SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 132
*Could Betelgeuse Actually Be Two Stars?
A new study raises the intriguing possibility that the red supergiant Betelgeuse may not be on the brink of supernova, as previously thought. Instead, it might be a binary star system. This revelation, reported in the Astrophysical Journal, suggests that an unseen companion star could be causing Betelgeuse's pulsing brightness, challenging the long-held belief of its impending explosion.
*Richard Branson to Co-Pilot Space Perspective's First Manned Balloon Flight
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson is set to co-pilot Space Perspective's first manned stratospheric balloon flight. The flight promises a gentle ascent to 100,000 feet, offering panoramic views of Earth without the high G-forces of traditional Space tourism, marking a new era in high-altitude experiences.
* Australia's Ambitious Spaceport Plans
Despite not launching an orbital mission in over 50 years, Australia is gearing up to expand its spaceport capabilities. Proposals for new spaceports in Western Australia and Queensland are on the table, aiming to position Australia as a key player in the global Space industry.
Skywatch: November Night Skies
Explore the November night skies with highlights including the Andromeda Galaxy, the Crab Nebula, and three meteor showers. Discover the celestial wonders visible this month and the fascinating stories behind them.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/23820611?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 132
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 1st of November
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 2024 coming up on SpaceTime could bleers
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 actually be two stars Richard Branson to
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 co-pilot the first man flight for space
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 perspective and they haven't put
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 anything in orbit for half a century but
00:00:20 --> 00:00:21 Australia is looking at developing more
00:00:21 --> 00:00:25 space ports all that and more coming up
00:00:25 --> 00:00:26 on
00:00:26 --> 00:00:31 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with st
00:00:31 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 Gary a new study has raised the
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 possibility that the red super giant
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 bleers may actually be a binary star
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 system now if that's the case it means
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 the star may not be on the brink of
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 exploding as a supernova after all
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 located between 530 and 643 light years
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 away belgers is the brightest star of
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 the constellation Orion the 10th
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 brightest star in our night skies and
00:01:09 --> 00:01:10 one of the largest and most luminous
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 stars visible with the uned eye commonly
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 called Beetle Juice don't say it three
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 times its name before centuries of
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 tortured mispronunciations started out
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 as IAL yaza meaning hand of the big man
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 in Arabic the big man being a Ryan the
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 hunter bleo began its life about 10
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 million years ago as as a spectr type OB
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 blue star making it one of the largest
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 and most luminous main sequence Stars
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 calculations of BG's Mass range from
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 slightly under 10 to a little over 20
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 times that of our sun with some 100
00:01:43 --> 00:01:44 times the sun's brightness and around
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 1100 times its diameter if belgers were
00:01:48 --> 00:01:49 at the location of the Sun at the center
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 of our solar system its surface would
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 extend almost out as far as Jupiter
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 engulfing the orbits of Mercury Venus
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 Earth Mars and the main asteroid belt
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 it's now bloated old semi-regular
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 variable red super giant red super
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 Giants are the largest stars in the
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 universe in terms of their volume
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 eventually they explode as core collapse
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 Supernova ending up as neutron stars or
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 Stellar Mass black holes and battle go
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 is expected to explode any day now which
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 in astronomical terms could mean a
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 million years from now or it could mean
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 tomorrow when it does explode it'll
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 temporarily outshine all the other stars
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 in the galaxy and it will be clearly
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 visible in the daytime sky here on Earth
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 the last star seen by humans to go
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 supernova in our galaxy was Tao star
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 that was way back in 1572 long before
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 the invention of the telescope however
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 these new observations mean BOS may not
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 be on the brink of exploding after all
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 astronomers can predict when a star will
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 die by effectively checking its pulse
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 what happens is stars get brighter and
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 dimmer pulsing like a heartbeat counting
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 down to an eventual supern explosion
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 however the new observations on bleers
00:03:00 --> 00:03:01 reported in the astrophysical journal
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 suggested the pulsing of this star could
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 be caused by an unseen companion star
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 orbiting bleg formerly named Alpha Orion
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 B this tentative second star would be
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14 acting like a sort of snow plow orbiting
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 bleers and pushing light blocking dust
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 out of the way temporarily making balgar
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 seem brighter that's the pulse the
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 study's lead author Jared Goldberg from
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 the flat iron Institute says he's
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 already ruled out every other intrinsic
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 sort of source for variability and the
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 only High hypothesis that seem to fit
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 the observations is that bleers has a
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 companion now to back that up Goldberg
