Society News Headlines

• June 1st: Look out for Noctilucent Clouds in the North after dark.
• June 1st: Saturn is 3° North of Moon.
• June 1st: Jupiter is 4° North of Moon.
• June 1st: Comet West-Kohoutek-Ikemura at Perihelion (1.596AU).
• June 1st: Pluto at opposition.
• June 3rd: Moon at Perigee.
• June 4th: LAS Pex Hill Observatory Open Day 1pm – 5pm.
• June 4th: Mercury 4° North of Moon.
• June 4th: Vesta is stationary.
• June 9th: Mercury at greatest elongation – 24° East, (evening sky).
• June 11th: Venus at Superior conjunction.
• June 18th: Moon at apogee.
• June 19th: Vesta at 0.04° North of Moon.
• June 20th: Neptune 1.3° North of Moon.
• June 20th: Ophiuchids meteor shower max- best seen in Southern skies.
• June 21st: Summer Solstice at 02:36 BST.
• June 21st: Comet D/1984 W1 (Shoemaker II) at Perihelion (1.319AU).
• June 21st: Uranus is 1.6° North of Moon.
• June 22nd: 325th Birthday of The Royal Greenwich Observatory founded in 1675.
• June 22nd: Mercury stationary.
• June 23rd: Comet 33P/Daniel at perihelion (2.157AU)
• June 23rd: Juno stationary.
• June 26th: Happy Birthday Charles Messier, Born 1730 , 270 years old to-day!.
• June 28th: Saturn 3° North of Moon.
• June 29th: Jupiter 4° North of Moon.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE 2000

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in BRITISH SUMMER TIME (BST). Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Please note change to BST

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           May 31st     June 5th     10th       15th       20th        25th          30th
SUNRISE    04:51        04:47       04:44      04:43      04:43       04:44         04:47
SUNSET     21:29        21:34       21:39      21:42      21:44       21:45         21:44

The SUMMER SOLSTICE occurs on the 21st at 02:36 BST, the longest day of the year, and when the Sun will be at its highest point in the sky this year. The Sun lies in the constellations of Taurus/Gemini. Solstice is latin word literal meaning “Sun standstill”.

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Mercury is at its greatest Eastern elongation for this apparition, (See This Table), at an angle of 24° on the 9th and finishes off the evening apparition it started last month. See May’s Page for details. On the 4th the Moon passes 3.5° South of Mercury in the early hours of the morning.

VENUS.

Venus, at superior conjunction on the 11th, lies directly behind the Sun as seen from the Earth.

MARS.

Mars is not on view this month.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

• Vesta 0.04° North of Moon on 19th and stationary on 4th.
• Juno stationary on 23rd

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Jupiter is now a morning object in the constellation of Taurus but will rise only one hour before the Sun does. From the 24th follow the Moon as it becomes a thin crescent and heads towards the Sun On the morning of 29th, Jupiter will be 5° above the Moon.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn can be close to Jupiter in the morning sky, with Jupiter the brightest of the two. Look at the close groupings of Moon, Jupiter and Saturn around the 28th of the month.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Both planets rise before midnight by the end of the month so those patient enough to wait up until the early hours will be amongst the first to get a glimpse of these two planets. Even if you cannot see them directly a few long exposure photographs of the region using a 135mm lens will reveal them when the photo is compared with a good star atlas which shows faint stars.

Positions for the 1st June
                         R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      21h:33m:44s           -15°:13':43"                   05h:06m             5.8

Neptune will be at opposition in July and is best seen during the summer months.

Positions for the 1st June:
                         R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      20h:35m:31s           -18°:27':07"                   05h:07m             7.9

PLUTO.

Pluto can be found in Ophiuchus, roughly between the 4th magnitude stars zeta and 20 Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.

Positions for June are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.

DATE                      R.A.                   DEC                   TRANSIT TIME
June  9th              16h:45m:26s            -10°:56':34"                 00h:43m             
June 19th              16h:44m:23s            -10°:56':15"                 00h:02m
June 30th              16h:43m:23s            -10°:56':40"                 23h:22m

Pluto is best seen between May 26th – June 9th and June 25th – July 8th.

