Society for Popular Astronomy

I will be upgrading this bulletin board to the latest version of the software on Friday 18th December between 7:30am and 9:30am. The board will be unavailable during this time period. The upgrade will not affect the look and feel of the board, nor the functionality. Most of the changes are to ensure...

Wow, what a fabulous observing session. Great dedication to the cause. Very interesting to read your report - I can almost imagine how brilliant those fireballs would have been.

Best wishes, Jeff.

I’ve just (4:45pm on 15 December) been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of Saturn and Jupiter before they disappeared below the rooftops of neighbouring properties. The Starry Night planetarium software is showing the angular separation at just under 41 arc minutes, or 0.68 of a degree. It is a f...

Mike/Bob, glad you got to see some. I think we may have clear patches in North Staffs this evening, so I will observe if I have chance.

Spectacular getting to see a fireball, Bob. Been a while since I saw one.

Best wishes, Jeff.

Miraculously, the skies cleared over my area for about 30 minutes this evening, at 8:35pm, and I managed to spot 5 Geminids and one sporadic. There was a little bit of intermittent cloud partially obscuring the view at times, but it was five more than I expected to see given our current weather cond...

Finally, a patch of clear sky. I’m sitting on my sofa looking out of my front window, using an 8x23 binocular, and I have just detected Saturn in what I think is classed as Civil Twilight. Lovely to see the pair closing in on each other. I had been watching for about 15 minutes, and Saturn just popp...

Good timing this year too, with new Moon at 16:16 GMT on 14th December.

Best wishes, Jeff.

As I type this post, I can hear the rain pattering against my window panes, and I’m thinking of the forthcoming Geminid meteor shower. This is my favourite meteor shower of the year. Robin Scagell has put an interesting article on the Popastro website. Looking at the forecast, for my area, it’s not ...

I can relate to that, Brian. Haven’t caught sight of a clear sky for a while.

Best wishes, Jeff.

Michael, I really enjoyed reading about your observations, and your sketch and accompanying notes. Keep on posting.

Best wishes, Jeff.

It’s quite a feat isn’t it, and the Hyabusa-2 craft is on its way to another mission in 2031. I wonder how they will capture the gases from the capsule - presumably open it in vacuum chamber? Interesting article on the recovery. Must have been quite a sight to see it trailing across the night sky. B...

That’s good to hear you still have a fabulous view of the night sky, Nigel.

I’m guessing it will become increasingly difficult to spot this comet now, but well worth a try.

An observatory sounds a great project. I do envy anyone who has such a place in their garden.

Best wishes, Jeff.

Sky & Telescope have an article with video footage of the collapse of the main instrument platform.

Best wishes, Jeff.

Hard to imagine the scale of this receiver. According to the article links from SpaceWeather.com the main instrument platform, which fell, weighed 900 tons. That’s a lot of weight to support.

Best wishes, Jeff.

It was very refreshing to wake up to this morning. I saw the Moon heading over to set, and it looked fabulous. I like to take a few moments to just stand and watch on mornings like these, and appreciate the beauty of the view. How lucky we are to be able to witness such scenes.

Best wishes, Jeff.