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 and colleagues observe that bleers had
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 two heartbeats one that pulses on a time
00:03:41 --> 00:03:42 scale of a little longer than an Earth
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 year and one that pulses on a time scale
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 of about six Earth years one of those
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 heartbeats is BG's fundamental mode a
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 pattern of brightening and dimming
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 that's intrinsic to the star itself if
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 the star's fundamental mode is its
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 long-scale heartbeat then bgo could be
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 ready to blow sooner than expected
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 however if its fundamental Mur is its
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 shortscale heartbeat as several studies
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 suggest then its longer heartbeat is a
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 phenomenon C along secondary period in
00:04:09 --> 00:04:10 that case the longer brightening and
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 dimming would be caused by something
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 external to the star itself now
00:04:15 --> 00:04:16 scientists still don't know for sure
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 what's causing the long secondary
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 periods but one of the leading theories
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 is that they arise when a star is a
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 companion that's circling it and barrels
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 through Cosmic dust being produced and
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 expelled by the primary star this
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 displaced dust with would alter how much
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 Starlight reaches an observer on Earth
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 changing the star's apparent brightness
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36 Goldberg and colleagues explored whether
00:04:37 --> 00:04:38 other processes could have caused a long
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 secondary period such as the churning of
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 the star's interior or periodic changes
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 in the star's powerful magnetic field
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 after combining direct observations of
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 bleers with Advanced Computer models
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 that simulate the star's activity the
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 authors concluded that a secondary star
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 is by far the most likely explanation
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 Goldberg says that if there's no
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 companion it means that something way
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 weirder must be going on something
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 impossible to explain with current
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 physics the authors have yet to explain
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 what the so-called Beetle buddy is but
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 they assume it's a star about twice the
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 mass of our sun a more exotic hypothesis
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 is that the companions a neutron star
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 the core of a star that's already gone
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 Supernova however if that's the case
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 you'd expect to see evidence of this
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 with x-ray observations and they're not
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 showing it so the authors will now try
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 to take images of Bal body with
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 telescopes as there's a potential window
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 of visibility around December the 6
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 that's just a month away they'll need to
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 confirm that ble buddy really does exist
00:05:35 --> 00:05:36 since their results are based on
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 inference not on Direct detection
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 needless to say we'll keep you informed
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 this is spacetime still to come Richard
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 Branson to co-pilot a new stratospheric
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 balloon flight and although we haven't
00:05:49 --> 00:05:50 launched an orbital mission for over
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 half a century Australia is looking at
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 developing even more space ports all
00:05:55 --> 00:06:00 that and more still to come on SpaceTime
00:06:00 --> 00:06:13 [Music]
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 it's been announced that virgin boss
00:06:15 --> 00:06:17 Richard Branson will co-pilot space
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 perspective's first stratospheric
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 balloon flight last month the Florida
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 based company undertook an unman test
00:06:24 --> 00:06:25 flight over their high altitude balloon
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 and Gondola which will eventually take
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 space tourists to altitudes of over 100,
00:06:29 --> 00:06:33 000 ft that's 30 km above the ground now
00:06:33 --> 00:06:34 although that's nowhere near the edge of
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 space it's high enough to allow
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 occupants to see the curvature of the
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 earth under a black Sky even in broad
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 daylight the system uses a hydrogen
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 filled balloon and a pressurized Gondola
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 the 6-hour stratospheric flight will
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 avoid the high G forces of Rocket
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 powered space tourism flights providing
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 a far more gentle experience though it
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 will include meals and Wi-Fi it'll offer
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 up to eight passengers at a time
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 breathtaking views through p panoramic
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 windows and there's no weightlessness so
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 no risk of space sickness Branson who
00:07:05 --> 00:07:06 undertook record-breaking Atlantic and
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08 Pacific Ocean balloon Crossings and
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 established the Virgin group already
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 operates Virgin Galactic which takes
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 space tourists to the very edge of space
00:07:15 --> 00:07:19 this SpaceTime still to come Australia
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 looking at developing more space ports
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 and the giant spiral galaxy M31
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 Andromeda The Crab Nebula M1 and three
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 meteor showers are among the highlights
