Moore Marathon The Sky at Night

Good evening.

Welcome to the second of our programmes

celebrating the 55th anniversary

of The Sky At Night.

Well, we did it in two parts.

Last month, you remember,

I collected 55 of my favourite objects in the sky

visible this month and asked viewers to look at them

and make drawings or comments about them.

And we had an amazing reception from all over the British Isles,

Europe, even from America.

And it really was fascinating to see

how much people learnt from it.

So, with me are my usual guests.

Chris Lintott, Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel.

Welcome also to Jon Culshaw

who knows more about me than I do myself.

Quite right too. Very happy to, sir.

I don't know the difference.

Well, there we are then. Let's go and let's start with you, Chris.

Sure, I think the really interesting thing was

that people clearly had a lot of fun doing this.

I certainly did. As you say, I found things I'd never seen before.

We had a lot of people showing their friends and family the sky.

Parents showing their kids the sky,

kids showing their parents the sky, more often than not.

I was amazed by the variety of what people saw

and also by the few people who managed to see all 55.

I certainly didn't get anywhere

close, so I'm impressed with them.

I have in my time, certainly not all in one month.

This month was tricky, but, Jon, why don't you guide us on our way? Where do we start?

-The perfect starting point of the moon.

-Of course.

-The moon.

JON: Many observations. It's many people's favourite object.

CHRIS: What was it about the moon that...?

I was shown it through a telescope

and I hadn't realised how many mountains and craters there are.

And I soon as I saw that, I realised this is something very different.

-And I got onto it.

-It really does draw you in.

Even though it's a really easy thing to see in the night sky,

it was actually starting to move out of the way

at the beginning of April,

and a number of people actually managed to get around that

by seeing it during the daylight.

Pete Glastonbury from Wiltshire, for example,

says, "Easily visible in the daylight above houses and eaves."

JON: There's a wonderful description of a lunar observation

from Philip Jennings of York, who's got a wonderful turn of phrase.

and custard-coloured, rising over

"the dark Lakeland fells, surrounded by billowing pink cloud."

It's like something Les Dawson would have written. It's lovely.

It's a great, great book title. The Custard-Coloured Moon.

- The Custard-Coloured Moon! - A romance. It has that feel to it.

Of course Mars is number 6. I love Mars.

This first encounter with Mars, we meet it later on,

was really a sort of naked eye view of it and the one thing which really

stands out when you look at Mars with the naked eye is its colour.

-Yes.

-It's intensely orangey, peachy-orange.

JON: A wonderful copper new penny sort of thing.

-A good way to describe it.

-It's lovely.

Mars can actually get bright enough to be the second brightest planet,

but the planet that takes the crown for being the brightest planet of them all is Venus.

That's number 7 on the Moore Marathon.

It's been stunning in the evening skies hasn't it?

-Like an oil lamp out at sea.

-Yes.

It's named after the goddess of love and beauty.

There can hardly be a more unpleasant world.

-That's right.

-I missed it.

-Did you?

-Cloudy.

-That's a shame.

Martin Campbell mentioned that it was low in the west and it looked

like a searchlight and I think that sums up Venus beautifully.

Terry Hooper from Fleet summed it up for me - beautiful.

-Beautiful.

-One word, beautiful!

Number 10 then - Spica.

I'll be honest, I don't know why this is on the list.

Why not? What have you got against Spica?

Saturn was nearby. Who's going to look at Spica when you've got Saturn nearby?

Spica is a lovely star.

-It's the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo.

-Yes.

And it's very, very white in colour.

Shall we move on to number 13?

-Lucky for some, the Hyades.

-Oh, yes. In fact, we've got two, haven't we?

We've got Hyades at number 13 and the Pleiades at number 14,

so we've got the two beautiful open clusters in Taurus the Bull.

I always find the Hyades best with binoculars, and the Pleiades.

The telescope just spreads it out too much.

And Pat Clough from Wycombe Astronomical Society saw the Hyades.

She says, "Very low west, fading into the London exhaust fumes."

THEY LAUGH

If that's not poetic city astronomy, I don't know what is.

Maybe we should get a book going on that, poetic astronomy.

- I think absolutely. - Perfect binocular objects.

How many stars can you see in the Pleiades with the naked eye?

From here, I have counted, on a very good night, 15.

