Astronomy, The Sky and Outer Space

Nowthen, nowthen, I hopefully will awake with the help of my bedside bleeper, at 4 am tomorrow, to view in an easterly direction, the planets, our moon keeping them company. Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn all easy to see. You need an unobstructed horizon view, particularly for Venus (she's not wearing blue jeans). The difficult one is Mercury, literally near to Venus. Hope my alarm still works, I slept in this morning.

Hi all, Hopefully a clear evening. Not much been going on in the evenings, the planets mostly in the morning show, when we are all fast asleep. Both Jupiter & Saturn are visible in the eastern hemisphere of our sky, before midnight, Saturn rising before Jupiter. Jupiter simply unmistakable because of its brightness. It's a much fresher night tonight so a shirt please if you are decking it with a glass of port. Sat relaxing comfortably, picture the sky as a huge horse race track. All of the horses going the same way, different speeds & always sticking to their lane. The next thing which is so hard. Instead of you being stationary in the viewing stand, you are in your lane going around too. PS. When I say all going in the same direction, that's true, but when planets are going around the far side of the sun to us, they appear in the sky to be going the opposite way. Well! What a pip! That apparent contra motion when it's being plotted on a flat map is called retrograde motion. It can also occur when say we are approaching Mars. Mars is on the outer lane to us, our orbit time much faster than Mars, so we are overtaking on the inside. That produces retro motion, but it's only apparent. It's a good job that there's no galactic police about, hey! Overtaking on the inside lane!

Hi all, At 1am, Jupiter was brilliant, I saw Saturn but rather faint. Mars was rising above the eastern horizon.

Jupiter this morning, along with a few of its moons. For the 'blue' image, I tried a different setting. I saw Mars, not much to photograph, couldn't see Saturn, too much light pollution.

Hi all, A plead for my sanity! Last evening, post ten pm, I was determined to look for meteors, having seen a few the night before. I was so comfy in Pam's snug. Having enjoyed an earlier evening in, listening to children playing in our cul-de-sac, off-ground tig, as well as hide & seek. It was one of their birthdays. It was so lovely, I wanted to join in! Anyway back to my comfy snug. Yes, I saw one within minutes. That was the last, because I nodded off. At about 2.30am, I thought, I don't recognise that celing paper. Certainly not with Jupiter shining through it.

Active between 17 and 24 August. This year's peak will come on the night of Friday 12 August and before dawn on Saturday 13 August.

Hi Helen, There might be high cloud as the anticyclone drifts east. Last night was perfect.

Hi all, Well wrapped, if you go outside now, find the big moon, rising in the north east, then look to the right & up a bit (Berni the bolt), the planet Mars with its orange glow makeup, is simply wonderful. Please don't stay out too long. Brrrrrrr.

Apologies for the fact it's the Daily Mail, but this looks interesting for tonight

This might help. Night sky info

Hi all, Until around ten this evening, a clear sky is forecast, so giving a view of the of the planets. Some of the visible planets have been visible for months, Jupiter for most of this year, Mars for several months. Keep warm.

I don't know if you can see Mars in this image but it is in the top left corner and just about to hide behind the moon. It was taken on December 8th. I thought at first that I'd got dust on the camera sensor but was relieved to discover not so when I properly reviewed the images. I have another, taken about 40-50 minutes later, where Mars is now on the bottom right of the image. I hope you can see Mars. Here's the second/later image.

Have to share this link, even if it's just to view the spectacular Northern Lights. I'd have never believed it was possible to view them this far south. Kenilworth Castle Aurora Borealis

Cool. Sadly here I get the aurora Liverpudlia, the aurora Mancunia and the aurora Warringtonia. After that, not much is visible.