Star gazing - what is up there?
68
Have you ever sat there under a clear starry night sky and gazed above you? chances are no not many people have spent much time doing this, and even if you had would you know if you were looking at a star a planet or even a UFO? Star gazing is great fun for adults and something interesting and educational for children and the best thing about it is you can do it in your own back garden!! you don't need to buy a telescope or even binoculars (although this will enhance your experience) to see Jupiter Mars or a shooting star, all that is needed is the naked eye and a star chart.
Before we move on I should clear up one thing... what is a satellite? We all have an intuitive understanding of what a satellite is, we Imagine man made machines beaming down digital Tv etc.... but why is the moon called "Earth's natural satellite"? In astronomy or Cosmology a Satellite is any object which orbits around a bigger object. We orbit the sun, so we are the sun's natural satellite, the moon orbits our Earth so the moon is a natural satellite of the Earth, we have sent machines into space orbiting our Earth, these are MAN MADE objects so are just called "satellites"
What can we see?
Man made satellites.
man made objects can been seen in the night sky, satellites beaming down all sorts of information can be seen floating across the sky, Even the international space station can be seen in the night sky!!
Old Debris
Bits of old booster rockets and old satellites now not in use can be seen still orbiting our Earth. In fact our Earth contains thousands of old debris just floating around up in space trapped within our Earth's gravitational field.
Shooting stars
Shooting stars are visible light paths left behind by particles of debris from the Solar system entering our Earth's atmosphere at very high speeds. The Earth's atmosphere contains a layer a gas molecules which is retained by earth's gravity and any particle entering our atmosphere at high speeds will experience a very high frictional force causing the particle to heat up and radiate heat and light. Shooting stars can be wonderful sights, and they are not as rare as you may think. If you are looking at the sky for long enough you are guaranteed to see a shooting star shine brightly across the sky.
Planets
In September 2010 Britain was in a clear view of the giant gas planet, Jupiter. It shone brighter than any other star in the night sky during this period making it very easy to spot.
Navigating the star constellations
Most people will be familiar with with at least one star constellation, possibly the plough or Orion but how do you know what your looking at? there are a few ways to navigate the constellations. The best way for amateur astronomers to navigate and pick out the constellations is with the use of a Planisphere.
Planisphere
Amazon sell planispheres from no more than about £5 and it is well worth the money for anyone who likes astronomy. of course you don't have to buy one of these to be an amateur astronomer but it does make things much easier. I first got my Planisphere when I was 12 years old and now 10 years later I still use it.
Make sure you buy the right planisphere, depending if you are in the northern or southern hemisphere.
 | This Is the planisphere for everyone living in the Northern hemisphere Amazon Price: $48.65 |
How to use your Planisphere.
Once you have your Planisphere it is pretty straight forward to set up. First you need to set the time and date and the observable stars at that particular time will be shown in the middle of the planisphere. Now all you need to do is locate at least one of the constellations in the sky, match it up to the same constellations on the planisphere and you are ready to start navigating your way around all the constellations. Your planisphere can also show you the positions of the main planets, Venus,Mars,Jupiter, and Saturn. On the back of your planisphere will be a table showing you where to look for the planets.
I have my Planisphere, Now what??
armature astronomy doesn't stop there with the planets and constellations. You may have been looking into the night sky and seen a light travelling across the sky at constant speed. You might have thought you are seeing a UFO, unfortunately the most likely answer as to what you saw was a Man made satellite or possibly old debris from old rockets or old satellites.
I was gazing into the stars the other night and saw a light periodically flashing in the night sky. My first thought was that this was possibly a rotating satellite reflecting the suns light every few seconds, But after a quick search on the Internet I found out it was actually an old rocket body which was launched in September 7th 1988, from china, still orbiting our Earth 22 years later.
You can find out information on any flybys passing over head using this website
http://spaceweather.com/flybys/
If you have spotted a light travelling across the sky and would like to know exactly what it is then you can also look it up
Click on the website and near the bottom click on "Global Flybys" and from there you can specify your location on the earth and be presented with information on all the known satellite flybys including time date and position. the position will be given in either North East South or West so you would have to work out which direction your facing (the Planisphere can tell you which way is North or South) you will also be given a "gradient" given in degrees, this is the elevation or basically "how high" in the sky it is, where 0degrees refers to your horizon all the way up to 90 degrees which is right above your head, and anything in between.
What else to look out for ?
Make sure to keep an eye out for the International space station, It can be a spectacular site.If you would like to see the International space station have a look on this website
It will show you details and predictions of when and where the ISS will be at a certain time, It even shows you the current position of the ISS at that particular time.
Now armed with your planisphere I hope you will gaze into the stars with amazement and reflect on the journey man has travelled from caveman to silicone chips and space exploration.
Please leave any comments and your thoughts and I would love to hear what you have spotted in the night sky