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 of the November night skies on
00:07:31 --> 00:07:38 [Music]
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 Skywatch although Australia hasn't put
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 anything into orbit since the Glory Days
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 of the wmer rocket range over half a
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 century ago plans are a foot for new
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 spaceports with both Western Australia
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 and Queensland the latest to make
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 proposals Spaceport Australia has
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 announced plans to construct a space
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 port on the cap York peninsula in Far
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 North Queensland the company's already
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 announced a $30 million deal to acquire
00:08:08 --> 00:08:09 two air surveillance Radars for the
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 project the deal would see the
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 technology arve by the end of
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 2026 former Australian prime minister
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 Scott Morrison has been appointed
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 chairman of the new company meanwhile on
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 the other side of the country the
00:08:22 --> 00:08:23 Western Australian government appears to
00:08:23 --> 00:08:25 be hitting at the idea of establishing
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 its own space port the government's new
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 space industry strategy claims the
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 state's vast Coastline and minimal air
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 traffic would make it an ideal location
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 for a space launch and return facility
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 it's not the first time a space port has
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 been proposed in Western Australia
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42 another company was looking at polar
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 rocket launches from Alban on The Great
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 Australian bite back in
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 2022 but the new plan claims Westland
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 Australia would be an ideal location for
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 communications tracking and launch
00:08:53 --> 00:08:54 facilities offering a range of
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 advantages and optimal environmental
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 conditions the statement claims the
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 state clear skies large arid areas
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 minimal radio interference and location
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 around 120° apart in longitude to
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 Western Europe and North America would
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 provide an ideal worldclass location for
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 hosting space ground infrastructure and
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 of course the state already hosts dozens
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 of national and international facilities
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 that support Global coverage of space
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 assets space Communications as well as
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23 space situational awareness and
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 positioning navigation and timing
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 facilities the Western Australia space
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 industry strategy has already seen over
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 a billion dollars invested or committed
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 to Western Australia space sector since
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 2018 Australia's already home to five
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 space ports this equatorial launch
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 Australia's Aram land Space Center in
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 the Northern Territory Gilmore space
00:09:44 --> 00:09:45 Technologies orbital Spaceport in North
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 Queensland and Bowen Southern launchers
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 orbital Whalers way facility and
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 suborbital Kima test range in South
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 Australia and of course there's the
00:09:54 --> 00:09:58 warmer rocket range also in sa this is
00:09:58 --> 00:09:59 spacetime
00:09:59 --> 00:10:09 [Music]
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 and time now to turn our eyes to the
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 skies and check out the celestial sphere
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 for November on Skywatch high in the
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 northern Skies of November you'll find
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 the constellation Pegasus the
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 Mesopotamian and atrasan mythical winged
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 horse who was born from the blood of
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 Medusa the Gorgon after she was slain by
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 pereus the brightest star in Pegasus is
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 the orange super giant Epsilon pagi
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 located some 690 light years away it's
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 estimated to have about 185 times the
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 sun's radius and 12 times its mass
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 Epsilon pegasi together with the Stars
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 marab Al janib Shahid and Alpha
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 andromede forms the asterism or pattern
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 of stars known as the great square of
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 Pegasus a bunch of bright naked ey Stars
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 shaped like a square one of the stars in
00:11:02 --> 00:11:06 this constellation is 51 Pegassi 51
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 Pegassi is a sunlike Star located 51
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 light years away on October the 6th 1995
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 astronomers announced the discovery of
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 an exoplanet orbiting the star it was
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 the first ever confirmed detection of a
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 planet orbiting another star the planet
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 has around half the mass of Jupiter and
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 is thought to be a gas giant but it
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 wasn't what scientists were expecting
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 the planet orbits the star in just four
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 Earth days that's much closer than
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 Mercury's 88- day orbit around the sun
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 because it orbits so close to the star
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 51 pagi b as it's called experiences
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 temperatures estimated to be around
00:11:41 --> 00:11:45 1200° C now at the time of its Discovery
