Astronomy Thread

[ONeill]

Can you get a good one of the seven sisters cluster - Pleiades - to the right of Jupiter? Some say you can get a good blue tint if lucky.

[Armaghgeddon]

I have a picture of the sky with the 7 sisters in. Laptop is pissing about and wont let me upload them atm. - As soon as I say that it uploads.

[ONeill]

Quare view of the moon and Jupiter side by side tonight.

[Tony Baloney]

Quare view of the moon and Jupiter side by side tonight.

Was gonna post that too. Was looking class earlier when it was low in the sky above Armagh with Jupiter about 11o'clock above the moon.

[amallon]

Looking forward to this comet in 2013.  It could be brighter than the moon and possibly even visible during daylight.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2209293/Comet-brighter-moon-fly-Earth-2013.html

[ONeill]

Anyone out rioting over the next few nights look up and you'll see the best meteor shower around - the Geminid meteor shower. They'll be at their best and brightest on Thursday night but last night I caught a few. There may be as many as up to 100 an hour on the 13th.

Get your coat on and stretch out on a sunbed.

[Tony Baloney]

Anyone out rioting over the next few nights look up and you'll see the best meteor shower around - the Geminid meteor shower. They'll be at their best and brightest on Thursday night but last night I caught a few. There may be as many as up to 100 an hour on the 13th.

Get your coat on and stretch out on a sunbed.

Peak time O'Neill? Past childrens bedtime??

[ONeill]

You'll see a few from 9pm onwards but peak time really 12am -5am. East mostly.

[Tony Baloney]

You'll see a few from 9pm onwards but peak time really 12am -5am. East mostly.

Cheers will check out with boys before they go to bed (at 9 not 12!).

[ONeill]

Fairly spectacular views of Venus chasing the moon these last few mornings.

[Minder]

There will be a clear sighting of the International Space Station this evening at 6.55pm, from the West.

[Tony Baloney]

There will be a clear sighting of the International Space Station this evening at 6.55pm, from the West.

Motoring along nicely past the moon.

[ONeill]

There will be a clear sighting of the International Space Station this evening at 6.55pm, from the West.

There's been a clear sighting every night for a week FFS. Twice last night I had the family lined out watching it. Tonight, just the neighbours.

Interesting to see yer man tweeting about it as gaeilge (sic hardst) as he passed over Ireland. Some woman says he was on Radio Ulster this morn. He can play The Washerwoman on the penny whistle.

[drici]

Interesting to see yer man tweeting about it as gaeilge (sic hardst) as he passed over Ireland. Some woman says he was on Radio Ulster this morn. He can play The Washerwoman on the penny whistle.

A lot more damage to be done if they'd been over Gaoth Dobhair and District during the Christmas.

[All of a Sludden]

Look North East around midnight.


The skies are expected to shimmer with a "natural firework display" tomorrow night as a meteor shower crosses into the earth's atmosphere, astronomy experts have predicted.

Although the Perseids meteor shower is an annual event, the British Royal Astronomical Society believes prospects for this year's showing are particularly good and could mean up to 60 shooting stars an hour.

Stars gazers will need only their own eyes to enjoy the natural occurrence, which is a result of material falling from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, which last passed near the Earth in 1992.

"Comet Swift-Tuttle won't be visiting our neck of the woods again until the year 2125, but every year we get this beautiful reminder as the Earth ploughs through the debris it leaves in its orbit" said Professor Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen's University Belfast.

"Every meteor is a speck of comet dust vaporising as it enters our atmosphere at 36 miles per second. What a glorious way to go."

Meteors, commonly known as shooting stars, are the result of small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed. These heat the air around them, causing the characteristic streak of light seen from the ground.

They mostly appear as fleeting flashes lasting less than a second, but the brightest ones leave behind trails of vaporised gases and glowing air molecules that may take a few seconds to fade.

The Perseids meteor shower is active each year from around mid-July to late-August, but for most of that period only a few meteors an hour will be visible. The best display will last from late Monday evening through to early Tuesday morning.