METEORS.

• June 10th Ophiuchids I (10 per hour) Favourable. MOON 8 days old.
• June 20th Ophiuchids II(10 per hour) Unfavourable. MOON 18 days old.

COMETS.

• June 1st: Comet West-Kohoutek-Ikemura at Perihelion (1.596AU).
• June 21st: Comet Shoemaker II at Perihelion (1.319AU).
• June 23rd: Comet Daniel at Perihelion (2.157AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

• Comet Comments by Don Machholz
• BAA Comet Section Home Page
• Comet Web Sites.
• NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
• The Astronomer Comet Page.

OCCULTATIONS.

• June 9th at 00h:46m:20m Disappearance of SAO 118735 in Sagittarius Mag 5.8

Society News Headlines

• May 5th: Five planets , plus Sun and Moon, grouped together in 26° of the Sky at 08:08UT.
• May 5th: Mars 5° North of moon.
• May 5th: Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower peak.
• May 5th: Public Open Night at LAS Pex Hill Observatory, 19:30 – 21:30.
• May 6th: Moon at Perigee.
• May 8th: Neptune stationary
• May 8th: Jupiter in solar conjunction.
• May 9th: Mercury at superior conjunction.
• May 10th: Saturn in solar conjunction.
• May 11th: Comet 17P/Holmes at perihelion (2.166 AU).
• May 12th: LAS Members Night at Pex Hill Observatory, 19:30 – 21:30 (Late if clear.)
• May 13th: Webb Society AGM, at Rutherford-Appleton Labs, Didcot, Oxon at 10:30am.
• May 13th: Mercury at Perihelion.
• May 14th: Ceres stationary.
• May 17th: Venus passes 0.1° from Jupiter, closest conjunction since 1892. Too close to Sun.
• May 19th: Liverpool Astronomical Society AGM at 7pm Crypt Concert Room, RC Catheral – Followed by members Observational Reports.
• May 19th: Mercury 1.1° North of Mars.
• May 19th: Mars 6° North of Aldebaran.
• May 19th: Mercury 7° North of Aldebaran.
• May 22nd: Moon at apogee.
• May 24th: Neptune 1.2° North of Moon.
• May 25th: Uranus 1.5° North of Moon.
• May 25th: Uranus stationary.
• May 26th: Comet C/1994 N4 (Linear) at perihelion (5.497AU).
• May 30th: European Space Agency, 25th Birthday (1975)
• May 31st: BAA Ordinary Meeting at 17:45hrs Savile Row, London.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF MAY 2000

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in BRITISH SUMMER TIME (BST). Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Please note change to BST

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           Apr 30th     May 5th     10th      15th      20th      25th        30th
SUNRISE    05:40        05:30      05:20     05:12     05:04     04:58       04:52
SUNSET     20:40        20:49      20:58     21:06     21:14     21:21       21:28

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

SOLAR SYSTEM GET-TOGETHER

Although it’s not as rare an event as popularly rumoured, there really is an uncommon grouping, NOT alignment, of the Sun, Moon, and five naked-eye planets in early May. On the 5th they will all be gathered along a span of the ecliptic 27° long. On May 17th the Sun and planets, (with the Moon having moved away), will fit within a span of just 20° of sky. Venus and Jupiter have their closest conjunction, (42′ acrsecs,) since 1892 on May 17th. This will make a grand sight… well sadly not, because the Sun is smack in the middle of this span, hiding even the bright planets in its glare. Only Mercury and Mars will be visible low in the North-Western sky after sunset by mid-month. However the grouping of planets in September 2040 will be better observed, with all the planets East of the setting Sun, see below.

Diagrams of Planetary Groupings for February 5th, 1962, May 5th, 2000 and September 9th, 2040

Image ©Sky and Telescope

MERCURY.

