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Welcome to The Sky At Night. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
We've come to the gorgeous and remote Kielder Observatory in | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
Northumberland where we're promised some of England's darkest skies. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
We have something exciting happening in just a few hours' time. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:42 | |
An asteroid will be making one of the closest approaches to | 0:00:42 | 0:00:45 | |
Earth in recent years. And we're hoping to see it. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
And all the team are here. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
And we're also joined by friend of the programme Jon Culshaw, who will | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
be helping us meet the challenge of the Moore Winter Marathon. | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
We'll be find out how you got on, | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
seeing Patrick's 50 favourite winter night sky objects. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
The Kielder Observatory looks spectacular in the remote | 0:01:02 | 0:01:05 | |
Northumberland landscape. | 0:01:05 | 0:01:07 | |
It's at the end of a long forestry commission track | 0:01:07 | 0:01:10 | |
and the view of Kielder water is breath-taking. | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
It feels very wild here, a suitable place to go hunting for asteroids | 0:01:14 | 0:01:19 | |
and objects from the Moore Winter Marathon. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
Gary Fildes is the observatory director | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
and he is rightly proud of the facilities here. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
The observatory has won design awards, | 0:01:28 | 0:01:31 | |
but it's the telescopes and the dark skies which now win praise. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:35 | |
This 14-inch reflecting telescope is ideal for looking at | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
galaxies and nebulae. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
Gary relies on the dedicated and strong support of astronomers | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
who can use the telescopes, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:50 | |
such as this magnificent 20-inch reflector. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:54 | |
-Gary, what a fantastic location. -Yeah. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
How long have you been here, and how was this site chosen? | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
We have been here for nearly five years now. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
We searched high and low for a good location to build the observatory. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
The primary point is that we've got tremendous dark skies. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
It certainly feels really remote. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
Perfect for our Moore Winter Marathon. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
But before that, we have something equally special happening - | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
this close flyby of the asteroid. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
How are we going to be looking at that? | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
Well, we have been contemplating this for the last week. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
We're currently setting up a number of different telescopes | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
attached to cameras and camera lenses, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:30 | |
because this thing is travelling at quite a velocity. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
So we are using many different forms of media to actually track | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
and record this object as it zips by and says hello. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
I've brought my binoculars with me | 0:02:39 | 0:02:41 | |
so I'm hoping for some guidance of where to look. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
-And I'll be trying to catch it, as well. -Excellent. Superb. Me too. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
The sun has not yet set and we already have our first astro hit. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:56 | |
Jupiter in the daytime sky. Wonderful. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
There you go. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:02 | |
-Oh, yeah! -Have you got it? | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
-I like the stripes. -The stripes, yeah. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
Seeing Jupiter against a blue sky. | 0:03:07 | 0:03:10 | |
That is absolutely astonishing. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
Wow! | 0:03:14 | 0:03:15 | |
To see Jupiter so soon in the night, | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
it makes you feel that we're in for a good night's observing. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
It bodes well. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
As it darkens, Gary gives one of his many public talks, | 0:03:23 | 0:03:26 | |
this time with an impromptu performance from Jon, | 0:03:26 | 0:03:29 | |
a poem he wrote about Patrick. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:31 | |
AUDIENCE APPLAUD | 0:03:31 | 0:03:33 | |
Of course, The Sky At Night established almost 56 years ago | 0:03:33 | 0:03:37 | |
by the great Godfather of astronomy, Sir Patrick Moore. | 0:03:37 | 0:03:41 | |
Of course. | 0:03:41 | 0:03:42 | |
Capturing the fascination of astronomy beautifully, like that. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
In 1957, The Sky At Night began | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
They asked me to present the show | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
Well, I'll do the best I can | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
So as The Sky At Night got underway | 0:03:51 | 0:03:52 | |
The space race started too | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
We achieved the show's objectives | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
Delivering all events to you | 0:03:56 | 0:03:57 | |
We saw the far side of the Moon | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
Could our consciousness absorb it? | 0:04:00 | 0:04:02 | |