That's very good.

I got one more than you, 16. And from your garden.

-It may have been 17...

-In fact, I think it was 18.

-19 was my highest.

-It's very important to realise

astronomy's not a competitive sport, at this point.

But it is a good sign of your sky and your eyesight.

But, Pete and Paul, as our veteran observers, throughout April,

despite the horrible weather, they were keeping video diaries.

So let's take a look and see how you got on.

We're going to do the Moore Marathon tonight, what do you reckon?

I know. It is not looking promising, is it?

Well, I'm here in my garden again now.

Now I can see the moon rising up above the trees over there.

And if I look at it very carefully, I can just about make out

the tiny circular features, which is known as the Mare Crisium.

Torrential rain, wind, gales. Ugh.

And there it... And wow.

Really chose a bad time to start the Moore Marathon.

There's the planet Jupiter. Then above Jupiter,

a brilliant planet. Venus.

I can just make out the twinkling stars next to Venus

and they are the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters

and that's another entry in the Moore Marathon.

I do feel a bit guilty

because we did have a brief clearing at the start of April.

And I thought, "Oh, I've got plenty of time. I'll do it later." But...

Cassiopeia, the W constellation, the Seated Queen.

Ah...

And that's another entry on the Moore Marathon.

I'm going to put the time in and wait up until 3.15 in the morning...

Wow, that is stunning.

..and see if I get anything.

Polaris, that's item number three.

So, fingers crossed.

La Superba, or to give it its proper name,

Y Canum Venaticorum.

It's blowing a gale out there.

That's great. I'm pleased I've seen that one.

It's so cold as well.

Messier 13.

That's the great globular cluster in Hercules.

Oh, why did I leave it so long?!

The sky is starting to get lighter I think because dawn is approaching.

I'm pretty tired,

but I'm really glad that I have now completed the Moore Marathon.

Good night.

Well, Pete, absolutely La Superba from you.

Wonderful, wonderful.

Paul, well...

AS PATRICK MOORE: It's a marathon, not a sprint.

THEY LAUGH

-Quite.

-Well...

So, the next object couldn't be more different,

could it?

-The International Space Station.

-It's a crowd-pleaser.

It is a crowd-pleaser. I mean, I don't regard it as astronomy,

but when you point up to people and say there's human beings in that...

It pushes through any kind of light pollution. It's not bothered by it.

It's so bright. Incredibly bright.

And I liked the comment from David Whinham in Newcastle, who says,

"My father lives six miles away from me and watches the predicted time

"of the ISS flypast as well.

"And from his garden and I from my flat window,

"we await for the ISS to appear in the night sky."

And it's that social thing of realising it's passing overhead

that I really like.

Number 17, Chris, you want to pronounce this.

I think this is the most disappointing object but I was hoping we'd resolve a mystery.

This is Zubeneschamali

or the Northern Claw which is the brightest star

in the zodiacal constellation of Libra.

-That's right.

-People say it's the only

single naked eye star

which is green, but I think there's a lot of wishful thinking there.

We didn't get a single comment saying it appeared green.

The best thing about that star is that it's called Zubeneschamali.

- Zubeneschamali. - It's fun to say.

Zubeneschamali.

-At number 21, then, 55 Cancri.

-Not much to see here.

As you said earlier, this is the theorist's object.

This is an object to think about because it's the brightest star,

apart from the sun, of course, that we know

has planets going around it, and we've detected signs of five planets.

The smallest of them about a tenth of the mass of Jupiter

orbiting this world.

I still get a huge kick out of looking at a star in the sky,

knowing that it has a solar system.

I particularly like the comment by Chris Pearce.

This is quite nice, Patrick. He says,

"Fairly ordinary star till I learn the fact that it has five orbiting planets.

"I wonder if someone on those planets has a Moore Marathon to do.

"And is looking at us thinking the same thing."

I think that's quite lovely.

I quite agree.

-They didn't send in their forms, though, so...

-They may be en route.

Right.

Anyway, if we go from the spring sky again

and spring into the summer sky

we're coming back to one which was quite tricky again.

This is the Summer Triangle. It's tricky because

you have to wait until the early hours to see

all three stars above the horizon.

A number of people commented that Altair

was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds on the horizon.

That's from Wayne Young in Berkshire.