Mercury is at superior conjunction with the Sun on the 9th as seen from the Earth but quickly begins its second favourable evening apparition this year on the 20th. It will very quickly become prominent, although low down, in the North West, lying as it does in the constellation of Taurus and moving into Gemini by month’s end. This table describes the apparition as it progresses. There is no conjunction between Mercury and the Moon this Moon.

VENUS.

Venus will remain an unfavourable object between now and early September when it will become visible in the evening sky.

MARS.

Mars sets just after 22h by the end of the month and is now too close to the Sun to be easily visible.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

• Hygeia is at opposition on May 25th at mag 9.2 in Scorpius
• Ceres can be found in Virgo at mag 7.6
• Vesta is in Sagittarius at mag 7.0.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Jupiter is at solar conjunction on the 8th is also unfavourable. It will swap positions with Saturn on the 28th with Jupiter passing slowly 1° North of Saturn very low down to the right of the rising Sun. Such conjunctions between these two planets occur roughly once every 19 years.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn is at solar conjunction just two days after Jupiter on the 10th, thus unfavourable for observations until End of June.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Uranus is starting to become favourable among the stars of Capricornus. It shines at Mag 5.8.

 Positions for the 1st May:

                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      21h:32m:51s           -15°:16':48"                   07h:07m             5.8

Bluish Neptune is also in Capricornus at this time less brighter than Uranus. Both should be seen in dark sky location with clear skies.

Positions for the 1st May:

                          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
                      20h:35m:36s           -18°:25':00"                   06h:10m           7.9

PLUTO.

Best time to look for the almost 14 mag planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.

Positions for May are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.

DATE                      R.A.                   DEC                   TRANSIT TIME
May  10th              16h:48m:35s            -11°:01':22"                 01h:48m
May  20th              16h:47m:35s            -10°:59':12"                 01h:08m
May  30th              16h:46m:31s            -10°:57':34"                 00h:27mm

On June 1st Pluto at 13.7 Mag reaches opposition in Ophiuchus. It can be found between Zeta Ophiuchi and 20 Ophiuchi.You will need an 8-inch or larger telescope and the best time to see Pluto is when the Moon is not around. It is best seen between May 26th – June 9th.

METEORS.

• May 6th Eta Aquarids (40 per hour) Favourable.
• May 13th ALPHA SCORPIIDS (20 per hour) Fairly Favourable.

COMETS.

• Comet Holmes at Perihelion on May 11th at (2.166AU).
• Comet C/1999 N4 at Perihelion on May 26th at (5.497AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

• BAA Comet Section Home Page
• Comet Web Sites.
• NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
• The Astronomer Comet Page.

OCCULTATIONS.

• May 10th at 01h:00m Disappearance of Delta Cancri
• May 22nd at 02h:14m Reappearance of Nu1 Sagittarii
• May 22nd at 03h:07m Reappearance of Nu2 Sagittarii

Society News Headlines

• April 1st – Transit of Jupiter across the Sun.
• April 2nd – Mercury 1.6° North of Moon.
• April 2nd – Zodiacal light observational period begins.
• April 3rd – Astronomy Week in USA. (Ends Apr 9th).
• April 3rd – Venus 3° North of Moon.
• April 5th – Comet C/1999 J2 (Skiff) at perihelion (7.110AU).
• April 6th – Mars 5° North of Moon.
• April 6th – Jupiter 4° North of Moon.
• April 6th – Saturn 3° North of Moon.
• April 6th – Mars 1.1° North of Jupiter.
• April 8th – Moon at Perigee.
• April 8th – National Astronomy Day – USA.
• April 11th – 30th Anniversary (1970) of launch of Apollo 13, at 13:13hrs.
• April 14th – BAA Winchester Weekend, King Alfred College, Winchester.(Ends April 16th).
• April 14th – LAS Monthly Meeting 7pm in the Crypt Concert Room, Liverpool RC Catheral.(Use underground car park entrance).
• April 16th – Mars 2° North of Saturn.
• April 18th – Comet 108P/Ciffreo at perihelion (1.713AU).
• April 21st – Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels at perihelion (1.340AU).
• April 22nd – Lyrid Meteor Shower max.
• April 24th – Comet C/1999 K8 (Linear) at perihelion (4.200AU).
• April 24th – Moon at apogee.
• April 25th – 10th Anniversary (1990) of the deployment into Earth orbit of The Hubble Space Telescope.
• April 26th – Neptune 1° North of Moon.
• April 27th – Uranus 1.3° North of Moon.
• April 28th – Mercury 0.3° South of Venus.
• April 28th – Jan Oort’s 100th Birthday (1900).
• April 29th – BAA Out-of-London Meeting, including Ordinary Meeting, B&M Institute, Margaret Street, Birmingham.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL 2000

