STARS AND STORIES
Karen is available to give talks about various astronomical topics for a set fee of £35 per talk. Topics include Introduction to Stargazing, The Moon, The Planets, Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sir Norman Lockyer. She is also happy to come along to an event, also for £35 plus travel costs, to give a tour of the night sky.
Look out for upcoming talks in Sidmouth and Seaton when I shall talk about stars, the Moon, rockets, and have some of my books, signed of course, available to purchase.
Summertime means limited observation of those sparkling stars, although it does mean that it is warmer for viewing the Moon, an all year round favourite object to view. If you look for one object during the summer, make it Albireo, the head of the swan, in the overhead summer constellation of Cygnus. It is a pretty blue\white double star which is easy to find using binoculars and you can actually see the two stars.
The winter nights are ideal for a clearer view of the stars. You can even see the Orion nebula with the naked eye (it’s just below the three ‘belt’ stars. Try taking a photograph – you may get a better view even though you may not be able to see it as a phone camera absorbs more light than our eyes.
A December treat is the Geminid meteor shower which this year is at maximum around the 14th, but visible either side of that date. The conditions are quite favourable this year as the Moon is a waning crescent. It is one of the most active showers in the year, with be up to 100 an hour, in the hours before midnight: you may be lucky. To locate the point in the sky from which they emanate, use the stars of the Winter Hexagon to help you find Caster and Pollux, the stars of Gemini. Unusually, this meteor shower is the debris from an asteroid rather than the more usual comet. This asteroid, Phaethon, was the first asteroid to be associated with a meteor shower. There is an open evening at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth, on 13 December for a presentation about the Geminids.
Enjoy any dark inclement evenings by making sure you are ready to enjoy the stars when the skies are clear again. Look at a Planisphere or star map to familiarise yourself with the constellations, and take a look at my guide to the night sky! Please use the contact form to order your copy of ‘Stargazing for All’ at the special price of £15, plus £1.50 pp This book is now available to order from bookshops, Waterstones online, Amazon, and in person from Winstone’s Bookshop in Sidmouth.
Karen Hedges 