And Sputnik launched on October 4th | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
Into elliptical low Earth orbit | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
AUDIENCE LAUGH | 0:04:06 | 0:04:08 | |
At our 55th anniversary | 0:04:08 | 0:04:10 | |
Another birthday flag unfurled | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
With thanks, with pride, with gratitude | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
We are the longest-running show in the world | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
Good night. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
AUDIENCE APPLAUD | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
It's completely dark now | 0:04:25 | 0:04:26 | |
and the night skies of Kielder have really delivered. | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
We are out on the observation deck, | 0:04:30 | 0:04:32 | |
waiting to see the asteroid come into view. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:36 | |
Gary and his fellow astronomers have joined us | 0:04:36 | 0:04:39 | |
to share this unique event. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:40 | |
Just a few minutes ago, a small lump of rock called 2012 DA14 made one | 0:04:42 | 0:04:47 | |
of the closest passes past the Earth that we had in recorded history. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:52 | |
And we are all still here. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:53 | |
Yes, we are all still here, so it didn't hit. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
How close did it get, Lucy? | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
At closest approach, it was about 17,200 miles from us. | 0:04:57 | 0:05:01 | |
Maybe some people won't be thinking that's that close, | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
but it is in astronomical terms. | 0:05:04 | 0:05:07 | |
It's closer than satellites that broadcast TV, isn't it? | 0:05:07 | 0:05:09 | |
-It's nearer than they are. -That's right. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:11 | |
Any satellites are in a geosynchronous orbit. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
It has cut straight through those orbits. | 0:05:14 | 0:05:15 | |
There was never any chance of it colliding with a satellite, | 0:05:15 | 0:05:18 | |
and never any chance of it colliding with us. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
How big is this thing? That's the first question I want to know. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
How should we imagine it? | 0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | |
It's about 45 metres in length. Which is a fair size. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
-An Olympic swimming pool, sort of size. -Yeah. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:31 | |
A swimming pool size worth of rock shooting past the Earth. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:35 | |
The reason we are here now is, it's about to rise. | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
As seen from here in Kielder. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
We should see it go up, I think, just beneath the tail of Leo there. | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
And then by 9:30, it should be crossing the Plough. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:48 | |
And it will be visible in telescopes, but also in binoculars. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
I'm looking forward to having a look at it. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
I'm wondering what it's actually going to look like, | 0:05:53 | 0:05:55 | |
this Olympic-size swimming pool, | 0:05:55 | 0:05:57 | |
that sized object travelling at five miles per second. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
It should be rising, so should we go and have a look? | 0:06:01 | 0:06:03 | |
I think we should, yes. I think we should. | 0:06:03 | 0:06:05 | |
Let's check it's on the course they said it was. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
I'm hoping that the skies stay clear enough that I can get a view, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:13 | |
even though it's going to be rather faint. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
Asteroid 2012 DA14 is now in our sky, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
but it's proving very, very difficult to see. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
As it gets to that point, which is easy to locate, | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
it will have got dimmer. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
We have been sent some great footage from our viewers who are having | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
much more luck that we are here in Kielder. | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
This helpful arrow pinpoints the fast-moving object, as seen by | 0:06:39 | 0:06:43 | |
Simon White, who is camped out on Shap in Cumbria. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
Another helpful arrow to show the asteroid, | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
which is moving incredibly fast. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
This is from Australia, by Colin Legg. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
We are still having no luck, no matter how hard we stare, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
it's just not there. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
There are no arrows in our sky, but Dave Thompson and Brendan Martin | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
from Liverpool have managed to pinpoint the pesky asteroid. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:15 | |
Well, I haven't managed to find it yet but I'm still hopeful. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
It should just be approaching the handle of the Plough. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:23 | |
I'm going to give it five more minutes, | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
and then maybe I'm going to ask Pete for some help. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
It's really frustrating trying to see what's moving and what's not. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:33 | |
-Does somebody have it? -I've got it! -You've got it? -Yeah! | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
-I can see the thing moving. -Where?! | 0:07:36 | 0:07:38 | |
Well, right at this moment, the asteroid is with us. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
Pete Lawrence there with a great sense of determination. He is on it. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
