The Discussion: A worthless victory for the Welsh, Earthling slave John on the BBC’s Sky at Night, Jen’s preparations for A Pint of Science, imaging the sun with a beer can and emails about timestamping & sibilance.
The News: Rounding up the astronomy news this month we have:
Modelling of the meteor strikes on the moon during the eclipse Does the moon get bombarded by a meteor shower every 19 years? The brightest gravitationally lensed object ever seen Conditions closer to habitable seen around a white dwarf star Did the Apollo astronauts even leave the Earth’s atmosphereMain news story: 1) Due to modern data processing techniques Hubble discovers a new moon around Neptune.
The Sky Guide: Covering the solar system and deep sky objects on offer to amateur astronomers in March.
Ralph: The Galilean Moons, magnitude 8 asteroid Pallas and Messier 67 in Cancer
Jeni: a quadruple planetary Conjunction, Mars and the vernal equinox.
Paul: Mercury visible at the beginning of the month at sunset and the galaxies in Ursa Major.
Main Deep Sky Object: Messier 44, The Beehive Cluster.
Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month we take a look at the bewildering array of theories for one of the greatest spectacles in the night sky:
Will we get any advance warning of Betelgeuse going supernova? Peter Coates, UK.