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in GMT the same as U.T. Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

Please note change to BST

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           Mar 31st     Apr 5th     10th      15th      20st      25th        30th
SUNRISE    06:48        06:36      06:24     06:12     06:01     05:50       05:40
SUNSET     19:46        19:55      20:04     20:13     20:22     20:31       20:40

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Mercury is not favourable to view this month.

VENUS.

Venus may still be visible very shortly before Sunrise but it must be regarded as unfavourable now as it continues its journey away from us toward the back of the Sun.

MARS.

Mars, drawn by Ken Clarke, as viewed through a 10″ F4.3 Reflector 308x,432x.
w=14.4, seeing 3-5, at 00:00 UTC on November 4th, 1990

Image ©1990, Ken Clarke

Mars is also poorly placed, lying 25° away from the Sun at the start of the month. Look towards the West on the 6th and Mars will pass 1° North of slower moving Jupiter as they both head towards the Sun. On the same day the Moon lies 6° South.Nine days later, on the 15th Mars passes 2° North of Saturn. This maybe a good time to record a series of observations – either photographic or a drawing – each day from the start of the month and track the planets as they all head towards an inevitable rendezvous with the Sun.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

• 20 Massalia is at oppostion at Mag 9.6 in Virgo on April 14th.
• 1 Ceres is well placed, also in Virgo at mag 7.0 on April 1st.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Jupiter is part of the “Dance of the Planets” with Saturn and Mars low in the West after Sunset.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn is also closely involved with Jupiter and mars in the evening sky in the West at 21h:00 mid month.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Uranus is slowly recovering from its February solar conjunction, and can be seen at Mag 5.9 in Capricornus.

 Positions for the 1st April
          R.A.                   DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
      21h:29m:12s            -15°:33':19"                  09h:01m             5.9

Like Uranus, Neptune is recovering from its solar conjunction in January and at mag 7.9 the approaching twilight will hinder chances of locating this outer planets.

 Positions for the 1st April
             R.A.                  DEC                    TRANSIT TIME           MAG
         20h:34m:06s           -18°:30'19"                   08h:06m             7.9

PLUTO.

Pluto can be found on the border of Ophiuchus and Scorpius, roughly between the 4th magnitude stars zeta and 20 Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is around New Moon. The dates below will be a guide for planning observations.

Positions for April are when pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.

DATE                      R.A.                   DEC                   TRANSIT TIME
April 10th             16h:50m:54s            -11°:09':56"                 03:48
April 20th             16h:50m:17s            -10°:12':15"                 03:08
April 30th             16h:49m:30s            -10°:08':50"                 02:28

Pluto is best seen between March 28th – April 11th.

METEORS.

• April 12th VIRGINIDS (6 per hour) Fairly Favourable
• April 22nd APRIL LYRIDS (20 per hour) Unfavourable.
• April 28th ALPHA SCORPIIDS (20 per hour) Unfavourable.

COMETS.