He's got his camera going. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:47 | |
He is collecting lots and lots of pictures of it. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:50 | |
You can actually physically see the asteroid moving. | 0:07:50 | 0:07:53 | |
-Got it! -Ah, and Paul Abel has it now. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
-What can you see, Paul? -It's a tiny, faint point of light. | 0:07:56 | 0:08:00 | |
But it's moving noticeably against the background of stars. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
I'm quite surprised that the motion is as detectable as this. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
Are you seeing the motion, Pete? It is quite remarkable. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:09 | |
-It's absolutely incredible. Never seen anything like it. -Me neither! | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
It just looks like a faint star, | 0:08:12 | 0:08:14 | |
but you can see it visibly moving through the binoculars. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
I expected to see something that would look stationary. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:21 | |
And then you'd come back to it a moment later, | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
and you'd see it would have moved. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:25 | |
But I can actually visibly see it moving. It looks like a satellite. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:30 | |
And you can see the shapes it's making with the stars out there. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
The shapes are just changing | 0:08:33 | 0:08:34 | |
because that asteroid is moving through the stars. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
It makes it very difficult to find a reference point to describe to | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
other people. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:41 | |
Because as soon as you say it's right by that star, making | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
an Isosceles triangle, it has moved and the shape is no longer the same. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
I didn't expect it to be quite so visibly in motion as that. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:51 | |
That's just astonishing to think that is an asteroid, | 0:08:51 | 0:08:56 | |
about 45 metres across, moving through space. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
I'm very glad I've seen it here for Kielder, as well. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
David Strange saw it from Devon. | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
And here is this lovely sighting from Richard Fleet from Wiltshire. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:10 | |
Well done to everybody who managed to catch a glimpse | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
of this flying visitor. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
Oh, God, I've lost it! | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
It's an object that really makes you work hard to keep up with it. | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
-I've gone and lost it. -I think it's moved on since I last saw it. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
-Oh, hang on. -Have you got it? If it moves, you've got it. | 0:09:29 | 0:09:33 | |
Yes, that is moving. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
THEY CHEER | 0:09:35 | 0:09:36 | |
Whoa! | 0:09:36 | 0:09:38 | |
Look at that. So that's what half a football pitch, | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
travelling at five miles per second, looks like. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:43 | |
-Good grief! -That's really rather special. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
You can look at our website to find more images of this asteroid | 0:09:50 | 0:09:54 | |
and many others captured as they tumble through space. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
One asteroid, which did not have a safe encounter with Earth, | 0:09:59 | 0:10:03 | |
is the meteorite, which scattered in Chelyabinsk in the Russian Urals. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
Here is a view of it from space just as it's entering the Earth's | 0:10:09 | 0:10:13 | |
atmosphere, taken by one of our weather satellites. | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
We will be discussing its impact in next month's programme. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
Well, that was absolutely fabulous. But we were really lucky. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
The asteroid has been and gone just as the clouds rolled in. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
I can't quite believe it was clear just when we needed it to be. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:33 | |
But we are not giving up. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:34 | |
We still have a lot to do, because we want to have | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
a look at some of Patrick's favourite objects in the Moore Winter Marathon. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
Last April, Patrick came up with the Moore Marathon | 0:10:43 | 0:10:47 | |
to celebrate his 55th anniversary on The Sky At Night. | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
He was so pleased with the results, that in autumn he decided to | 0:10:50 | 0:10:54 | |
challenge you all again, this time with a Moore Winter Marathon. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
And this should be good, | 0:10:59 | 0:11:00 | |
with the Winter Sol the most magnificent of the entire year. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
Pete insisted on including the Celestial G, | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
but Patrick was a little sceptical. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
Who invented that one, I do not know. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:13 | |
-Well, Pete... -It was a chap called Graham. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
-Even now, I don't know what it is. -Pete, enlighten us. -OK. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:21 | |
Patrick challenged us to see 50 objects, and while waiting around | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
for our asteroid to arrive, we decided to get a few under our belt. | 0:11:25 | 0:11:30 | |
With clear skies beckoning, a good place to start | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
was Orion, the Hunter. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:34 | |