Rebecca Taylor says, "I can still see it at this time of morning, 5.20.

"Birds very vocal". I presume she means the wildlife.

Yeah. And another complaint, Patrick.

-Didn't you...? Summer Triangle was the name you popularised.

-Yes.

I've a complaint for you from Eddie Carpenter from Gloucestershire.

It's an anniversary, but we should deal with complaints.

He says, "The Summer Triangle should be called the Autumn Triangle

"because it's easier to see when it's in the early hours of the evening".

-I always say it should be the Winter Triangle!

-Right!

It's visible for ages once it comes up. It is right through to December

you can see the Summer Triangle.

I like seeing it this time of year because you know

that the warm nights of summer, short though they are

are really on their way.

Where did we get to next?

CHRIS: Object 24, of course, Sagittarius,

or at least the form of The Teapot.

That's not a teapot!

It is a teapot!

You cannot see it as anything... It's a very angular teapot.

It's nothing like a teapot!

What do you see it as?

I don't see anything.

To me it's a teapot hanging there just on the horizon.

It is to me I'm afraid.

Wayne Young from Thatcham in Berkshire said,

"I can see it sitting on the horizon..."

that's how I see it,

"..as the sky started to brighten as dawn approached".

-He's never seen it from the UK before.

-Brilliant.

Patrick, I've got a question about the next one - Alphard.

Why on Earth is Alphard on the list?

It's a nice enough star, but...

It's a solitary one, right by itself.

It's a lonely star, which I enjoy looking at.

So we should pay some attention to it.

Steve Elliott summed this up brilliantly.

He said, "Another new one I had not paid much attention to,

"It is well named as there's not a lot around it".

-It needs comforting.

-Exactly.

Now, Patrick, we have a chance to speak to

some of the participants of the Moore Marathon on the telephone.

First we're going to go to Glasgow and we have Nicola MacIntyre.

Hi, there to you.

-'Hi there.'

-How was your Moore Marathon experience? Did you get a great many of them done?

'Yeah, we did. We don't have a telescope as yet so we just done most of the naked eye ones.

'But we had great fun.'

Who else joined you to do it?

'My two sons, Christopher and Jamie.'

How many objects did you get in total?

'We managed to see all of the naked eye ones on our own so that was great.'

That's more than me. Well done. I only managed five on account of the poor weather, but...

'Is that right?'

Everyone's had a good laugh except me. Never mind.

Thanks for taking part. I hope you continue in the future.

'Thanks very much.'

Nice to have heard you.

Now we go back to the Moore Marathon lines.

We go to Fareham

and we are joined by Graham and Kaylee Walker, father and daughter.

Hi there, to you.

-'Hi there.'

-'Hello.'

-Oh, you are both there.

-How many did you get?

-'16.'

16? That's pretty good, that's more than some of The Sky At Night team,

I have to say, so you're doing rather well.

Kaylee, which were your favourite objects?

-'The double star and...the moon. I think that's quite cool.'

-Yes.

'Because I saw the craters. It's amazing!'

Nice to have heard you. After all, I was seven when I started.

Which was 83 years ago.

THEY LAUGH

-'Thank you.'

-Bye for now. Well done.

Excellent, well, let's move on to the binocular objects.

-So, number 26, the Coathanger Cluster.

-But it's not a cluster.

It's actually, this is another asterism.

And it's called that because, amazingly,

it looks like a coathanger.

An upside-down coathanger through binoculars.

You can see it with the naked eye, too.

Martin Campbell from Northern Ireland

agrees with you. "It does look like a coathanger."

Exactly like a coathanger

but those stars are not

they were not formed together. It's just a chance alignment.

Another example is the Double Cluster.

But these are real clusters.

These are clusters of stars which have all formed

out of the same material.

I always think it's like

a black cushion you've spilt sugar over.

A Double Cluster looks something like that.

That's great.

It does.

Chris Pearce actually says, "Nice cluster. Very low in the sky,

"but lost slightly due to neighbour's outside lights."

-Turn those lights off!

-Chris,

go round and tell them to turn them off.

That's a moment when you'd need Patrick's kind of sense of humour.

"The neighbour's lights are on and there's nothing we can do about it, or maybe there is."

THEY LAUGH

-So, why don't we come back closer to home for the next object.