• 5th April Comet C/1999 J2 (Skiff) at Perihelion (7.110AU).
• 18th April Comet 108/P (Ciffreo) at Perihelion (1.713AU).
• 21st April Comet 64P/Swift-Gehrels at Perihelion (1.340AU).
• 24th April Comet C/1999 k8 (Linear) at Perihelion (4.200AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

• BAA Comet Section Home Page
• Comet Web Sites.
• NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
• The Astronomer Comet Page.

OCCULTATIONS.

• April 9th at 23h:40m Disappearance of chi Orionis.(mag 4.4)

Society News Headlines

• Mar 1st – Mercury at Inferior Conjunction.
• Mar 3rd – Neptune 0.4° North of Moon.
• Mar 4th – Venus 0.07° South of Moon.
• Mar 4th – Uranus 0.7° South of Moon.
• Mar 4th – Comet 112P/Urata-Niijima at Perhelion – (4.384AU)
• Mar 8th – Mars 5° North of Moon.
• Mar 9th – Jupiter 4° North of Moon.
• Mar 10th – Saturn 3° North of Moon.
• Mar 11th – Comet Lovas II at perhelion (1.454AU).
• Mar 11th – LAS Sidewalk Astronomers event at Wepre Country Park, Connahs Quay.
• Mar 13th – Mercury Stationary.
• Mar 14th – Percival Lowell’s 145th Birthday.(1855).
• Mar 15th – Mercury 2° North Venus.
• Mar 15th – Moon at Perigee.
• Mar 16th – Caroline Lucretica Herschel’s 250th Birthday. (1750).
• Mar 16th – Pluto is Stationary.
• Mar 17th – National Science Week begins. (Ends Sunday March 26th).
• Mar 17th – LAS Monthly Meeting at Crypt Concert Room, RC Catheral at 7pm.
• Mar 18th – BAA Deep Sky Section Meeting, Clanfield, Clanfield Village Hall, 10:30am.
• Mar 20th – Vernal Equinox at 07:25UT.
• Mar 22nd – Ceres at oppostion – Mag 6.9.
• Mar 25th – 345th Anniversary (1655) of Christiaan Huygen’s discovery of Saturn’s moon Titan.
• Mar 27th – Moon at Apogee.
• Mar 28th – Mercury at Greatest elong 28° West.
• Mar 29th – BAA Special General Meeting (link removed as URL is invalid), Savile Row, London.
• Mar 30th – Neptune 0.7 North Moon.
• Mar 31st – Uranus 1° North of Moon.
• Mar TBC – British Summer Time Begins.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF MARCH 2000

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in GMT the same as U.T. Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.

BST begins on MARCH 28th

Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           1st       6th       11th      16th      21st      26th       31st
SUNRISE    06:59     06:48     06:36     06:24     06:12     06:00      05:48
SUNSET     17:50     18:00     18:09     18:18     18:27     18:37      18:46

March 20th marks the date of the Spring Equinox when the Sun crosses the celestial equator in Pisces heading North. March is also the month when the clocks are traditionally advanced by one hour in Britain to take us into British Summer Time (BST). As far as this page is concerned, you will have to added one hour to any times stated to obtain BST.

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Mercury is at Inferior Conjunction on the 1st and is therefore unobservable.

VENUS.

Venus is close too the Sun for observation and will not become favourable again until September 2000 when it reappears in the evening sky.

MARS.

Mars is heading towards Jupiter and Saturn in the evening sky and sets at 21h:05m at the end of the month.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

On March 22nd the minor planet Ceres will be at opposition in the constellation of Virgo. Usually asteroids are quite faint but once in a while one of the larger minor planets brightens enough to become visible using binoculars. Virgo is quite a large constellation and contains the bright star Spica. Part of the constellation looks like a upturned bowl and its the star gamma Virginis were the bowl appears to pivot. Long exposure photography (5 mins plus) of the area undertaken every few days will record Ceres’ motion against the background stars.

• 7 Iris at mag 8.1 is close to M67 in Cancer during March and April.
• 2 Pallasat mag 7.4 is in Monoceros during March, but is just above the Head of Hydra by early May.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.
Click HERE for Bright Minor Planets Ephemeridesfor 2000.

