There are three different effects that common ideas associate with the equinoxes: One meteorological, and two astronomical. There are strong beliefs in ‘equinoctial gales’, ‘equinoctial tides’ and ‘equinoctial aurorae’. It is often thought that gales are more frequent and strongest at the equinoxes, particularly at the (northern) autumnal equinox. In fact, there are most gale-force winds around the time of the winter solstice in late December and early January. The concept has probably arisen because after the quiet period of summer, depressions, with their accompanying winds, tend to move south and bring high winds to the British Isles. On April 2, the waxing gibbous Moon is 4.6° north of Regulus (mag. 1.4). On April 6, just after Full Moon, it is 3.3° north of Spica in Virgo. By April 10, it is 1.5° north of Antares in the morning sky. On April 16, it passes 3.5° south of Saturn low in the evening sky. On April 19, one day before New Moon, it is 0.1° north of Jupiter in Pisces. On April 20, there is a hybrid eclipse, visible from Indonesia (described here). The next day, the Moon is 1.9° south of Mercury and, later that day, 1.7° north of Uranus, both too faint to be readily visible. By April 23 the waxing crescent Moon is 8.8° north of Aldebaran in Taurus. Later that day it is 1.3° north of brilliant Venus (mag. -4.1). On April 26, the Moon is 3.2° north of Mars in Gemini and then 1.5° south of Pollux. By April 29, it is again 4.6° north of Regulus, as it was at the beginning of the month. Lyra is dominated by its brightest star Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky. It is a blue-white star having a magnitude of 0.03, and lies 26 light years away. It weighs three times more than the Sun and is about 50 times brighter. It is thus burning up its nuclear fuel at a greater rate than the Sun and so will shine for a correspondingly shorter time. Vega is much younger than the Sun, perhaps only a few hundred million years old, and is surrounded by a cold,dark disc of dust in which an embryonic solar system is being formed!

2023 Night Sky Almanac | Astronomy Technology Today

For observers slightly farther north, say at 50°N, additional constellations become circumpolar. The most important of these are Perseus, not far from Cassiopeia, and most of which is visible and, farther round, the northern portion of Auriga, with bright Capella (α Aurigae). On the other side of the sky is Deneb, the brightest star in Cygnus, although it is often close to the horizon, especially during the early night during the winter months. Vega (α Lyrae) another of the three stars that form the Summer Triangle is even farther south, often brushing the northern horizon, and only truly circumpolar and clearly seen at any time of the year for observers at 60°N.

A beautiful gift for anyone interested in the night sky.

The southern sky is dominated by Orion, visible from nearly everywhere in the world and prominent during the northern winter months. For observers near the equator it is, of course, high above near the zenith. Orion is highly distinctive, with a line of three stars that form the ‘Belt’. To most observers, the bright star Betelgeuse (α Orionis), shows a reddish tinge, in contrast to the brilliant bluish-white Rigel (β Orionis). The three stars of the belt lie directly south of the celestial equator. A vertical line of three ‘stars’ forms the ‘Sword’ that hangs south of the Belt. With good viewing, the central ‘star’ appears as a hazy spot, even to the naked eye, and is actually the Orion Nebula (M42). Binoculars reveal the four stars of the Trapezium, which illuminate the nebula. Follow the progress of constellations throughout the seasons with this beautiful companion to the night sky from Astronomy experts Collins. The aim of this book is to help people to find their way around the night sky and to understand what is visible every month, from anywhere in the world. The stars that may be seen depend on where you are on Earth, but even if you travel widely, this book will show you what you can see. The night sky also changes from month to month and these changes, together with some of the significant events that occur during the year are described and illustrated.