-Yes.

-One of your favourite lunar craters, Patrick. Tycho.

-Tycho Brahe,

"Two-kho Brahes", it should be.

One of the brightest craters on the moon.

With the rays.

I like Tycho, because if you imagine the moon as a beach ball,

I think Tycho would be the air valve.

-It would be.

-Very good.

You could write a book, Alternative Astronomical Interpretations.

MIMICS CHRIS: It's like the moon is a beachball

and Tycho is where the air goes in.

- I've no idea who you're being. - No, no, no.

The next object on the Moore Marathon list

is one of my favourites

because of the name. And this is La Superba or Y Canum Venaticorum.

La Superba!

You know why it's called La Superba.

I do. Let's talk about why it's famous first

because it's this beautiful very red ruby star.

I didn't really know what it was.

-I thought it was a galaxy.

-Oh.

-So I spent 15 minutes

looking for this wretched galaxy, no doubt with La Superba popping in and out all the time.

I said, "Pete, I can't find it" He had to tell me it was a red star.

The point is, and you weren't the only one.

Sarah Dunwood from Warrington in Cheshire said, "Imaged a number

"of these objects. Was particularly pleased to have found La Superba

"which took some patience". Well done to Sarah.

But the reason it's called this

isn't anything to do with the colour.

It's when they started taking spectra of the stars in the 19th century,

splitting the light up into its constituent parts and looking for the signatures of elements,

there was this ridiculously unusual spectrum. They saw the signature of carbon

in the atmosphere of the star, and so it's called La Superba because of what it looks like

not through an eyepiece, but through a spectra scope.

-I've got an image now of these spectroscopists...

-An Italian spectroscopist...

..looking at the spectrum and going, "La superba!"

That's precisely how it was.

- And the name stuck. - Had it been discovered in Luton, it might have in called the Very Nice.

LAUGHTER Patrick, at this point in the marathon,

I'm going to take a sit down and a bit of a rest

because some people have been doing the Moore Marathon in groups

and Jon went along to the Hampshire Astronomical Group

to see what they were doing.

It's a very windy day in Hampshire,

overlooking the village of Clanfield.

It's not raining, at least.

But unless this wind dies down, we won't be able to open the domes

and see some more of those breathtaking astronomical objects

as part of the Moore Marathon catalogue.

Well, I've very much been enjoying taking on the challenge

of the Moore Marathon at my home in Lancashire,

and in London too, despite some of the light pollution.

And I'm glad to say I managed to get a fair few on that list,

such as the moon and Mars and Polaris and the Pleiades,

the rings of Saturn, as well as some of those deeper sky objects,

such as M81 and M82

and the Beehive Cluster and La Superba, that wonderful red star.

But I've come here to this wonderfully atmospheric spot

to join the Hampshire Astronomical Group here in the village of Clanfield.

And I hope they'll help me find a few more

on that list of the Moore Marathon.

'The group is 52 years old,

'and they finally settled on the Clanfield site back in 1972.

'They have nearly 200 members and run star parties

'and events all year round.

'And with them tonight is that stalwart and very good friend

'of The Sky At Night, John Mason.

'And John's been relishing playing his part in the Moore Marathon.'

-Right, let's go, mind your head.

-Wow, this is majestic, isn't it?

It is a fantastic telescope, it's a beautiful dome.

This is 24-inch Newtonian reflector.

What I like about the Moore Marathon

is that you've got objects in there where you don't need a telescope

-like this to get involved.

-Yes.

-You can just use the number one eyeball.

And the great thing is you've got objects that everybody can look at,

and then you've got some really lovely objects

that you need a big telescope for,

and are more taxing and more difficult.

What have been some of the more challenging objects for the real dedicated amongst those?

In terms of challenging objects

probably the galaxies because they're fainter

and because

I think a lot of people have this idea because of these lovely pictures in books

they think, "I'll look through a telescope

"and it's going to look like that".

Unfortunately that's not the case.

Even with a big telescope like this you need a very clear night, you need very dark skies,

you need the air to be steady you need everything to be going for you.

The Sombrero Galaxy, M104 in Virgo, that is quite a beautiful object,

people see the pictures in the Hubble Heritage Image

and think, "Wow," but when you look at it it's not quite like that.

