Night Sky Tours

10/18/2024

Hey Stargazing Friends.
I've not had the time to do a proper astro calendar for a while, so here is some Astro dates till the end of the year.
Clear skies to all and keep looking up
AstroPete

October
2nd New Moon
2nd Annular Solar Eclipse (NOT visible from UK)
10th First Quarter Moon
17th Full moon (Super Moon)
21st - 22nd Orionids Meteor Shower
24th Last Quarter Moon

November
1st New Moon
4th - 5th Taurid Meteor Shower
9th First Quarter Moon
15th Full Moon (Super Moon)
16th Mercury at greatest Easton Elongation
17th - 18th Leonids Meteor Shower
23rd Last Quarter Moon

December
1st New Moon
7th Jupiter at Opposition
8th First Quarter Moon
13th - 14th Geminid Meteor Shower
15th Full Moon
18th Day time Lunar occultation of Mars
21st Winter Solstice
21st - 22nd Ursid Meteor Shower
22nd Last Quarter Moon
25th Mercury at greatest western elongation
30th New Moon

06/03/2024

Hey Folks.
If you see a post about any astronomical event happening and you would like to share it, you are very welcome to ask me to check it first to see how accurate it is. When it comes to the Sun, Moon, Planets, planetary alignments, comets, meteor showers and all other astronomical events, these can either be blown out of proportion or can be very inaccurate and can lead to much disappointment.
So please get intouch before you share these types of posts.
Please share this post too. Thank you
Clear skies to all and keep looking up
AstroPete

05/30/2024

Hey Folks

I keep seeing posts about a rear planetary alignment on the 3rd of June.

So here are the facts
These types of events are not that rare. I have seen this many times over the last 20 years and much better alignments. It certainly won't look like what I have seen in the posts here on FB. Only Saturn and Mars will be visible to the naked eye. Mercury, Jupiter, and Uranus will be rising just before the sun and will be very low down above the horizon. So the sky will be too bright by then. Neptune and Uranus are too dim to see by the naked eye all of the time no matter where they are in the sky. The crescent moon will be close to Mars. Further-more some of the planets will be much more spread out and not equally spread. Also' the planets are not in a straight line in space only from our perspective. All the planets always move through a path in the sky called the ecliptic or the path through the zodiac constellations, so they always appear to be in a line in the sky.

This is what you will see on the morning of the 3rd of June.

Clear skies to all and keep looking up

AstroPete

04/08/2024

The Eclipse is happening now.
Heres where to watch it online.

Watch live with us as a total solar eclipse moves across North America on April 8, 2024, traveling through Mexico, across the United States from Texas to Mai...

04/03/2024

Hey Folks
Just a quick shout to say there is indeed a Total Solar Eclipse in the USA on Monday the 8th of April. Sady my corner of the UK won't see anything but if you are in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall.
If you have clear skies, You will be able to see a partial Eclipse at Sunset. See The picture linked with this post to see when and where to see it.
Image credit to Pete Lawrence

03/30/2024

Another Bright star 🌟 will be missed. Sad news of the passing of Alyn Wallace. An amazing Astrophotographer. I enjoyed many fantastic YouTube videos he created. His passion was inspiring.

It is with deep sadness that we share the news that our fellow astronomer and incredibly talented astrophotographer, Alyn Wallace, has passed away.

Alyn was amongst the very best astrophotographers in the world, his work enthused and inspired countless others.

We pass our deepest condolences to Alyn’s family, friends and associates. The astronomy community has lost one of its brightest stars.

01/31/2024

Hello my friends stargazing friends

Just a little post I thought I would share. This chart of the sky's annual darkness has always fascinated me. As you can see between the middle of May and the middle of July the sky doesn’t get Astronomically dark and the nights are very short. So if you have ever heard me say Winter is the best time for stargazing, this is why. This chart is for the South of the UK. If you are observing from Scotland the sky only gets as dark as Civil darkness and if you are near the equator the nights are Astronomically dark all year around.

This chart is taken from Clearoutside dot com

Clear skies to all and keep looking up

AstroPete

01/10/2024

THANK YOU!
To all the lovely folks who shared my 2024 Astronomy calendar.
Seeing people taking an interest is most inspiring and gives me the drive to keep posting.

The monthly calendar has become too much to deal with as I don't have the time at the moment. I think from now on I will post a yearly calendar at the start of the year and then post regular updates.

The Night Sky Tours for January, February, and March will all be local to my home now, as I have commitments on those weekends but providing the skies are clear I will try my best to get out somewhere with the BIG telescope.

I'm also hoping to do more Astro Live streams at some point. So keep an eye out on my pages. (Night Sky Tours)(AstroPete's monthly astronomy calendar)

Clear Skies to all and Keep looking up.
AstroPete