Everyone knows Orion. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
You've got Betelgeuse, which means armpit of the great one. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
You've got Rigel, which is his foot. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
You've got the Belt, the three stars, and then | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
hanging down from the Belt, just about here, you've got the Sword. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
And in that Sword you've got the misty nebula, | 0:11:47 | 0:11:50 | |
the fiery unformed mist of future suns. It's a stellar nursery. | 0:11:50 | 0:11:55 | |
A place where a cluster of stars is just forming. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
And it looks fabulous in a telescope. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:00 | |
We can use that to navigate around the sky. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
The belt is incredibly useful. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:04 | |
If you follow the line it makes, down and to the left, | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
that points to the brightest star in the night sky, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:08 | |
which is Sirius, | 0:12:08 | 0:12:09 | |
or brightest star in Canis Major, The Great Dog. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
It's also known as the Dog Star, of course. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
And the body goes down towards the horizon, | 0:12:14 | 0:12:16 | |
and there is even a little, tiny tail on the back of it, as well. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
I can't quite see the tail. What do you think, Jon? Convincing as a dog? | 0:12:19 | 0:12:22 | |
THEY LAUGH | 0:12:22 | 0:12:23 | |
I would love to have been on the committee of those who | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
decided what the constellations were. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:29 | |
Because, I don't know, | 0:12:29 | 0:12:30 | |
it may be open to the interpretation of the time when it was done. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
Indeed. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:35 | |
If you locate Sirius, there's another Moore Winter Marathon object | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
four degrees below it. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:40 | |
If you're not sure how big four degrees is, | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
that's about eight moon diameters below. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
-The moon is half a degree. -That's right. | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
So if you look directly below it, you've got lovely, dark, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
crystal-clear winter skies. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
There is M41 twinkling away. I'm having difficulty at the moment | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
because it is a little bit hazy down there. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
And of course, round Aldebaran, | 0:12:58 | 0:13:00 | |
you've got that V-shape of stars, as well, which is on the Moore list. | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
It is. The Hyades as they are known, is a fantastic open cluster. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:07 | |
It often gets overlooked but I think it still looks fantastic. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
And it represents the face of Taurus, the Bull. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
Aldebaran is supposed to be his eye. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
And the point at the end of the V is his nose. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
The whole lot overshadowed by a temporary star, of course, | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
because that's where Jupiter is at the minute. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
We've got a beautiful clear sky here. Beautiful dark site. | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
And we can see all the things. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
But you can notice the difference between Jupiter and Aldebaran, | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
and notice how they move, from any sky. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
And you can watch that, night after night, in the middle of London. | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
You can see how those two are dancing around | 0:13:36 | 0:13:38 | |
and that's part of the joy of astronomy too. | 0:13:38 | 0:13:41 | |
The clouds are rolling in but our first night | 0:13:44 | 0:13:47 | |
here at Kielder has been a success. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
We have bagged a few of those Moore Winter Marathon objects | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
and seen the asteroid. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
Our second day at the Kielder Observatory has started | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
a little ominously. The mist and rain has rolled in, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:05 | |
but we are not down-hearted. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
We had a good night last night. I enjoyed myself. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
But to keep track of what we have seen, | 0:14:12 | 0:14:14 | |
Chris, I think you have sorted out a map for us. This is a very exciting. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
We've got the official Moore Winter Marathon map. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
There we go. Where shall we start? | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
What a grand unveiling. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
Fine list of 50. Why don't we start with Jupiter? | 0:14:25 | 0:14:29 | |
Michael Murphy from County Dublin said, | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
"Always good to see the king of the planets." | 0:14:31 | 0:14:33 | |
Mike Stewart of Sheffield said, "Stunning as always." | 0:14:33 | 0:14:36 | |
The reason he never finished the full list, | 0:14:36 | 0:14:38 | |
-cos Jupiter was so distracting. -Excellent. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
Well, we all saw Jupiter, so d'you want to put that up on the board? | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
Philip Jennings of Malton says, "The highlight of the year, | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