But it's great to see these things for yourselves.

It doesn't matter the fact that

what you're seeing is nothing like the Hubble image,

actually seeing the real thing is so important.

'The group have gathered outside now,

'to look at the magnificent sight of the moon and Venus together.

'But I want to tick off the Belt Of Venus,

'which is the shadow of the Earth in space.

'It's a Moore Marathon object

'which so far has eluded me.'

To see the Belt Of Venus,

you need it to be clear where the sun's just gone down.

And you also need it most importantly to be clear

towards the east.

Now, unfortunately, it's completely cloudy over there.

If it wasn't cloudy, what we would see is the Earth's shadow

would be below and then we'd see this pink belt

blending into the sky above.

And that pink belt is the Belt Of Venus,

and we don't really know why it's called the Belt Of Venus,

it's got nothing to do with the planet Venus at all.

But the pink colour is basically back-scattered light

from the setting sun.

'Well, still no luck with the Belt Of Venus.

'We'll just have to try again another time.

'The skies are darkening very nicely,

'but the wind is still howling around us.

'But that's not putting off the observers.'

I've ticked a few off with the moon,

-Venus and the Mare Crisium, which were all on the list.

-Wonderful.

Any more that you're hoping to aim for as the night goes on

and more objects begin to rise?

If we get the telescopes open, I'd like to do M51

if possible, the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Iapetus, the moon Iapetus, around Saturn.

I don't think that's possible personally, actually,

-but it's on the list so I'll have a go.

-I'd like to see the Sombrero Galaxy,

I've never seen that.

But we'll have to wait till it's darker obviously.

-Now then, hi, there, Pat and Janet.

-BOTH: Hello.

-Now you got that wonderful image of Venus in the scope there.

-Yes.

Isn't that something? That's absolutely wonderful.

So what has your Moore Marathon campaign been like?

Oh, very interesting. I've found some things I didn't know about.

-Oh, really? What were they?

-The Belt Of Venus, for one.

And the Cheshire Cat, which I'd not heard of as an asterism.

-Yes, an asterism.

-Yes.

-And so what are you looking for tonight?

Any on your list?

Well, I've really enjoyed looking at the moon. I love observing the moon

and so the craters, the Tycho craters

that were on the Marathon, we've seen,

and a lovely view tonight.

It's a magnificent view tonight.

'And there goes the International Space Station,

'Moore Marathon number 15.

-There it is just coming out...

-Yes.

..from that cloud, to the left of that hook of cloud.

Nice clear patch there now.

This is not a favourable pass so it's only about

as bright as Sirius, about mag minus 1.2, something like that.

-But it's on the list. It's on the Moore Marathon.

-Yes.

-I'd say we've all seen it.

Well, we managed to see some good things tonight.

The wind, though, has been unforgiving,

so we missed out on the galaxies, I'm afraid.

'But it's been great fun to share the Moore Marathon quest

'with fellow astronomers.'

-Yes, you can never tire of the moon.

-No.

Well, Jon, you certainly looked like you were having fun there,

and got some clear skies as well, which is no mean feat.

Some clouds, but enough clarity to work with,

and they were a great team there, a really great team.

Excellent. With that determined spirit, let's press on

to our telescopic objects.

My favourite object is bound to be Saturn

and frankly you can't see much with the naked eye

and not much with binoculars either.

I can't believe we left it

-this late. This is the Rings of Saturn.

-Number 39.

We managed to get through Saturn and separate out the rings because

they are just stunning particularly at the minute

when they're tilted about 13 degrees so we can see them well.

There's a comment from Sarah Dunwood

who viewed Saturn with her telescope, a small one,

and she says, "It's the first time

"I'd seen the rings through the telescope

"and it was a great moment particularly

"as the eyepiece view was so clear." She was so impressed

she woke up her husband to tell him about it.

I hope he enjoyed the view of Saturn's rings as much as she did

because that would have been early morning, I imagine.

A wow moment for both halves of the family there.

Brilliant.

Let me whisk you out to the outer universe again. Hold on to your seat, Pete,

we're out to the Whirlpool Galaxy.

This is a glorious picture right behind you, M51,

but it's actually surprisingly difficult to find,

because it's face-on and thus faded out.

But we had Steve Elliott,

"Surprisingly, given its popularity, I hadn't seen this before."