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 this close distance was not compatible
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 with theories of planetary formation and
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 resulted in a lot of discussion among
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 scientists about the idea of planetary
00:11:54 --> 00:11:57 migration however since its Discovery
00:11:57 --> 00:11:58 numerous other so-called hot Jupiters
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 have been detected pretty much
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 confirming planetary migration to be
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 real by the way a lie well that's the
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 distance a photon can travel in a year
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 at the speed of light which is some
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 300 km/ second in a vacuum and the
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 ultimate speed limit of the universe
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 also visible in Pegasus is the M15 or
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 NGC 7078 globular cluster which is
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 located around
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 33 L years away globular clusters
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 are tight bolts containing thousands of
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Stars which are all originally formed at
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 the same time out of the same molecular
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 gas and dust cloud M15 is estimated to
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 be around 12 billion years old making it
00:12:39 --> 00:12:40 one of the oldest known globular
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 clusters and it contains around 100
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 Stars making it one of the most densely
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 packed globular clusters in the entire
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 Milky Way galaxy its cores undergone a
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 contraction known as core collapse and
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 it has a central density CP with an
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 enormous number of stars orbiting very
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 rapidly around what appears to to be a
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 central black hole M15 also contains at
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 least 112 variable Stars eight pulsars
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 including one double neutron star system
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 and the first ever planetary nebula
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 found in a globular
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 cluster now if you're in or near the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 Northern Hemisphere and away from City
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 Lights you'll notice a fuzzy patch of
00:13:17 --> 00:13:21 light right next to Pegasus this is the
00:13:21 --> 00:13:25 giant spiral galaxy M31
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 Andromeda Andromeda is the biggest
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 galaxy in our local Galaxy IC group
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 located some 2.5 million light years
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 away Andromeda consists of more than a
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 trillion Stars around twice the number
00:13:37 --> 00:13:41 found in the milu way and it's huge some
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 220 light years across based on
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 current estimates andrometer appears to
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 have more older stars than the Milky Way
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 it also has far less new star production
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 going on than our galaxy and the rate of
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 supernova in the Milky Way is also about
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 double that in Andromeda Andromeda is
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 surrounded by a large massive Halo of
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 hot gas and plasma estimated to contain
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 at least half the mass of the stars in
00:14:06 --> 00:14:10 the galaxy this nearly invisible Halo
00:14:10 --> 00:14:11 stretches about a million light years
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 from its host Galaxy that's almost
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 halfway towards the Milky Way using a
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 good pair of binoculars or a backyard
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 telescope you'll see dark dust Lanes in
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 andromeda's spiral arms and you'll see
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 its bright Central Galactic core now
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 over time andrometer will become a lot
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 clearer that's because it's getting
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 closer you see the Milky Way and
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 Andromeda are expected to collide in
00:14:35 --> 00:14:39 about 3.7 to 4.5 billion years from now
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 the two spirals eventually merging to
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 form a new giant elliptical galaxy what
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 that means for the future of the Earth
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 the Sun and our solar system is a matter
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 of great ongoing debate the
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 gravitational tidle perations from the
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 encounter could rip our solar system
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 apart or even fling us out into
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 intergalactic IC space at this stage
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 only time will tell now looking to the
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 East and slightly south of Pegasus
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 you'll see the ancient constellation of
00:15:09 --> 00:15:11 cus The Great Whale or sea monster the
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 brightest star in the constellation is
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 beta CTI or denb katos an orange giant
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 located 96 light years away the name
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 denb katos means the whale's tail
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 another one of the stars in cus is
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 mirror the first variable star ever
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 discovered Lo headed some 420 light
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 years away mirror pulsates in brightness
00:15:32 --> 00:15:36 over a period of 332 days changing in
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 diameter from around 400 to 500 times
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 the diameter of our sun also visible is
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 Alpha setti traditionally called Mena
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 the nose it's a red hued giant star some
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 220 light years away it's actually a
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 double star with a secondary 93 City
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 being a blue white star some 440 light
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 years away also in cus located some 11.9
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 light years away is the yellow dwarf
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 star TTI the nearest sunlike star to the
