Explore the night sky during lockdown

Stuck at home and looking for something new to do from your garden or balcony? Why not have a wander with me through the universe! Let me clear up one myth first and then we can get looking up into the sky. Many on television or other news outlets say that you cannot see anything from brightly lit towns and cities. One simple word = RUBBISH! And we can prove them wrong straight away - don’t forget the beautiful telescope at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, in the heart of London, is used regularly by amateurs to view the night sky. Two things to look at in the first Sky Watch - and the aim of these details is to keep things easy. 

If you do not have a clue where to start then the best place is straight up above you at 9.30pm over the weeks ahead (up above you is called the zenith). As the days get longer, this time just goes a little later - but the Plough will still be there. At this time of the year you can easily see the Plough - 7 bright stars - and the lovely thing about this time of the year is that it appears as a number 7 in the sky! If you take the top 2 stars and follow them to the left or west, the first bright star you come to is the pole star. So face that star and you are facing north.

Many of you will have seen the next object shining incredibly brightly in the west at dusk. So bright it is unmissable. This is the planet Venus. How about getting binoculars out and having a look at the planet. If you stand holding the binoculars to your eyes, all you will see is a white light wobbling around in front of you. Most people do not have a tripod and connector. If you do, then set that up. For the others of you, rest the binoculars against the wall of the house - or if that doesn’t work for your location, get a chair and rest the binoculars firmly against that. Focus the light and as your eyes get used to the view, very slightly bring Venus in and out of focus. You will see that the planet is not a full disc (it is actually in a crescent phase not unsimilar to a Moon phase). Also, you will see that Venus is quite small. Over the weeks ahead, go back to Venus and notice how the size of the planet appears to get larger as it moves nearer to us and see how the phase changes too.

Poor old Galileo! When he first saw the phase of Venus in the early 1600s, he realised that Copernicus was correct - the planets travel round the Sun. The Pope eventually put him under house arrest as it went against the Catholic teaching of the day. Rather severe social distancing!