"always seeing the Pleiades rise in the east, | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
"knowing that the winter constellations are on the way." | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
Which we all saw, I mean, that was very nice. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:53 | |
There's a nice comment here from one of our young astronomers, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:57 | |
Andrew Suttle, who said he counted 13 stars. | 0:14:57 | 0:14:59 | |
Wow, that's pretty good. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
That's a test of how good your skies are. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
Always count the stars in the Pleiades. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:05 | |
We shall watch his career with great interest. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:07 | |
Where shall we go next, Jon? | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
-Well, we have the Triangulum Galaxy. -Oh, this was lovely. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
Nice description from Chris Pearce. "At last! | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
"Been trying for over a year to spot this, but without success, | 0:15:15 | 0:15:17 | |
"but Pete's observing guide really did help." | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
-Fantastic, that's good to know. -I found it really tough. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
I think that maybe I saw the idea of a hint of it last night, | 0:15:23 | 0:15:27 | |
cos the moon's in this area, the moon was about here. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
I failed to see that one, I found the moon quite distracting. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
-It's so beautiful. -But not on the list! -But not on the list. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:36 | |
-What next, Jon? -M35 in Gemini. -I enjoyed these, so we've got, what? | 0:15:36 | 0:15:41 | |
M36, 37 is the closest to Gemini and then Messier 38, erm... | 0:15:41 | 0:15:47 | |
This is like Peter Snow on election night. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:15:49 | 0:15:51 | |
A trend towards M38 last night, I found. | 0:15:51 | 0:15:54 | |
-PETER SNOW IMPRESSION: -The votes for M36 are coming in now...! | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
And talking about the Celestial G, cos that's number 13 on the list... | 0:15:57 | 0:16:02 | |
It spans quite a large portion of the sky, as well, | 0:16:02 | 0:16:05 | |
that's what surprised me | 0:16:05 | 0:16:06 | |
when I was reading it in the guide, and I actually went out | 0:16:06 | 0:16:08 | |
and it was really nice to see this way of tracking around... | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
I'll stick it in the middle. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
Because a lot of those stars are different colours, as well, | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
so that's what makes it a nice-shaped thing. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
The orange of Betelgeuse | 0:16:18 | 0:16:19 | |
and the brilliant blue of Rigel really contrast very nicely. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
-I love colours in stars. -I do! | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
It's such an obvious way of learning something | 0:16:25 | 0:16:28 | |
-fundamental about the object. -Absolutely. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:30 | |
-Cos our star, it's sort of yellow, isn't it? -Well, it looks it. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
It looks it through our atmosphere, but actually, the light from the sun | 0:16:34 | 0:16:38 | |
peaks in the blue-green part of the spectrum, | 0:16:38 | 0:16:40 | |
so it's a green star, not a yellow star. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:42 | |
-You never think of the sun as being green! -You don't. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:45 | |
Rather appropriate for you, Lucy, isn't it? | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
It is, and Lucy means "light" I think. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:50 | |
-TOM BAKER IMPRESSION: -You are the sun's ambassador to Planet Earth. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
-Where next, Jon? -Where would we like to go? | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
Lovely description here from Philip Jennings again in Yorkshire, | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
"Leaned back on a hedge to observe both a double cluster and M31. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
"Unfortunately, I had to observe both from inside the hedge as | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
"I became stuck there and my scarf got tangled in the branches." | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
"Spectacular in..." It's sort of turned into a Lee Evans routine! | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
That's dedication for you. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
The perils of astronomy. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
Not without its hazards. Where shall we go next? | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
While we're up there, shall we just mention that one which | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
a lot of people have commented on, which is Kemble's Cascade? | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
Beautiful binocular object. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:25 | |
I hadn't seen it until you put it on the list, actually. I was stunned. | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
It's like a little stream of coloured stars. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
It's a waterfall of starlight. | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
There's a little cluster at the end which is the celestial splash pool. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
-Really? -It is. -That's really got people's imagination. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
Wayne Young simply, "Wow!" | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
Alan Beaton, "Like a rollercoaster following the stars. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
"What a lovely sight, I counted 21 stars leading downwards | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
"like a celestial waterfall." | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
Andrew Suttle, our young astronomer once again, | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
"Below Cassiopeia and just above the conservatory. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