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 earth other than the
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 sun astronomers describe stars in terms
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 of spectral types it's a classification
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 system based on temperature and other
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 characteristics the hottest most massive
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 and most luminous stars are known as
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 spectr type O blue stars that's followed
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 by spectr type B blue white stars then
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 spectral type a white stars spectral
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 type f whitish yellow stars then come
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 spectr type G yellow stars that's where
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 our sun fits in slightly cooler A spectr
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 type K orange stars and then the coolest
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 and least massive stars known are spectr
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 Type M red stars each spectral
00:16:44 --> 00:16:45 classification can then further be
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 subdivided using a numeric digit to
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 represent temperature with zero being
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 the hottest and nine the coolest and
00:16:52 --> 00:16:53 then you add a Roman numeral to
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 represent Luminosity so at the end of
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 all that our sun is classified as a g2v
00:16:59 --> 00:17:03 or if you prefer G25 yellow dwarf star
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 also included in the Stellar
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 classification system a spectral types
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 LT and Y which are assigned to failed
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 Stars known as brown dwarves some of
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 which were actually born as spectr Type
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 M red stars but then became Brown
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 dwarves after losing some of their Mass
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 Brown dwarves fit in a unique category
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 between the largest planets which are
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 about 13 times the mass of Jupiter and
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 the smaller spectr type mred Stars which
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 can be 75 to 80 times the mass of
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 Jupiter or 0.08 solar
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 masses south of satus you'll find the
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 brilliant star ainar which means the
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 river's end and it marks the end of the
00:17:40 --> 00:17:44 river aridness ainar is a binary system
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 comprising Alpha idy which is the
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 brightest star of point of light in and
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 lying at the southern tip of the
00:17:49 --> 00:17:52 constellation of aridus the two
00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 components of Alpha ridney and
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 designated Alpha ridney a and Alpha
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 ridney B and they're located about 139
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 light years away way of the 10 apparent
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 brightest stars in our night sky Alpha
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 ridney is the hottest and bluest in
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 color that's due to aenar being a spectr
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 type B main sequence star akar also has
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 an unusually rapid rotational velocity
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 causing it to be quite oblad in shape
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 the second star in the system is a
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 smaller spectr type a white star and
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 orbits the primary star at a distance of
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 around 12 astronomical units follow
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 eridanus towards the east and you'll see
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 the Magnificent const St ation Orion the
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32 hunter a familiar signpost for southern
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 summer Skies to the west of Orion is the
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 constellation tourist the bull and
00:18:38 --> 00:18:42 located in tourus is M1 The Crab Nebula
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 it's the remnant of a star which Chinese
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 astronomers saw explode as a supernova
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 on July the 4th in the year
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 1054 they recorded the sudden appearance
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 of a new star on their Sky charts at the
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 exact position of the Crab Nebula the
00:18:57 --> 00:18:58 Supernova appeared brighter than the
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 planet Venus for weeks on end before
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 finally fading completely from view
00:19:03 --> 00:19:07 after almost 2 years The Crab Nebula is
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 located some 7 light years away it's
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 expanding at a rate of over 5 million km
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 per hour at the heart of the nebula is a
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 rapidly spinning neutron star or Pulsar
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 rotating some 30 times every second it's
00:19:22 --> 00:19:24 emitting radiation in all wavelengths
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 from gamma rays and x-rays through
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 ultraviolet Optical and infrared and on
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 into radio waves observations indicate
00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 the pulse's spin rate is slowing down
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 and it will fall to just half its
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 current rotational rate in the next
00:19:38 --> 00:19:39 Thousand
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 Years November is also a great time to
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 check out the ples or seven sisters one
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 of the nearest and most spectacular open
00:19:46 --> 00:19:50 star clusters to Earth also known as
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 M45 the ples are located in the
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 constellation Taurus now depending on
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 Whose measurements you prefer the ples
00:19:57 --> 00:20:00 are located somewhere between 118 and
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 137 PEX away a parek being 3.26 light
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 years the ples are composed of mostly
00:20:07 --> 00:20:10 hot blue white stars amazingly different
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 cultures in vastly different parts of
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 the world all describe the ples as Seven
00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 Sisters or seven women possibly some
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 sort of ancient throwback to very early
