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My 3 yo son has taken to asking me 'Daddy, which are stars and which are planets?' Sadly, I know not. Are there any planets visible at the moment that I can point out to him? We are in Manchester.
We were driving down from Scotland on the M6 last night and there was a bright star quite low to the west. I thought it might be a planet based on nothing much in particular - any ideas what it might have been?
Two bright ones to the West are Jupiter and Venus, Venus being the brightest one. Directly over head is Mars.
Venus and Jupiter are both visible in the western sky throughout March I think Venus is the brightest but they will likely be the two brightest objects aside from the moon. Mars and Saturn are also visible but less obvious.
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beaten to it.
There are a couple of cracking astronomy apps for the iPad that you angle towards the sky and they display the star map of the area that you're looking at. Thats how I knew about the planets 'cos I was out in the garden the other night wafting the iPad around over my head.
Venus and Jupiter were very close to each other a few days ago. They are a bit further apart now but still obvious as 2 bright 'stars' to the west.
Also some other cool things to show him, like Polaris (5 equal distance paces up from the last 2 stars of the big dipper).
Betelgeuse (top left star of Orion, orange in colour) is a red giant and due to turn into a white dwarf anytime between now and the next couple of thousand years. When it does, it'll be close to the brightness of the moon.
Directly down from the 3 stars on Orion's belt is a slightly fuzzy patch. It's actually a nebula and not a star.
There is also a google sky map for android - one of my fav apps.
+1 for the google sky map. you can set it to just show, stars, planets constellations etc.. brilliant app.
Yup - I have 'planets' for my iPhone - will be similar to the google one I guess and is great fun.
I have a 300mm lens on my camera which is maybe 11x magnification I suppose. Will that be enough to see any planterary stuff, like Jupiter's moons or Venus's phases?
Starwalk for iPad is terrific. Hold it up towards the sky and it tracks the patch of sky it is pointing at. Also shows the paths of satellites. If you sign up to @twisst on twitter you will get a message every time the International Space Station is going over, is often really bright when it passes.......quite a thrill to tell the kids to "look up and see a spaceship!"
Great view of Jupiter and Venus tonight. As a rule if you look to the south, the first objects to be visible at dusk aren't stars, it's the planets. Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn take it in turns, and at certain times in the year you can see Mercury really close to the horizon early in the morning and just before dusk......
4 of jupiters moons are visible through binoculars so yes a good camera lens might work too......
The ISS is surprisingly bright, and surprisingly fast. Well worth keeping an eye out for.
I looked at Venus through the telescope the other night and it was a crescent shape. That was rather impressive
I'm so sad the first thing I do every morning is check and see if Betelgeuse has gone supernova. It's going to you know, you'll see!
Thanks all - loads to point out there.
molgrips - Member
I have a 300mm lens on my camera which is maybe 11x magnification I suppose. Will that be enough to see any planterary stuff, like Jupiter's moons or Venus's phases?
My scope has about 80x lowest magnification and that shows me a very small view of Jupiter (and 4 moons). I doubt that 11x would be enough, but it might be worth trying?
i have managed to take a couple of shots of jupiter and 4 galilean moons using a 300mm lens, fairly clear.
mars pretty easy to spot, it looks orange.
easy way to spot a planet, it doesnt 'twinkle' like a star does.
In the main stars twinkle and planets don't.
ISS sightings tracker here:- [url= http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/region.cgi?country=United_Kingdom®ion=England ]http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/region.cgi?country=United_Kingdom®ion=England[/url]
mcboo - MemberI'm so sad the first thing I do every morning is check and see if Betelgeuse has gone supernova. It's going to you know, you'll see!
Technicaly it may allready have !
Actually betelgeuse has gone ages ago, the light hasn't reached us yet, probably.
Orion's gonna have a sore shoulder.
Astronomy puts everything into perspective. You read up on the Andromeda Galaxy, which if our eyes were sensitive enough to pick up the light would appear as a beautiful spiral SIX TIMES the diameter of the full Moon. We're on a collision course with it, The Milky Way and Andromeda are going to slam into each other in about 6 billion years, yet there is close to zero chance any stars will hit each other because they are so far apart from each other......
.....you think about that kind of stuff, and then you turn on the TV and see the Church getting bent out of shape over gay marriage, or stem cell research.
Cougar - Member
Orion's gonna have a sore shoulder.
That won't be a supernova, that'll be attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion...
After a visit to the planetarium at the Glasgow Science Centre I now know that stars "scintillate" and planets don't.
Well worth a visit by the way.
When they turn of the 'light pollution' from Glasgow to show all the stars that would be visible if it wasn't for electric lights it's breathtaking.
Seeing Andromeda or the Orion Nebula (M42)with the naked eye in the UK is not going to be easy. I have on the Col d'Aubisque on a moonless night in winter but only having spotted them with a telescope first. A bit of light or atmospheric pollution and you've got no chance. I was most disapointed when I realised everything I could see without knowing it was there first is part of our own Milky Way.
Starwalk for iPad is terrific.
Yes it is.
Another vote for the Google Sky Map app, got it on my Android.
Was at a friend's house last week, just leaving and as we were standing on the door step, he looked up and commented on how clear the sky was. His kids loved the app and were suitably impressed by seeing Jupiter and Venus.
Seeing Andromeda or the Orion Nebula (M42)with the naked eye in the UK is not going to be easy.
I've seen the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye on super clear nights at low elevations out in the countryside. It is very hard though and you can only see it out of the corner of your eye as the faintest of smudges. That's when you get the binos out. My dad used to have these big old skool 10x50 I think, they were good for seeing it.
That won't be a supernova, that'll be attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion...
C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate, that sort of thing?