JUPITER.

Jupiter lies only 52° away from the Sun now and is moving closer to it all the time. Soon it will be lost in the glare of the evening twilight and there are very few celestial bodies which appear close by to break the monotony of the faint constellation of Cetus, North of which it passes this month. On the 9th at 20hrs Jupiter lies 5° North of the Crescent Moon.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn is only marginally better than Jupiter and soon it too will be lost in the Solar glare but still sets over three hours later than the Sun. On the 10th (at 11h) the Moon passes 4° South.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Both outer planets are unfavorable for observations at this time.

PLUTO.

Pluto can be found in Ophiuchus, between 4.6 magnitude stars 20 Ophiuchi and Zeta Ophiuchi. The best time to look for the planet is when the Moon is not around. With this in mind the dates given below, calculated as either side of the New Moon, maybe used as a guide for planning an observing session.

Best seen between March 1st and March 13th.

The Positions have been calculated for every ten days at 00h U.T. throughout the period of March 2000 when Pluto's elongation angle is greater than 90°.
 Positions are for Epoch 2000.
Date                        R.A.                DEC              TRANSIT              ELG
                           h  m  s           °     '  "     Time                 °
Mar 11th                  16 51 32          -11    18 55         05h:47m              098
Mar 21st                  16 51 32          -11    16 06         05h:07m              107
Mar 31st                  16 51 19          -11    13 03         04h:28m              117

METEORS.

• No Major showers during March.

COMETS.

• Mar 4th – Comet (Urata-Niijima) at Perihelion (4.384 AU).
• Mar 11th – Comet (Lovas II) at Perihelion (1.454 AU).

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

• BAA Comet Section Home Page
• Comet Web Sites.
• NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
• The Astronomer Comet Page.

OCCULTATIONS.

• Mar 12th at 22h:12m Disappearance of 104 Tauri (Mag 4.9).
• Mar 13th at 20h:21m Disappearance of Chi 2 Orionis (Mag 4.6).
• Mar 14th at 19h:43m Disappearance of Zeta Geminorum (Mag 4.0).

Society News Headlines

• 1st Feb – Vesta is 0.4° North of Moon.
• 1st Feb – Moon at Apogee.
• 2nd Feb – Venus is 1.4° South of Moon.
• 4th Feb – Two Day EUROPEAN ASTROFEST 2000.(Ends Feb 5th).
• 4th Feb – Public Open Night at LAS Pex Hill Observatory 7:30pm – 9:30pm.
• 5th Feb – Partial Eclipse of the Sun – Not seen from UK.
• 5th Feb – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 2 at Perhelion (1.869 AU).
• 6th Feb – Mercury 1.8° North of Moon.
• 8th Feb – Mars 4° North of Moon.
• 10th Feb – Ceres stationary.
• 11th Feb – Jupiter 4° North of Moon.
• 11th Feb – Members Night Meeting LAS Pex Hill Observatory, Cronton, Cheshire. 7:30pm – Late.
• 12th Feb – Saturn 3° North of Moon.
• 12th Feb – LAS Star Party Weekend at Croxteth Hall & Park.(Ends 13th Feb). (link removed as URL is invalid)
• 12th Feb – BAA Solar Section Meeting – The Assembly Rooms, North Street, Chichester at 10:30am.
• 12th Feb – LAS sidewalk astronomers event at Wepre Country Park, Connah’s Quay, North Wales.
• 14th Feb – Aldebaran is 1.2° South of Moon.
• 14th Feb – NEAR spacecraft reaches orbit around Asteroid Eros.
• 15th Feb – Mercury: Greatest elongation from Sun 18° East.(Evening Sky).
• 17th Feb – Moon at Perigee.
• 18th Feb – 70th Anniversary (1930) of Clyde Tombough’s discovery of the planet Pluto.
• 18th Feb – LAS Monthly meeting, Crypt Concert Room, RC Catheral at 7pm.
• 19th Feb – Meeting of NWGAS Reps Hosted by Salford A.S. 11am – 2pm.
• 20th Feb – Mercury stationary.
• 22nd Feb – Venus 0.5° South of Neptune.
• 26th Feb – Pallas stationary.
• 26th Feb – BAA Meeting Savile Row, London at 2:30 – 5:30pm.
• 27th Feb – Comet C/1999 K3 (Linear) at Perihelion (1.929).
• 28th Feb – Moon at Apogee.