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 human
00:20:22 --> 00:20:25 civilization just like October November
00:20:25 --> 00:20:27 also sees three meteor showers there's
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 the November orionids as well as the
00:20:30 --> 00:20:32 toids and the leonids although peaking
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35 in late October the orionids continue to
00:20:35 --> 00:20:37 sprinkle down during the start in
00:20:37 --> 00:20:39 November and are usually at their best
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 in the we small hours before Dawn
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 they're generated by the debris Trail
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 left behind by the Comet Halley and
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 appear to radiate out from the direction
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 of the constellation of Ryan the hunter
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 hence their name the toids are generated
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 by the comet anky and as their name
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 suggests they appear to radiate out from
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 the constellation tourus the ball now
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 anky and the TDS are believed to be the
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 remnants of a much larger Comet which
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 disintegrated sometime in the past
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 20 to 30 years breaking into
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 several pieces and releasing material by
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 normal cometry activity and maybe
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 occasionally through close encounters
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 with the gravitational tidal force of
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 the earth and other planets in fact the
00:21:20 --> 00:21:23 cometary stream of material from the TDs
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 is the largest in the inner solar system
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 and being so spread out the Earth takes
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 several weeks to pass through it all
00:21:30 --> 00:21:31 that means there's an extended period of
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 meteor activity compared to the much
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 smaller periods of activity for other
00:21:35 --> 00:21:38 meteor showers interactions with the
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 Giant gas planet Jupiter have also
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 caused the tets to be segmented into
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 separate northern and southern streams
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 the southern toids usually last from
00:21:47 --> 00:21:48 around September the 25th to around
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 November the 25th while the northern
00:21:51 --> 00:21:53 toids go from October the 12th to around
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56 December the 2nd the TDS are usually
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 quite diffuse only producing about about
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 7 meteors hour however they're composed
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 of far more massive material think of
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 Pebbles instead of dust grains and so
00:22:06 --> 00:22:07 they tend to produce a high percentage
00:22:07 --> 00:22:09 of very bright meteors known as
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 Fireballs produced by the larger
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 meteoroids burning through the
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 atmosphere the southern tours should be
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 putting on their best show just after
00:22:17 --> 00:22:20 midnight around now the third meteor
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 shower in November are the Leonards
00:22:22 --> 00:22:25 which pick around November the 18th they
00:22:25 --> 00:22:27 usually produce around 15 metors an hour
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 but have been known to occasionally
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32 produce some spectacular meteor storms
00:22:32 --> 00:22:36 with showers in 1999 2001 and 2002
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 producing around 3 Leonid meteors
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 per hour but one of the best had over
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 been the leonids meteor show of
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 1966 which generated well literally
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 thousands of meteors per minute falling
00:22:49 --> 00:22:52 like illuminated rain the Leonards are
00:22:52 --> 00:22:54 usually picked up after midnight with
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 Peaks occurring Just Before Dawn
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 produced by debris from the comet Temple
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 Tuttle the leonids radiate out from the
00:23:00 --> 00:23:03 constellation Leo the Lion and they're a
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 fast moving stream encountering the path
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 of the Earth at 72
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 km/s larg Leonards which are about 10 mm
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 across can have a mass of half a gram
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 and are known to generate really bright
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 meteors it's been calculated that the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 annual Leonard's meteor shower can
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 deposit 12 to 13 tons of particles
00:23:22 --> 00:23:25 across the planet Jonathan n from sky
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 and Telescope magazine joins us now for
00:23:27 --> 00:23:29 the rest of our tour of the November
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 night skies good day Stuart well where I
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 live we're heading towards Summer I live
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 in the southern hemisphere of course so
00:23:34 --> 00:23:35 summer's coming up the weather's
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 becoming much nicer the evenings are
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 becoming warmer only problem is that for
00:23:39 --> 00:23:40 many of us including myself we got
00:23:41 --> 00:23:42 Daylight Saving to contain with so you
00:23:42 --> 00:23:43 got to wait later in the evening before
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 the sky to get dark but now win some you
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 lose some after the sun has set we have
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 a short window to get our last glimpses
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 for the year of the mighty constellation
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 Scorpi and Sagittarius the front half of
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 a scorpion has already disappeared below
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 the Western Horizon after Sunset but the
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 tail end with the sting is still poking
00:24:00 --> 00:24:02 upwards into disguise you can still see
00:24:02 --> 00:24:03 that if you're looking for the Southern
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 Cross you won't have much luck during
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 the pre midnight hours during November
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 at this time of year it's upside down
00:24:09 --> 00:24:10 and either very low on the southern
00:24:10 --> 00:24:13 horizon or below the Horizon depending
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 on which city you're living and how fast
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 South you are but if you're up and about