"Dad had to lift me up." | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
Obviously, your conservatory may be in a different place. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
You've had to localise these... | 0:18:02 | 0:18:04 | |
Yeah, but a lot of wow factors with that one. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:07 | |
We only have one more night at Kielder | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
to complete the Moore Winter Marathon, | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
and the task and the weather ahead of us is daunting, | 0:18:15 | 0:18:18 | |
but like all marathon runners, we're here for the long haul. | 0:18:18 | 0:18:22 | |
Fortunately, we have some help. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
Some of our marathon astronomers have come along with their telescopes. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
-You got it? -Yeah. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:30 | |
Dad Paul Williamson and Olivia, who is just eight, | 0:18:30 | 0:18:34 | |
are from near Winchester, | 0:18:34 | 0:18:36 | |
and they started observing a little over one year ago. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:39 | |
Whose idea was it to do the Moore Winter Marathon? Was it your idea? | 0:18:39 | 0:18:42 | |
Sort of, yeah, both our ideas, we decided we'd do it for a challenge. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:47 | |
'They also took part in Patrick's last Moore Marathon. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
'Dedicated star spotters.' | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
Congratulations on getting 49 out of the 50 objects. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:55 | |
Now you've done the Moore Winter Marathon, what's next on your list? | 0:18:55 | 0:18:58 | |
What's the one we've been going for? | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
Oh, the Horse Head and the Flame Nebula. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
Definitely one of my favourites along with the Crab Nebula. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:05 | |
Sarah Dunwood is from Warrington and took part in the last Marathon too. | 0:19:05 | 0:19:10 | |
The best two for me were actually imaging Jupiter | 0:19:10 | 0:19:14 | |
and actually seeing the Great Red Spot... | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
Did you see it? It's very faint, isn't it, at the moment? Well done! | 0:19:16 | 0:19:20 | |
It was difficult in terms of viewing but again, camera object, | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
it came out quite nicely. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
'The Kilgours are from Glasgow and they're new to astronomy. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
'Mum Katherine has made their new telescope its own cover, | 0:19:31 | 0:19:34 | |
'which may have to stay on if this rain doesn't clear.' | 0:19:34 | 0:19:38 | |
You look like you're set up and ready to go, take up the challenge. | 0:19:38 | 0:19:41 | |
How many objects have you seen on the list? | 0:19:41 | 0:19:43 | |
We've maybe seen just under 20 of the naked eye objects, | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
we've just started the telescope version. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
That's a good approach, isn't it? | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
Get familiar with the sky, navigate your way around | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
and it's amazing what you can see through binoculars, as well. | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
How did the Orion Nebula look through binoculars? | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
It was really amazing, cos we could see, like, erm, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:01 | |
a few of the stars in the nebula, and a bit of stardust. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:05 | |
At that point it just looked like a fuzzy patch, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
but when we put it into the telescope, | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
we could see a lot more of the dust | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
and you could even make out the trapezium, which was really amazing. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
'Lastly, we have Steve Brown from Stokesley in Middlesbrough. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
'He's only been observing for a couple of years, and likes drawing, | 0:20:18 | 0:20:22 | |
'so that should please Paul.' | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
So Steve, congratulations. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
This man got all 50 objects, you must be very pleased. | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
Yeah, very pleased. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
I did not get all 50 objects because of cloud, weather not too like this | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
in fact, so what particularly was your favourite one? | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
-Erm, I liked the, erm, the Double Cluster was good. -Yeah, beautiful! | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
Lovely, yeah, like two for the price of one in the viewfinder. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
What about the Flaming Star, | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
cos we're told a lot of people had trouble with it? | 0:20:46 | 0:20:48 | |
That was difficult, took four attempts to find it. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:50 | |
Had to double-check to make sure it wasn't something wrong with the | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
telescope or my eyes or something, but it was definitely there. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:56 | |
Let's hope we see something tonight. If you get the Double Cluster, | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
I will be back to have a look, cos it's one of my favourite objects. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
Steve, thank you very much. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
This winter's weather has challenged many of you, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
but you can still see many beautiful | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
and spectacular images on The Sky At Night Flickr site. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:14 | |
'Unfortunately, the Northumbrian weather has crushed our hopes | 0:21:17 | 0:21:21 | |