THE NIGHT SKY DURING THE MONTH OF February 2000.

Will it be cloudy to-night?, ask the The U.K. Goverment Met Office Weather service. To make your own star chart fo your location at any time, Click Here.

The Sun and Moon

All times are in GMT the same as U.T. Times For Observer in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, U.K.
Latitude 53 degs 24 mins North.
Longitude +3.0 degs West.

           Jan 31st      5th        10th      15th      20th      25th       Mar 1st
SUNRISE    08:00        07:51      07:42     07:32     07:22     07:11       06:59
SUNSET     16:52        17:01      17:11     17:21     17:31     17:41       17:50

THE PLANETS THIS MONTH.

MERCURY.

Planets visible in the early evening sky, February 2000

As was mentioned last month Mercury sees an evening apparition stretching to 18° away from the Sun on the 15th. This Table show where to look using the Moon as a guide early on in the apparition.

VENUS.

Venus is a poor morning object now, clinging to the South Eastern horizon just before the Sun rises.

MARS.

Mars sets before 21:00hrs throughout February. A mere 4.4 arcseconds arcseconds across in the middle of the month the red planet is a poor telescopic object and its only close apparent approach to another celestial body is on the 8th when the Moon passes 4° South at 19:00hr.

MARSWATCH – latest observations of the red planet.

ASTEROIDS.

• Vesta is 0.4° North of Moon on Feb 1st.
• Ceres is stationary on Feb 10th, and Pallas on Feb 26th.

For More information on Asteroids Click Here.

JUPITER.

Jupiter is a little more favourable than Mars, showing a disk well over 35 arcseconds across and transiting just after 17:oohrs at the start of the month and setting at 22:45hrs at the end. On the 11th (at 05:00hrs) Jupiter lies 5° North of the Moon.

Launched in October 1989, the Galileo Jupiter Probe entered orbit around the great planet on December 7th 1995. The Project Galileo Homepage will give you up-to-date information and the very latest images returned.

SATURN.

Saturn, at only 18 arcseconds across, shows less disk detail than its more illustrious neighbour but its ring system, tilted at 19° to the ecliptic, more than makes up for any blandness. Saturn isn’t always quiescent; look carefully at the disk using a high magnification. If the seeing is good i.e. when the air is still enough then at least one pastel-shaded band may be seen and occasionally a `white storm’ blows up which is quite evident.

URANUS and NEPTUNE.

Uranus is at Solar conjunction on the 6th, whilst Neptune is only just starting to recover from its Solar conjunction late last month. It will be May when both planets begin to improve sky locations.

PLUTO.

Pluto will be out of view until after April in morning skies.

METEORS.

• February 6th – 9th Alpha Aurigids ZHR is 12 per hour. ( Favourable) New Moon on 5th, radiant high up.

COMETS.

• February 5th Comet Showmaker-Levy 2 at Perihelion (1.869AU).
• February 27th Comet C/1993 K3 (Linear) at Perihelion (1.929AU).
• Comet C/1994 S4 (Linear) is slowly brightening.Could be a naked eye object in July.

Plus these pages will give daily and weekly reports of this and other Comets progress.

• BAA Comet Section Home Page
• Comet Web Sites.
• NASA/JPL Comet Observations Home Page.
• The Astronomer Comet Page.

OCCULTATIONS.

• Feb 16th at 00hr:15m Disappearance of Nu Geminorum (Mag 4.1)
• Feb 16th at 19hr:27m Disappearance of 56 Geminorum (Mag 5.1).