NIGHT SKY ALMANAC 2023: A stargazer’s guide - Goodreads

Running south from Orion is the long constellation of Eridanus (the River), which begins near Rigel in Orion and runs far south to end at Achernar (α Eridani). To the south of Orion is the constellation of Canis Major and several other constellations, including the oddly shaped Carina. The line of Orion’s Belt also points southeast in the general direction of Sirius (α Canis Majoris), the brightest star. Almost due south of Sirius lies Canopus (α Carinae), the second brightest star in the sky.The main ‘upright’ of Crux, if extended and curving slightly to the right, does point in the approximate direction of the Pole, passing through Musca and the tip of Chamaeleon. However, a better way is to start at Hadar (the star in the bright pair that is closest to Crux), turn at right-angles at Rigil Kentaurus, and following an imaginary line through the brightest star in the small constellation of Circinus and then right across the sky, brushing past the outlying star of Apus, and the star (δ) at the apex of Octans itself.

Night Sky Guide October 2023 | Jodrell Bank Centre Monthly Night Sky Guide October 2023 | Jodrell Bank Centre

February 22 • The crescent Moon with Venus and Jupiter. Diphda (β Cet) is closer to the horizon (as seen from London). The most famous carbonaceous chondrite meteorite is probably the Murchison meteorite, observed to fall near Murchison, Victoria, Australia on 28 September 1969. Both Murchison and the recent Winchcombe meteorite belong to the group known as the CM meteorites. Their material appears to resemble that collected by the Hayabusa 2 spaceprobe from the minor planet (162173) Ryugu, and returned to Earth in December 2020. The Murchison meteorite has been particularly important and the subject of numerous, significant studies. It has been found to contain a phenomenal number of molecular compounds (at least 14,000), including some 70 amino acids. Some estimates put the number of potential compounds in the meteorite at hundreds of thousands, or even as high as one million. In January 2020, an international team of cosmochemists announced that some silicon carbide (SiC, carborundum) particles from the Murchison meteorite were the very oldest particles ever detected. They had anomalous isotopic ratios of silicon and carbon, implying that they were formed outside the Solar System. These grains have a suggested age of 7000 million years, some 2500 million years older than the Solar System itself. As it passes across the sky from west to east in its orbit around the Earth, the Moon moves by approximately its diameter (about half a degree) in an hour. Normally, in its orbit, the Moon passes above or below the direct line between Earth and Sun (at New Moon) or outside the area obscured by the Earth’s shadow (at Full Moon). Occasionally, however, the three bodies are more-or-less perfectly aligned to give an eclipse: a solar eclipse at New Moon, or a lunar eclipse at Full Moon. Depending on the exact circumstances, a solar eclipse may be merely partial (when the Moon does not cover the whole of the Sun’s disc); annular (when the Moon is too far from Earth in its orbit to appear large enough to hide the whole of the Sun); or total. Total and annular eclipses are visible from very restricted areas of the Earth, but partial eclipses are normally visible over a wider area. Two forms of solar eclipse occur this year, and are described in detail in the appropriate month.Mercury is too close to the Sun to be visible this month. It reaches superior conjunction, on the far side of the Sun, on March 17. Venus, in the evening sky, is very bright (mag. -3.9 to -4.0), but too close to the Sun to be readily seen. Mars is initially at magnitude 0.4 in Taurus, but moves into Gemini and fades to mag. 1.0. Jupiter is in Pisces, but is too close to the Sun to be readily visible this month. Saturn is in Aquarius and lies too far into the morning twilight to be seen. Uranus is in Aries at mag. 5.8 and Neptune (mag. 8.0) is in Pisces. That planet comes to superior conjunction on March 15. In this photograph, the narrow lunar crescent (about two days old) has been over-exposed to show the Earthshine illuminating on the other portion of the Moon, where the dark maria are faintly visible. A number of interesting events are shown in diagrams for each month. They involve the planets and the Moon, sometimes showing them in relation to specific stars. Events have been chosen as they will appear from one of three different locations: from London; from the central region of the USA; or from Sydney in Australia. Naturally, these events are visible from other locations, but the appearance of the objects on the sky will differ slightly from the diagrams. A list of major astronomical events in 2023 is given here.