'of seeing any more winter Marathon objects tonight.' | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
Well, I have to say, this is utterly miserable. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
It's raining, it's foggy, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:29 | |
I don't think there's any chance we're going to see anything tonight. | 0:21:29 | 0:21:32 | |
No, we are out of luck, | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
but we have some people inside who have been successful. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:38 | |
Let's go and find out what they saw. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
'There's nothing to do but go into the observatory and warm up. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
'Our guests have seen all the objects and they can give us | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
'a helping hand to finish the chart.' | 0:21:48 | 0:21:51 | |
Right, Chris, where are we going to start? | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
I think we should start with the Crab Nebula, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
which I haven't seen this winter at all, cos the weather's been bad | 0:21:55 | 0:21:58 | |
and because I've been lazy, so who saw the Crab? Yes? | 0:21:58 | 0:22:03 | |
Excellent, if you put that on the map. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
Jon, who else had success seeing the Crab Nebula? | 0:22:06 | 0:22:08 | |
Quite challenging for quite a few folks. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
David Scanlan from Romsey said, | 0:22:10 | 0:22:12 | |
"Very faint owing to its low surface brightness. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
"Had a distinctive Y-shaped regularity about it." | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
Wayne Young said, "The original fuzzy blob." Very descriptive. | 0:22:18 | 0:22:22 | |
Chris Pearce said, "Would love to have seen this 1,000 years ago. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
"Come on, Betelgeuse! Hurry up and go supernova!" | 0:22:25 | 0:22:28 | |
-Charming. -I agree with him. OK... | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
It looks nothing like a crab. That's the key thing. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
Messier 77, is this one of the planetary nebuli | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
or one of the clusters? | 0:22:36 | 0:22:38 | |
-It's a galaxy. -Well, I was close! | 0:22:38 | 0:22:40 | |
You'd better show me where to find it. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
Jon, what were the comments about this one? | 0:22:42 | 0:22:44 | |
Sam Copley in Rochester said, "Just a small blob in the scope. | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
"The sky was washed out by the moon." | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
But he got it despite all of that, so that's a good thing. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:52 | |
The next one's the Little Dumbbell, so who saw that? | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
I accidentally got it with my camera. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:58 | |
CHEERING AND CHATTER | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
-Somebody's going to need to point it out. -Jon, did anyone else find this? | 0:23:01 | 0:23:06 | |
Dr Peter McCann of Chorley in Lancashire, near my part of | 0:23:06 | 0:23:10 | |
the world, "Nice moist rectangular box with a pinch in the middle. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:13 | |
"Very cold tonight, I'm not hanging around for long." | 0:23:13 | 0:23:17 | |
Robert Plant in Lichfield, he says, "Medium? Pah! | 0:23:17 | 0:23:20 | |
"If this is medium, I'm going to struggle with the hard ones!" | 0:23:20 | 0:23:24 | |
I think a few people did struggle. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:25 | |
It wasn't an easy marathon, it's the last few that always get you. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:29 | |
-The Eskimo Nebula. -Oh, Eskimo! | 0:23:29 | 0:23:32 | |
I wanted to see this one and I didn't manage it, so who saw this one? | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
You got it, there you go, Steve. Absolutely beautiful! | 0:23:35 | 0:23:38 | |
Lovely nose and a fur-lined hood. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:41 | |
Andrew Hindmarch of Lingfield said, "It looked more like a hoodie!" | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
-A modern take on it. -Exactly, a nice interpretation there. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
"Simply not as impressive as Hubble's photos," says Chris Pearce. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:52 | |
This is a sunlight star giving off its outer atmosphere | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
-near the end of its life. -That's right, jettisoning its outer layers, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
and actually discovered by William Herschel in 1787, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
so we're seeing what he saw. | 0:24:01 | 0:24:02 | |
We've got another nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
You saw 49 of them between you two, I know, | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
so what was the Flaming Star nebula like? | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
It was one of the hardest ones that we had to find. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
It took me several attempts to actually capture it, in the end. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:19 | |
-Luckily, there it was. -Can you find it for us now? -Hopefully. | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
No pressure. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:24 | |
Very good. This next one's one of my favourites, something I saw | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
yesterday, which is the Fish's Mouth in Orion, so you know where this is? | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
Smack in the middle. So what did that look like when you saw it? | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
We could see the nebula dust and we could just see a slightly | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
darker patch where the Fish's Eye is and also the Trapezium. | 0:24:41 | 0:24:45 | |
-The next one's the Trapezium. -D'you want to put that one up? | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
A beautiful object, | 0:24:48 | 0:24:49 | |
a wonderful grouping of stars in the middle of M42. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:52 | |
-Brilliant, lots of people saying brilliant! -Brilliant! | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