We had Jeff Stevens saying,

"The second observation that captured my attention

"was the Whirlpool Galaxy, something I'd tried to observe before but with no success," and he succeeded.

Dave Moulton from North Wales, from Flintshire, said, "Face-on,

"perfectly placed,

"but you need plenty of aperture to see the details."

That's fair enough.

It is. I can just about make out some details on my eight inch telescope.

-You can see them.

-Yes.

Well, reaching number 49, we're into the last mile of this Moore Marathon

and we haven't hit the wall and we're not going to as we reach

Syrtis Major on Mars.

What does it look like in a modern telescope?

A V-shaped, shaded region on the planet.

To be perfectly honest, if you use a really low power,

you're not going to like this, but to me, it looks like a pair of Y-fronts.

It does! It has that appearance on the planet.

So at number 49 then, Syrtis Major, that takes us into the 50s now,

and it's Messier 81 and 82, quite magnificent!

Fabulous pair of galaxies. It's just absolutely stunning.

I rather like Rebecca Taylor's quote,

"Looks like a couple of smudges. Brilliant, two-for-one."

LAUGHTER

The next object, number 52, this is a lovely thing.

This is a beauty. In order to get the Lagoon Nebula you had to get up

at an awful time in the morning

or stay up until the awful time in the morning.

Martin Campbell from Dungannon in Northern Ireland says,

"A tantalising object", which is about right.

"Rich in colour and complexity."

It really is exactly that.

It's worth looking for if you head south for holidays -

keep an eye on the Lagoon Nebula.

Steve Elliott says, "I've seen this from southerly latitudes

"many times. Part of the steam coming out of the teapot's spout!"

It's a fine sight as we race for home.

We're on to the final one.

-Now push on, we can do this. We can do this.

-We're almost there.

We've now got the crowd cheering us on.

-But Albireo is the first object I ever saw in a telescope.

-Was it?

It's at the base of Cygnus, a beautiful double star.

It was the last object for me

in my original 55.

What colours do you see? Cos there's all these romantic descriptions...

Albireo, primary - golden yellow. Secondary - emerald green.

There's nothing like it.

There's a great description here from Keith Moore in Doncaster,

and he says, "Albireo, the first time I saw it,

"was like Saturn all over again."

Amazing. I think that's fabulous. I know exactly how he feels.

Another Moore Marathon observer on the telephone now.

Sarah Dunwood, you're in Warrington, right?

-'That's correct, yes.'

-How did you get on with the weather and other factors with the Moore Marathon?

'The weather was absolutely shocking.

'I think I've managed five nights outside out of the month so far.'

Paul Abel, you can certainly relate to that.

I can. Hello, Sarah, how are you doing? Are you all right?

-'I'm good thank you.'

-I can share your empathy with the weather. I managed to get five objects

out of the whole month.

It was appalling. What were the objects you got?

-'I got about 37 of them, I think.'

-That's all right.

That's good.

'I thought 37 was dreadful, but five really is bad, isn't it?'

Thank you for that(!)

-'I'm so sorry!'

-It's fine. I love being abused on national television!

What was your favourite object out of the lot?

'Getting the moon because it's the first time I've imaged it

'through the telescope.'

It's Patrick here. Patrick Moore. Do you think we got the mix right?

'I do. It was nice to be able to point out some of the

'naked eye objects to my son cos he's only 11

'and bless him, he's a teeny weeny thing

'so he doesn't get up to the telescope. He can't reach it.'

I know that feeling.

-It's nice to have heard you.

-'And you. Thank you, Patrick.'

Well, I've enjoyed going through that. I enjoyed observing.

And we should say congratulations to everyone who took part,

but especially to the three people... Sorry, Pete, I'm not including you.

The three people who saw all 55.

So that's Lee Osborne in Spain, Steve Elliott in Farnborough

and Wayne Young in Thatcham.

So well done to those three and to everyone.

Absolute bravo.

I think everyone who did it learnt something. I most certainly did.

I've been looking at the sky now for very nearly 90 years

and still I find things I didn't know, and I found some more tonight.

So thank you all for your patience,

your endurance and your enthusiasm.

And when I come back next month,

we'll be talking about the two largest planets in our solar system,

Jupiter and Saturn.

So until then, good night.

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