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 in the hours before Dawn you will be
00:24:18 --> 00:24:20 able to see it it'll be lying on its
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 left hand side sort of low in the
00:24:22 --> 00:24:24 Southeast so it looks like a pight shape
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 and it's quite small the Southern Cross
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 is actually the smallest constellation
00:24:27 --> 00:24:28 so don't go out expect you see something
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 really big if you hold your hand out at
00:24:30 --> 00:24:31 arms length you can cover it up it's the
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 smallest cellation now if you have
00:24:34 --> 00:24:36 really dark skies if you're somewhere
00:24:36 --> 00:24:37 where you don't have much life pollution
00:24:38 --> 00:24:39 you might be able to make out a dark
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 patch in the Milky Way right next to the
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 cell cross this is called the coal shack
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 that's its nickname the coal sack it's a
00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 huge region of interstellar gas and dust
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 that's out there in space and it's
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 blocking out the stars of the Milky Way
00:24:52 --> 00:24:54 behind it originally people thought you
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 know this might be a hole in the Milky
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58 Way and we're looking straight through
00:24:58 --> 00:24:59 the other side but then they realize no
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 it's just a big Dark Cloud in the
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 foreground basically with the ly way
00:25:03 --> 00:25:05 behind it there are some stars in front
00:25:05 --> 00:25:06 of the the call set so it's not
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 completely black but you do need some
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 Dark Skies country Skies or just away
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 from light pollution in order to see
00:25:13 --> 00:25:14 that in the early mornings you're still
00:25:14 --> 00:25:15 out there looking for the Southern Cross
00:25:15 --> 00:25:16 you should also be able to see two
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 Bright Stars down near the southern
00:25:18 --> 00:25:19 Horizon these are known as the two
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 pointers or the pointers because if you
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 draw an imaginary line between them and
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 then keep that line going for a short
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28 distance it points more or less to
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 towards with shov cross one of those two
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 stars is the famous Alpha and it's
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 actually a triple star system and the
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 closest star system to our solar system
00:25:36 --> 00:25:38 it's only just over four light years
00:25:38 --> 00:25:41 away Alpha sentor is a actually a double
00:25:41 --> 00:25:43 star there two two stars going around
00:25:43 --> 00:25:45 each other very close and the third star
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 in this overall triple system is very
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 very small very faint you can't see it
00:25:50 --> 00:25:52 with a naked eye you need a telescope
00:25:53 --> 00:25:54 and you need to know exactly where to
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 see it but it actually is the co system
00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 start to Earth up in the sun it's called
00:25:58 --> 00:26:00 Proxima Cent or now in the evening if
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 you look in the Southeast you'll see a
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 very bright star this is kopus the
00:26:04 --> 00:26:06 brightest star in the constellation Kina
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 and in fact the second brightest star in
00:26:07 --> 00:26:10 the night sky in color it is essentially
00:26:10 --> 00:26:11 white although some people myself
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 included think it has a slightly
00:26:13 --> 00:26:16 yellowish tinge that's combination of um
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 eyesight and it I think it does it's not
00:26:18 --> 00:26:20 it's not purely white and also very
00:26:20 --> 00:26:21 often when you're looking at it it's
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 down towards the horizon so you're
00:26:23 --> 00:26:24 getting a bit of atmospheric MK in the
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 way so that tends to change its color a
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 little bit too canopus is about 310
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 light years from Earth which is not very
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 far in space terms and like many stars
00:26:33 --> 00:26:36 kopus is huge it's really big it's not
00:26:37 --> 00:26:39 the biggest but it's big it's about 70
00:26:39 --> 00:26:42 times get this it's about 70 times wider
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 than our sun and it's more than 10
00:26:44 --> 00:26:46 times brighter and the only reason it's
00:26:46 --> 00:26:49 not as bright as the sun in our night
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 sky is because it's 310 light years away
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 if it was much closer it would be just
00:26:53 --> 00:26:56 dazzling now higher up above kopus you
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 see another bright SP quite high up in
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 fact it's called acona and it's the
00:27:00 --> 00:27:02 brightest star in the constellation of
00:27:02 --> 00:27:04 eridanus a constellation most people
00:27:04 --> 00:27:05 have never heard of it's constellation
00:27:05 --> 00:27:07 of the river and this is the ninth
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 brightest star in all of the night sky
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 and one of its claims to fame you can't
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 see this but the stist have work it out
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 is that it's spinning so rapidly on its
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 axis is that that its equator is sort of
00:27:17 --> 00:27:19 bulging out and the poles are flattened
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22 it's not a sphere like most other stars
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 but it's become oblate sort of flattened
00:27:24 --> 00:27:26 so yeah stretched out around its equator
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 and and sort of squashed at the PO CU
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 it's spinning really fast now as the
00:27:30 --> 00:27:31 evening is progressing and we get
00:27:31 --> 00:27:34 towards midnight you'll see that the
00:27:34 --> 00:27:36 other half of the Milky wave is rising
00:27:36 --> 00:27:38 in the East because the beginning of the
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 evening the the first half of the mky
00:27:40 --> 00:27:41 way if you want to call it is right on
00:27:41 --> 00:27:43 the western Horizon and it goes down
00:27:43 --> 00:27:44 very quickly but late in the evening
00:27:44 --> 00:27:46 towards midnight you see the other half
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 M way coming up in the East and it's
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49 bringing with it some of the best spars
00:27:50 --> 00:27:51 and constellations for us in the
00:27:51 --> 00:27:52 southern hemisphere we know this is the
00:27:53 --> 00:27:54 sign that summer is approaching for our
00:27:54 --> 00:27:55 friends in the northern hemisphere they
00:27:55 --> 00:27:56 know it's the sign that winter is
00:27:56 --> 00:27:58 approaching so first loow down in the
00:27:58 --> 00:28:00 East there's Sirius and this is the
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02 brightest star in the constellation