About the Trapezium. Brilliant! | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
Any excuse, Jon! | 0:24:58 | 0:25:00 | |
The Owl Cluster. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
There you go, you might need a lift to get to Cassiopeia, I think. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:07 | |
-Oh! -Teamwork. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
Yay, there you go. So I've got number 50, the last of them, | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
so this is Messier 52, which is a cluster. Who saw this? | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
It's actually one of my favourites. You got all 50, Steve. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
It's only right that you should ceremonially put the 50th up. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
-Last one, there we go. -Excellent. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:25:25 | 0:25:27 | |
-I declare you the champion of the Moore Winter Marathon. -Well done. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:32 | |
You get to keep the poster. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
This collection of objects represents a huge | 0:25:35 | 0:25:38 | |
amount of effort on all of your behalfs. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
I know you all went out week after week, month after month, | 0:25:40 | 0:25:43 | |
so you all deserve a big round of applause, well done. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
Absolutely, I know Patrick would have been proud of all of you, | 0:25:46 | 0:25:49 | |
and angry at us for not going out enough, cos you've got to get out | 0:25:49 | 0:25:52 | |
every clear night, and you guys all did that, so well done. | 0:25:52 | 0:25:56 | |
I think we've just invented the first Sky At Night advent calendar. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:59 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:25:59 | 0:26:01 | |
There's an elite bunch who saw all 50 objects, | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
so well done to Wayne Young from Thatcham in Berkshire, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
Paul Hutchinson from Torquay in Devon, | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
Sam Copley from Hoo in Kent | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
and of course Steve Brown from Stokesley in Middlesbrough. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:22 | |
February's been such an exciting month. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
March has a lot to live up to, but fortunately there's a comet. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:31 | |
Pete and Jon have more information. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
Well, Pete, this is some busy time for astronomy right now, with | 0:26:34 | 0:26:38 | |
the asteroid powering past, and the fireball over Russia | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
and coming very soon, the first of the bright comets for this year. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
That's right, Jon, we've got two potentially bright comets | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
that hopefully will appear in our skies this year. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
The first one should be visible from the UK | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
from about the middle of March onwards. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
It's actually been seen from the Southern Hemisphere | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
and we've got some great pictures of it at the moment, | 0:27:00 | 0:27:02 | |
showing a lovely tail, two tails actually, a dust tail curving away | 0:27:02 | 0:27:06 | |
from the comet and a very straight, what's called a gas tail, as well. | 0:27:06 | 0:27:11 | |
This comet is called C2011 L4 Pan-STARRS. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:15 | |
The numbers and letters at the front of it identify which one it is. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:18 | |
But that has the potential to be a naked eye comet. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:22 | |
So could we expect, say, something comparable to a Hale-Bopp of 1997? | 0:27:22 | 0:27:28 | |
Comets are really difficult to predict. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
It could get close to the sun, it could fragment and then you | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
get a huge dust tail form from it, so it could still surprise us. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:38 | |
They do whatever they like. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
So we can consider Comet Pan-STARRS as a warm-up act for the big one | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
in November, which is Comet Ison. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:46 | |
Ison, we'll deal with that one later in the year, | 0:27:46 | 0:27:48 | |
but that could be quite spectacular. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:51 | |
Lots of events to keep us going. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
Comet Pan-STARRS might be a faint fuzzy, | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
but Pete's charts are on the website if you do want to find it. | 0:27:56 | 0:28:00 | |
We've had a wonderful time here at Kielder Observatory, | 0:28:00 | 0:28:02 | |
and we've been fantastically lucky to see the asteroid whizzing past | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
and many of the Moore Winter Marathon objects. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:09 | |
We certainly were lucky, so we owe a huge thanks to Gary and the rest of | 0:28:09 | 0:28:12 | |
the team up here in Kielder, and to everyone who's trekked up to | 0:28:12 | 0:28:15 | |
join us in this remote and beautiful part of the world. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:18 | |
Next month, we'll be finding out all about meteorites, | 0:28:18 | 0:28:20 | |
including that dramatic event above Russia. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 | |
And we'll be holding the first of our space surgeries, | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
for anyone who has a question about anything astronomical | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
or about observing. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
You can contact us through the website. | 0:28:30 | 0:28:32 | |
So until next time... | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
ALL: Goodnight. | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 |