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UID:30@theheathfieldnews.co.uk
DTSTART:20171209T183000Z
DTEND:20171209T230000Z
DTSTAMP:20171201T114022Z
URL:https://www.theheathfieldnews.co.uk/whats-on/observatory-open-evening/
SUMMARY:The Observatory Open Evening
DESCRIPTION:The Sun will already have set at 3.51pm and ASTRONOMICAL TWILIG
 HT ends at 5.54pm so it will be completely dark when the Centre re-opens a
 t 6.30pm. The phase of the Moon is 1 day before LAST QUARTER and will not 
 be rising until 11.05pm and will therefore not be visible at all throughou
 t the evening.\n\nTo see the sky charts for the 9th December visit Heavens
  Above. You will need to alter the times and dates in the boxes below the 
 current chart to find out what is in the night sky on the dates of the ope
 n evenings.\n\nUranus and Neptune will already have risen and may also be 
 located during the course of the evening along with deeper sky objects whi
 ch are much easier to see when there is no Moon. These include the ANDROME
 DA GALAXY and some ineresting double stars. As we descend into winter you
  will see the CONSTELLATION of Orion appearing over the eastern horizon an
 d should reach a high enough elevation to view the beautiful ORION NEBULA.
  Lovely to look at through binoculars but stunning through a telescope!\n\
 nObjects to look out for without having to use a telescope include the Ple
 iades cluster in Taurus\, which should be nice and high in the night sky. 
 This is a beautiful knot of stars also known as the 7 sisters. On a very c
 lear evening and with good eyesight you should be able to spot about 7 of 
 the hundreds of stars in this OPEN CLUSTER. The Pleiades cluster is far to
 o big to look at through the telescopes and it is better to view it throug
 h a pair of binoculars. Another object to look out for with binoculars is 
 the double cluster in the CONSTELLATION of Perseus.\n\nYou should also wat
 ch for shooting stars\, the fleeting bright streaks of light left behind a
 s meteors enter the Earth's atmosphere. The 9th December is a few days bef
 ore the peak activity of the Geminids METEOR SHOWER but still falls within
  the normal limits of activity which is 8th - 17th December. The Geminids 
 occur as the Earth passes through the debris left behind by the ASTEROID 3
 200 PHAETON and the radiant\, where the meteors appear to come from is in 
 the CONSTELLATION Gemini (see below\; image courtesy of stardate.org). The
 se meteors are slow moving with a good proportion of bright events. There 
 are usually about 100 per hour at the peak. You need to look towards the C
 ONSTELLATION Gemini in the east to try and spot these shooting stars and w
 ith no Moon to spoil the party spotting them is very favourable this year.
  This is the richest of all the annual showers.
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