The Discussion: Paul pulls a drowning child out of a river and we discuss the BBC’s current astronomy-themed TV programme, The Planets. A drunken and sarcastic Jen is a good Jen and a rather pleasant surprise from listener Lee Stevens
The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:
Taking Spitzer out “like a dog on the moor with a shotgun” The International Astronomical Union launches a competition to name an exoplanet in each of the countries it operates, at nameexoworlds.iau.org The chances of exoplanet habitability may be lower than thought. Two exoplanet discoveries with very good habitability potential NASA announces two more heliospheric missions, PUNCH & TRACERS The Mars Curiosity Rover says, ‘No, there are methane spikes on Mars’.The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in July:
Paul: The King of Planets, Jupiter, on offer all month and a partial lunar eclipse on the night of 16th July. For the deep sky, M10 & M12 globular clusters in Ophiuchus.
Ralph: Asteroid 18 Melpomene at opposition on 3rd July. On the 9th of July we have the Ring World, Saturn, at opposition and the Southern Delta Aquariids peak on 28/29th July. For the deep sky, beautiful binary targets Epsilon Lyrae and Albireo.
Main Object: The Earth’s Moon.