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 canist major or the greater dog and
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 Sirius is the brightest star in the
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 night sky around to its left a bit is
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 the Fantastic constellation of Orion
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 there it's many amazing sites you've got
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15 these two Bright Stars called ryel and
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17 Beetle Juice we've got three little
00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 stars in a row that form the the belt of
00:28:20 --> 00:28:22 Orion Orion stands for the hunter so
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 this is the Hunter's belt and then
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 hanging down from the belt are a couple
00:28:27 --> 00:28:29 of other stars and a fuzzy patch well
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 that is an enormous star forming region
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 1500 light years from Earth and it's
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 just amazing that we can see these
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 things just with the uned eye it really
00:28:38 --> 00:28:41 really is it might not look impressive
00:28:41 --> 00:28:43 but when you think about what it is and
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 what they just seen it's it's really
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 quite remarkable so that's around to the
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 left of Syria so if you keep going
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 further around the left around to the
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 north you get to the constellation
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 Taurus which is pretty easy to make out
00:28:54 --> 00:28:57 because it has a wedge shaped group of
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 stars St
00:28:58 --> 00:29:00 called the hi 8es and there's a bright
00:29:00 --> 00:29:02 red star there called
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 aldeon not far from the high 8es and
00:29:05 --> 00:29:07 aldeon is another easily seen group of
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 star called the pleades or the Seven
00:29:10 --> 00:29:11 Sisters now if you get a pair of
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 binoculars onto this one you will gasp
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 in wonder I assure you because it looks
00:29:15 --> 00:29:17 really pretty through a pair of anoc you
00:29:17 --> 00:29:19 don't even need a telescope Seven
00:29:19 --> 00:29:21 Sisters is it name because most people
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 with average eyesight can make out seven
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 of the Stars actually hundreds and
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 hundreds of stars in the star cluster
00:29:26 --> 00:29:29 but um most them are quite faint but if
00:29:29 --> 00:29:30 you get a pair of binoculars on it
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 you'll see many more than you can with a
00:29:32 --> 00:29:35 naked eye it really looks lovely now
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 let's look at the planet Mercury is
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39 actually readily visible all this month
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 which is not common very often Mercury's
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 very low on the horizon and only for a
00:29:43 --> 00:29:44 week or two and you don't really get to
00:29:44 --> 00:29:46 see it but this month fortunately we're
00:29:46 --> 00:29:48 going to see it quite easily you'll find
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 it above the Western Horizon after the
00:29:50 --> 00:29:52 sun has set so where the sun goes down
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 once it's gone down below the Horizon
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 and the star are starting to get B dark
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 even in the Twilight in fact you'll see
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 what looks like a small bright star and
00:30:02 --> 00:30:03 that's Mercury but it is of course a
00:30:03 --> 00:30:07 planet it's should be quite easy to spot
00:30:07 --> 00:30:09 higher up sort of straight up from that
00:30:09 --> 00:30:11 from Mercury is a much brighter light
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 and that's Venus and you just simply
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 can't miss Venus it's so bright it's
00:30:15 --> 00:30:16 actually brighter than those two Bright
00:30:17 --> 00:30:19 Stars I mentioned earlier Sirius and
00:30:19 --> 00:30:22 canopus now Saturn is almost overhead
00:30:22 --> 00:30:24 for people like me who live at mids
00:30:24 --> 00:30:25 Southern latitudes it looks like a
00:30:25 --> 00:30:28 medium brightness star in inverted and
00:30:28 --> 00:30:30 it's got a yellowish tinge and because
00:30:30 --> 00:30:32 it's so far away in space it doesn't
00:30:32 --> 00:30:33 appear to move much from night tonight
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 in fact you w't you really won't see any
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 movement night tonight because it's
00:30:36 --> 00:30:38 going so slowly through the night sky
00:30:38 --> 00:30:39 and unlike Mercury which you should
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 notice has changed position as each
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 night rolls around you'll see Mercury
00:30:43 --> 00:30:45 from night tonight Mercury will change
00:30:45 --> 00:30:47 position a bit got a bit higher and then
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 the M of the month it'll get a bit lower
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 but Saturn it uh it's basically going to
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 stay in the one spot and move with the
00:30:52 --> 00:30:55 Stars as as the Earth rotates now if we
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 out stargazing after midnight and we
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 small hours maybe you're finishing a
00:30:59 --> 00:31:00 night shift or something or you're
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 coming home from a party you'll find
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 Jupiter big and bright not far from that
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 star Al Deon I mentioned earlier
00:31:06 --> 00:31:09 actually so Al de Al Deon looks red and
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 Jupiter's basically big bright and white
00:31:12 --> 00:31:13 and this will be uh just above the
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 northeastern Horizon in the the early
00:31:15 --> 00:31:18 hours of the morning Mars will be there
00:31:18 --> 00:31:20 too above the northeastern Horizon but
00:31:20 --> 00:31:22 not until after about 2:30 when it rises
00:31:22 --> 00:31:27 above the um rises above the The Horizon
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 so if you're up around that time uh you
00:31:29 --> 00:31:30 should be able to spot Mars it's got a
00:31:30 --> 00:31:33 distinct Ruddy color a sort of a reddish
00:31:33 --> 00:31:35 Ruddy sort of color even a bit orangey
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 which makes it quite easy to identify
00:31:37 --> 00:31:39 and it's it's quite a lot dimmer than
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 Jupiter well they're separated quite a
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 lot in this in the sky in terms of the
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 angle between them as we're looking at
00:31:45 --> 00:31:47 them but uh you should be able to spot
00:31:47 --> 00:31:48 the two of them together Jupiter big and
00:31:48 --> 00:31:52 bright and Mars lower down ready sort of
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 color and a little bit dimmer and that's
00:31:54 --> 00:31:56 Stuart is the sty for November that's
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 Jonathan Nelly from from sky and
00:31:58 --> 00:32:03 Telescope magazine and this is
00:32:03 --> 00:32:16 [Music]
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 spacetime and that's the show for now
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