdown, Red Giants were about the same although, which came into place only 10 days later, I as they are both known to be slightly variable, had been wondering if the March meeting last it is difficult to use them as a standard year would take place, or if it would be called reference! off. Only 5 days after that meeting, on 18th March, the announcement went out that, due At this time, Betelgeuse, Aldeberan, and to the pandemic, the next few meetings were Mars, formed a straight line of 3 obviously cancelled, so we got the March meeting in, orange stars. just in time! After that, the only "meetings" Meteorite - 9 March were via the new phenomenon of Zoom, and these were to become one of the defining On 9th March, there was an item on the BBC features of the pandemic. News, about the discovery of some th fragments of the meteorite that was seen as Celebrating the 10 anniversary of the a fireball across England on 28th February. "SuperMoon” - 12 March Because it was captured by many cameras, March 2021 was the 10th anniversary of the such as security cameras, it was possible to so called "SuperMoon". It officially started on work out its trajectory and, hence, where it 19th March 2011, when the term was likely to land. It had been predicted that "SuperMoon", and photos of dinner-plate size it would land NE of Cheltenham, in full moons, first hit the newspapers and other Gloucestershire, and this indeed proved to be media.